Marathon Training - 13.1 Miles

I was REALLY looking forward to today's training run ... why you may ask? Because I was going to have a special guest on part of the run!!! My friend Sarah, who just had the adorable baby I keep showing pics of just 7.5 weeks ago!

Her first post-baby race is going to be the Boston Athletic Association Half on October 7 with me. I can't wait to run the race together!!

But today she had 9 miles on the docket, while I had 13.1 so we met and she decided to run the first 9 with me then I would finish up what I had to do.

I was psyched to have someone to run with and I know we complement each other well when it comes to pace so I was ready!

We met along the Charles River at 6:45 and set out. We fell right into our normal groove, but quickly realized that we were going faster than we had set out to go so we tried to bring it back a little bit around mile 4.5 or so.

But the pace was working and the time passed quickly as we chatted the entire time.

Next thing you knew it was time for Sarah to finish.

We ended up running the first 9 miles together at about a 8:43 min/mile pace - perfect for her goal to finish the BAA Half in October under 1:55.

Aren't we awesome? ;)

So I gave Sarah a high-five, told her to give Joanna a hug from her favorite aunt (her words not mine ;)) and headed out to complete my last 4 miles.

Since I was ready to be done, I picked the pace up a smidge in the final miles, but I also stopped to soak in the scenery.

THIS is why I get up at 5:45am on a Saturday to run!!

I couldn't believe I was less than 2 miles from finishing so I had to stop and snap a pic...

... boy do I love these running sunglasses! For too long I said I needed a pair and now I can't imagine a run without them.

And just before I finished my run I saw a familiar face ...

... oh hey there to my Racemenu folks!! :)

I ended up with a time I was proud of:

Now is the time - with 63 days to go til the Marathon - to work on keeping the same pace throughout the entire run! I don't want to get tired to easy or burst on to the scene too late in Savannah in November.

But, today I really didn't think about my pace too much - I just enjoyed the time with Sarah and listened to my body.

Now, next week and the 18 mile run on Saturday is a different story ;)