24 mile run...w/ a little help from my friends!

Last Saturday put me 3 weeks out from the New York City marathon. This meant my 3rd, at last, long run in my training cycle for the marathon. It may not sound like a lot, however, each one was run uptempo style. Saturday was no different...

My plan was to meet out at the Old Bell entrance to McAlpine at 6am and run 3 out and back 8 milers. Since our football game went into double overtime, I didn't get to bed until midnight. When I woke up and saw that it was 6:18, I knew that I had overslept. No worries! I knew Paul would be there at 6:50am. Anyway, I got to the park at 6:45am and waited for Paul to arrive. Sure enough, there he was at 6:50, we exchanged pleasantries, and were off!

This uptempo workout was inspired by Renata Canova where you run an uptempo 40k. I was ready. Paul did not disappoint as we hit 2 miles in 15 minutes (not fast yet we got out well...thanks Paul). Since Paul is knackered and nursing a small injury, he turned around at the 2 and a half mile mark and headed back. I ventured on solo. I kept my rhythm and ran tall with minimal arm swing. I made the turnaround at mile 4 in 29:50 and made it back having finished the first loop in 56:50. Good start since I was definitely trying to make myself tired.

I should say that at mile 7 with 1 mile left to complete the first lap, I nursed 1 Gu and then when I got back to the parking lot, I gulped down some water (15 seconds at most.) Ready for the second lap...

I started the 2nd lap with good turnover and ran all the way to the 12 mile mark along with my thoughts. Along the way, I crossed paths with Ben Hovis, Megan, Dan Matena (fresh off of his 2:43!) and John Compton (more on him later). Once again, I ran the whole 2nd loop with a stitch that thankfully did not keep me from running the pace that I wanted...

It was at this point that I spotted a young runner who I caught and asked him if he would run with me. He said yes. A nice kid named Kyle Hoffman who is running for the Myers Park cross country team. We ran together to the 15 mile mark where he ran into Boyce and I went strait. Running with Kyle kept me honest so I didn't slack off. We talked about all things running...

With 1 mile to go in the 2nd lap (mile 15), I decided not to take another Gu...I would just drink some Gatorade! Great choice...

So now I'm 2 laps down and starting the 3rd lap. I'm ready to go. I knew that I wanted to get as close to 48 minutes on the last 8 miles. The only way to do that for me would be to put pressure on the whole way. Guess what? At mile 17 (1 mile into my 3rd lap) I see John Compton coming towards me by himself! You gotta be kidding me! What does he do, he turns around and starts running with me. THIS WAS HUGE! Minimal words were exchanged as he knew exactly were I was in my running state of mind. He ran right off my left shoulder as to let me dictate tempo (also huge). At one point, we came up on a group of high school runners and just cruised right around them. We got to the 18 mile mark which is the start of the cross country course and he kept running with me. We got all the way to the turnaround at mile 20 and at that point I asked John what pace we were running and he said 5:55. I think we averaged 6:05 as he ran with me all the way to the 22 mile mark. Thanks for the 5 miles John! I still have 2 miles to go yet I'm in decent enough shape as I make it back to the end in 2 hours and 40 minutes and 40 seconds (last 8 miles in 48 minutes and 50 seconds)...I was pleased!

3 weeks until New York...