Long Run - Day 5 (20 Miles)

20 Miles!

Wowee Maui! I titled all these posts in "days", but I really should have said "weeks" because that's what it is. Day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out - a lot of work and grind and sacrifice ramping up to the marathon!

HELP ME!  Just Kidding!

Excuse me - I need to make a call!

I try to make it sound real ominous, and it IS real work and real hard, but I think you all know I wouldn't have it any other way! To be honest, no one loves running 20 miles. Hell, it takes me considerable time just trying to figure out what route to take that actually adds up to 20 miles - it's harder to do than you think! HOWEVER, I felt pretty good when done. There was no, oh my god, I must stop moment, no wall - which is amazing in its own right! I had a few aches and pains the next few days and try to avoid stairs because my knee and shin bones hurt on the way down, but c'mon - it WAS TWENTY MILES... so that's kinda to be expected! Either way, coming off of a long run like that and not being totally physically and emotionally devastated is a big confidence booster! I now have that in my memory banks to draw from when the final 6.2 are looking me in the face!

It's official!

Anyways, I sort of made up my own training schedule and decided that 20 miles would be the furthest I would go in training, so THAT WAS IT! I'm 3 weeks away from D-Day and starting my "taper" down. I'm still working out 6 days a week, but next Saturday's long run will only be 13 miles, and then only 8 miles the week after that. This will give my body time to recoup and hopefully I'll have fresh and rearing to go legs by January 15th!

Did I mention we ran on Christmas Eve? Here's my most awesome friends wearing the Santa hats that Irene bought for everyone!

OH, just a side note for drivers - BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! Since I'm a runner and know the dangers, I would consider myself pretty aware of pedestrians and fellow runners, but even I have had some really close calls when driving. During our trek (Thank you Fresno for having such awesome trails across town) we triggered the flashing lights at a trail crossing and then gasped as the first car approaching stopped for us while the second car rear ended them! We hadn't even stepped into the road yet, so that REALLY SUCKED! Anyways, slow down and watch out!