I have to say that it was an absolutely great morning for a run here in the northeast. It was foggy out at first, but the temps were at around 55, and there was a chill in the air. It took about an hour for the fog to burn off, so the direct sunlight never really got to me. I had 22 miles scheduled, and I hit it right on the mark. As I wrote the other day, my left groin muscles were sore after my speed workout on Thursday, but they didn’t bother me too bad during the run. I did slow the pace just slightly (finished 22 in 3:16), at just about an 8:55/mile pace, much slower than last week. The key to running with a sore groin for me was to not extend my stride too far out, which is how I think I hurt it in the first place.

Since the course I chose in the Back Mountain was quite hilly, keeping a short stride helped. As far as hydration and fueling was concerned, I did just fine with my 24 ounces of water and a single GU. I actually didn’t stop for water along the way like normal, just didn’t feel the need to. I did have a run-in with a picker bush, tore up my knee … I felt the need to ‘relieve myself’ in about mile 5 and thought I could get off the side of the road down to get it done, but I hit the picker bushes. There was blood all down my leg, it was pretty gruesome, but the sweat of the run later on got rid of the blood. I did get to finish the job later on where there were no picker bushes. My advice to anybody, WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING IN THE WOODS!

I’ve been pushing the hills for my long runs since the marathon is just 3 weeks away. The course I ran (which I won’t post right now) was quite hilly, and in comparison to the Lehigh Valley Hospital Marathon course, its much more difficult. I’ve read that the creator of the course, Bart Yasso, included something called Gary Ward Hill in mile 14. In looking at the course elevation, it appears the hill is only an incline of 180ft over a half mile or so, which is sharp, but no worse than the 6 hills that I hit today, some of them were even worse (plus the fact that I was doing hills in mile 18 and mile 22). I think i’ll be okay, again as long as I don’t go out too fast ….

So after the run today, i’m feeling quite sore, especially my groin muscles, I’ll need to continue to take it easy so I don’t pull something. The good part is that i’m in the last hard week, and if I need to, I can start to cut some miles back this week if the body is really banged up, although I don’t expect to (however i’m NOT doing speedwork). I have to get ready to start traveling more again, which will throw off my workouts a bit, but running in new places is never a bad thing in my opinion (except for when I get lost).

I actually didn’t tear myself up this week with the fuel belt and all, thanks to body-glide. I should start using it more .. I had a pretty good infected cut on my hip last week.

So we’ll hope to hit the 68 mile mark tomorrow .. I think thats about as much as I want right now, thats a lot of miles.