26.2 Mile training Run

Perfect weather. Great trail. Good company. Awesome day for running.

Glen and I started out slow running 8:15's or so, talking about running (what else?) and bits and pieces of everything else. I tried to slip in the "you should run the 100 with me" whenever I could as Glen is probably the one I could most likely talk into doing this with me. We planned on running 25, but figured we might as well run a marathon since we were close enough. Eventually we settled into a decent pace of about 8:00 per mile - not bad for a training run - and occasionally ran a bit faster. My legs were feeling pretty good as I was sick for most of the week. There were quite a few people on the trail considering it was kind of cool and a bit foggy. I was pleasantly surprised by this. Just before and after the turnaround of 13.1 miles there were a bunch of people on the trail for some sort of organized walk. I never want to discourage people from being outside and being active, but walking three abreast on a trail is not the best of trail etiquette. No matter, we weaved in and out of the walkers, crossed the bridges and made our way back to Duvall. It's funny how the longer you run the less and less the conversation there is. In the beginning it was nonstop, at mile 24 it was nonexistent. We finished in 3:28 or so according to my watch, Glen had some coffee at his in laws while I tried to get some of the kinks out of my legs. Overall I felt really good the entire run. And it's a lot easier to do with other people.

Sunday morning I wake up, look at the clock and see it's 7:30. Then I get to thinking....Shit! When I do a 100 mile race there is a chance that I may not even be done by this time, if I started the race yesterday morning when I started my 26.2 @ 0815. I'll just have to put the longevity of a 100 mile race out of my mind. Of course it's long distance to run, it's long in a car or on a bike too.

Sunday afternoon I ran with Glen and Joleen on the trail while pushing my baby girl in the jog stroller. It was her first run so I was a bit nervous on how it would go. She slept through it all no problem though. Joleen and Glen ran a bit quicker than I was ready for, especially pushing the stroller. I think we probably did the last 5 at about 7:20 pace. It was easy for the lungs to handle, but the legs were tired from the previous day.

Great weekend of running though. Lots of fun and the training was good.