I give most of the credit to the incredibly cool temperature this morning... a wonderful 48 degrees when I started and about 55 when I finished. Truly an BIG help. Now if only marathon day can duplicate the weather then it will be awesome...
I started out just past 7am and ran six miles solo. I was meeting up with Jason at 8am so I wanted to make sure I had time to get some mileage in as I had 17 miles to do (14 at marathon pace). Jason had planned to run 9 miles with me so it would leave me with an easy 2 miles at the end.
Once I started, I was right on pace (mainly to try to get warmed up quickly). I soon noticed that my pace had picked up and was remaining steady (and faster) than I had expected. I was feeling good, so I thought "why not?" I finished my 6 miles up and checked my watch - 49:50 - about an 8:18/mile pace. Awesome...
I let Jason know we could run a pace between 8:30/mile and 9:00/mile. He was fine with keeping it closer to the 8:30, so off we went for 9 miles. It didn't slow down at all, and it was feeling pretty good. I did start to feel a little tired at one point, but a gel and some water and I was feeling better again. As we approached the end of the 9 miles Jason decided he was feeling too good to stop, so he finished out the last two miles.
Average overall pace: 8:29/mile right where I was supposed to be. I honestly believe that I could have run another 9 miles at that pace too. That is how good I was feeling. The running gods were smiling down on me today and I hope they do it again come marathon day...
For one day at least, I was a rock star out there!
Happy running to all!
