Closing out Week 16 with a 20 Miler

  From the very beginning, I knew this was going to be a crappy run. I only got 5 hours of sleep last night, and I really, really, really wanted to stay in bed so that made things even harder. From the very first mile I knew it was going to suck, my right glute or upper hamstring was tight and annoying me already and I was only in the first mile. I was already contemplating cutting this run short and just calling it quits, the taper can begin early.
  I kept going, trying to distract myself with other things and movies since I don't carry my mp3 player during runs anymore. I took my first gu at mile 8, and then my 2nd gu at mile 12 then the 3rd gu at mile 16.6.
  I can't say how tough it was to push beyond 10 miles but I was absolutely happy when I had reached the half way point. But the moment that drew the most excitement was when I had reached mile 17, but I was so exhausted I couldn't really show it lol.
  I had misjudged my route, and ended up with just over a mile of walking after reaching 20 miles so that really freaking sucked.
  I ran 20 miles in 3:22:39 with an average pace of 10:08 min/mile, an elevation gain of 320 feet and a loss of 328 feet. Throughout the whole run I would have doubts sneak in, wondering how on Earth I could imagine running 26.2 miles in a time under 4:30:00 when I have such an awful time during training runs. But then I realize something, I do these training runs... all these sucky and hot and freezing training runs, even the runs up to 20 miles by myself and sometimes when I am feeling sick or just blah. If I can accomplish that much by myself and through those odds, by freaking god I can complete 26.2 miles with a huge parade of runners!
Laps or splits were:
Mile 1 - 11:13
Mile 2 - 10:32
Mile 3 - 10:22
Mile 4 - 10:23
Mile 5 - 10:28
Mile 6 - 10:17
Mile 7 - 10:06
Mile 8 - 10:06
Mile 9 - 10:08
Mile 10 - 10:04
Mile 11 - 9:55
Mile 12 - 10:45 (I walked the hill between 11.3 and 11.7 miles)
Mile 13 - 10:04
Mile 14 - 9:42
Mile 15 - 11:03   (I happily walked the big hill between 14.3 and 14.7)
Mile 16 - 9:45
Mile 17 - 9:23
Mile 18 - 9:22
Mile 19 - 9:40
Mile 20 - 9:21


     My second 20 miler is done, which closes out week 16 and so begins the taper (tomorrow) and I am really going to enjoy it. I have put in the training, taken on many challenges and I know I will complete the Monumental Marathon on November 1.