Is It Race Day Yet?

Scenes from my 22-miler this past weekend.

On the one hand, I can't believe I am in week 14 of my marathon training. Yet, on the other hand, I can't believe the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is still 17 days away!

As per my normal insanity, I am enjoying marathon training. Call me crazy (FYI, you won't be the first nor the last to do so), but I really do enjoy training. The constant challenge, the upping of the mileage, the tons of miles being logged, hill and tempo workouts.

I mean, what's not to love?

But while I do love training, I am so ready for race day to be here ... LIKE NOW!

After my 22-mile long run this past weekend, I've just had this sense of "Come on already! Can't we get this thing going now?"

This long run went well. I wanted to get it under 4 hours and I did so. If I'm able to repeat this on April 7, a PR could be in my future. Of course, I didn't run a course this past weekend that mirrors the elevation change I'll face in Knoxville.

I am just ready to get to the start line and enjoy my 26.2-mile jaunt through Knoxville. I can't tell you how many times I've mentally ran this race, picturing each section of the race and getting psyched to run the course for real once more.

This sensation really hit me yesterday, especially after my not-so-great 7-mile run. It was just a challenge to get through yesterday's run. It was brutal. My legs were tired, I was tired and all I really wanted to do was go back to bed and get more sleep. Unfortunately, that was not an option.

All I could think about yesterday was how I wished it was race day. I was sooooooo ready to have this training behind me.

And then today's run happened.

The plan called for 8 miles of mile repeats. I ran a 2-plus mile route to the high school track, followed by 4 mile repeats with a 1/4 mile after each at a relaxed pace and then ran 1.5 miles back to my home. In all, it turned out to be 8.5 miles.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what this run would be like. I felt good, but after yesterday's cluster of a run, I was skeptical if I could turn in a great performance. Must say, I was pleasantly surprised with the run I turned it.

Finished the entire run in 1:20:45 for an overall pace of 9:30 per mile. My splits on the mile repeats were 8:57 / 8:50 / 8:44 / 8:28.

After my first 2 mile repeats, I wanted to continue the trend of shaving 7 seconds off each mile. Was disappointed in only shaving 6 seconds off on mile 3, but I believe I more than made up for it on the final mile repeat.

Obviously, I am pleased with this training run. Yet, I still want to get to race day. 

Alas, the Knoxville Marathon is 17 days away. *sigh*

Guess I will continue to take it day by day and continue to focus on my training plan. No need to deviate from it now.

Happy running!