Mike's Marathon Blog

After a fantastic sleep (sarcasm), I woke up to a dog eager for another thrilling day on vacation. Even though we were in the depths of Hell, she was having the time of her life. She absolutely loved the hotel room (yes, the same room that I refused to walk barefoot in). Although it may have been a toss-up between the room and the hallway. We would open the hotel room door and she would be gone. She ran down that hallway like she was being chased by a bigger, hungrier squirrel.

After breakfast, we found a nice area for all of us to go swimming. Lake Winnipesauke isn’t very pet-friendly, which I completely understand! I don’t want any smelly dogs running all over the place when I’m trying to relax on a beach. It just sucks when I’m the one with the smelly dog looking for a place to go swimming. After pretty much driving around the entire lake, we found the next best thing to a beach……..a boat-launch. We had the whole place to ourselves! Tula swam (sprinted through the water up the boat-launch), I read my Tri magazine (ignored everything else going on) and Jack relaxed on the grass (chased Tula around). It was perfect.

Tula’s fun-filled weekend continued the next day at my friend’s camp. We rolled up our sleeping bags, said good-bye (forever) to our lovely hotel and drove a few miles up the road to Campton. We spent the day with 15 friends canoeing/kayaking/swimming/tubing down the Pemigewasset River (more precious pics of Tula to come).

After a great afternoon in the sun on the river, we headed home. After a shower and a couple large coffees, we were back in the car on our way to a roofdeck cookout in Boston. Saying we put a few miles on the old car this weekend would be an understatement.

I was tired, sore, sunburnt and in desperate need of some sleep. Unfortunately Sunday was Day 1 of training for the New York City Marathon. Dammit.

First day of training, first mistake of training. For Boston, it was usually so cold in the morning, it was best to wait until noon to go for a run. Hey Mike! It’s not the winter any more you donkey! I thought training in the summer would be hands-down more enjoyable than dodging patches of ice for 12 miles. Not so much. Note to self – don’t go for a run any time past 9 am. You won’t make it.

And I didn’t. An 8-mile run turned into a 6-mile run and a 2-mile walk. It was hot, humid and I was not prepared. Not off to a good start. Lesson learned.

Day 1 of 104 – complete (sort of).