One way ticket

Saturday I tried something new for my long run. Instead of the typical out and back run where you run to a destination then run home, I ran somewhere and had someone drive me home. The someplace turned out to be a perfect route for me to give me some confidence needed for my next marathon. The route was pretty flat and at one point early on downhill.
It was a near perfect route, exactly 20 miles on the nose. Starting at my house in the Renton Highlands, just miles from where Jimi Hendrix is buried. One mile north and I’m turning onto “900” to Issaquah. This was the only flaw in my route, crossing over I-90 wasn’t planned out to well as there isn’t a sidewalk. Oh well, sprint in front of some fast moving cars and I’m over I-90 and into the state park.
Running along the lake was great, nice and flat with some small rolling hills. The views are awesome and it was nice to see this 9 mile stretch at a mere 7.5 mph instead of the 40 mph I see it at every day when I drive home. I drive the opposite if this route daily to avoid the lovely I-405 mess. Who would think I-405 would be a mess when I leave work at 2:30? It is…..
At mile 17 the sun started to peak out and I had to remove my short sleeve top to reveal my tank top. This is also where my legs started to feel the 8:00 pace I was holding onto. My goal for Eugene is below 3:35:00 (8:11 pace). So hear how Eugene is a pretty flat course, I’m hopeful with a 100% effort on race day I can keep that 8:00 pace up another 6 miles. I used two GU energy gels will caffeine and about 30oz or watered down G2.
Mile 20 was exactly where google maps said it would be, right at the entrance to Redmond Town Center. This gave me another ¼ mile to jog into the mall to cool down before I was greeted by my girlfriend Jenni. She brought me my banana and my re-hydration drink (NUUN) which I really needed at that point. She left about the same time I did 2:40:00 earlier and took her dog August to the dog park and did some shopping while I ran.

My long runs are getting easier. This last month I ran 16,18,18.5 and 20 as my weekend long runs. All of them resulted in me getting up the next day and running with Jenni at Greenlake. That’s a good sign, sore but not sore enough that I can’t run a few miles.
My recovery time has really improved in the 3 years I’ve been running. I remember that first marathon, couldn’t walk correctly for 2 days.

On a side note, this is how cool my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch is. You can actually see in the data, me dart across the main road as I was passing over I-90......