I'll take a #1, A Shifty McShifterton on the Long Runs

Holy long runs.  I've already posted regarding my 16 mile run, now I'm gearing up for 18.  I'm possibly expecting this to be no only the longest distance I've ever run, but also the longest time.  Last year I "ran" 15 miles and it took nearly just 2 hours 50 minutes.  My 16 miler took just 2 hours and 37 minutes last week...surely I won't be able to do 18 in just 13 minutes more.  I'm not trying to be negative, instead, realistic.  I'm shifting my runs around.  I should be running as follows according to my plan:

• Mar 16 - 17 Miles
• Mar 23 - 19 Miles
• Mar 30 - 20 Miles

However, I signed up for the Chi-town Half Marathon and that's on March 24th.  There's no way I could follow a 19 mile run with a half-marathon race so I opted for shifting my schedule around...

• Mar 16 - 18 Miles (Splitting the difference between the 16th and 23rd)
• Mar 24 - 13.1 Chi-town Half Marathon
• Mar 30 - 20 Miles

I have to be honest that I'm really wondering if not going 19 miles at some point before doing 20 is a good idea, but a recent conversation on FaceBook has me feeling good about it.  Instead I feel like lowering my mileage prior to the longest distance I'll run before the full marathon is probably a good idea.  We taper after the 20 before 26.2.  Same logic.  I'm good with it.

Looking further out in the schedule, October is the Chicago Marathon which I will start training for exactly one month after the Illinois Marathon.  Meanwhile, the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge registration is less than a month away.

Throughout my training, I've been looking forward to the next color level (trivial, I know) from +Nike. Well, I've made it to the blue level.  I've hit 1,000km or 621.367 miles.  the mileage doesn't seem like much of a milestone, but the KM does!  930 miles left until the purple level, expect that about a year or so from now.