The Green Line took over at 2:45 AM at the NH Technical
College. We enjoyed a beautiful
clear night with lots of stars and a road lit by an almost-full moon, which
made it all the easier to see our breath and the frost forming on the ends of
our noses. It was teeth-chattering
cold, though we all had plenty of work to keep us warm. Leg 20 is notoriously
hard, a middle-of-the-night, 9.2 mile haul up one neverending mountain. It is a
mental beast as much as a physical one, with frequent gentle downswells that
make the runner think he is over the worst part, before pitching sharply uphill
at an angle more severe than the last.
It is so demoralizing to see those red lights bobbing in the night sky
in front of you; you think they are a low-flying aircraft, but really they
belong to the runner who is .25 miles and 1000 vertical feet ahead of you.
Overheard at this Transition Area by an obvious Boston
local: “Holy Shit! That was fackin’ hahd!”
2 comments:
And yet, Weldon did this leg in about 7:00 minutes per mile.
Ahem. Um, 6:32s.
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