At Long Last, the Last Long

My last loooooong run of this training period didn't go as swimmingly as I would have hoped. My legs felt half dead from the first step until about the third-to-last step. But I'm trying not to place any significance on that, or dwell on it. A quick look see at an old diary shows the same happened before Chicago, and that didn't end up being a harbinger of doom.

I did enjoy my old favourite route though; down through Brooklyn and around Manhattan. In spite of the leaden legs, three hours and 20 minutes passed relatively effortlessly, and I have felt virtually zero unwanted after effects.

Needless to say, NYC marathon Sunday was excellent. Just as last year, I was more excited than a kid at Christmas to see Paula rocket by. I may have been the only spectator in LIC leaping up and down screaming I love you Paula but I wasn't embarrassed. It's not every day you get so close to your hero. (Just one day a year it seems). Since I wasn't near a TV screen, my mum called me later from Scotland to talk me live through the last few minutes of her race. How she decimated the competition, crossed the line looking fresh as a daisy, then donned the Union Jack and swooped up beautiful wee Isla in her arms.

Twenty-six of my Hellgate colleauges kicked the course's arse too. In fact our fastest phenom Phil, ran just 7 or so minutes slower than Paula herself. 2:31. That's just crazy, insane speed.

So after a weekend packed with great distractors like Halloween (see cutsie pic to right), and the race yesterday, I'm back to the waiting game. Running a marathon so late in the season is tough! It feels like I've been thinking and talking about this thing forever. These next three weeks are never going to pass. Time is standing still.

Week 15/18 Philly Training
Monday: Off
Tuesday:6.6
Wednesday: 6.6
Thursday: 7.9
Friday: Off
Saturday: 22.5+
Sunday: Off
Total: 43.6+