I'm very happy to report that as of yesterday around 9:45am, our training is over! Well, over for the most part... After 16 (twice), 18, 20 (twice) miles, an 8-mile run this weekend is practically a warm-up.
Yesterday, Jen, Jennifer and I set out on our 20-mile trek around 5am, and 4 hours later were more than happy to have our last long training run behind us.
It wasn't the best run I've ever had, in fact it was probably one of the worst-which makes no sense... For the first time, it wasn't hot, raining, or storming, there wasn't any humidity in the air, there were few puddles on the ground to dodge, and even less traffic on the road to watch for (which also means less curb hopping). It was the first time we didn't have to rearrange our schedule to accomodate the weather, etc. All conditions were perfect, except for my body.
It's usually a mental game for me, but yesterday it was my body that was telling me no. The first 10 miles weren't too bad, but the second 10 were painful. My foot hurt, my knees hurt, my hip flexors were screaming at me with every step. So much, that the last 4 miles I think I walked more than I ran. I just kept telling myself that after this run, our training was going to be over, with the hopes that this would keep me going. I also like to repeat "the faster you go, the sooner you'll get there" with all intentions of hoping to speed up the run. haha
Four hours is a long time to be on your feet, much less repetitively pounding them on the pavement. I don't know if it was the bad luck of the draw or if it was just the timing. I've added up my running miles since January and it totaled right around 300. I also have a lot of miles added up on my bike, the elliptical, etc. and those miles aren't even figured in! So this 26.2 is just the grand finale of all of the miles we have put in.
For now, the excitement will be the anticipation of the big day. No more counting down long runs or counting down days. Twelve days remain until the marathon.
Goal = to finish
Finishing = winning
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