2nd last killer long run

I think there must be some amazing renovations going on now, at the cellular and tissue level, because I totally tore the house down today. Man!

I knew I wasn't going to be in for a picnic....yesterday's run was fun, but it also took a fair bit out of me. 12 miles on low sleep, and about 5 of them were a bit faster than my marathon pace...so, not really fast on their own, but fast enough considering all other factors. Still, it was a great day to run, and then I ate and napped a lot.

And then, today, the big day. After work, I ate a...well, something! I can't remember. It was so long ago. And then the dog and I headed out. It's a bit warm and clammy for my taste, but it was ok for us. He had a few pit stops, but was mostly not a butt. We ended up doing about 10.3 miles, and then I popped him in the house, knocked back a gel, a banana, and some soda (not the most efficient way to fuel, but I hate carrying stuff and if I have to go back into the house because of the dog anyway...ehhh...), and headed back out asap. It was another mile and a bit to the Canal, and then the fun began. No dog, no lights, almost none of the usual stuff that slows me down, except for tourists.

We were supposed to do 15K slower than race pace and then 15 at race pace. Well, I'd sort of screwed that pooch already, being a couple of miles tardy, and I was pretty tired. My legs were stiff.

I told myself something like "Hey, man, you can move your butt for nine miles at 8:20ish/mile. It's not a tempo run. It's not a 1/2 marathon. It's going to be easy. Hey, it's only 3 miles...three times..." Notice that I cut off that last .3ish of a mile. Oh, well.

So, I started, and I struggled with finding the right pace. Too fast, too slow, too fast, too slow...I never fell into the groove. My legs hurt, but uniformly all over, so that didn't bother me. I just couldn't get into the swing of 8:2X a mile. It averaged out well, but I was usually travelling around 8:00/mile or well over. Fortunately, all this fussing about made things go pretty quickly, and then suddenly I had just 4 miles to go. I was tired, so I decided to just run and end it. It ended up being a bit faster than desired, but that's ok. Great, in fact---this run seemed to be mostly about confidence, and I did better than I'd expected.

My MP miles:

8:29,
8:23,
8:24,
8:22,
8:23,
8:19,
8:13,
8:15,
8:08

I need 8:26/mile to qualify for Boston.

And then I jogged/walked a bit, and then there was a mile left to go home, and I'd had enough of running. It was 21.1 miles by that point. And, hey, I'm going to count it too, for a total of 22.1. That last mile took forever. It was especially hard because some people had set out garbage for tomorrow, and there were a few sofas out there. Tempting!

So, yeah, I think I pushed myself a bit over the edge today, but that's good once in a while. Now work, my little cellular minions!