Iron Horse Trail - 19 Mile Run

Last Saturday I ran 19 miles on the Iron Horse Trail. I began the run around 9:15 am in Danville, ran south through San Ramon, then turned around and ran north up to the south side of Walnut Creek, and then back to where I started. I finished the run sometime around 12:40. The last hour or so of the run I did my best to run underneath the shadows of the trees along the trail, but many stretches of the trail were soaked in sunlight. Below is a map of the route I took.

I have not widely broadcasted that I signed up for the Inaugural Half Moon Bay International Marathon on September 25, 2011. I signed up a few weeks ago just prior to the event selling out. I have been superstitious about the marathon distance after getting injured back in May, and now I've been experiencing soreness in my right foot since the 16 miler. But, the reason I ran 19 miles is because I am training with my eyes set on running the Half Moon Bay marathon.

I originally planned to run 18 miles, but around mile 10 I started thinking that my last mile jump was from 13 to 16 (3 miles) with a lower mileage week in between. If I wanted my longest run prior to the Half Moon Bay marathon to be 22 miles, it would not be a good idea to do an increase of 4 miles for my next run (18-22). But, if I ran 19 miles, I would have consistent 3 mile increases in mileage (16-19-22). Hopefully, I'll be in a position to run the full 22 miles. From a confidence standpoint, it felt great to finish 19 miles last weekend. A year ago if someone told me I was going to run 19 miles in August 2011, I probably wouldn't have believed him/her. A year ago this time, I hadn't even run 10 miles yet.

For the 19 mile run my pace was 9:54 - with a moving time of 3:07:22. But including all my breaks for water/GU/stoplights, the total elapsed time was 3:20:09, meaning all of my breaks put together totalled 13 minutes, making my actual pace around a 10:30 pace. I'm pretty sure the majority of the breaks occurred in the last 6 miles. My Camelbak was running low on water so I started to stop at the water fountains.

The weekend of September 3/4 is the 22 mile run --the longest run prior to the marathon. After that I get to taper my mileage prior to the marathon. I'm anxious to get the 22 miles done with!!