I saved my weekly long run for today, since I was out of town all weekend and didn't have a chance to get it in then. It was a good break because it gave me some extra time to heal my Achilles tendon/calf muscle, which has given me trouble for a few weeks now.
My leg was actually kind of sore on Sunday, but when I got up this morning it felt pretty good. I stretched it a little, put a rubber heel cup in my shoe and a special strap around the Achilles, jump into the car and headed for the Smithville Lake trail.
What a beautiful day this was. Sunny, cool, a little breeze once in a while. I counted 10 deer that watched me go by along the way. I encountered only 3 other humans.
I didn't expect it, but my leg felt good almost all the way. It wasn't until about mile 18 that it began to complain a bit about the pounding it was getting. Even then it never got bad, just noticeable. Other parts of my body hurt a bit by then, too, for that matter.
Because it was cool, and because my leg didn't hurt, my pace was faster than I originally planned. My first mile was 9:47, but I picked it up quickly after that. Fifteen of my mile splits were under 9 minutes, including all 10 of them on the way back. My overall average was 8:59:43 which, if I could have maintained it, would have produced an under-4 hr. marathon. I don't think I could have maintained the pace, though, because I didn't really manage the run properly. The splits were OK for a 20-mile run, but I wouldn't have pushed it as much early if I was going the full 26 miles.
What this run tells me, though, is that if the stars align properly on Oct. 20, I am capable of running under 4. Despite cutting my weekly miles almost in half in an effort to heal my leg, I'm still in the best shape I've ever been in for a marathon.
I just pray nothing else goes wrong before race day.
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