Marathon-pace run - 16 miles w/ 12 @ marathon goal pace. 8:21 am, 43-52°F, 25% humidity, wind 9 SSW, all by myself on the Highline Canal Trail. I had good intentions to get up early and get this run done in time to be showered before the start of Saturday-morning General Conference at 10 am. But I gave up that intention in favor of an attempt at more sleep. I have been having a little issue with some PF pain in my right foot since about last Tuesday. It wasn't really bad, but it was bad enough yesterday that it bothered me all day, but I could walk on it. So I did some significant things yesterday to try to keep this thing from derailing my marathon training. I think the cause is that I've been running too much in racing flats and my feet apparently just aren't strong enough for that. All my non-racing flat shoes were getting old, so I went out and bought myself a new pair of Brooks Adrenalines. I think for now I need to wear sturdier shoes for longer runs, and save the racing flats for the shorter runs. I also bought myself a Strassburg Sock, and wore it to bed last night. Finally, I went in to see my ART guy last night and had him work on my foot. That might have been the most helpful thing. My foot had been bothering me all day Friday, but as soon as the ART guy finished working on me (and nothing he has ever done to me before has hurt like this did), I could stand on it and it didn't hurt and it hasn't bothered me except for a wee little bit at the start of my run since. Maybe the Strassburg Sock helped too, but it was sure uncomfortable to sleep in. I tossed and turned and didn't sleep well, and finally took it off at about 4 a.m. Now, after the run (for which I wore the new shoes), my foot feels okay in terms of the PF pain, but the stupid big toe, which has also been bothering me since last Tuesday, is not very happy. When I got in my car to drive home, I took off my shoes and socks and drove home barefoot and I kept getting shooting pains in my big toe. I guess I should say something about the run, even though this post is getting long. The run went fine. I tried to use the first 4 miles to work up to the target pace. My marathon pace, based on my recent 1/2 M race, is 8:19. But Pfitzinger says to run at goal marathon pace. To reach my goal of a 3:30 marathon, I need to run 8:01 pace. So I decided to target my MP miles between 8:01 and 8:19. I hit that target except for the last mile, which I ran a little bit faster, not because I was feeling good. I wasn't. I was feeling lousy. I just wanted to be done. It's been a long time since I've run to the 8-mile marker on that trail. I usually do multiple shorter out and backs. The trail was in great shape. All the snow and ice is gone, it was dry, and it wasn't too rutted. On the way out, I passed several other runners. I didn't see as many runners on the way back, though I did pass some. It turned out that the wind was more or less behind me on the way out (which I did not realize at the time) and so I was more or less going into the wind on the way back, particularly in the last half mile. On the way back, I had to grab my hat several times to keep it on, and one time it blew off. I stopped to pick it up and rested for about 10-20 seconds. That was my only stop during the run. (I paused my watch, so the splits don't show it.) That's one difference about running on the trail verses on the roads. On the roads, I have to stop and wait for lights at intersections. The trail crosses some roads, but mostly they're small roads with little traffic. The route I took today crossed two busy roads, but those roads both had underpasses for the trail. AP: 8:23. Splits: 9:44, 9:12, 8:51, 8:37, 8:05, 8:12, 8:06, 8:08, 8:14, 8:16, 8:14, 8:11, 8:07, 8:15, 8:07, 7:53. So average pace for the MP portion (if I did the math right), was 8:09.
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