Philly for the last long run before SF Marathon

Oh vacation, you are such a buzz kill to my marathon training plan. Every time! Too much fun, too much drinking, not enough sleep, no set schedule - you think I would learn by now not to have a vacation in the middle of training for a marathon, or marathon training in the middle of a vacation! Ok, I will stop my rant. Just wanted to set the tone of my "boo hoo is me" mood post vacation.

Over the ten days traveling I managed to only skip two runs, which was great. The only problem was planning my last 20 mile pace run. The intention was to run for 12 miles and then 7 miles at marathon pace, followed by 1 mile of cool down. I was thinking I could do this in Watertown NY where my brother lives. He had to work the day after we got there so I thought I could run then. He was able to get the morning off last minute so of course I wanted to spend time with him instead. This caused me to plan the run on Saturday when we'd be in Philadelphia. Friday night we stayed at a hotel and went out for dinner and drinks with family. I went to bed at midnight after carbo loading on beer and pizza. I woke up at 6am and started running at 6:30. It was already hot and I didn't have coffee or toast like I normally do. Instead I ran past a 7-11 and bought some Smart Water (has electrolytes!) and string cheese. I ran along Penn's Landing, down to the Art Museum, along Kelly Drive, to Manayunk and back.


There was a rowing race going on so it started to get crowded on the path along boathouse row and slightly beyond. I did the 12 miles without a problem and managed to get a mile or so in at pace before it got really hot and my legs got really tired. I opted to just finish the run at long run pace. At the time, it seemed like my only option. I also didn't plan it right, and got back to the hotel at 17.5 miles instead of 20. Now I feel like I failed myself in some way. I am hoping this didn't mess up my training and I can still get a really good finishing time on marathon day.

I did an easy run on Sunday and today and have a few quality runs scheduled for this week. I am going to try and do the best I can.

ps. the next few weeks should be filled with sleep, good eating, lots of water drinking, and more rest.