I ditched the dog!

And I don't know how far I travelled. I'll figure it out more precisely later.

Warm up walk, about 10 min/half a mile. I guess!
Then 10 miles:

9:13 (warming up)
8:57
8:45
8:48
8:51
8:39
8:09
8:04
8:10
11:25 cool-down jog..then I jogged/walked another 1.5 miles home, punctuated by a chat at a coffee shop with my run club friends. Though I started at 8:30, it was from my house and not with the rest of run club a mile away. Still, this is a triumph of sorts. I've turned into a ghoul. I wake up at 9, which isn't bad, but it takes me a while to get moving. Ah, well!

Anyway, I was really surprised about today's run. For the traditional 10ish miler the week before a marathon, it went really well. Better than all the other ones I've done, actually. Usually I feel like crap a week before. And it's the first time I've run that long without walk breaks in about a month, at least. I was wearing the fast shoes, but it's been eons since I've done a mile under 9min, feels like, and to knock out a bunch of them was nice. I kept relaxed for the first while, and then the faster miles happened because I was starting to pass people which meantthat I couldn't let them pass me so I kept speeding up (lol) and those three miles were hard. Not so much breathing wise as muscularly. I kept tensing up, especially in my shoulders. Not used to 'relaxing' at that sort of pace anymore, which is kind of sad, oh, well! And another factor could be having the Garmin and the numbers, which kind of takes away something from my running.

I needed to take things easier this spring and if I end up being sluggy during the marathon, I've still built up a pretty decent base with which to tackle speedwork in the fall. This spring has been the best so far mileage-wise. Last spring I was lucky to get in 30-mile weeks.

I'm not quite sure what's going to happen during the marathon. I wanted to go without a watch. My run club coach tried to talk me out of that. He seems to think I have a reasonable chance of qualifying for Boston. I'll talk with him more on Wed, but maybe I will wear a watch with the face on the inside of my wrist (so I'm less tempted to focus on it)...dunno.

At any rate, I took a nice long warm up and cooldown today, and I think that helped a lot. This might be what I have to do from now on to manage the heart thing. Not sure when I'll get to see the cardiologist, but hopefully it'll be one who's at least a trifle sporty.

Meanwhile, I have to nap, and then go to work. Apparently I'm training someone again. Means less squatting/crouching/lifting/carrying for me, but more coherent thought and speech.