I ran the Yankee Homecoming 10 Mile Roadrace last night in Newburyport, another step in my marathon training as I find myself just over two months away from the big day. The race was really terrific, with everything done right, from the course to the water stops to the amazing crowd support, especially from kids asking if they could splash runners with cups of water. The weather was hot and muggy, but a nice rain shower came down, just enough to cool, for about the first five miles, and the shade of the trees helped for most of the rest of the race, so it wasn’t nearly as hot as it could have been. I was under eight minutes my first mile, and then was able to keep steady on a 8:00 to 8:15 pace for the rest of the race, ending in a total time of 1:23.08, which I was pretty happy with. It put me firmly in the first…half of the 1300+ racers who took part; I’ll never be running a sub-6:00 mile, much less 10 (or 26) of them in a row, so the prize money eluded me yet again.

Chris came up with Aimee and I to show us the way and host us at his childhood home, where his dad grilled burgers for us and let me shower after the race. It was a great evening, with traffic just bad enough to remind us how lucky we should feel never having to make that commute, dinner with nice company in a cool house, and a scenic evening run through a beautiful town filled with cheering people.