20 miles and a busy weekend!

Well, it’s taken me several days into this week to find the time and energy to right about last week, with last weekend being the reason I haven’t found the energy to write till now.  We had friends in from out of town; hosted a wedding shower; I ran 20 miles; and managed a massage!  It was a crazy busy weekend!

Last week I had a nice 43 mile week!  Two easy 5 mile runs, an 8 mile run mostly up hill, and a moderately paced 5 mile run all led up to my first of 2 20 mile runs. 

The 20 mile run went great!  It was threatening to rain all morning, but managed to hold off till we were done running.  I went into this run determined to slow down from the pace I’d been running the past few runs.  We started at just under 10:00 minute miles and then eventually started speeding up.  It was really nice to have both Megan and Max to run with though for at least the first half of the run.  It was one of those good long runs where I felt pretty good the whole run and happy to be out and running and of course happy to not be rained on.  As we finished up the last mile or so Megan told me “you can’t fire me as your guide when I tell you are time.”  Well, we had run the 20 miles faster than any of my previous runs at 3:11:00!  We finished the last mile in 8:47.  Afterword’s I felt great!  I mean obviously my legs were tired, but I felt much better than I remember feeling after 20 miles training for MCM.

So, what does this mean?  I keep trying to run slower and end up running faster.  I don’t want to over train by running too fast, but I also feel good during and after my long runs.  I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve underestimated my fitness gain from MCM.  Gettysburg is pretty hilly; so I don’t expect to have an amazing time or anything, but I definitely feel much stronger and faster this time around.

After running 20 miles Saturday morning, it was time to co-host a wedding shower.  So I got to stand lots in the afternoon.  Even so my legs felt ok on Sunday…sore but not too horrible.  I was lucky enough to get a really good massage Sunday afternoon which definitely helped get rid of a lot of the soreness.