Most of a 20 miler

We have been extremely blessed here in Oklahoma this week by the weather Gods. So much so that I was able to pull the motorcycle out and ride to work on Thursday and Friday. She was so happy when I came into the garage early Thursday morning. She jumped to life and purred all the way to work. It's becoming that time of year again and I can't wait. Bring on the 110 degrees! My white, pale skin is ready for some color.

As I've said before, I'm also blessed with a great job that allows me to get out of the office on Friday's and run in the afternoon. I call it my afternoon at the Lake because I usually go to Hefner (surprise, surprise) and run a lap. This Friday, however, we had a snag at work and I wasn't able to get out until after 4 PM. Life is hard, I know you're crying for me. I ran 6 miles with a buddy and he really pushed me. I was feeling tired and tight and wouldn't have run at all if if weren't for him. Good to have friends. At the end of the run my knee was feeling a little tight but so was the rest of my body so I wasn't too concerned.

On Saturday I was planning to run the Creek Classic 10K for some speedwork but my knee was still tight so I skipped it. I spent the day resting and icing my knee. I REALLY wanted to get a good long run on Sunday.

So I was planning to run most of the 20 miler today with the OKC Memorial Marathon Training group. The run today was on the actual course and I love those runs. We start in front of the Memorial and then run through some really cool parts of the city. I met up with my training buddy from last year and we ran together. We also met up with a group of guys that included the OKC Memorial Marathon race director. He's the guy who organized this marathon 8 years ago and has run it ever since. And when I say "run it" I mean run it. He not only is the director, he runs his own race every year. That can't be easy but it's impressive and let's him see how things are going first hand. That's something I respect. Very nice guy. I felt good most of the way and we were putting in some 8- 8:20/min miles easily. My knee was tight most of the way but I never had pain. By the 17 mile mark my quads were really trashed though. I don't remember hitting any hard up or down hills which is what usually causes that pain so I suppose it's just my legs not being used to the distance. I told myself, "duh! that's why you're running this today dummy, to get used to the distance again."

So I ran the full 20 miles today. Yea, I got "most" of it, just like I said I would. Paula froze up on me as soon as I stopped he though so I don't have any stats to look at/analyze/fuss over/re-analyze/be the nerdy geek that I am. This is driving me crazy. I read how to do a master reset on her but I don't want to lose my run from today so I'm just letting her set awhile. I suppose I've offended her in some way and she just needs to cool off. I've told her I'm sorry a million times but it doesn't ring true when you don't really know what you're apologizing for.

Thanks for listening