Sunday was my last 20 mile run before the Portland Marathon. As such, I was not about to accept any excuses from my body. My goal, smooth 8:30 miles, with no drop off at the end. Around mile 16 in my delirium I decided that mile 20 also had to be my fastest mile. Obviously at that point I was overcome by some runners high… or runner’s insanity, but that is what I decided.
Following the FIRST training plan, I have experienced some endurance issues late in my long runs. The schedule has picked up the mileage a bit now though… and anyway… it is so close to the marathon that I needed to prove to myself that I can sustain pace through a 20 mile training run.
For the most part the run was uneventful, well… except for me losing my mind around mile 16. Around mile 17 I started to hurt… but drove on. Mile 19 came faster than I thought, and I gave it all I got. Would it be enough? No idea… I didn’t know what my fastest previous mile was… =) but I usually keep a pretty consistent pace. I felt like I was sprinting, but I was only moving at 8:15 pace, and I could feel the energy draining out of me fast. I held on and finished the last mile at 8:20. When I got home, I found my previous fastest mile was 8:21. =) WHEW! Success.
So I can run another marathon after all. Final pace was 8:29. Now how does that translate to what I will run in Portland? I am not too worried about that. I think I might reserve that decision to game time. If there is one thing I have learned about running, is that knowing exactly how your body will run on a given day, is hard to predict. I know the signs are there… and I know more experienced runners can probably read them much better than I… but my body just seems a bit unpredictable.
I am looking forward to Portland though. I am getting the butterflies at times… which is damn good. Everyone needs things in their life that gives them butterflies… regardless of what that may be. (Good butterflies… not evil mutant radioactive ones) If stamping a marathon date on my calendar can give me some butterflies… I am all for it.
I can remember sitting on my porch at about 8 year old, waiting for my mom to come home to take me to my little league baseball game. I had those butterflies back then… nervous, anxious, excitement, longing… for Christ sake… I worried that my mom might get in an accident that could cause me to miss the game… yet not for a second about my mom getting hurt! At times I feel my marathon quests now are too self serving… there is so much time spend training… and then hobbling around afterward. It seems to be worth it… but I am lucky I have a wonderful wife that supports me.
1 comment:
Oh, yes, you are lucky. But a little bit of selfishness is sometimes as healthy as butterflies. I still have my last big run before the marathon before me, and I am going to be way slow, no time pressures attached, and it still hangs over me like a cloud.
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