First Twenty-Miler of this Training Cycle

I'm about six weeks into this training program, with about seven or eight weeks left until taper starts, depending on the length of the taper. I'm reaching the point where the mileage is climbing (ran an all-time high of 51 miles last week), the long runs are really long, and body parts are beginning to hurt. I realize that I need to practice motivating myself to make this time goal a reality. I also realized today that the pain from training is what will prepare me to really race the marathon, and the marathon will hopefully seem like cake after all of these long runs.

Today's schedule called for 17 miles. I met Chip at 5:50 a.m., and noticed that getting out of bed at 4:40 a.m. is getting easier than it used to be. We started the first 7 mile loop in light rain, about 43 degrees, and of course, total darkness. I was supposed to be running 9:20's, but neither Chip nor I was feeling the love, we averaged about 9:38 for the first loop. Back at Fleet Feet we hooked up with about five other runners, including Lynne M. And Greg van I. I ran with Greg for a while and was able to pick up the pace quite a bit for about three miles, but Greg was really slowing down for me so at that point I let him run up ahead, and I ran back to Chip and John Fabbro from Fleet Feet. We slowed down again, back to 9:30's. But a benefit of not pushing it was that at mile 17, I felt good and was able to continue with Chip for another three miles. Actually, it was another 3.35. Chip and I argued because I thought the run was done when my garmin said 20.0, but he had mapped the course on Google Maps and that said 20.6, so he said we had to do the whole course. So 20.35 was actually a compromise position... neither one of us was happy!