St. Paddy's Day Weekend...

Talk about a busy little weekend. Last night I met up with some of my friends for a little happy hour that ended up having me out a little later than I initially intended, but it was a good time and some great conversations.

When my alarm went off though, I knew I had no choice but to wake up and get going. I had a Bruins game later in the afternoon, a brunch to make beforehand, and then my preparations for St. Paddy's day.

Definitely an early morning...

The run itself actually felt really good.. and because I was in a time crunch to make sure I got it in, I didn't take any pictures throughout the run.  Although there would have been plenty of great opportunities to.  I chose to run along the Charles River today out to Cambridge, and the marathon was becoming even more real to me. 

Running along the Charles is always a relaxing yet inspiring run for me, and a lot of emotions constantly go through my mind along this route. I use to bike this path every day to go to and from work when I first moved to Boston, and it's always so crazy to think just how far I have come in so many different aspects of my life, and it just seems every time I find myself along the Charles, a million and one memories come back to life. 

SOOOO many people were out along the river, all in full training running gear, and so many different groups of people.  I knew from passing and getting passed by others that there were a lot of people out, but it really was put BAM in my face at one of the only intersections I went through today. As I waited for the crosswalk to change, more and more people started lining up waiting for the walk sign.  It's an added motivation to see so many others in the city up early for a long run. 

I do have to thank the stranger who ended up being my pace setter for a couple miles without even realizing.  They ended up being some of my faster miles... it's encouraging that I still have moments of improvement and not plateau. 

I really can't believe I'm up to 18 miles... next weekend is the LAST long run before I start tapering... I can not believe I'm almost to that point in the training... when I first started my training program I was so scared for these long runs, and here I am doing them... and almost being done them... It leaves me speechless. 

Now I can continue this crazy weekend of Southie fun... knowing I got 18 miles done. :)