Fast finish long run 20 miles in 2:24:14, 7:12/mi, HR 151. 2.58 mi cooldown run/trudge to the car in 21:19, 8:16/mi, HR 145. Goal for today was FF Long run including 12 miles at ~:45-1:00 slower than MP, 6 miles MP, and 2 miles 10K race pace. Decided to run a couple of paved trails and meet my wife in Olympia for some follow-on errands afterwards so I was a bit out of my normal element for logistics. Wound up carrying one 24oz bottle of powerade with me. First few miles were rough because of winds. Then the rain started but I managed to settle into a good rhythm and the pace (7:30-7:45) seemed pretty easy. Then the first set of hail arrived with more winds and I was carrying a few extra pounds of water in my clothes. Next the stomach cramps started and next thing I knew I was taking not one but two unscheduled pit stops in the middle of the woods. Resumed my trek passing thru intermittent rain and hail storms with occasional sun breaks that switched from very cold to almost unbearably hot and humid. Increased speed at mile 12 to start hitting 6:40-6:50 miles. Found it a bit tough to keep that kind of speed and having difficulty mentally but refocused on the task and hand and settled in. Next six miles were 6:50, 6:50, 6:42, 6:46, 6:39, 6:45. Somewhere around this time the trail dumped me out in the middle of a road and disappeared. Uh oh. Took my best guess now worried about how to link up with Dianna afterwards if I didn't know where I was and pressed on. Bad encounter with a bus who decided to pull into a pedistrian crossing right in front of me. I expressed my displeasure with a loud slap on the bus rear which evidently startled the driver but I was more than a tad bit mad. Ran out of sidewalk, realized I'd lost the trail and turned around to try to find it. At this point, the last 2 of the fast finish miles kicked in and I did my best 10K race speed impression, which at this point was closer to 15K race speed. Wound up backtracking and finding the trail again and hit the last two miles in 6:27 and 6:25 but couldn't have run at that pace much longer. This was really a tough run on so many levels but I felt good afterwards. Takeaways are that I need to reproduce my rehydration/fueling plan better on these runs, that tough paces are maintainable if I just focus on the task at hand instead of thinking about how much distance is left, and that it's better to know your route. Due to my detour, I was now a couple of miles away from my pickup point, so I wound up running another 2.58 miles to complete the course. Probably a good thing as my calves were very tight from the short walk I did immediately after the initial run while calling my wife to let her know I was alive. Fed ourselves at the local IHOP afterwards and I consumed the entire plate. One of the other tasks at hand for the day was my marathon course recon. Decided to drive the route with my Garmin on the dash. First, I'm glad we did as the course has many twists and turns in some sections that are good to know about in advance. It's also nice to have a bit of a clue where the course goes in case the signage is poor. But mostly all I'll remember is thinking "how did they manage to put some many hills in this thing!" The course is definitely hilly and will be challenging. I was pretty depressed after driving it thinking the sub-3 will be tough. After I uploaded the garmin results, I realized that although it looked bad and definitely had some steeper climbs/descents, the overall profile of the course is no worse than my normal run route x 2 which is about 22 miles total. I'll have to remind myself of that several times over the next few weeks as final preparations are made. Adrenaline 8 - 65.58 miles.
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