Nailing the long run

With only 4 weeks remaining till Amsterdam marathon I felt that I was lacking a long run of over 20 miles. The three Sundays before last weekend's race I put in 20, 20 and 18 miles for the long run so I was definitely due to get over the hump. Today's plan was to cruise at a steady relaxing pace at about 6:35-6:45 for the entire 22 miles. By the 2nd mile I was already at a 6:40 split which felt very easy. At miles 5-7 the pace was down to 6:25. After the 7th mile, my mind, body and legs seemed to settle into its rhythm. I was clicking off each mile between 6:10-6:20 pace, well, except for the last mile. I ran the last 15 miles in 1:33:31 (6:14 pace). I wanted to finish strong and confident so I ran the last mile a bit faster than goal MP pace ending with a 5:50 22nd mile. The overall pace for the 22-mile long run was 6:21 (2:19:41). I certainly like where I'm at with my overall fitness. If I could just manage to get in a few good workouts and decent weekly mileage over the next couple weeks then I think I should be ready to go for hopefully a marathon PR. This coming week will be tough to get in the mileage as I'll be very busy with work and traveling to Germany in the weekend.

15-21 Sep

Mon: Noon - 6.5M @ 6:56 pace; PM - 8.5M @ 6:53 pace (15M total)
Tues: AM - 4M easy @ 7:22 pace; PM - 12M @ 6:53 pace (16M total)
Wed: Noon - 7M @ 6:51 pace including 15 x :30 strides w/ 1' easy; PM - 7.2M @ 6:48 pace (14.2M total)
Thur: Noon - 5M @ 7:05 pace; PM - 7.3M @ 6:53 pace (12.3M total)
Fri: 12M with 8 miles at MP; 5:52, 5:53, 5:53, 5:49, 5:54, 5:51, 5:48, & 5:45 (46:45 - 5:51 pace)
Sat: 9M @ 6:49 pace
Sun: 22M @ 6:21 pace

Weekly Total: 100.5 miles