In it for the long run

Today Melanie and I had our first of two 20 milers for this training cycle.  I love long run day - it really is my favorite.  I love that I can get lost in the run so easily - I'm not worried about pace or route - it's nothing more than just keep running.  

Today's run was great.  We came in quite a bit under 3 hours and had a great pace of 8:34.  We tried something new that was fun - usually for a super long run I do an out and back - or some variation of one (last cycle I went out 5 miles in one direction before coming back and going out 5 miles in another direction).  We have a great dirt path in our town that makes a little over a 3 mile loop - and there's an extra little loop at the end that you can add on and it gives another 3/4 mile or so.  So we ran over to this trail and did 5 laps on it.  

I thought running the same course over and over would bore the heck out of me - although we ran it backward twice.  But truly, this was easily the most manageable long run I've done as far as the mental aspect goes.  It was easy to focus on the particular lap we were in instead of looking at the mileage as a whole.  We (I) chatted the whole way and felt great at the end.

I had a good stretch and a lot of food after and although my legs are tired, I feel great and love the accomplishment of completing a 20 mile run.  We have 12 miles next week and then another 20 miler before heading into our taper.  We've made it this far and I couldn't be more excited.