Marathon or bust

I'm getting ready for church and figured I'd better update everyone.

I ran an easy 5 miler on Thursday afternoon after flying back into town. No jokes about my arms being tired. It was a long day so I didn't do any kind of speed work or hill work . . . just an easy relaxing run.

Saturday morning was PERFECT for a long run! It was sunny, a slight breeze and low 40s. None of my normal running crowd was out. Chip's at the beach, Dom was working, Marc was going mountain biking. The prospect of running my 20 miler by myself was a little distracting but I figure it would help toughen me up. I was lucky that I did hook up with one of my other neighbors, Shelly and her friend Kris. They were doing an 8 miler prepping for the Nashville half. I ran about 4 or 5 miles with them before they finished up so I had some company for about 40 minutes.

The run was definitely a confidence booster. I did 20.5 miles and could have gone at a couple of more with no problem. I ran what felt like a slow pace thru 18 miles and then picked it up for the last 2 1/2 miles. Total time for the run was 3 hours, 5 minutes. That works out to 9:01.5 pace. I think that if I stay healthy and stick to the program I will break 4 hour marathon. I need to average 9:09 to break 4 hours and I really felt like I could have done that yesterday. I still have 4 good weeks of hard running before I start tapering. I think I will try to get a 22 or 23 miler in two weeks and another 20 in four weeks.

I'M PUMPED!