My week 13 marathon training plan calls for a long run of 20 miles before the taper period begins.  When I trained for the Saint Louis Rock and Roll Marathon in 2013, I fell short of the 20 mile mark by 3 – 4 miles.  I’ll be honest, I thought I had mapped it out, but I think my training week timing/calculating was off a bit and I just didn’t have time to finish or make it up and I never ran the 20 mile training run required in the plan before the actual marathon.  I was determined this time around not to deviate from the longer runs.  Things happen such as injuries and life but I really wanted to at least complete these longer runs this time around.  I was looking for an appropriate quote to fit this run and I couldn’t believe I found the one I placed in the title.  The story goes like this….

There is no doubt that this time around has been a little tougher to train for a marathon.  I just seemed to have some things working against me that I’ve made note of and will try to improve next time.  (Yes, I plan to do another one)  Some things you just can’t change, like the environment.  It was very important to me that I complete the majority of the runs outside, which I did.  There were a few smaller runs that I completed on the treadmill at the gym, but mostly to give my feet a break.  But I’m happy to say 99% were out in this hot-assed weather!  Not carrying that around as a badge of honor, but let’s be for reals ~ it wasn’t no picnic.  I was lucky the 20 mile long run took place in October where there was a little bit of relief.

Pain and recovery ~ I had a lot of little pains this time around.  Started off with the resurgence of the calf-injury, then the right leg pain and finally the feet.  The physical therapy did help, but also brought about things that needed to be tidied up and addressed.  Of course there is always the time factor, which there seems to never be enough.  I feel that I did well in this training, but I always feel I could have done a little more.  A little older and a little slower….but still ready to keep going forward and achieve this goal.

This weeks run was a pretty good one.  I woke up with a bit of a headache and I won’t lie I did think to put it off until Wednesday.  I ran on Sunday this time because the race will be on Sunday October 29th.  But the first thing I said to myself was “pay now or pay later“. With that I rolled out of bed at 4:15.  When I started off it was chilly (that never seems to last long) clear with no wind.  One thing I need to work on is my warm up, meaning I could do more and better.  I think I don’t like wasting time with the warm up.  Just ready to get this party started.  Not really sure why though, because it seems to take me until mile 5 to start feeling “it” so a proper warm up would be a good thing.  I opted for gel blocks, a couple of Stinger™ gels, and some banana chips for my fueling.  I’m not a big eater before a run or during.  Had my…you guessed it…Eggos™, a cup of coffee and tried to chew down a fourth of a left over power bar for breakfast.  I make good meals after, but the before might be due for an upgrade.  Any way I felt fine.  Around mile 4 or 5 I was feeling pretty good – or maybe that’s when the Aleve™ kicked in ~ pretty sure that’s what it was.  The right foot started hurting early on – pinching – and I adjusted my stride and was feeling good and running pretty steady.  Around mile 15 I just decided that I wasn’t going to run past some of the same houses – again.  I literally was like – uh no.  “Pay now or pay later“.  I can’t stand to see this same route for the 3rd time today! So, I mixed it up and ran around the field at the park while people were playing cricket.  With one eye on the ball and the other on mud puddles from over watering – it wasn’t pleasant and I canned that after three times around.  Then I decided to run up this other road that circles the back of the neighborhood.  It has a pretty steep hill “pay now or pay later“……………………………………yeah that sucked, I won’t lie, but I did it.  Oh this was nice too, while I was running up this hill I was already at mile 19 – I’m telling you this so I don’t feel too bad.  There was this guy and his kid riding bikes on the road up the hill while I was running on the sidewalk.  This is a steep hill.  I remember riding up this once and it wasn’t easy.  I was impressed this little kid was attempting this hill.  So, here I am shuffling along and what looks to be a 7-year-old kid passes me on his little bike that I think he just took the training wheels off.  Yeah, good times.  But, hey what do I care, that Garmin™ buzzed on my arm and I was like ~

Eat that!!!

Yeah baby – 20 done and done!  My average pace was about 13.37.

So, what does the quote and my saying have to do with anything?  I thought it funny, because there were a lot of times I was just like man…this is tough…but I would tell myself “pay now or pay later” every time I started to feel a little overwhelmed.  I was looking for snappy Irish sayings and “If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn”  popped up ~ “pay now or pay later“.  I want to reap on 29 October – so I paid now.  Overall I completed 35.87 miles for the week.  Let the taper begin!!  So happy to just say I have a 9 mile long run this week.  Despite the drawbacks, I am enjoying the process and forever grateful.  There are 6409.52 miles waiting in my journey.  I can’t wait to be listening to music like this live!

Happy Miles to You!!