38 miles

Damn right. I'm back. Since last Saturday, I got 38 miles of running out of my body. I feel good, too. But I'm not taking all the credit... Well, yes I am. But I have some people who are helping make this happen with me.

I am stretching out of my comfort zone and running REGULARLY with other humans. I love how we inadvertently pull each other through the long runs. I run at a faster and more consistent pace with them and I NEVER even think about renegotiating the distance when we're out there. Even through I usually stick with the distance I commit to, I almost always start deliberating reasons to shorten a long run- even by just a mile or so- when I'm alone. They seem to be opposite of me in one way- they both start out faster in the beginning. I start out slower and build up to a faster pace between the 2nd and 3rd mile. We seem to meet in the middle in this regard- I keep them slower in the beginning but we're still running faster than I would run at the start.

I believe this is going to help improve my race pace. I expect to shave several minutes off of my marathon PR particularly because Philadelphia is nothing at all similar to Lake Placid.

One great thing about this is that one of these women has never run long distances before. I think we were both impressed with the ease in which her first ten mile run came and went. The second time we went out and ran 11.5 miles and she seriously told me that it was fun. If she can use the word "fun" after her 2nd long run which is also her longest run to date, I think she is built for this.

One of the ladies I run with brought her daughter with us for two of these long runs. Please tell me how awesome it is that a 17 year old girl would wake up at 6 am on a Saturday morning to go out and run ten miles with her mother and her mother's friends! This girl is training for her first half marathon. The mother in me beams when I watch her. This level of determination was unfathomable to me when I was her age. And it's SUMMER! And the girl has a job! You'd think she'd want to be doing teenager-y things, like sleeping in on a Saturday morning...

One of them is running the Philadelphia Marathon with me. There is much debate about who is "slower" but based on pure stats it's a toss up. Her fastest 5k is better than mine by more than a minute. Our half marathon PR's are almost exactly the same- I believe mine might be a few seconds slower- BUT she boasts about not stopping at any aid stations through the entire 13.1. (And yes, I told her that was dumb.) Since I stopped (and walked while drinking) at more than half of the aid stations AND stopped to stretch twice during my PR race, I think this technically makes me faster in the half marathon distance...

Philadelphia will be her first marathon, and my 3rd. May the faster one win!

We shall see on November 20th. Either way, I'm grateful for these friends and new experiences. I'm excited about what is on the horizon.