I started the weekend by getting in my last 20 miler before Chicago. As much as I’d have loved to sleep in, I had to make up for running and watching a race last Saturday – on my wife’s birthday. So I was out the door by 5:30. I ran the first 10 miles paved paths. Once it was light enough I ventured onto the Lebanon Hills trails.
I’m really pleased with how this run went as I felt strong the whole way. I only ate a piece of banana bread and drank some water before heading out the door. I had one gel with me and took that 2:10 into the 2:42 run – more so to practice taking gels than anything else.
At the beginning of my marathon training, my long runs usually leave me tired – to the point where I just want to lie down for awhile once I get home. Of course, with 2 girls at home and having been gone for 2.5+ hours, that’s usually not an option. The good news is this run didn’t wipe me out. I felt great the rest of the day.
This run gave me 75 miles for the week and I closed out September with 295 miles. My previous high for September was 245 miles – 11 years ago.
Hmm, this is already getting long and I haven’t even started talking about the TCM weekend. Here’s my quick take.
It looked like great weather – at least at the start. It was 40 and calm when I woke up. It was probably 45 for the 8 AM start and around 66 at noon. The skies were clear, so the course seemed to warm up pretty good. Hopefully there was enough shade to keep the runners cool.
I watched the 10 mile race just before the 3 mile mark and watched the marathon around miles 16 and 21. I’m not sure if watching has scared me or fired me up for Chicago. Watching strong runners that I know walking up the hill at 21 was not fun. Seeing large positive splits in the results is not fun. I guess if nothing else, I’m reminded to respect the distance and run a smart race. Hopefully I can remember that 3 weeks from now.
Remember the "10K" that I ran last weekend? Well I was happy to see that the guy who finished about 20 seconds behind me ran 1:01:30 for the 10 miler. That calculates to a 2:52 marathon. I’m not sure I’m in that kind of shape, but it provides more feedback than I got for my $25 a week ago.
I’m stealing today’s quote of the day from letsrun.com;
“I still run as fast as I used to. I don’t see anything that makes me think I’m getting slow.” – Mbarak Hussein after winning his second straight TCM at age 41
2 comments:
Congrats with the long run, but I guess it's old news for you. enjoy the taper!
Arcaner, getting in a great run is never old news - especially when it's a 20 miler. It's that feeling that makes me head out the door day-after-day.
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