The Big Two-Ow

This weekend was my final training run: the 20-miler. After a teeny-tiny freakout following the 18-miler a couple weeks ago, I listened to advice from people (thanks!) and re-thought my runs. I parked my car in Griffith Park such that I had a 4-mile north loop and 4-mile south loop; I could then hit my car every 4 miles for some gel and some water (as opposed to going 6-7 miles between breaks last time.) HUGE difference. I actually ran the entire distance. I was ready to die at the end, but I made it.

I was hoping to do the run in 3.5 hours. It wound up taking me 3:30:12. Now I’m sure you’re thinking "close enough! You did it!" But no, that’s not how The Rules work. You either make the cut-off, or you don’t. I wasn’t upset; just a little frustrated that I almost made it but didn’t. I did notice that my southern loops were taking a little longer than the northern loops. There are some small hills along that path, but I didn’t think it should have made that much of a difference. So I rechecked the mileage. Turns out, the southern loop was a little longer and I actually ran 20.8 miles. So THAT counts.

Every training plan I’ve seen tells you that if you can run 20 miles, you can run 26 miles. This goes against everything I believe in, but I’m just going to have to take a leap of faith that I’ll suck up extra energy on race day. The question I now have is not so much "can I run 26 miles?" but rather "why would I want to?!"

More marathon training advice:
Pack extra bandaids to replace the one that slips off your toe to protect the growing blister. Ow.
Drink little bits of water more frequently, rather than guzzling a lot at once. (I gulped it down at my last refueling stop and it made me a little queazy.)
Do NOT spend the day at Disneyland the day after a long run. (my foot was (is) killing me).