1,000 Miles for Chase: Aug. 24 - 8.1 Miles; Aug. 25

Great penultimate weekend of running on the way to 1,000. I put in 8.1 in Colchester before driving to New York City for the weekend, and then ran 7.6 in the city Sun morning. The run on Sat was nice--I tried to stay at a very comfortable pace which turned out to be 7:58/mile. I tried to imagine running at this pace for 26 miles, and while I felt good at that pace, I did have to work a bit up hills. This probably means sub-8 is a little too fast for a marathon right now; I really shouldn't feel like anything has leaked out of the tank after 8 miles with 18 more to go. I will keep tinkering with this as the NYC marathon approaches.

Sun's run was amazing. The Bresna family went to Citi Field to see the Mets meekly fall to the Tigers on Sat. The best parts of the game were the weather (perfect), watching my daughter keep a scorecard and the sweet grilled sausage and pepper grinder (ok, and the late inning snack - steak and cheese sandwich). With all that stadium food still weighing me down Sun morning, I lugged myself out of our hotel room at Times Square and headed down to the Freedom Tower at the south end of Manhattan. I ran down 8th Ave. to Hudson, then W. Broadway to Greenwich Ave. The memorial site at the footings of the World Trade Center towers is pretty ensnarled in construction and was not visible from the street. Passes are required and I arrived before it opened to the public, so I didn't get to see that. But the tower was certainly impressive and just thinking about the events of 9/11 and the hallowed grounds was really powerful.

I put in 3.5 miles from 8th and 43rd to the Trade Center area, and 4.1 on my way back. I ran out to the Hudson River which extended the return run a bit. Sat and Sun's miles took my total up to 966--amazing, only 34 to go, with 14 coming on the Sept. 1 finale. So only 20 miles of running between now and next Sun. I can't believe how close the finish line is!

Miles 951-956 on Sat were sponsored by Scott Szymanski & his Mets (Willie Mays (72-73); Willie Montanez (78-79); Willie Randolf (92); Wilmer Flores (13); Wilson Delgado (04) and Wilson Valdez (09))

Miles 957-58 on Sat and 959-66 on Sun were sponsored by Steve Kavanaugh. I have to work out an arrangement with my buddy Steve (Budman) as I promised to wear a Celtics jersey on the run and not only did I fail to do so, I ran his miles in his least favorite locale, New York City. In my defense, I went into a Nike store in Manhattan which had every jersey imaginable (including Brooklyn Nets Pierce and Garnett jerseys) but not surprisingly there was no Celtics jersey in the joint. I have a week to honor my promise and may have to horse trade some miles but I will get it done.

Today's (Sat and Sun) Line:

Date

DoW

ToD

Distance

Time

Min/Mile

Notes

Effort

Total Miles