Go Long or Go Home

A phrase that a fellow Maniac (and other Marathon Maniacs) says when it comes to races and training. This past Sunday, I learned it well.

With the leftover germies in my system, I wasn't expecting much in speed or endurance when running with the Balanced Athlete group. I also wasn't sure what distance everyone would end up doing either, but I knew that I'd stick to the running more if I was with a group than by myself this time around. I was hoping for a shorter distance of 8 miles like everyone had been doing in past weeks.

I got to the store just after 8am and found out that everyone was going to do about 15 miles. Okay, so no 8 milers. Guess I'll have to suck this up and pray my lungs don't explode out of my chest. As we went towards the Green River Trail, I sucked on my cough drop and did my best to breath. It took almost an hour for my lungs to feel like they were clear, but it was a great feeling after days of gasping. I ran up ahead of the group to make a pitstop at a port-a-potty along the route...to which the guys who were trailing behind decided to rock and shake up the port-a-potty while I was inside. Scary moment there when I dropped my water bottle on the floor. Ew.... I chased the group down and with a pseudo-tough-guy voice, "OK, WHO SHOOK THE PORT-A-POTTY?!" Everyone in typical comedic fashion, all (literally) pointed to one guy. We had a good laugh but good thing we were another mile from a water fountain where I could clean up the bottle!

At this point, we were close to 8 miles out. Then the group splintered off. Some wanted to do some quick tempo/speed work, the rest of us headed back. I was suprised at the pace I was moving at (even with a pitstop). I ended up doing just shy of 16 miles when it was all said and done (15.8 acccording to gmap-pedometer). My pace was at a 9:45/mile. Pretty good for a guy who's doing his best to be on the mend before his 50 mile beating. I'm not the only one who has trepidations about Mt Si. Eric Sachs said that he knows that he's going to be hurting too since his training hasn't been too good (even though he's in better running shape than me, more seasoned, and does more miles per week - about 50 on average). But we'll both be towing the line at 5am on race day, so who knows?