Every Run is a Great Run!

Final taper 3 miler. Was going to do this run yesterday morning but heard raindrops so I promptly went back to bed and decided today would be dandy :). Hoping for sub-3:25 and BQ for StG. Here is my per-mile pacing plan to get me there. This is roughly based on Andy Browning's racesmartpacebands.com recommendations as well as my prior race experiences. As always I reserve the right to throw out the plan entirely come race day and do something else, usually something really dumb. If I'm feeling good around mile 14/15 and/or 20/21 I'll push the pace a bit and see if I can sneak under 3:20 or even get close to 3:15. For any others shooting for similar goal time I'd love to work together and see if we can help each other out!

1 8:00 8:00
2 8:00 16:00
3 7:30 23:30
4 7:30 31:00
5 7:45 38:45
6 7:30 46:15
7 7:30 53:45
8 8:45 1:02:30
9 8:15 1:10:45
10 8:00 1:18:45
11 8:30 1:27:15
12 8:00 1:35:15
13 7:45 1:43:00
14 7:45 1:50:45
15 7:30 1:58:15
16 7:15 2:05:30
17 7:45 2:13:15
18 7:30 2:20:45
19 8:15 2:29:00
20 7:30 2:36:30
21 7:15 2:43:45
22 7:30 2:51:15
23 7:30 2:58:45
24 7:45 3:06:30
25 7:45 3:14:15
26 7:45 3:22:00
.2 1:45 3:23:45

Not a pretty day for me. Thought I should be able to pull of a BQ (3:25) even though I'd only really trained to finish a marathon, not to race one. Guess since I had only done in any MP training miles on downhill, and nothing on flat or uphill, no tempo runs, no speedwork, it should have come as no surprise that other than the steep downhill sections I didn't have much umph on the flat/uphill sections. I could tell during Damarron Valley that the miles were feeling harder than they should which usually means I'm going to die between miles 16 & 20. And that is exactly what happened. Ran out of gas around mile 17 and couldn't seem to find any motivation to keep me from taking plenty of walking breaks and pretty much just jogging it in. I got a little boost  coming into town with the crowds cheering and I think I did a mile or 2 around 7:30 pace but other than that I just loafed after mile 17 to the end. 

Oh well guess it's always good to learn a lesson. Wish I would have done what I was considering a couple weeks ago - not even wear a watch and just run by feel. But it's all good, time to move on, focus on turning 50 and running 50 miles! Already signed up for Buffalo Run 50 miler in March.

Had a great time spending time with Kim and Terry and his neighborhood gang of SGM 1st timers who stayed with us out our condos. I think they all did pretty well most everyone got PRs and Terry was not too far off the sub-3 goal. Congrats to all those who finished with or without style points!

First most-marathon run. Been doing a bit of walking and not much else this week but since legs are feeling pretty good decided to do some light running in the early morning hours. Couldn't see the lunar eclipse very well with all the clouds. I'll probably also take a walk later today.

Nice morning run.

Seemed to be wide awake at 5:15am so decided to head for a run. Swung by the church around 6 to see if anyone else would show but didn't see anyone. So had a nice solo run down in the river bottoms. For some reason the entire river bottoms reeked of skunk which wasn't so nice. 

Ran 5 in the early morning. Quite nippy maybe even into the thirties but I was dressed about right so didn't mind it a bit. Later just before lunch I also got in 2 miles of walking.

Late morning run. 1 mile with Kimi then 5 more solo on a very beautiful October day.

Six miles in the early morning dark. Kind of breezy but temps were surprisingly warm, probably around 60 degrees maybe a storm is coming. I might walk another couple miles this afternoon if the weather isn't too grim.

Beautiful day today. About as perfect as you could hope for on an October morning. My running wasn't quite so perfect but I got er done.

Nice peaceful 5 mile run in the early morning darkness. A bit breezy but temps still in the 50's in October is pretty dandy. Also went for a walk at work around 2 miles or so.

Nice & easy relaxing 6 mile run on a very dark morning. Also walked for 2 miles or so around lunch time.

Day off from running. Walked about 3 miles on the river trail before lunch. Beautiful Day!!

Got in a few with Kimi mostly straight into the blasting wind! Also a couple of solo miles. Might go for a walk later for another couple miles.

Six miles with Kim, Caroline and Chad. Then 3 or 4 more with Kim. Then a bunch of solo miles up to almost 19 miles. Then finished off with a nice little 5K fun run to get to 22. I was dragging pretty good on the solo miles but got a little boost in the 5K with all the other runners around and ended up making those last miles the fastest of the day. Had only planned on doing 20 but I couldn't bring myself to stop in the middle of a 5K and start walking. Ended up with 44 miles for the week. Looking forward to running 50K on Nov 18!

Starting to cool off. But not too bad yet. 

Early morning run mostly with Kimi. Brrrrrr... nearly freezing, but we were prepared so it wasn't too bad.

Dandy run/hike with Kimi on the Chuckwalla/Beck Hill/Paradise Rim/Turtle Wall trails.