20 miler

I completed my 20 miler yesterday morning. I certainly wasn't burning up the sidewalks, but I finished in about 3 hours... right at 9:00 pace. The weather was perfect again... low 40s when I started. My legs started tightening up around mile 17, but I was able to finish up. After I finished, my calves cramped up pretty seriously. I have never had muscle cramps after running, so I must be pushing my self near my limits or I haven't been eating well enough. Overall it was about 31 or 32 miles for the week. I would have liked to hit 35 but maybe 2 weeks from now when I do the 22 miler. Eesh... i do not look forward to that.

My knees feel pretty good today (one day after the run). Nothing notable about the run... no squirrel attack and no parade.

18 miler

This weekend was my scheduled 18 miler. It was gorgeous Saturday when I woke up, 50 degrees and slightly overcast. My longest run up until this point was a 16.4 mile death march before PDR in hot and extremely humid weather. I blamed that miserable performance on the weather, so I had high hopes for this morning.

The run was a completely different story from that run 3 or 4 weeks ago. I wasn't running at a blistering pace (around 9 minute miles the entire run), but I wasn't overheating and I wasn't progressively slowing down. I made it to the turn around with out many problems other than some aching in my knees. I have a feeling the aching is due to the age/mileage on my shoes, so I purchased a new pair. I didn't want to break them in today, but they should be ready by next long run. The last couple miles of the run were a bit of a struggle, as my legs started burning something fierce (similar to the PDR sensation), but I was able to finish up with enough gas to make it up the final hill near my house.

All told, the run ended up being 18.2 miles in around 2:45. Not quite the pace I was hoping for the marathon, but I will take it. Ohh and I got attacked by a squirrel on the return part of the run. I was running near some bushes and a squirrel lept out in between my legs and tried to trip me. Thankfully he didn't claw or bite me, but we both left uninjured from what I could tell. And for those wondering if squirrel fur is as soft and fuzzy as it looks... it definitely is.