Not on running, not really, but on posting! Last week I had a close call--I was sick on Wednesday and took Wednesday and Thursday off from running. Between the illness and my tendency to think the worst, I was pretty sure I'd never ever feel well enough to run again. (I am a peach to deal with when I get like that). Believe it or not, though, I got all the miles in: 9 on Friday, 5 on Saturday, and 14 on Sunday. The heat has been killer--as soon as I step into sunlight, even, say, 7:30 am sunlight, I can feel it sucking the energy out of me. (Maybe that's how it stays so hot?) The 14 miles on Sunday weren't horrible--and that's about all I can say about that.
The week before last, I did my first 18 mile run. I really went out there planning to take it in chunks--just four 4.5 mile runs, right? I handled it well in the beginning. I took short walk breaks at the end of each chunk and felt pretty much in control and solid at the half-way point. At the 12 mile point I refilled water bottles at the skate park and still felt really good. After that it was getting later and I started to encounter some of that evil sunlight I mentioned earlier. The last 4 were tough. It was hard to keep going more than a mile without a break. I finished the run with a 10:40 mm average pace and I was ok with that. I've really revised my speed expectations since hitting the 16 and 18 mile distance. I hope race pace will be a little better than that, but right now I'd just like to keep my marathon time under 5 hours.
This week is the highest mileage week--5 tomorrow, 10 Wednesday, 5 Thursday, 20 Saturday. Aside from worrying about how to get all those miles in before work, since we started back today, I'm feeling fine about it. The 20 miler will be tough, but I'll get it done.
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