The Long Run

4.24 mi, 36:16, 8:33 avg, elev gain 52 feet

A bit behind on updating my blog, but wanted to put in an entry for the final day of the year to wrap things up and then I'll try and catch up tomorrow.

I ran the Jacksonville Marathon on 12/15.  Did pretty good, I'd say somewhere around my "B" goal if I had actually made up a,b,and c goals with the "A" goal being a BQ, or sub 3:25.  Actual time was 3:31:05, with a decent first half just under 1:41 (thinking that I could do 3:20 or better but held back just a little).  Rough patch started after crossing mile 16, then a slower mile 17 (8:50), then a small comeback for 18-20, followed by two over 9:00 miles, and finally picked myself back up, and stayed in the 8:11-8:40 range for final miles, with way too much left in the tank for the final kick.  Way better than NYC which was a struggle to get 3:49.

Since the marathon ran 5 shorter runs (with first run one week post marathon), and then attempted 22 miles this past Saturday which turned into a struggle and more like 21.4 than 22.

And finally today, 4.24 miles in Westlake, out and back run, enough miles to get over 130 for the month, felt much better than Saturday.  Running-wise, 2018 started out kind of rough, built back up and decided to train within a schedule which helped a lot and kept my legs pretty fresh with the variety of different work outs, short runs, long runs, extra day off here and there.

Outside of running it was a good year, a few rough patches and some struggles here and there, things that I wish could be better,  but much to be thankful for, and probably even more than I realize.  Hoping for another good year in 2019.

1.27 mi, 12:24, 9:46 avg

(catch up entry on 4/2/19)

New Year's Day better than nothing, get off the couch and go for a run, ran on the trail that goes along the Westlake Lake, good to get out for a little bit - warm 79 degrees.

5.21 mi, 44:02, 8:27 avg, elev gain 66 feet

(catch up entry 4/2/19)

Ran big squarish shaped loop in Palm Harbor, coolish 68 degrees with 94 percent humidity.

It was a pretty good run, I tried the "run gum".  The boys got me a gift bag full of running things for my birthday, one of them was run gum - basically some caffeine and other stuff.

5.06 mi, 50:00, 9:53 avg, elev gain 87 feet

4/1 run/walk practice while wearing the new camelback.  Out and back run from Westlake Village north on Belcher Road and then back the same way. Another sort of cool/warm (72 degrees) with 94 percent humidity.

5.5 mi, 50:00, 9:05 avg, elev gain 150 feet

More 4/1 run/walk practice, pretty much same route as yesterday but I ran faster so went farther and ran on a couple of more hills.

I liked today's run.  Tomorrow is the Croom Zoom 50k.  I'm using it as my long run for the 100 mile Long Haul race coming up.  Probably should have a longer long run but it's a pretty tight schedule and at this point going longer might do more harm than good (they also have a 100k tomorrow which would be ideal if I already had a more recent 50k under my belt).