Its been a tough weekend of running in preperation for the marathon. I did an 18-miler on Saturday (my first), then an 8-mile marathon pace run this morning. I never realized how far 18 miles was until I looked at it on the map (by the way, I use gmap-pedometer), here is the course. It just felt like I was running forever and ever and ever. I didn’t do bad though, felt strong at the end and did it in 3:12. I did stop a couple times for a 30-second walk break, which helped. I was fortunate enough to come across a vending machine with water in it along the way. I couldn’t find my second fuel-belt bottle, so I had to wing it, and even though it was a Pepsi vending machine, the water really hit the spot.

My legs are at a point that they are just burning … not necessarily in pain, but burning (kind of like I ran 26 miles this weekend 😮 lol ) .. I do feel a little tightness in my left hamstring, and it is a little tender, but a day of rest will do it well. I’m not sure i’m even going to crosstrain tomorrow, I think I might just do upper-body weights. I really need the rest. Next week I have 19-miles scheduled and then the fateful 20 miler …. AH! I was happy that I did get the 8-miler in at marathon pace, which surprised me actually, being the miles I ran the day before, but I guess when you put your mind to it, you can do anything!