Home Stretch

2 noteworthy runs in the past 2 weeks:

- Ran my fastest mile ever!  6 months ago my best time was 8:02.  6 weeks ago, 7:19.  This week: 6:48.  I'm still kind of in shock over this. 

- 4-hour run.  This one was a mixed bag.  The first 2 hours were sublime.  I was enjoying the cooler temperatures, cruising along right around goal marathon pace.  Then my caffeine wore off.  I felt a tad fatigued as I tackled a small hill but got back on my game on the descent.  Everything was going swimmingly until I turned the corner... and got smacked by a double-digit headwind that beat me down for the last 90 minutes.  It was brutal.  On top of that, the last 5 miles were straight uphill. So much for a negative split!  I slowed to what felt like a snail's pace, certain I looked like one of those cartoon characters who's trying to run forward but going nowhere as the wind kept trying to blow me back down the hill. 

I couldn't help but compare this run to the 24-miler I'd done a couple of weeks ago.  Although this one was farther and got off to a better start, it ended up being slower overall.  On the last one, I picked up the pace at the end and finished feeling physically strong and mentally confident.  This time, I slowed to a crawl and finished feeling physically awful and mentally defeated and disappointed about the decline in my performance.  The one thing I was proud of was resisting the temptation to take more than the planned :30 walk breaks every 2 miles.  I thought about who I'm running for in the Marine Corps Marathon and kept going.  I reasoned that such a tough run only made me stronger.  And even the pace that felt so slow at the end was faster than what I used to run on a good day.  It's amazing how perspective and expectations shift.  Still, it sucked that my last true long run ended this way.  So much for a glorious, triumphant finish to my training. 

Perhaps the most redeeming thing about this run was where I finished--my friend Kirk's house.  As an ultra runner, he is one of the people who inspired me.  I remember running with him back in May of last year--not sure if I would be able to finish 3 miles that day.  Knowing that we lived 20+ miles apart, running from my house to his was one of those "someday maybe" things...and now I've actually done it!  By the time I arrived, he had already fired up the grill, and I got to enjoy lunch with him, his kids, and his fiancee before they drove me home.  In that respect, it was the perfect way to cap off my training.  :)

So now, with 3 weeks to go, it's taper time.  There are less than 100 miles left between me and the MCM start line.  Less running means more time to think, and I hope I don't do too much of it over the next 3 weeks.  I know I'll be taking with me all the physical gains I've made over the past 18 months of training, as well as all I've learned.  That includes 2 important lessons that I need to remember (and that were reinforced by this last run):

- Anything can happen on race day.

- If you must choose between running fast and running happy, RUN HAPPY.

I hope to break the 4-hour mark and think I've put in enough work to do so, if I have a good day.  But I have the rest of my life to break that barrier (which I wouldn't even let myself consider 6 months ago).  If I continue on my current trajectory, someday the sub-2 half and 4-hour marathon will be like the 30-minute 5K or sub-60 10K: what once was elusive will become easy.  If October 27th is that day, GREAT.  If it's not, it's okay.  It's more important to finish this once-in-a-lifetime experience with a smile on my face than a 3 on my watch.