Long Run - After the VF 5 mile run

So, after the 5-mile run, our master plan was to put up another 13 on the Perkiomen Trail in order to get in our 18 mile long run for the marathon. It didn't quite work out that way.

First of all, we got a really late start on part-two of the day because of all the time I spent blabbing with Char. We also had to revise our "one way" plan of leaving a car 13 miles away on the Perkiomen because the Weather Channel told us that we might have up to 3 inches of rain on Saturday and I wasn't too keen on running 10 miles on wet and muddy gravel. So we decided to do an out and back that would give us 10 miles plus the race. We figured 15 was probably enough plus we could always run past the car to throw in some more miles. Can you tell where this is going, yet?

We set off on the Perkiomen and everything was great, we were planning on running out to the 2.5 mile marker on the Perkiomen (which was partly on gravel and would give us the 10 mile round trip when added to the VF trail) but as I approached the 2.0 mile mark it was getting colder, the sky was getting darker and it was a little more windy. I suggested turning around because I didn't want to be running away from the car when the weather turned bad and it really looked like it was going to. Plus, we'd heard a rumor about storms with hail and I didn't want to be stuck in that with no hope of shelter. So, we turned it at the 2.0 mile marker and headed back to the car. It did sort of rain/mist/drizzle on us but nothing major and certainly no hail but it wasn't a very nice time to be outside.

I had a really solid outing for the first half and pretty strong for the second half but I fell apart a little in the last 1.5 miles. I wasn't pushing myself like I should have and walked far more than I should have. The good news is that I felt pretty good the whole way. I could still run towards the end and had no pain. My fuel gauge was good. If it had been marathon day, I certainly could have continued without being completely demoralized. Still, when it came time to decide about adding on the extra miles, I opted not to. We called it a day with 14 miles total.

Other things I learned: peanut chews are pretty good fuel, orange cream Clif Shots are repulsive, and Lose Yourself is seriously the best paceing song ever. I might have to just listen to that on repeat for the entire marathon.