One Week to Half Marathon Eve: The places I run

Okay, so the title is reflective of how much I'm thinking about this race, but obviously "One Week to Half Marathon Eve" is only really a thing to me...well, me and any other people running their first HM.  I bet it's a thing to them too. :P

This post was originally a lot of rambling nonsense about the workouts I have left to do this week.  I'm not really sure what I hoped to get out of that, and I'm certain it would mean little/nothing to anyone else who happened to stumble upon this.  Luckily for me (and you) as I was going over my taper workouts for the 9 millionth time I stumbled upon something actually interesting to share.

I've wound up with a lot of time to think about running these past few days.  Today, I find myself thinking about the distances I have left to run, and more importantly the places I am lucky enough to get to run.  As soon as I post publish on this blog post I'm going to head outside to walk around my favorite running route at Lake Quannapowitt:

When I moved to Massachusetts I was not a runner.  In fact, as my earlier blog posts attest, I was about the furthest thing from a runner you could find.  And yet, as I was looking for an apartment in a sea of suburbs I could barely tell apart, Lake Quannapowitt was the tie breaker.  It's less than a mile from my house and is 3.25 miles around.  I envisioned myself joining the sea of runners, walkers, and bikers who diligently walk around the lake all year round.

It took me 4 years to get around to actually joining them.

But now it's my favorite place in my favorite time of day, the time when I come home, change into my running/walking clothes and join all of the people enjoying the lake.  It's mostly flat and either 5 miles or 6.25 miles round trip from my door to do one lap around the lake.  It's the perfect distance around to add miles to a long run, or to take a break from running and just do a long walk for the day.  I feel very blessed to have such a perfect default running route.

About once a week I crave a change of scenery and a little more solitude. Luckily for me there are ponds, rivers and trails all over the place.  Some are fast and flat, like my favorite LQ.  Others are hilly and challenging (but still gorgeous!) like my second favorite Spot Pond:

And then there are the places I still need to run, the places I have wanted to run since I saw them, since before I was even a runner.  I have reserved one of those for my last run prior to the half on Thursday.
Thursday is going to kind of be a running treat day for myself.  I remember when I moved to Boston being absolutely stunned by the beautiful, curvy, perfectly runnable Memorial Drive in Cambridge:

I have never run down Memorial Drive.  Depending on where I turn around it could be anywhere from a 3-5 mile run.  I think it's a perfect and iconic training run for my last easy run before my half.  After my run I've decided to treat myself to a mini running shopping spree.  I'm going to get a new pair of my favorite socks & a new lulu headband to color coordinate with my race day outfit (which will be decided as soon as I am more sure what the weather will be, but rest assured, there are 3 contenders ready to go).

Afther that it's all about good fuel, rest and keeping myself in the right headspace for the race.  I can't wait to see the nuance and beauty of that course. :)