Well, this is where it really becomes quite ridiculous to be training for a marathon. I’m sitting at work, Thursday afternoon, at about 4:30, starting to think about Friday, although I still have 3 clients left to see that evening, and I see that Friday’s schedule includes seeing 3 clients, writing an article and a newsletter, dinner with my mom, a massage, some office administrative work, and, oh yeah, a 17.2 mile run. Okay, that is just not right. If you’re going to do a 17.2 mile run, it should be the ONLY thing you’ve got to do that day. You should not also have to go to work! I could even deal with the run, the massage, and the dinner, but what’s with the rest of that stuff being on the schedule?!?!

All my freaking out was wasting my planning time and I realized that I better figure out, on Thursday, where I was gonna run on Friday, so that I could wake up, knowing exactly what the plan was, so I had no room to try to maneuver out of it. I also knew I couldn’t really afford much in the way of delays when you’re dealing with a run that’s gonna take like 3-4 hours. So, I plotted out my course on Thursday night and was ready for Friday morning!

I got up on Friday and got myself all geared up – 70 ounces of water in my Camelback water pack, a Snickers Marathon bar, running tights, shoes, socks, long-sleeved undershirt, sweatshirt, running gloves, knit earwarmer, MP3 player with Marathon song playlist, hat, sunglasses, and handkercheif, and off I went.

My plan was to go about a quarter-mile North to Baseline, then about 1.5 miles East to Mill Avenue, then take Mill Ave. North until it curved West and turned into Van Buren, following that briefly until it crossed Galvin Parkway, just South of Papago Park. Then I would take Galvin Parkway Northeast THROUGH Papago Park to McDowell, then McDowell East to Scottsdale Rd (because Rural would be Scottsdale Road that far North), then take Scottsdale Rd. South ’till it turned into Rural, then hit Baseline, then slog the final 2, familiar, miles home from Rural and Baseline.

I did complete my route, as planned, and it was both easier and harder than I thought it would be. On the good side, I only ate 3/4 of my Snickers Marathon bar, 1/4 before the run, 1/4 at about Mile 11, and 1/4 at about Mile 16. I was pleased I didn’t need more food to complete the run. I did good water management, too, and did not run out of water, nor need a bathroom along the route. I also didn’t encounter any intolerable aches or pains, although my knees were voicing some level of protest. On the other side, I really wanted to quit several times throughout the run and I spent some portion of the run really regretting signing up for a marathon. Finally, I did not keep up the proper speed – sorta.

I was supposed to do this run at 5.5 mph and I did not. I averaged 5.3 mph. However, when I planned my marathon training, I scheduled out 10 long runs, the 10th of which, would be the marathon. I set my speed for the marathon at 5.25 mph. If I complete the marathon at that speed, I’ll finish in 4:59, which is my goal.

To encourage myself to be able to reach that goal, I set my speed for the 9th long run (21.2 miles) at slightly higher than my marathon speed – 5.36 mph, and I’ll have a chance to try that on December 30th. Today’s long run of 17.2 miles was supposed to be at 5.46 mph, but I only managed 5.3. My 7th long run, of 13.9 miles, was supposed to be at 5.58 mph, and I missed that goal, too, coming in at only 5.3 mph. My 6th long run, of 11.3 miles, was supposed to be at 5.69 mph, and try as I might, I only managed 5.5 mph. On my 9.1 run that was to be at 5.8 mph, I only snagged 5.6. On my 7.4 mile run that should have been at 5.92 mph, I only got 5.6 mph. When I was to do 6.0 miles at 6.04 mph, I only got 5.6. On my 4.9 mile run that was to be at 6.17 mph, I only got 5.6, and on my very first long run, of 3.9 miles, that I tried to do at 6.29 mph, I also badly missed the mark there, too, although I don’t know my actual average because that run preceeded my GPS unit!

So, I guess the summary of my long runs is that I started out able to do a long run at about 5.6 mph, but dropped to 5.5 mph around 11 miles, and then dropped again, to 5.3 mph at about 14 miles and held 5.3 mph at 17 miles. I can afford only one more, slight, drop in my speed on my long runs. I really need to do my 9th long run at at least 5.3 mph, and if I can do that, I’ll feel confident that I’ll be able to do the Marathon at at least 5.25 mph. Man, I can’t believe it, but I think I’m going to hit my goal. I am going to chop and HOUR and FIFTEEN MINUTES off my only other Marathon time. That is NUTS!

Something I forgot to mention is that I hit my lap timer during this run, every 3.11 miles, to get 5k times for myself. Although no single 5k time is really super great, they range from 32:39 to 37:34, and are CONSECUTIVE! So, although I did a 37:34 5k, which isn’t that good, I did it right before I did a 32:39, which is pretty good, and right AFTER I did a 35:58 which is okay, and before I did another TWO 35-minute 5k’s. That is just crazy!!!