99 days to go…

January 11, 2014 Off By mkelly

All this extra running has made me extremely tired this week.  So tired that I was out cold by 9:30 Thursday night.  The good news, I was well rested for hills on Friday with November Project.  I got in about 5 miles of hills which is pretty solid seeing as I haven’t been to Summit in almost 3 weeks!!  One of the things I love about Friday’s workout is the silence (or trying to get a group of 200+ people to be quiet).  The town of Brookline has a very strict noise ordinance, so we all have to be very quiet until 7:01am.  While I think it’s a bit ridiculous, it makes birthday celebrations and newbie introductions slightly more hilarious.  This week however, it was quite serene.  With a light snow falling, before sunrise, all you could see was reflective neon gear moving up and down the hills. It was quite a sight.

I’ve tried to describe to people how steep these hills are and have even posted photos of the elevation map, but have been unable to capture the essence of what we do here on Friday’s.  This week, November Project regular and amateur photographer Rosa posted this picture of us running and it makes it look even more behemoth than I ever could have described!!

Credit to Rosa Evora

Credit to Rosa Evora

Today my body told me I needed to sleep in. I set my alarm for 6:30 so I’d have enough time to eat breakfast, dress and head over to Newton for my team run. I just could NOT get up! Eventually I rolled out of bed at 8:45, got ready and headed out the door. Somehow I missed the memo that summer was back!! I suppose I’ve become accustomed to running in single digit temps with negative windchills. I knew it was going to be warmer, but this was ridiculous.  I felt like I was gonna pass out within the first mile. I could have done with some of the “100% chance of rain” I was promised by my weather channel app!  Luckily, I was still able to crank out my 10 miles. I decided to run along the marathon route instead of my usual river run.  Coming back down Beacon and seeing the Citgo sign and then passing by Hereford, I was already getting chocked up. Someone better be ready with a huge box of tissues at the finish line, I’m gonna need them!

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I’m also super excited that November Project Philadelphia just became official!!!  I’m from South Jersey, so it’s super close to home and I can’t wait to share it with all my friends and family in the area.  I forsee a trip home in the very near future, so I can run those Art Museum steps with my new tribe members.

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