This past Saturday, we ran our second 20-miler in preparation for the Illinois marathon, which is now two and a half weeks away. I felt surprisingly good during the long run. It was windy and warm. Really windy. There were times on the open trail that the wind nearly blew us over, and I’m not exaggerating. There were times when we just kept our heads down and plowed through. It was hard. And I felt good. Well, I felt as good as a person can feel after running hard for the first 15 miles. We ran faster than our normal pace for the first 15, and then slowed up for the final 5.

Having a good long run makes having two short (5-miles) uncomfortable runs in a row all kinds of frustrating. We ran 5 on Sunday and 5 again tonight, and they were, well, really difficult. At least on tonight’s run I made it past the point of meltdown on Sunday. Good times. 🙂

On tonight’s run, and right on time at mile 3, my mind and my body (heart) finally came together. When I’m not in sync, I feel like I’m just flailing around, running against something, or pulling a bus behind me, fighting it all the way. Then suddenly, if I’m lucky, I plane up out of the muck, and start to feel like I’m actually running. Head and gut negotiate their way to common ground, and we run. 

Trust the program. Trust the program. Trust the program.

Ready to be done after 20 miles RT from New Franklin to Rocheport 4.6.13