Vacation!

I breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday as I left work. I haven't had a vacation to speak of since May 2009. That can't happen again. Very excited to head up to Maine for a few days of rest and family.

This morning, I woke up crazy early as per usual. We were meeting at 6:30 for a 6-8 mile run. My group decided to do 7 miles at 2/1 intervals. We did a lower loop of the park then headed east over the Queensborough Bridge. That's mile 15 of the marathon, and one of the toughest parts of the whole course. First of all, it's a huge hill, and there are no spectators, only a dark tunnel full of tired runners. All you can hear on marathon Sunday is the sound of feet leading up to the mayhem of First Ave. Today we ran on the pedestrian path from Manhattan over to Queens and back. It was wall of noise; cars on one side, subways on the other. I felt pretty good for most of the run, but that bridge DOES feel really long, even after 5 miles! I led the group back to Manhattan, mostly because Nick didn't have a watch, and it was pretty weird to be at the head of a single-file line with the whole bridge in front of me. We were back in Central Park shortly. Overall, it was a beautiful day and a great run. Definitely good practice for the marathon.

...and now vacation starts for real!