First Track Tuesday of Septemeber

ERA of WTF………………….joy and resistance

Do you remember……… Time to play Earth, Wind & Fire's "September." We are here. Bye, August. This is the first day of school, primary voting day, and Track Tuesday. There's a lot going on this morning. After track, I'm going to vote, then I have a bridal appointment, and then I'll be on campus for our department meeting. This is how September 1st is starting.

First, track. I see we have six 800s on deck for today, at a 10K pace, but the last 600 should be at a quicker pace. I'm not sure what that means exactly — maybe 5K pace. I'm trying to do my best and fuel properly before track: getting that half a bagel with peanut butter and jelly in.

Driving to MIT's track, it was dark and gloomy on Storrow Drive. The sunny early-morning daylight is gone. When I got to track, I could see students moving in. Everyone's moving in, because the Fall 2026 semester is about to start all over the city.

I was happy the track was open. It was a bit muggy out. Then it started to do a light little sprinkle, and then some medium rain. One of the runners on Team Red had to step out — it was raining and she wasn't going to get wet, because she had to work.

The medium rain didn't last long. She came back. And it seemed like more people showed up after the rain stopped. I had to do my track math: 800s are two times around the track. Got it. I wasn't as sure about the 600s and when to pick up the pace — thank goodness Jill was there to let me know.

An 800 at 10K pace for Red equals finishing at 4:45. The goal, then, was to be under 4:45. That made sense to me and was easy to follow. Even though I wasn't sure exactly where the 600 pace should kick in, I knew to be under the target.

I was good for the first five times around. It got muggy and, to be honest, I got tired. I asked Jill to take the lead for the sixth 800 and told her I'd jump in after the 400 mark — I needed a bit of a break. Once I had that, I was good to go.

It was a lot, but it was good. As usual, our energy was great. Then I had to go get my September 1st crazy activities going.