February 18th.....

....was the last time I did a long run. Since then, my longest run has been 8 miles. Until today. Phew! I finally got in a long run. With my tune up marathon coming up in 1 month and my goal race in 6 weeks, I was starting to worry that I wasn't going to be ready. But thankfully, I've built up enough of a running base that missing 4 weeks of distance running isn't the end of the world.

Today I got home from work, had a pasta lunch w/ nutella and pretzels for dessert. Then I watched a really interesting Nat Geo documentary on solitary confinement (random, I know, but it was instant play on Netflix). Then I took a 30 minute nap. Then I got ready as fast as I could and got my butt outside before I talked myself out of the run.

As always, I'm so glad I ran. I enjoyed a good portion of the run. My muscles and joints aren't as adapted to long runs as they used to be- they didn't hurt per se, but were making their presence known;)

I ended up going 16. I thought about 20 but figured that might be flirting with injury especially since so many of my recent miles have been on the soft treadmill rather than outside. 16 is long enough to feel like I'm getting close to marathon endurance but not long enough to induce multi-mile painful boredom.

My plan was to run comfortably so I wouldn't burn out and cut the run short. So, no heavy breathing, just a nice easy conversational pace (though I had no one to talk to, I wish I did!). Ended up finishing in 2:38:24 which is 9:54 pace. I'm very happy with that. I think it puts me in good position to run a sub-4:15 marathon after a few more weeks of training.

Splits:
Mile 1: 10:08 (really trying to keep the pace slow)
Mile 2: 9:58
Mile 3: 9:39
Mile 4: 10:21 (first water and gu chomp break, a bit of walking)
Mile 5: 9:26
Mile 6: 9:34
Mile 7: 9:31
Mile 8: 10:22 (water, gu chomp)
Mile 9: 9:56
Mile 10: 10:05
Mile 11: 9:17
Mile 12 9:21
Mile 13: 10:57 (water, gu chomp)
Mile 14: 9:29
Mile 15: 10:30 (water, gu chomp, search for motivational music on ipod- chose 'More' by Usher)
Mile 16: 9:51

Good run. Glad it's done so it's not hanging over my head anymore! Now I better run and take a hot shower. I'm starting to get really cold in my wet, sweaty clothes (gross!).