A clydesdale no more!

I've been bad about skimping on my long runs.  Always finding an excuse to cut them short.  It's time to rededicate myself to more serious training and putting in the miles that I should.  After cutting yesterday's run short, I decided to get in a decent long run today.  Besides, I had to test out my new Amphipod that I bought myself for Christmas.  Tried to keep the pace around 8:00/mile throughout the run.  The pace varied with the terrain but were pretty consistent for the most part (averaged 7:51/mile).  I kind of miss those 2+ hour runs where you have lots of time to think.

Pretty worn out from yesterday's run.  Super slow and easy pace.  

Feeling a little yucky and my legs are dead.  Took it easy again today.  This week will probably end up being all easy miles. I usually scale back as the year winds down.

Nice run with a fresh dusting of snow.  Looking at my tracks in the snow, I noticed that my right and left foot prints are in a perfectly straight line.  Is it normal for the right and left feet to land that way? 

I will most likely do a long run tomorrow so I took it easy today.  Legs felt good and recharged.  

Had a great morning with the kids.  Had some Santa tragedy earlier in the week when Emma found her Santa gift but I think I was able to come up with a good enough story to convince her why it was at our house already.  My ex made me a marathon scrapbook including all of my race reports from the blog.  She did a great job and I really appreciated all of the hard work that she put into it.

A few weeks ago while I was debating what to do while my kids were with their mom during Christmas I had the crazy idea of running a marathon.  I would have a few hours which would give me enough time to run it and recover before they got home.  I did have other options but, selfishly, this is something that I wanted to do.  So, I bundled up and headed out the door not knowing if I would be able to finish it.  I was under trained, ran 17 miles 5 days ago and did not carbo load. I knew the only way I would actually do it is if I ran an out and back course giving me no choice but to finish even if I got too tired.  Started heading North and was going to keep going until I hit 13.1 miles then turn around and come home.  I figured that 8:00/mile would be about the right pace. 

Hit the first 6 miles a little too fast and tried to tell myself to slow down.  Didn't do any good as my pace only dropped a few seconds per mile.  I felt good and figured that I would just keep plugging along.  Miles 12 and 13 were uphill and I wasn't expecting it.  Of course, I wasn't complaining when I turned around and had a good downhill.  Felt totally fine until mile 20 when I could start to feel the miles in my legs.  I forgot how much concentration it takes to hold the pace once you get past 20 miles.  Just kept putting one foot in front of the other until I got home.  I probably could have found something more productive to do with my time but I'm glad I did it.  I finished in 3:24:25 which is faster than my first 2 marathons. 

1-7:46
2-7:45
3-7:47
4-7:35
5-7:42
6-7:46
7-7:49
8-7:50
9-7:35
10-7:55 - Made a wrong turn and had to cut through a field to get back on the road.
11-7:53
12-8:11 - Big uphill to Cherry Hill
13-7:59 - Slight uphill
14-7:38 - Slight downhill
15-7:19 - Big downhill
16-7:42
17-7:56
18-7:40
19-7:42
20-7:50
21-7:54
22-8:10 - Lost focus
23-7:51
24-7:47
25-8:02
26-7:43
26.2-7:13/mile

Met the running club and ran with Kathie, Lora and Trevor.  It was a good run and my legs were only sore for the first couple of miles.