Well, it just seems to be the case that my ‘cruising speed’ is 5.7 mph because today I kept telling myself that I didn’t have to go any faster than 5.25 mph and I really wasn’t trying to, either, but I still ended up doing my 5 miles at an average speed of 5.7 mph and it was relatively effortless, so that’s very cool. All I would have to do is do like 4 more identical runs – in a row – and that would be my marathon! Somehow or another, I don’t think the next 4 identical runs would be as easy as this first one was, though, but who knows? Maybe I’ll just be so exquisitely trained that I’ll run the whole marathon effortlessly at 5.7 mph. That would be so cool. That would be a finish time of like 4 hours and 36 minutes. I seriously doubt that’s possible, though, because in 26 miles, I’d have to stop at least a couple of times to go to the bathroom, I’m pretty sure, and I also think I would have to stop and walk a number of times as well, but again, who knows? Maybe I’m right on track with my training to do a fairly effortless 26.2 miles and come in well under 5 hours. Again, that would be SO COOL!

Okay, I just had to go back and look at my most recent long run – 11.3 miles at 5.5 mph.  If I were able to keep up that pace for a whole marathon, my finish time would be 4 hours and 46 minutes, so I really think I’m on track for the 4:59 finish I set as my goal when I started this training plan.  However, I do seem to be somewhat ahead of the game at this point, so if I can hold on to that lead, I may very well end up with a time even better than 4:59.  However, as the mileage gets higher and higher over the next couple of weeks, I will also give myself a break if I lose the lead and only end up right where I meant to be in the first place.  I will look at the ‘lead’ as not having been a lead, but as being a necessary part of the training progression that I absolutely had to count on losing anyhow.

In any case, at this point, on DAY 87, I’m doing pretty durn good and I’m very pleased!