T-minus 3 weeks

Today I gave my body a round of yoga to help restore the bruising run yesterday. From start to finish I was out for 5 hours....making a very big loop up and over to the beach, back up through Hollywood, and back to Dania Bch Blvd and heading west until I tacked another 5 miles onto a base 15- for somewhere around 20. Plenty of pit stops.
A few walk stretches mostly in the last hour. If you imagine running most of this in high 80's heat then it was a solid effort...then imagine all this in cooler temps and crowds around, runners and spectators all combining energies...that's what carries us to the line.

I was surprised at how much of the run felt good. The settling into my body's own rhythms while listening to good tunes and allowing my inclination to daydream loose...Meandering through neighborhoods, this time Dania Beach just west of Federal, passing the ladies in dress whites coming to church, the relaxed group at bus stops in no hurry on a Sunday, snaking my way through towards 95. It was good to be off the usual course...it kept me distracted from distances, and how my feet and legs were feeling. The aches and pains in my left foot, ankle and leg are a drag, but appear to be a function of constant adjustment. Lots of icing, massage and stretch aftewards, and yoga today.

According to my latest edition of Runner's World, I can hold that as the last very long run. There is no way I can do more in the S. Florida heat. It's close enough to give me a psychological reminder of the distance. At the race, it will be up to willpower and the fates to bring it home. Meanwhile I am still on schedule. Next weekend, do 15 as the longest, and the weekend before I leave a good 10'er.

There will be lots to learn from this experience....not the least of which is understanding how training and racing functions in my life right now. Post-marathon I need to make the next big push for my state exam, and distances will need to revert to the manageable. This seems reasonable, as long as the 'trekker' in me has that outlet to wander the streets. Miami may not be a second marathon this year, but I could still do the half with steady effort. But whether races remain, running will....and the space inside my head where the pulse of my heart meets the sweat of my soul in tandem with my dreams.