22 miles!!

It's a long post today, but if you've been following the blog, it's worth reading. Besides, it's a post about a long run, so it can be long!

I finished 22 miles today. Actually, the total distance was a smidge over 23. Woot!!!!! It felt GREAT!!! I mean, the whole time it just felt awesome! Sure, I got tired, but when I finished I felt like I could have run 10 more miles! I hope today's run gives me the confidence I need in 3 weeks.

BIG congrats to my wife today. We both are celebrating a longest distance finished (LDF) today. She wanted to try for a two miler today. She nailed it, and even sprinted at the end! I ran that with her, and, of course, counted that toward my 22. I'm so proud of her!!!

After the 2.5 (.25 warmup and cooldown with her), I started my 20 more miles. After about 1 mile, I saw Phillip Stewart, and joined him for about a mile and a half. He was winding down a 20 miler at about a 9:00 pace. On long runs, it's always good to have a companion! Then, at about the 7 mile mark, I saw Matt playing with his kids near the creek on the trail towards Hwy. 72, and they cheered me on like it was race day! Then, with about 3 miles left to go, I saw Eddy Burks at the beginning of the trail toward Hwy. 72. I joined him and introduced myself and stayed with him for the entire out. I continued on towards Lowes, and threw what little bit of a hammer I had left for the last two miles to clock the last two miles in the 7:40's.

The GREAT news is... NO PAIN!!!! I hope I can keep the nagging injuries and aches away for the next 3 weeks. Now, I begin to reduce my mileage to hopefully peak on Dec. 13.

I'm so geeked for the ROCKET CITY MARATHON!

1. 8:15
2. 9:06
3. 8:08
4. 7:57
5. 8:00
6. 7:55
7. 7:50
8. 7:51
9. 8:10
10. 9:01
11. 7:49
12. 7:41
13. 7:55
14. 7:49
15. 8:01
16. 7:58
17. 8:39
18. 9:13
19. 7:41
20. 7:46

All of the 9+'s were either water bottle refills or running with someone else at their pace. Given how good I felt, perhaps there's a lesson to learn about pacing early on.

When I turned the corner to get to my house, my lovely twin daughters were waiting on me... One had a cup of peanuts, and the other had a cup of gatorade! They were congratulating me on finishing my long run! That made the run all the better!!