who'da thunk 18 miles was a long way?

Ran a long 18 miles Saturday. Technically, i guess it 17.8 but close to enough to call it 18.

i guess looking at a marathon training schedule and looking at a map that finishes at 26.2 miles, sounds far on paper. i mean when i first started this i thought, piece of cake. Just add a few more miles each week. Three weeks from the marathon max out at twenty, and coast from then to the big run.

But really 18 miles is a long way.

but really what's another 8.2 at this point. If i felt this good after 18, and i'm not beat up, my nipples aren't bloody yet, and i have all my toenails still, what can be so different in the next 8.2?

Watch out, this saturday adding 2 more miles might put me into all those conditions.

Anyway, ran the first 8.9 with my good friend Lisa, and although she runs much slower than me. It was fun and a good workout. Yes, i went much slower than i've ran in a while, but really i just shortened my stride a little. I still did the distance. The second half was a bit quicker, but really i had a good sweat going at this point and it wasn't like i sprinted the final 8.9 miles. It was an awesome workout.

More than anything, this gave me an excuse to run for 3:20. Since a big part of being ready for the marathon is preparing for a 4 hour workout, i think this weekends run hit my goal for endurance preparation.

Thanks Lisa for allowing me to join you. No you did not hurt my run as increasing my ability to run for longer periods of time is just as important as putting in the miles. i wouldn't train this way every week but last week was perfect.

a few other Monday things:

it's finally fun to be a Tiger fan after 19 seasons of missing the playoffs, since this year is my 20th high school reunion, it really seems like a long time.

Thanks to marathon training, i may be able to attend my reunion looking sharp. No gray hair, i still have hair, and only 10-15 lbs heavier than when i finished high school. i mean i grew about two inches taller too.

Gonna miss Farve when he retires. Glad the Li-downs defense was able to assist his pursuit of Marino's TD pass record. Luckily Brett gets another game against the Honolulu Blue and Silver, what a lucky man he is.

Spartans snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again. Go Green.

Anyway, thanks for reading