running by design: i believe

After seeing the forecast for the weekend towards the end of the week, it was decided that we would run on Sunday (it turned out that Saturday was a perfect day too - no rain as had been forecasted). To put a postive spin on the decision, it will help us train our internal clocks for running in three Sundays from now.

My recovery run on Friday was pretty remarkable for me. I went out with the idea of going slow and taking it easy. I even felt slower than usual. The remarkable part was when I finished the run and looked down at my time...my average pace for the run was 8:57/mile. It really boosted my morale and I felt good about my running - something so simple changed my outlook on the marathon. A four hour marathon seemed possible.

Fast forward to Saturday night. I got home and there was a message from Jason on the answering machine... he wouldn't be able to run on Sunday... that left just me and Brooke.

This morning was a very cool, crisp autumn-like morning. We had already made plans to start early, so we got to the Monon Trail at 6am to start our run. It was desolate and dark in the area, for our safety we decided we would start out on the Monon first before heading out on the loop route. It was tough to see the actual path, but we could make out the edges of the pavement. Another thing that helped us see the path were the fire flies. They seemed to be randomly spread out on the path. It was like running through stars... kind of surreal. The first 6 miles was run out and back on the Monon and we ended up back at the truck where I ditched my long sleeve shirt since I had warmed up. Then we decided to forget the loop route, since neither of us cared for the downtown part and decided we could run 6 miles south to the end of the path and then 6 miles back and then finish the run with the same out and back we had run in the dark. We headed south and the sky was lightening up. We felt good on the run down to the turn around point. We stopped briefly to stretch and take a drink. My lower back was sore, but a quick stretch felt good. We head back north still feeling good, and made it to our next water stop where we stretched again and refilled our water bottles. A couple of miles later, we were back at the truck, a quick stretch, a bathroom break and a refill of gatorade into my water bottle and we headed out for our last 6 miles. With each stop it was harder to get going again, but we managed to push on. At the turn around point we stopped for one last stretch and drink and headed back. I could feel the urge to just get finished and our pace was picking up, but it felt good! I glanced at my watch at one point and our pace was almost a 9:00/mile! I didn't say anything at first, but a few minutes later asked Brooke how she felt. She said she felt good , so we kept up the pace. I called out our last mile and that is where we were starting to feel a little tired. When I saw that we ran the 23rd mile at a 9:03/mile pace we thought it would be best to back off the pace and cruise into the finish -- why risk blowing out a knee or something from pushing too hard? The total effort was relatively easy. I believe we can run this thing in four hours now -- I really do.

We finished the 24 miles and felt incredible! Better than the 23 miles we did two weeks ago and better than our last long run for last year's marathon training!

To celebrate our awesome run, we headed to the Monon Coffee Company for a refreshing beverage and some food. I had a 'loco-mocha freeze' and some pumpkin bread - it hit the spot.

I smell something now... no not my running clothes... this smells sweet. Do you smell it? Yep - it's taper. We made it. The three weeks we have all worked so hard to get to.

I am prepared.

I am ready.

I will see you in Chicago in three weeks!!!

Here are the splits if interested...

Average Pace: 9:56/mile