Boston -70 -- Tue. Feb. 9

Despite a tender spot on achilles tendon, decide to get a hill run in. Measure out the Jucket, Knight's Pond, Gulf, and Federal route, which is about 14 with more than an 800' climb and similar descent. Cold, slight wind, but sunny enough to soften snow; wear shorts but all other gear; carrying a PB sandwich for security, and phone. Head out just before 10, taking a couple of miles to warm up as it's pretty icy: to 9, past VFW, up 202 to Allen, and then up to the 2-mile mark. Stop and stretch. Then continue on Allen to Jucket, and start up the steep climb to the top. After clear roads, the trail is still under snow, though not too deep. Steady climb, just aiming to chug along, and at the top start to feel pretty loose and good: on the downhill stride out a bit, though with the snow, pace is still not fast. Left onto the trail back to 202, cross over and along to Knight's Pond. At 5 miles, pace was 8:10 or so; at one hour, 7.4 miles, so getting closer to 8:00s; then at Gulf, the downhill kicks in, with a 6:28 for mile 9 and 6:45 for mile 10. Keep steady for the pull along Federal and up, then up 9 and from the Roadhouse drop into final mile mode, clocking 6:45 for mile 14. Totals:

Time: 1:47:59
Distance: 14.05 miles
Pace: 7:41s

Comment: so this wasn't intended as a marathon pace run, and the overall pace is a bit slow, but after getting my hill workout and some trail time in, it was good to really go for it to bring the average down. *BIG* negative split, and I felt pretty solid afterwards.