Another PR week of nearly 84 miles, topped off with 20 today. Met Pat and Kevin at the River Market and we ran the Little Rock Marathon half-marathon course, basically. Dropped those two off at the finish line, went back out on the course and ran the North Little Rock loop again, which got me to 20 for the day. So I ran the half-marathon today for free, instead of paying $80 for a T-shirt and a little medal tomorrow. :)
Amazing that, 24 hours before a marathon, there was very little clue that there would be a race run over that course. I saw a couple of crews just starting to set up. In fact, there's still a barbecue competition going on at the Clinton Center, four blocks from the LRM start, and the course through there is essentially blocked with RVs towing portable grillers. We had to dodge our way through them and through the clouds of hickory smoke or whatever. Not the smell I really needed at 6:05 a.m. And all of that is going to have to be gone by 8 a.m. Sunday.
Anyway, Pat kinda led the way on the run and Kevin and I tagged along. We started slow, maybe 10:00 pace, and Pat gradually accelerated. Finally, the last half mile or so, we just let him go and we kept on going at our 9:15 pace or whatever we were doing. Kevin is running the relay tomorrow, so he didn't want to burn off too much glycogen, and I knew I was gonna do another six-plus miles after the other two finished.
When I restarted, after a Gatorade/potty break, I continued at a good clip in the low 9s, back across the river just as we'd done two hours before. Came back over the river, hung a left just after the 6-mile marathon marker, and came back to the car. Total of 3:08 for the 20 miles.
I now know that I'm going to be a course marshal for the last few yards before the finish. Which will be fun, but it will also mean a very long day. I have to report at 6 a.m. and stay until 4. No running involved, I guess, so I went ahead and did the 20 today. When I went to the expo last night to pick up my T-shirt and lovely orange vest, I saw a woman flaunting her Boston Marathon warmup jacket, the really gaudy semi-official one (below). I kinda grumbled at her under my breath, but my next thought was, "Next year I'm going to have one of those!"
| 