I managed to get in what I thought was my first 18 miler, however it turns out I undercut it by about a half mile. This means next week’s 20 miler will be a little harder. I hate when I do this, I mapped the course out this morning before I went and thought I had it down, but hosed it again.

I did pretty good though, despite the fact it was pretty cold out. When I left at around 10am, it was 17 degrees with a wind-chill of about 7 degrees, so I bundled up good. I had 4 top layers, 3 lower layers, a face mask plus a hat (which I ended up removing), two pairs of gloves and 2 pair of socks … I had the face mask on, then off, then on and then finally off. By the time I got to 10 miles, I was in another world and didn’t care about the cold. I think just the pure fact that I had so much gear on will help me in the long run as I hope its going to do nothing but get warmer from here on out. Guess we’ll see.

Anyway, my back feels good and all, however my legs are a little hosed. I am certainly not as conditioned as I was when i was training for Steamtown due to the struggles I had in the beginning. I think thats going to be the difference. I’m certain I can survive through the marathon. I may not fair well at the end, but i’ll get through ….

Either way, I’ve done a good job adjusting my schedule to the new job. Its a little hard getting up quite so early to run before work, but it only gets better from here. I actually went out on Thursday after work, and FROZE! I didn’t get out until 4:45pm and it was dark by the time I got back (had to do 8 miles).

Anyway, things are going well, I hope to write more often again, and I know I keep saying that, but time is at a premium right now.