20 #2: DONE

Wow...I can't believe I did two 20 milers on my own. I can't believe I did two 20 milers in the form of me running three loops in a a prairie, seeing the same things over and over again. I can't I wasn't in a lot of pain Sunday or today for that matter.


I think I'm ready for my race.


Of course, that's not how I felt during the last two miles of my 20 miler. My legs felt like so much dead weight. As soon as I would stop to walk for a second, they would tighten up, so I'd have to start running again, until they felt too heavy. Seriously, miles 18 to 20 were not pretty and definitely left me feeling like there's no way I'd be able to tack on another 6.2 miles after that. I know, in the end, I'll be able to, but still...it did not feel that way on Saturday morning.

I'll spare you most of the details, since you've already read about one of my 20 milers. I pretty much did everything the same as last time, and that helped a lot. I was cruising, though, for about the first 8 miles or so. This is a new feeling for me. I just didn't want to stop, nor could I! From 8 through 15, I had settled in and was starting to feel the work. In miles 15 through 18, I started feeling like I wanted to be done right away, and then 18 to 20 was a slog-fest, featuring me and my aching knees.

Oh and I got new shoes finally. Three cheers for those, man. I just tried them out this morning and it felt like I was running on clouds. LOVE news shoes! I know I should be surprised, but it feels so great when you put them on after having worn out your old shoes.

So that leaves a nice 12 miler for this weekend and an 18 miler for the following weekend, and then 12 or 10 after that before I'm out of double-digit miles.