I'm retired from racing. Really.

My running schedule had me running a back-to-back long runs later this week, but the weather forecast convinced me to move it up.  Today was ideal weather (36 deg, slight breeze), with 2-4 inches snow tonight which will affect my run tomorrow.  But, every other day for the next 10 days was either very cold (highs in the teens, lows near 0) or snowy, so I decided to just get this big workout over with. 

The plan was 5 hrs today (35 miles?), 3.5-4 hrs tomorrow (25 miles?).  Pace is about 100 mile race pace (8:30-ish), with a 2 min walk break every 30 minutes.  I drove to the IF greenbelt and started at 11 am.  Jeff Shadley ran with me the first 75 min, which made the first 9 miles pass very quickly.  Good to see him again, and we ran into Dan S, as well.  Then I was on my own.  I looped all around the various parts of the greenbelt, from Freeman park in the north to Sunnyside in the south.  I had a bit of a rough patch from miles 20-25, but then felt much better after that and increased my pace to 7:45/mile for a bit.  After 25 miles, my feet and knees were really complaining about the hard blacktop, so I ran the last 10 miles almost exclusively on grass/snow, which made it a bit harder and slower.  But, I felt good and enjoyed that part. 

I passed the marathon mark at 3:40, which coincidentally is 90 seconds faster than my 2004 Boston marathon time (that's a painful story for another day).  The last 90 minutes surprisingly seemed to pass quickly.  I slowly increased the pace and really pushed it the last 30 min, with 3-7:30 miles and a final mile of 7:12. Ran exactly 36.01 miles in exactly 5:00:01- 8:20 pace, faster than expected (especially since it included the walk breaks- I didn't stop my watch).

Celebrated the finish with Nestle Quik and a banana.  My fueling and gear worked great (no hot spots or blisters), and had no physical problems other than some slight twinging in my right arch which I'll monitor. Tomorrow will be a difficult run, since I'm not fueling a lot before then so I'll intentionally be glycogen depleted.  It will hurt like H-E-Double Hockey Stick, but that's the whole point- learn to run when tired.  Should be fun.

AM- Long run part II.  I was glad to see the predicted snow missed us last night, though it did snow a fair amount during my run.  Temp was pretty nice- 33 deg, though there was a strong breeze at times.  Plan was 3.5-4 hrs, 25-29 miles (depending on feel).

Run went fine for a while and I felt pretty good.  Ran 90% on snow/grass again, which was softer yet slower than pavement.  Jeff ran with me from about mile 11 till 17, which was very welcome.  Averaged sub-8:30 pace through mile 20, when I stopped to change my shoes, socks, and shirt in an attempt to get warm and dry.  However, during miles 20 thru 22 I made the mistake of heading out to the exposed Snake River landing.  The headwind had really picked up and the light snow turned into a driving sleet.  I was cold, wet, tired, and pretty miserable; in other words, I felt exactly as I had hoped during this run.  However, fighting the elements really sapped my strength. 

The weather improved markedly when I turned around, but right then my hips started hurting.  A lot.  I've never had hip problems before, so this was new territory (then again, I've never ran 60+ miles in 2 days before, either).  The pain slowed me to 9 min pace for 3 miles.  At this point, I decided discretion is the better part of valour and called it a day.  I slogged the final 1.5 miles back to my car at 10 min pace.  Total 25.5 miles in 3:41:25.

The next few days will be recovery and deciding if my hips are injured or just sore/tired.  The whole purpose of this week was this double long run, so I'll take as much time as needed to recover.

Merry Christmas, everyone!