(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 13)

If there’s been one thought that’s dominated my brain these past few weeks it is just how difficult running a marathon is.

And, close behind, just how difficult it is to train for a marathon.

It is shocking to me that people are out there running 5 minute miles over the course of 26 miles and other people are plowing through 20-mile training runs with what seems like minimal effort.

I thought this time around I’d have a better go at it because I knew what to expect…but it is just as hard.

And in some cases harder - my body has more aches and pains this time around - maybe from the pounding of a second marathon in just six months?

At the very least, if it comes down to it, I know where to find a good hospital on Marathon Monday.

I’m only kidding.

I have no worries that I will end up in the hospital at any point during the remainder of training or while running the marathon itself.

But I do enjoy running past Newton-Wellesley Hospital at right around Mile 17 of the Boston Marathon course.

Hospitals can be rough - there’s not always good news there.

But I have very positive associations with this hospital - it’s where all three of our girls were born. (A niece and a nephew, too…but I wasn’t there for those. I was there for our three, though, and let me tell you: IT WAS WILD.)

It’s also where my eye doctor has an office.

So I spend a lot of time at Newton-Wellesley.

(I was just there this week for an eye appointment for one of my daughters. Everything looks good [haha, eye doctor joke] and I snapped this picture of the marathon route from the parking garage, which seems like it would be a pretty cool place to see the race go by.)

As for its position on the marathon course, that’s pretty great too. It comes after you climb the first of the big hills - over I-95.

The road flattens out there and then there’s a slight downhill from the hospital until you make the right turn onto Route 30 and begin the climb for big hill number two.

In my mind it’s kind of like an oasis, the last chance to collect yourself before hitting the hills. That picture at the left is the approach to the hospital, once you finish climbing up over I-95, you curve to the left past that streetlight and then slope downwards.

There are so many times my mind wanders on these long runs. I should be thinking about my running form, I should be thinking about my running pace - and I do - but there is a lot of time to think. Sometimes I do a lot of math, figuring out what time I’ll hit certain parts of the course.

Sometimes when I come back from a little mind wander I have to reassociate myself with where I am. Kind of like driving - that happens to everyone when they drive, right? Not that you’re driving dangerously, you just snap back to attention and you’re like, “Oh, I’m here now.”

That’s how it is when I’m running.

But every time I pass Newton-Wellesley Hospital I’m aware of it.

And it makes me happy, because I’ve had three of the happiest moments of my life right there.

So that’s a nice thing that happens at Mile 17 of a 26-mile journey.

Bonus Marathon Route Note

This is kind of funny: A couple of miles before you hit Newton-Wellesley Hospital is my doctor’s office. And there’s a picture of the doctors from the practice in the office’s window.

So every time I run past my doctor’s office, I see his face watching me run past and I don’t know whether I should feel like he’s there to take care of me if I need him or if he’s admonishing me.

At the very least it makes me think, “Are you sure you should be doing this?”

Every time, so far, I land on “Yes.”

What I’ve Been Enjoying

“Aftermath” - The Rolling Stones
“It’s A Shame About Ray” - The Lemonheads
“Jubilee” - Japanese Breakfast
Being John Malkovich
Little Women
Deadpool

Little Women was amazing. (Fun fact: [not-so-fun, really] I took Little Women out from the library in February, 2020 because I had never read it. I had it for months before the library opened up again. Been meaning to watch this movie since then, too. I guess I should specify this was the 2019, Greta Gerwig version. That Greta Gerwig knows what she’s doing.)

Notes

*Let’s start with this week’s running update: I did 17 miles on Saturday, and it went a lot better than last week’s 21 miles. The weather was much better - about 40 degrees when I started at about 7:30am and about 50 when I ended at about 10:30am - and, I can not stress this enough - it was DRY. I think last week’s foot issue was bad because I had a wet sneaker weighing down on a wet sock weighing down on a sensitive part of my foot.

*I rested the foot all week and iced it periodically, wrapped it periodically, and I’m going to do the same this week…hopefully with a couple more mid-week runs mixed in. I don’t want to ruin anything with an injury this late in the training process - I’m guessing resting my foot is better than running at this point. I don’t think my conditioning is going away. I’m as able to run 26 miles as I will be. But if the foot isn’t able to hold weight for almost 5 hours…that’s going to be the big problem.

*We are just three weeks away as of Monday! If you want to help me reach my fundraising goal you can donate at this link! Thank you for all of your support for me, for Team Framingham, and for the Wonderfund.

*If you’re local and looking for a fun way to support my run, you can buy a ticket to the April edition of Comedy Night at Exhibit ‘A’. I’ll be hosting a fun lineup and Exhibit ‘A’ is generously donating 100% of ticket sales to the Wonderfund as part of my fundraising. If you can’t make the show - just make a donation at the Given Gain link in the previous bullet - it all goes to the same place and it is all appreciated more than you know.

*If you want to catch up on the series of posts highlighting spots along the Boston Marathon route here are all the links. We’ve got (in order of appearance along the route):

*I know at one point I said I would Strava art for donations of $50 or more. Listen. I tried. It did not go well. I tried writing out names in my running and it just looks like a drunk squirrel took over my Strava. If you want me to try something specific, get in touch.

*The social media plugs are as follows: You can Like my Facebook page here, you can follow me on Twitter here, and my new-ish running Instagram page is @johnnyrunsalot.

*I haven’t seen much spring training action yet, but I am excited about the 2022 baseball season - particularly the Mets. I am especially happy that Buck Showalter is the team’s manager. I’ve always liked him a lot and he’s done nothing but impress me ever since the Yankees let him go in 1995. (It certainly worked out for the Yankees, but I always thought he got short shrift there.) It would be fantastic if Showalter got his first World Series win while bringing the Mets a championship.

*That said, I’m just not feeling the same urge to write about the Mets in 2022 the way I tried to do in 2021.