Ah, Denny’s. How’re things going, Laurel? I hear you’ve got a new book out….
Workouts at the track with the Nike Pacers are now run completely in the dark, which is a bit surreal until you get in your groove and realize the track isn’t going to move, or suddenly drop away, simply because you can’t see it. And at the very least, you can use sonar to locate yourself, since Coach Terrence and Pacer Kevin never. stop. talking.
The gift of the evening was definitely not the tough workout–my 7:30 pace group ran 1200-1600-1200, with a 400 m recovery in between, our slowest lap pace being 7:21 mpm and fastest being 6:56 mpm. No, the gift of the evening was the full moon, which hung over the East River, looking like a perfectly fried egg yolk, ironically prepared sunnyside up. Know I was thinking of you, dear running readers, at this moment: I wish I had my Blackberry so I could take a picture for my blog.
I’d deliberately dropped down to the 7:30 group after last week’s rough go with the 7’s (after all, Sunday’s race was a speed workout in and of itself; after all, I am tapering). Nevertheless, nevertheless, my muscles all took turns burning and tightening on me. Calves, quads, then my glutes, calves again, and finally my dear hamstrings. Clearly they did not want to be left out and decided to cry for some attention, too. I can sympathize. I did sympathize, but that doesn’t mean I slowed down.
Bonus for me: DT was there tonight, trying out a new fuel belt she may want to wear for the marathon (it was a flop). We talked about our PRs from Sunday–DT broke 2 hours for the first time ever, after running 7 miles before the race!! High Five, Lady–our goals for the marathon, and of course how much we’ve been eating (A LOT). Her hamstring was bothering her, too.
We both agreed: better to have our muscle twinges now, under the moon during our taper, than out in the sun on race day.
Pigtails Flying 
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