I originally had a 10 planned here. I missed a mile earlier in the week so I decided to add one here and make it 11. It rained a lot today and I thought I was going to wimp out. Getting wet for 45 minutes while working hard and generating some heat is enjoyable. Getting soaked and cold on a long slow run is miserable. Well, I got lucky and it cleared up this afternoon and turned out to be a beautiful run. So, I started of with 11 planned but felt wonderful so I decided to run 12. I was trying to take it slow and easy but was still running 8:45 - 8:50. So I kept running down through Saratoga Springs with some beautiful, after rain views of the north end of Utah Lake. My splits were staying under 9:00 so I decided on a 1/2 marathon under 2 hours. As it shows on my short term goals, I want to run a marathon under 4 hours. I wanted to do this last year at the Salt Lake Marathon. I month or so before, I ran a 1/2 marathon at a 2 hour pace to see how it would work for a marathon. I made it, but barely. I was exhausted and winded and there was no way I was going to run a 4 hour marathon. I ended up running 10 minutes back of my best time. So with things going well about half way threw my run today, I threw cation to the wind and decided to test myself an see how I would do with 13.1 miles. I ended up with 1:57:33. I am pleased and encouraged. With all the training miles I have planned (probably 3 times the training miles of Salt Lake), I should have a shot at it. | 