21 Mile Long Run

Distance: 21 miles

Duration:  3:24:32

Average Pace Per Mile: 9:43

Weather: Cloudy. 46 degrees. NNW at 15 mph.

Breakfast: Two eggs with bell peppers and spinach on a whole wheat English muffin. We didn't have any bananas, so I had mixed berries instead.

Typically, I base my route based on the sunrise, but since I had a late start, I decided to change the route and in the process miscalculated by a mile. Instead of running 20 miles, I ended up running 21. It was a forgivable mistake.

Overall, it was a fantastic run. At first, I thought the wind was going to pick up, but it eventually calmed down. I consumed two vanilla bean gels, one at mile 7 and the second one at mile 15. I think I may need three to four on race day. Where am I going to put them? I'll just stuff my shorts or bra, I guess. Another thing, I'm concerned about carrying on race day is my water bottle. For most of my long runs, I train with a nike handheld bottle. I go back and forth, I'm going to race with it, I'm not going to race with it. I can't decide. I'm leaning more towards, not racing with it. I'll just have to stop at the water stations. I hate doing that. 

Lately, I've been troubled with blisters on my big toe. Yeah, just one toe. I literally have a blister on a blister, but I think they are turning to calluses. GOOD. It's strange because they don't bother me when I'm running, only when Cheyenne steps on my toe. It happens often. :/  Another bothersome thing is chaffing. My problematic area seems to be near my armpits. Last week, I meant to pick-up some anti-chaffing cream, but I never got around to it. Fortunately, Trey had some petroleum jelly and it seemed to do the trick. I was impressed. I wish I would've known sooner that we had that stuff in our linen closet, it would've saved my armpits weeks ago. 

I'm pretty sure this is the most mileage I've ever covered in one week. 44 miles. I'm surprised I'm not falling apart. However, I do have a mild pain in my right leg. So, it's three weeks until marathon day, which means a three week taper. I'm looking forward to it. Yay!