Week minus 13 - Distance - 20 miles

20.01 miles Garmin Connect
2:51:07
8:33 pace (9:00 min/mile target)

Left from work at 6:00am - optimistically hoping to be back in the office by 9:00. The target pace was 9:00min/mile, but that is just a little slower than what is comfortable for me. The first couple of miles were about 8:45, but settled into an 8:30 pace for most of the run. The last 5 miles were all under 8:20, with mile 20 the fastest at 8:07.

I ran my same old loop, but doubled back after 10.6 miles, so that I hit 20 at the beginning of the rec trail. I was ready to quit at 20, so walked back to work, stopped for some Gatorade, and didn't end up back in the office until 9:30.

Overall, the run felt pretty good. Choked down a Gu packet at mile 8 and mile 14, but didn't stop for any water. Only the last mile or so was rough, and that always seems to be the case, regardless of distance. I wasn't tempted to quit at any point, so did not need to draw on any extraordinary inner resources. This was my first 20-miler, so am happy to have broken that barrier. Have had a couple of sharp pains in my left inner shin/calf since returning; hope those were just isolated twitches and that I'll be ready for speed work again on Monday.