15 down, 3 to go

Weeks in the training cycle.  20 miles tomorrow and the taper starts!!  Probably the best marathon training cycle - so far - in at least 5 years or so.  Of course I haven't run a full marathon since 2009 Boston so not much to compare it with.  Most importantly, no debilitating injuries.  If you are 59 and you've run for 40 years, you are going to have some niggling little issues here and there: a tight hamstring that talks to you every now and then, some lingering Plantar Fasciitis, a wonky but perfectly fine left knee, and what not.  On the plus side of the ledger?  Lots of experience and endurance and pain tolerance - all three pretty handy weapons to have in your arsenal when you are racing 26.2 miles.

The pace run this morning ended up being 10 miles at 8:15, which is a good 30 seconds per mile under my anticipated marathon pace of 8:35.  Really thrilled with that, and felt good right until the end, despite pretty muggy conditions.  I am not used to being 'the guy' who outruns the entire training group, but it has happened a couple of times recently, so I guess I'd better enjoy it while it lasts!