18 Miles

The long runs keep getting longer, by about two miles per week, as I approach the 20-mile mark - the longest run in this marathon-training program.  I was fine for the first few miles, but then the damage of those hard tempo miles on Thursday began to take their toll.  It always seems to be a struggle to run two miles more than the last long run, as if there is a solid brick wall that needs to be pushed through or vaulted over, and that wall was 16 miles today as I struggled through the last two, step by step, finally bounding up the hill to the parking lot, and being sort of amazed to see 18.00 smiling at me from my Garmin.  Marathon runners don't like walls much, which is why some of them (foolishly, I think) want to complete the entire 26.2 miles in a training run, hoping to push that wall out ahead of them or topple it down before the big race.

What made this morning's run a little easier was the unexpected companions that I encountered.  I ran the first two miles by myself, then saw Paul coming down Fifth Street (I had not run with him in weeks), so I ran with him for two or three miles at a nice easy pace.  At 9:00 a.m., a small group showed up and I ran with them, and then with Karen for three miles when Jim and Carol peeled off at a faster pace.  And finally - she had delayed her run because she knows I enjoy her help late in a long run! - Martha, looking for me out on the course, and meeting back at Town Hall to run nearly six miles with me toward the end.

Companions make the journey so much easier in all things, don't they?