Finding out last week that I was a week ahead of schedule made things harder than I anticipated. I was not looking forward to 20 miles but I WAS looking forward to knowing that once it was done, the hardest part was over and it as all downhill from there. I dreaded the “extra” long run all week.

Monday – 6 miles @ 8:43 pace. My left knee started hurting about a half mile in and when it was still hurting at mile 1.5 I did some run/walk intervals until it felt better at mile 4.5 so I ran the rest of the way.

Tuesday – rest day

Wednesday- 55 minutes power yoga and 4 miles @7:53 pace. The plan was to do yoga today and run a longer distance tomorrow but with a last minute work schedule change (that of course happened after I took a shower) I wasn’t sure that I’d have enough time between kids to run all 8 so I threw running clothes back on, ran half the mileage, took another shower and then left to see my afternoon kids.

Thursday – 4 mile “runch” @8:16/mile. With three kids in the morning until noon and a break until 2:15 I took advantage of my unscheduled time and ran 4 miles in the area of my office. When training for a marathon, you get the miles in where you can.

Friday- rest day

Saturday 16 miles @9:17/mile. I ran this one in the afternoon after Bryan got home from class and it was a harder one. I really am more of a morning person both in general and when it comes to running. I find it hard to run with much food in my stomach and I just tend to feel “heavier” overall if that makes sense. I ran the first 10 miles alone and a friend in from out of town joined me for the last 6. My pace was all over the place by myself, and we took it slower for the last 6 and by that time I was grateful. I got the run in and that’s what matters.

Sunday – 2.5 mile walk with a neighbor and the dogs. I thought about a bike ride, but I had already taken a shower. This time, I decided I was too lazy.

On the plus side, 4 weeks to go for real this time, and after next week’s 20 miler, its all downhill from here. Thank goodness, because I’m about done.

Total Miles: 31.8 including the walk, 29.3 without.