Last year's 20 Miler Part 1

On Sunday we will do 20 miles, the second longest run during our marathon training program (we will run 23 on Saturday October 14th). Last year's 20 miler was a big turning point for me. I had made a move from the 10:00 group to the 9:30 pace group. I felt that if I could keep up with them I might have a chance of breaking 4 hours at the marathon. I was successful, finishing it in 2:54 and change, which would have left me with over an hour to do an additional 6.2 miles (a 10:29 pace), certainly doable.

I actually did the 2005 twenty miler in 5 fewer minutes than it took me to complete the 18 miler 2 weeks prior. I ran the 18 miler with my teammate Jenny and I felt I had a lot left in the tank at the end. We did a little over 10 minute miles the first 17 and I felt good and decided to speed ahead, and broke 8 minutes on the last mile. That was what made me confident enough to move up to 9:30's for the 20 miler. I was only in that pace group, which consisted primarily of Jeffrey Carlson and Danielle Sallah, for that one run. The next practice I joined the 9:00's before splintering off into our little 5 person 8:45 faction with Sonia, Craig, Amy Dold and Russ.

My goal on Sunday is to be able to average my BQ (Boston Qualifying) pace for the whole 20 miles (7:29).