I kinda don't believe what I did tonight. See, I'd been having a little crisis of faith, starting to doubt myself in the running sense (the other kind of crisis of faith happened years ago and I stil haven't resolved that one satisfactorily). I wasn't sure I could get my BQ, and I definitely wasn't sure I could complete this weekend's scheduled long run -- a 20-miler with 14 at GMP. I let myself postpone it from Saturday, using the excuse that I had to be in Hot Springs early for Shannon's wedding (which was true but immaterial). Then I let myself go back to bed this morning rather than getting up to do the 20 (I did need the sleep, but I could have taken a nice long nap after the run). Then I almost had myself talked out of it completely this afternoon -- my toe hurt, blah blah. Finally, at 6, I roused myself and went over to the fitness room. If the toe hurt too much to run, I would be right here instead of having to limp miles home from somewhere on the RT. So I set out on the three-mile warmup. So far, so good; toe's not a major issue. It's pretty warm in the fitness room, as it was outdoors, but the ceiling fan helped, I had plenty of water and even some HEED, and I soon got rid of my shirt. So at the three-mile mark, I cranked the TM up to GMP -- 7.9 mph, or 7:35 pace, and settled in. Soon became obvious that the legs would be fine at that pace, but the warmth continued to be an issue. Drained my fluid supply quickly and had to stop twice to go get some more, but I maintained 7:35 for about 105 minutes -- which means I ran a half-marathon on the TM about five minutes faster than I did at Hogeye three weeks ago. Then I jogged in the last three miles. And the toe never was a big issue, although there was some discomfort throughout. Rest of the week's kind of a backoff, especially after a 14 in Tuesday, and a mini-taper for Toad Suck. After that, four weeks to blastoff. | 