Week 19... the big 2-0

Well.... I did it. I ran 20 miles. All at once! (Click here to view my 20 mile route.) It was a lonely run. Just me, with my coach driving around in his car to meet me at certain points and pour Gatorade for me. Good thing I had my iPod loaded up with tunes. Coach ran with me for the first 3 miles and we talked about holiday plans and whatnot - that made those 3 miles pass quickly, even the big hill. :)

After that, I was on my own. Some thoughts and observations....

• Gummy bears are pretty good running fuel
• I ran over a home pregnancy test. And a few steps later, I ran over 2 unopened condoms. I couldn't help but think that maybe if the people hadn't thrown their condoms away, maybe they wouldn't have needed the pregnancy test.
• My legs always seem to start getting sore around 9 or 10 miles. At around mile 15, it starts to become a mental battle - my legs want to stop, but my mind has to make them keep going.
  
• I was able to pick up the pace for the last 1/2 mile or so. Having energy left in the tank to do this is a good sign indeed. I sure hope that I'll be able to pull out another 6.2 miles come race day.
  
• I was super-sore for about 5 hours after my run. Could hardly stand up. But later in the evening, I went to a cookie exchange party and a couple margaritas and some cookies helped a LOT. ;-)

So... that's it. I did my longest training run, and supposedly I'm ready for this marathon (after a few weeks of tapering, that is). I sure hope so. Stay tuned for more updates as I enter the time of insanity known as "the taper"....