20 Miles

The end of the 40 mile "Week of Death" arrived yesterday. I decided to do my longest 20 mile training run in Memphis as I was in town to celebrate my son's birthday with family. I decided to run the new Memphis Greenline which is a beautiful new 7+ mile running and cycling trail.

I woke up on Saturday morning ready to head out for a run I quite honestly didn't feel prepared for when I looked at the weather map. A long line of rain showers was an hour away approaching with great fury. Its one goal was to make my run as miserable as possible. I drove to the start of the trail and saw some bicyclers heading back. They said it was raining heavily up ahead and they were calling it a day. I had never run in the rain before. I have always avoided it at all costs. Certainly attempting to run in 20 miles would be completely insane. So I did what any sensible person would do.

3 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds later I finished the 20 mile run. Soaking wet I had accomplished the hardest run this side of the marathon with "relative" ease. Of course relative ease doesn't mean I wasn't wobbling around the rest of the day eating ibuprofin like it was chocolate candy.

So the 20 mile run is over. I have three weeks left until the marathon where my mileage significantly decreases. (My 20 mile run this Saturday becomes 12 miles next Saturday.) To date my sponsors have been so generous to have given $1,342 for this year. This is not something I take lightly. When I started this craziness three years ago, I never would have imagined so many people would have been so generous. After three years, the total amount raised has been $4,442 for St. Jude.

So 20 miles is in the books. This year my goal is to do what I did on Saturday. Make it to mile 20 without stopping and be ready to do whatever I can to finish the last 6.2 miles. Experts say the marathon starts after mile 20.

I sure wish they were right.