20 miles!

I ran twenty miles yesterday, my last long run before the Disney marathon. It was difficult toward the end, but not as bad as I had anticipated. I never hit the wall; I carbo-loaded three days prior to the run, and I took lots of gels and drank Gatorade along the way. At least twenty other Team In Training runners were out for the last long run, and our coach had put out Gatorade and energy snacks every few miles on the trail where we run. At one point we ran by an orange grove and picked an orange to eat as we ran along. The orange was so sweet and so good that I was thrilled to be living in a place where oranges actually grow. I ran with Susan, who ran with me for the half marathon, and we seem to hit it off well as running buddies, encouraging each other along the way and wanting to run a similar pace.

There are three people doing Team In Training who are pretty fast and ran 26 miles yesterday for their last long run, doing it in about 3:40. One is an older man whose wife died of leukemia, and he has raised about $7,000 for the cause and seems to have immersed himself in running. The other two fast ones are a man and woman in their twenties who are very tall and lean. The rest of us range in pace; some of us are serious about running and others just seem motivated by the Leukemia fundraising. It's fun to come in from the long runs and record our times in the logbook and congratulate the other runners who are coming in. It's a great support team.

I went to a podiatrist on Friday about shin splints and the Achilles problem, and he seemed to think they were not such a big deal. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory, told me to cut back on the mileage, and suggested wrapping my leg before runs. I wrapped my leg for the first time yesterday, and I never even felt my shin splints. I didn't take the anti-inflammatory until after the run, though, because I wanted to be aware if there was any pain. He also seemed to think my problems might not be from the increased mileage but from changing the type of shoe. I wore my new Mizuno Mercury's for all twenty miles and was really pleased with them-- they didn't give me any of the trouble I've been experiencing with the Mizuno Alchemy's.

So, feeling good, some soreness in my quads today, but that's to be expected. Now I'll begin tapering.