Met Kam and Tara on the LPT. We were all about 3.5 miles into the run. We ran at a comfortable pace. Just right for a long run. Kam thought it would be fun to run up to Freedom Hills park and do a couple of laps aournd the park followed up with a run up the switch backs. The run up to the park was bad enough and the run up the switch backs just about killed me. I actually liked the change of pace and the use of different muscles seemed to help endure the long run. Left Kam and Tara after 18 miles and I feared that my pace would plummet again like last time. Focused on keeping it below 8:00/mile. Felt surprisingly good. I knew I was going to be a mile over my planned mileage for the day so I considered walking the last mile home. Felt good enough to run the last mile and still felt really strong when I finished. One of the many marathon predictors out there says that the time it takes to run a 22 mile training run is a good indicator of how fast you can run a marathon. Finished in 2:59 so that is a good sign. | 