CRUNCH TIME

Last Saturday's 16 mile route.

Oh hai. I ended up running 16 miles with the Portland Marathon Clinic on Saturday morning. I was pretty sure I'd talk myself into 20, but right before we started the run I remembered I was going to a Portland State football game that was going to compress my timeframe. I ended up doing 16 and I think that was the smart choice. My body still felt a little run down from the 20 the weekend before and the 10k race the day after. Add in 17 weekday miles, 12 of them probably ran too fast, and my body wasn't feeling 100%.

Anyways, the run went well. We started at Lululemon in NW Portland and then just ran down to the waterfront, across the Steel Bridge, and hooked into the East Bank Esplanade. Followed that all the way to the Sellwood area, then popped on the Springwater Corridor Trail. Nothing special really. It was an out and back route so there were two aid stations we were able to hit going each way, for a total of four breaks at miles 4, 7, 9, and 12. The aid stations weren't as extravagant as before, but each had water, electrolyte drink, and Skittles. I ate about 500 calories of Skittles.

The 3:30 leader wasn't there this week so we just paced ourselves as a group. Going out we were doing about a 9:45 clip, same as last week. At 8 miles some continued on to the 10 mile mark so they could do 20, while the rest of us turned around. After we turned around we picked it up as a group and those last 8 miles ended up being done at a 9:20 pace (we had an 8:58 mile... oops!). On the way back I started to feel a little sore and worn down and by 16 was ready to be done, but nothing too bad. I think it would have been stupid to go 20 though, so I'm glad I wanted to get done early so I could make the kickoff of the football game.

Me thinking about the Portland Marathon.

The marathon is getting so close. Yikes! Just TWO more training weekends and then the race. I start to get nervous and flip out if I begin thinking about it. Ahhhh, even right now typing I'm freaking out a little. I'm so looking forward to it but at the same time dreading it. I can't wait to cross the finish line and feel that accomplishment... the four hours before that though... I could do without. :)

This weekend I am going to Miami to see some friends. That will screw with my training a little bit. I'm flying in Thursday morning and flying out Monday night. I plan to run 6 either Thursday or Friday, 12 on Saturday or Sunday, and then maybe try to throw another 6 in there somewhere. I have told everyone (nobody else runs) that I NEED to run and made a giant deal about it, so they will need to work with me. I didn't train all this time to slack off two weeks before the big day.

Onward!