Long run. Average pace: 9:46.
I'm not sure what the outside temp was, but it was warmer than I expected it to be.
I got up at 5:00 and ate a bowl of oatmeal and a banana, then got dressed and drove to the house where I was meeting my friend and her husband. We got started on the run at about 6:00. They are training for the Honolulu marathon. Afterward, they joked that I should go to Hawaii and do that marathon because I ran a little better today than my friend did, but I don't want to run 21 miles two weeks for now, like they are planning to do.
Their dog went on the run with us. She is a very well behaved dog. They let her off leash but she was pretty good about sticking with us or coming back when she was called. For the first 10 miles or so, she kept sprinting on ahead of us and would then have to come back, but by the end of the run she was just keeping up with us.
We went out a little faster at the beginning than I typically do, so the run was a bit of a struggle for me, but I could do it. We really kept a pretty steady pace throughout. It was a basically flat course. It was a dirt trail and I got some tiny pebbles and dirt in my shoes, which was kind of annoying.
Next week is supposed to be an easy week for me and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what crazy demon possessed me to run 18 miles today. I was originally planning on doing 12 or 14 today, but when I found out that my friend and her husband were running this trail today, I decided to go with them because I had never run this trail before and wanted to find out about it.
I rented "Spirit of the Marathon" from Amazon.com Unbox last night and watched it on the computer. My 6-year-old daughter watched some of it with me and she saw kids holding up signs for their parent who was running the Chicago Marathon. I told her that my next race is a 5K on Thanksgiving Day, so she's making a sign to hold up for me. I also told her that there's a free kids race that day and so she's also making a sign for me to hold up to cheer her on. I guess I'll have to be sure and register for that Turkey Day 5K now.
In the movie it seemed like the first-time marathoners only did one 20-mile run before the marathon. The old guy commented that they tell you that you can do that and then you'll be able to run the marathon, but that's it's not true because you hit the wall, but then you push through it. I don't want to be like that. I want to run 20 or more several times before my first marathon. I don't think that you necessarily have to hit the wall if you train properly and then race at a speed that your training supports. Maybe I'm wrong because I've never run a marathon and I don't know, but that's my guess at this point.
Hey! I'm only 4 spots behind Snoqualmie on the weekly mileage board. But she's doing a long run today and she did her last one last Sunday, so she'll be way ahead of me after she records today's run. Oh well. I can enjoy it for now. | 