March 10, 2007
Start temp 38, end temp 55. Sunny, light breeze. Please Lord, grant me a marathon with this weather.
I wasn't too sure about this long run. Usually by the Friday before a long Saturday run I'm already looking forward to the challenge; I'm eager, itchy to get it under way. It wasn't that I didn't want to run today, but I just wasn't in any hurry to get going, so when I finally started out I wasn't sure what I had in me.
This was a 20 miler, and I had decided early on that I wanted it to be longer than 20 if possible so my mileage for the week could be over 40. Dumb reason, but that's what I was thinking.
I had also decided that I would try to average a little over 10 min. per mile on the way out, and just under 10 on the way back. Furthermore, I was going to experiment with run-a-mile, walk-a minute to see if I could stretch my endurance, the main thing I worry about.
I ran the trails at Smithville Lake, which are outstanding, and stuck to the plan. The miles rolled by and I felt fresh for 19 miles. The last mile is mostly up hill, and it kind of sucked the last of my energy. But when I hit the start/finish line with a half mile left to 20, I just kept going. My final mileage was 20.38, and yes, my mileage for the week was over 40 by a quarter mile. Whoohoo!