The Last Hard Day of Work

This past week was an up and down time of training.  After running 21 miles a couple weeks ago, my body was in no mood to continue running again.  This came into true fruition after I ran only two times last week, both five mile runs.   However, I was preparing for a 5k on Saturday which went really well.

A quick race recap:
The day was cold and it was raining all evening the night before causing the trail to be very slipper and full of leaves.  It seemed like it was going to be a slow race and I would just give it my best.  With my lack of warming up as usual, I walked...shivering... to the starting line.  At the very last second I decided not to go with my headphones and handed them off.

With the start of the race we had to make a 180 turn which caused a big slow down in addition to every turn needing to be taken slowly for fear of falling.  I started out in second after 100 yards and was quickly passed by a teen running in 5 fingers.  This is basically how the race progressed till the end.  I was around 50 meters from second the entire time while the guy in first really took off. 

I was hoping to finish around 19:00 to improve on my last 5k time.  I came around the final turn realizing that I had a chance to break 18:00!  However I was unable to do so but still finished in 18:01!  I received a trophy for finishing 3rd overall!  So many new PR's and records and just a great time!

After the 5k and frisbee Sunday, I had very little interest in running the 21 I was supposed to over the weekend.  I had thought to myself that with the last 21 I ran, I could get away with skipping this one.  I decided to research it on Monday after my class before I went on a basic run and came across a good quote about the final long run. 'This is the last day you will have to work hard until marathon day'.  Taking this to heart, I tied on my shoes and left to run 21 miles.

The first half was okay, a little over marathon pace coming in a 1:26 (2 minutes above).  The second half I really pushed myself and just kept on saying 'last day to work hard'.  I finished the second half in 1:20 (4 minutes before pace).  I felt great! Tired! and Great!

I feel that I am heading into the marathon now as prepared as I could ever be.  Basically through the soreness and all I am at a point where I could just say, 'you know, why dont I run 21 miles today?' and just go do it!

Less than 3 weeks to the marathon, pushing forward.  Its all downhill from here.