Another weekend, another 20 miles

I switched my long run to Sunday this week to accommodate a social life. What? Social activities? What are those? That's how I've been feeling lately as I say no to anything that doesn't fit into my 10pm Friday night curfew or Saturdays being consumed by pre-running activities, running forever, and then post-running ice baths, naps, meals, etc. So in an effort to restore some balance, the 20 miler was moved to Sunday. I ran home from the train station friday instead of carpooling, quickly scurried off to the bbq, only a little late and had a blast. And didn't make it to bed until 1am, and didn't care. Oh glorious friday night!

Saturday morning we had breakfast with friends and then went for a slow leisurely bike ride around a small agricultural island nearby. It was gorgeous out and so necessary to make room for such fun at the end of summer in Portland. We saw tons of baby animals and rode slowly and took in all the flowers and even stopped for blackberry snacking along the way.

Fiance and I stayed in Saturday night and ate a huge pasta meal, and according to plan I was in bed by 10. It was going to be hot today so I wanted to get out early, but woke up a little later than usual and didn't make it out the door until 7:45.

Today's run was pretty uneventful. Miles 1-5 I was cruising, at mile 5 I jumped on the train and rode it 3 stops to avoid my least favorite part of the run. Miles 5-10 were through NW Portland and involved my only pit stop, at, of course, Starbucks. I had a Clif Shot at mile 6 and the Espresso one at mile 10 and then planned to meet Fiance at mile 15 for a cinnamon roll break. After last weeks success I decided to test drive that fuel source one more time and then if all went well have him bring one when he meets me at mile 18. I got to the meeting point half an hour ahead of schedule (wow!) and knew I couldn't stop running, so I didn't end up meeting him until mile 18. I quickly ate a cinnamon roll and guzzled a ton of water and took off for my last 2 miles. Just that 7-8 minutes stopped left my legs very heavy, but the sugar did me well. I had a slight cramp for a little while, which I think was water related. I made it home in 3.5 hours exactly and headed straight for the ice bath.

Now it's time for some lunch! The long runs are officially over which has me feeling quite a few things:
Can I really do this? Shouldn't I run 20 miles next weekend too? Won't I go crazy during the taper? (yes, probably) What if I spend all my free time eating instead of running? What if my new shoes aren't broken in by then? (sidenote: had planned to run in my current shoes, but my knees have been bothering me in the way they only do when my shoes are worn out, so I bought new ones (exactly the same as the current ones I love) and plan to break them in on my taper runs over the next 3 weeks.)

Doubt creeps in even after a completely successful 20 mile run. Amazing. It's all in your head though, and I will spend the next 3 weeks reminding myself of that!