One Week Out

One week out from the marathon and I spent my last long run with Chip and Dale. Well, not the REAL Chip and Dale, but chipmunks none the less. Yesterday I decided to get some different terrain under my belt, so I headed out the Lester Rail Trail. There were chipmunks everywhere! And they weren't afraid of me either. Some wouldn't move until I was just a few feet away. As I only saw one other person out there, they were nice company.

I haven't been out there since early summer. The trail head isn't far from the house, 1.6 miles to be exact, it's a nice gravel trail, and shaded in most spots. Since I was getting another late start, not do to the weather this week but instead the free Sam Adams Cherry Wheats at Mrs. P's work function Saturday night, so I once again decided to find a route somewhat away from auto traffic.

It's a 9 mile round trip from my house to the end of the Lester Trail. If I were to add my 3 mile loop on top of that, I would end up with 12 miles. Guess what? 12 miles exactly. Damn, I'm good! I covered the distance in 1:34 under moderate effort. It was hot yesterday. I was feeling for everyone running Towpath again this year in the heat. The heat made for more effort than I encountered in Akron just a couple weeks ago. But I didn't want to press too hard anyway. It's way to close to mess up anything now.

What I did want to do was run a negative split on just the trail portion of the route. Which I did. According to the G-maps Pedometer I use, the trail length is 2.9 miles. I clocked 22:40 out and 22:24 back. I had a bit of a headwind coming back, but going out is slightly uphill, so they cancel out. The wind was welcome however, as I was dripping in sweat after just a little bit. I didn't think it was going to be that warm. I went through 3 of my 4 bottles of Gatorade Endurance, taking no gels with me for this run. I wouldn't need any for only 12.

The whole run, my mind kept going over what clothing I should pack for the race. I haven't looked at any of the long range forecasts, so I really don't know what they're calling for for next weekend. But I went over every conceivable scenario and what clothing combinations I would want. So basically, I'm going to pack a little bit of everything and decide Sunday morning. Just as if I were spending the night at home and had access to everything in the morning.

That's all for now. I've one more run at the track tomorrow, and then that's it. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but when I do, I'm more excited than worried. The hay's in the barn and I'm as ready as I'm going to be.

Mr. P