Best Long Run Yet

Yesterday morning, Brian, Scott, Mike(who drove up from Springfield just for the run) and I met at the trail access at 5:30 am for a long run.  It was a beautiful morning with temps in the high 50s F., low humidity and lots of sun.

My goal was to run 45 seconds per mile over my projected marathon pace for 20 miles.  This would put me at about 8:10 mpm. We started off fast with 7:55 mpm, with Scott and Mike pushing the pace.  Scott was planning on 15 miles.  Since I wanted some energy for the end of my run, I slowed down to 8:10 mpm and let Scott and Mike go on.  Brian and I ran together for awhile trailing Scott and Mike.  I felt really good.

At 10 miles the four of us met back at the cars.  I had run exactly 8:00 mpm pace.  We regrouped and refilled out Camelbaks.  We started the second half of  the run at just under 8:00 mpm pace.  Brian was already running almost 30 seconds faster than his project marathon pace and held back a little.

Scott, Mike and I kept at below 8:00 mpm.  Scott wanted to run 15 miles.  He decided to stick with Mike and I until 13 miles then turn around.  That gave him 16 total miles for the day.

Mike and I ran out to the 5 mile point and turned back.  We the last five miles faster than any of the miles before.  The last three miles of the twenty were under 7:30 mpm.   I felt great.  Mike coached me to imaging that we were running the last several miles of Chicago and it was closing in on 3 hours and 15 minutes(Boston Qualifying time).  It was necessary to pick up the pace to make the BQ.  We ran the last mile and .12 in just over 7:00 mpm.

My Garmin said I ran 20.12 miles in 2 hours and 37 minutes for a 7:52 mpm pace.   That’s 25 seconds mpm over my projected marathon pace.  There are 10 weeks to go until Chicago.  I need to work hard to improve this pace and endurance.

Thanks to Mike for sticking with me and coaching me along.  Make has a goal to run 50 marathons in all 50 US states by his 50 birthday.  He is currently training for his 25th state marathon  in Hawaii this September.