Peak Mileage

This weekend was our last really long run before the marathon.  From this point out we'll be tapering to get ready for the actual race. 20 miles were on the schedule and Rick put together a great route for it. It was an out and back route, but the course looped back so that 1 rest stop could be used 3 times.  Additionally it was in a part of town that most of us don't get to do much running, so we enjoyed seeing some new sights instead of the looping courses we've been on the past few weeks.  Rick was working the rest stop this week leaving Kris, Maria, Erin, Erik and myself in our familiar role of the group at the back of the pack.  Pacing was great for the 20 miles.  We started off at a good pace that got a bit faster as we ran and our last mile of the day was our fastest.  I was thrilled at how well everyone did on this run.  I remember struggling the last few miles of my longest runs last year as I got ready for the marathon and I didn't see any of that in the crew I was running with.  The solid effort they put in helped me pace myself to one of the most productive 20 milers I've done.  Seeing how everyone does on race day is going to be a lot of fun.