Early lunch. 10 miles. 80F, windy. From work out and about. Easy.

Test driving the marathon shoes.

AM - 3.7 miles. Mostly sun, 64F, light breezes. Short progression run around the workplace.

9:04, 8:12, 8:01, + .7 @ 8:00

30:49/8:21 avg.

AM - 7 miles easy around the hood. 67F, breezy.

I read on an experienced runners blog yesterday how his legs always felt sluggish during a taper, so I'm not going to worry about how sluggish my legs are feeling during this taper.

Bib# 405

No run today. A real short and easy run tomorrow.

I've run 3 marathons in my life. I was 31 yrs. old when I ran my first. My time was 4:23 - ish. My second was four years after that and my time was 4:21 - ish. My third was four years after that. I developed an injury in my foot and by mile 18 I was sitting on the side of the road waiting for the medical van to pick me up. It never came so I walk/jogged to the finish in 5:18 - ish. That was six years ago. My training for all 3 marathons consisted of very little training. I ran at most 4 days a week. I think I once ran a fifty-five mile week. I did manage to run at least one twenty miler a month before each marathon. But really, what was I thinking? So this time I've trained much differently than before. I'm 14 years older than I was when I ran my first marathon. Should be interesting to see what happens the day after tomorrow.

PM edit: So I'm mostly packed. Trying to prepare for all contingencies. I anticipate it being rather chilly up Blacksmith Fork Canyon before the marathon, with maybe some wind. So I want to bundle up well, then strip down right before the start because it will probably nice and toasty by the time I'm halfway through. Better to be under dressed than overdressed while on the run IMO. I'm charging my garmin and making pancakes for dinner. Why am I blogging about this? Just nerves I guess.

AM - 3.6 easy miles. 2nd mile @MP. Around the hood. Nice morning.

This thrills me more than woulda, muddy old river or reclining buddha...

Splits: 1)8:17 2)8:06 3)8:19 4)8:28 5)830 6)8:37 7)8:35 8)8:16 9)8:26 10)8:37 11)8:38 12)8:30 13)8:18 14)10:57 (long awaited POP stop) 15)8:30 16)8:35 17)8:30 18)8:54 19)9:48 20)11:21 21)9:17 22)10:07 23)12:06 24)12:10 25)11:00 26)10:42 +.45) 4:05 (9:00 pace)

I ran the first 18 miles in 2:35:10 (an 8:37 avg. pace, including 2+ mins. POP break). I ran the last 8.45 miles in 1:30:44 (a 10:44 avg. pace!). BONKAGE! Still, I had me a pretty good 18 mile tempo run today, with a long cooldown.

Yikes! Well, in spite of not getting a 3:45 like I had hoped. I did get a 15 minute PR, and I'm ten years older than when I ran my previous PR (albeit without training). So, I feel like it wasn't a complete disaster. At mile 18 I was on pace for a 3:45:45, then the wooden wheels began to crumble. The aid station at mile 19 resembled a war scene with runners walking, stopping to stretch, groaning, and no conversation going on. I knew I was in trouble. Even if I hadn't crashed, I wouldn't have run the last 8 miles fast enough to reach my goal, as the previous 18 miles were downhill, and mile 19 is where a lot of uphill began. I ended up taking walk breaks somewhere in mile 22, and they increased in frequency as I got closer to the finish. Yeah, good stuff. Marathons are fun!

 So, a great experience for me. I got to meet some bloggers finally. Thanks to Paul for graciously offering a room at his house, AND for feeding me. I believe Paul's performance today had a lot to do with his new coffee maker. I was pleased to meet Ashbaker, as he stayed there too. I also met Allie and Redrooster at the pickup. At the start I got to tag along with the local elites on a journey to Oz (line - free bathroom facilities!), where I also met AdamRW, Cody and Sasha.(I don't know how I missed Jon, looking forward to meeting him down the road sometime).  Everybody was great and offered words of encouragement and advice to me. I really think we have a group of outstanding individuals here on the blog. 

I'm looking forward to running another marathon again and improving on my time. I'll need to train better so I can maintain through those last 8 miles!