I don’t want to brag about this run, but OH WAIT YES I DO.
My goal pace for this 20-miler — aka the granddaddy of all long runs for this marathon training cycle — was 9:00.
My average pace was 8:58.
I am a very, very happy girl.
Also, sweaty.
Everything went so very right. I had no cramps, no hunger, no pain, no chafing. My brand-new shoes felt awesome. I stopped five times to refill my water bottles, but I never had to use the restroom. It was warm and sunny out, but my hydration and fueling were right on point. I finished strong and could have proooobably run 6.2 more miles?
And now I’ve used up all my good luck and will be cursed for the marathon, but shhh, let’s think positive thoughts.
You will notice that mile four was my fastest, and that’s because some creeper scared the shit out of me in downtown Fremont!
I ran past this older guy on the sidewalk with plenty of room — didn’t even come close to him — and noticed out of the corner of my eye that he flinched. I turned to look at him and he SNARLED at me and started chasing me! I jumped about two feet in the air and yelled, “JESUS!” and kept running. He then stopped chasing me after a few seconds and crossed the street like nothing happened. WHAT. THE. FUCK!
I was so shaken that I sidled up to a male runner who was waiting at the crosswalk I needed to cross (going a different way from the creeper) and was like, “Some dude just chased me a little bit, so I’m gonna stand close to you in case he comes back over here, mmmkay?” He was like, “Sure!” and was clearly not aware that I would totally hide behind him/expect him to defend me in the event of a second creeper attack. Nice guy.
But other than that, the run was great. I ate chocolate Clif Shots at miles 4.5, 9.5, 14.5, and 17.5, and used three tabs of Nuun in total. The only time I got really, really tired was during mile 17, when I had to run up a hill and was just like AM I DONE YET?
I was pleasantly surprised that my legs and feet did not get all that tired. I mean, they’re super-sore now, but they stayed all strong-like during the run.
And now I’m just plotting all the delicious things I can eat today because I ran 20 miles.
The marathon is three weeks from today. This run HUGELY boosted my confidence that I can cut 15 minutes off my PR and run sub-4:00, or at least get close. I need to average a 9:10 pace to run 3:59:59, which seems doable, barring horrific weather/injury/hills. If I could keep an 8:58 pace, like today’s run, I’d do about 3:55. Oooh, that sounds nice, doesn’t it?
But enough about goals for now. I’ll just focus on staying healthy and being ready to run on race day!
Dev on Running 