22 Miles, 8 Days And Then London

It's nearly here! The title tells it all. That's what remains till 13 April.

Thought this week needed a bit of humor, thus the picture! My FLM long run buddy Kelly, and first time marathon runner, gave the card to me along with some "thank you" socks. She knew I'm the sock queen and have an entire drawer of running socks plus another drawer of everyday socks.

We did our long run Friday afternoon due to a Saturday scheduling conflict. She is my IT tutor and in between instruction we had that last bowl of soup. It was late afternoon before we got out running and despite the misty rain, the newly tried hilly route was a pleasure. The rural route allowed us fabulous scenic views, photo ops of newly born lambs with their protective moms nearby, and a final conversation of pre-marathon topics.

On Thursday I was to have done my ten mile marathon pace run, but as I was caught up in doing our company Payroll Year End I altered my running plan to move it to Saturday. I knew it would mean my legs might be a bit tired but it would be the last double digit run of my schedule. I ran the same route as the previous two weeks and knew at what time I wanted to finish.

Light rain greeted me along the early miles and I was even able to cross over the busy roads without having to stop for traffic. This kept my pace even and my breathing steady. I did have some "rough patches" with my legs feeling tired, but keeping positive I knew I would get through it. Sure enough I felt stronger and continued on. I was on target to finish at marathon pace at the 5 mile mark and if I kept that same pace for the second half I would reach my goal. When I stopped my Garmin at 10 miles I had completed it in 2:10:04! That put me slightly quicker than a revised marathon finish of 5:45:00.

Now the last speed session has been completed and the last double digit run is done. All that are left are four shorter runs from Sunday to Thursday. Then a very easy paced two mile run Saturday in London along the Marathon route in the Isle of Dogs. This is where 18 weeks of training has brought me .