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.