Saving the Best for Last

Serendipitous. That's the way I'd describe today's 20-miler. I sailed through *most* of it, which is saying a lot for such a formidable distance. It was--hands down--the best long run I've had for the entirety of marathon training. It was the kind of run that reminds you why you run in the first place. Nothing like heading into a taper (though I think true taper is another week away still) with a bang.

The husband had planned out a 20-mile route that took me past our house twice. To start, I ran to and from Fullersburg Nature Center, to bring me to 9 miles or so (my Garmin disagreed, but more on that later). I feel so lucky to live within three miles of beautiful nature no matter which way I run (actually, depending on the direction, it's more like .5 miles). I simply couldn't have planned such a lovely 20-mile route in the city without having to drive somewhere else. When I stopped back at the house on this loop, I picked up Dean, who suffered through four miles at an 11-minute-mile pace (he's more of a 7-minute-mile guy himself). I was feeling *amazing*. We hit 13.1 on my Garmin, and I thought about how I've never finished 13.1 feeling like I could run any additional miles. But today, I felt like I was just hitting my stride at 13.1.

As we were heading back toward home, I remarked to Dean that it suddenly felt like every training run I had done--every soggy mile in the oppressive heat, every miserable mile when I just didn't feel like I had this in me, every mile that I walked instead of ran--had all been worth it. My training came together, and I just ran. And it felt almost like something approaching fun!

I dropped Dean off, and after he hit up my back with the body glide (which didn't help--I'm glad no one was inside to hear my involuntary shriek when I got in the shower!), I headed back out for the final six miles: to the zoo and back (seriously, how awesome is it that I can run to the ZOO??). Truthfully, the last six miles were harder than the first 14. But, well, duh. As the saying goes, if it were easy, everyone would do it. I had to laugh at mile 17 (??) when "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" came on my iPod.  I had so many moments in my run today where my marathon playlist delivered the perfect song at just the right moment. Serendipity, baby!!

The last mile or so were hard just because my legs were really, really screaming. But I never hit a wall and I never felt like I couldn't finish. I'd also say that I probably walked less (mile for mile) this run than I have during any other long run. I didn't walk at all the first 16 miles, but I stopped running long enough to take a gel round about mile 18.

Although I just calibrated my stupid Garmin on the track at the Y (and double-checked it to make sure it was spot-on when I was done), my Garmin calculated this run at 22.59 miles. I don't know whether to trust Map My Run or Garmin on this. The Garmin seemed about right when I ran during lunch this week. But it was off what I know to be three miles by .25 miles today. That will teach me to eschew the wonders of GPS. Stupid Garmin.

Now the family is on a bike ride (I really wanted to go, but I figure I've asked enough of my body for one day), and I'm making brownies (I have never deserved brownies more in my life!) and trying to make a dent in eating back the 2,200 (approximately) calories I burned. This is actually harder than you'd imagine. So glad Ella insisted on beef stew for dinner tonight!

Ice, ice baby. Ice baths seem to make a huge difference in long run recovery--though I never really have enough ice to make a true ice bath. More of a very, very cold bath.