20 Miles!

Linda and I had a successful 20 miler. Apart from the expected weariness and a bothersome side stitch, no big problems arose during our run. Running 20 miles is never easy, but this definitely ranks as one of the better ones.

Since the trails were closed just above JPL, Linda and I ran a lap around the Rose Bowl first, which worked out beautifully since Katie and FJ were going for a run at 8am. By the time Linda and I completed the lap, FJ and Katie had just gotten there and were ready to go. We ran together for three miles before FJ and Katie turned back.

The second half of our run was to South Pasadena. We ran down Mission to Fair Oaks in South Pasadena before turning around. Unfortunately, we miscalculated when we should turn back. It wasn't until later that I realized that we turned back too soon, which meant we were going to be about 8/10 of a mile short of 20 miles. I broke the news to Linda and we opted to tack on the remainder at the end. Linda was feeling much better than I was, so she ran ahead. I thought she was going to turn around after .4 miles, but instead she kept going until she had made up the difference. Had I known that I could have psyched myself up. In the end, though, it all worked out. We ran 20 and then some by running back to our car.

I'm hoping that the weather will cooperate the next few weekends. This marks the taper period, but it's still important that I get those long miles in. Unfortunately it is forecast to rain next weekend.

So, the dreaded 20 miler turned out to be not too bad. We ran it in 3:09.