Weekend Runs

First off, we're over $25,000! Thanks again to everyone. We'll talk about the next goal a little later on in the week.

I was able to get a run in on Friday morning. It was an 8 mile run that featured 5 miles at pretty solid pace. I ran miles 2 through 4 at a 7:14 and miles 6 and 7 at a 7:18. I was only a few seconds off of the 7:13 goal pace for those 5 miles. I felt pretty good while doing it, so it was pretty encouraging. I am not too far away from being able to run a really strong 10K (6.2 miles).

This morning, I had an 18 miler on tap. The 18 mile run is the last stop before the longest run of training, which is 20 miles. The 18 and 20 milers aren't a whole lot of fun. It means you are out on your feet and in the sun for two and a half hours or longer. They get you mentally and physically prepared for being on your feet for the three plus hours on the big day when 26.2 are on the docket.

So this morning's goal (8:25/mile) was to finish the run in 2:31:30 (hours:minutes:seconds). I came in under at 2:28:56 or an 8:16 pace. I felt decent throughout, but did get a little fatigued somewhere around mile 15. I also ran the first half faster than the second half. It's not uncommon for this to happen, although it's not really recommended. Ideally, you'll run the second faster than the first and kind of get your body used to running while fatigued. The splits were 1:13:25 (8:09 pace) and 1:15:31 (8:23 pace). So the second half was still better than goal, I'll need to work on picking up the pace during the second half of the longer runs. It's something I'll focus on after I complete my first 20 miler next weekend.

Have a good week.