Sunday Long Run

This week ended with a good long run this morning. Even though it was a solo run I managed to put in a good workout. I'm accustomed to training alone, but the long runs become a mental challenge when you're running alone for almost 2 hours. Many people (non-runners) tend to ask me what I think of during my runs. I'm sure you've been asked the same question many times. I try to stay focus and concentrate on my form, breathing and pace, but that's not always the case. Sometimes I'll think of the things I need to accomplish for the day and plan it out during the run. Today, I thought about my good running friend Fred Schumann and what he has accomplished and put his body through. If you read my first post you'll see a picture at the end of it. Fred, a 1988 Olympian, is the runner to the right of me. He and a few other Guam runners were my Sunday running partners when I was back home. I'm currently reading Fred's blog on his journey running the length of Japan. I can only imagine the pain he went through running up to 86km (that's 2 marathons) a day. It is inspiring knowing what he has accomplished.

As of now I don't have a marathon planned on my schedule, so I'm keeping my long runs around 15-17 miles or up to 2 hours. This should keep me at a good base mileage. I ran the first 1hr 25min. at a steady pace about 6:50 - 7:10. I then finished the last 20 minutes slightly faster at about marathon pace. I was feeling good towards the end of the run. I then got carried away and ran the last couple miles around 5:50. Today's long run reminded me of my last training cycle when I was training for the Austin Marathon in February. In Austin, I ran my marathon PR of 2:38:18.

Today's Run: 1:46:45