Well, I don’t really know how this happened that I had two long runs in a row – I’m supposed to have a week in between my long runs, but I guess I must have set this up for myself when I first planned my training, knowing that that day after Thanksgiving was a perfect day for a long run.  My husband’s parents are in town visiting us and we have all day free to be with them today, but I have to get this long run out of the way first.  I think I’ll be sleepy for the whole rest of the day, but I’ve just got to keep up with this training or I’ll really be in trouble come Marathon Day.

I planned out a nice route that included a trip alongside Tempe Town Lake and I took my music with me and did some more grieving and crying.  I’m surprised at how much there still is left to do.  This grief thing is simply not for the weak.  I kept a pretty good pace, I did pretty good water management and only had to use the restroom once along my journey, and I didn’t even get hungry, which was a little amazing, but I guess that was also a testament to how much I had eaten the day before, which was Thanksgiving.

My average speed was 5.3, which is a little bothersome, because I was shooting for 5.6, but the 5.3 is still above the 5.25 I have to pull off on race day, so I guess I’ll accept it and hope that I can hang onto my speed for my next couple of long runs – and there really are only a couple of long runs left, and then the big one!  Wow, I’m getting there!

After I finished my run, I spent a lovely day with Jon and his parents.  I was a bit sleepy, a little stiff, and a little sluggish most of the day, but we were just doing touristy things anyhow, so it didn’t much matter.