Final Long Run - Fall Marathon 2006

Was a little late getting out the door this morning for my long run, which I was hoping to start at 6:30 so I wolfed down a bowl of oatmeal in the car and was on the run at 7AM. Did just over 3 miles before meeting up with Cathy to accompany her on her 15. I took down a CLIF Shot about 4.5 miles in and could hear the contents of my stomach jostling around shortly thereafter. I'm never affected by this but it's a little unsettling. Hit our turnaround point and took down another CLIF Shot. Made a quick pit-stop at Little Met a couple miles later and continued on. When we approached the final mile of Cathy's run, I asked if she wanted to pick up the pace a little and finish strong. She was a little reluctant but hung right on my shoulder and made it through with no problem. I was at 18 miles and was feeling great. Downed another gel and headed out for my final 4. Mile 19 fell right around 7:00, mile 20 about 7:15. Pulled back a little on mile 21 for a 7:30 and finished strong with a 6:19 mile 22. Legs felt pretty good in the end. I could feel my inner thighs starting to tighten a little and my hamstrings made their prescence felt but the quads and calfs felt good. My breathing on mile 22 was a little labored but still rythmic at every 4th foot strike. I still plan on doing hills and a tempo this week but may shorten the distance of the tempo and make it up with a few shorter runs on what are normally my off days. Since I'm not running as long or as hard, I'll need to run more often in order to stay in the game mentally.