Sunday 24 miles. Week total- 120 miles.

Today was by far the best long run of my life and that's saying a lot. Not so much because I kicked ass (for me) but because I did it on wasted legs and zero motivation. I woke up this morning and for the first time ever I was nearly hobbled.. a tight calf, achilles, piriformis (or glute?), plantaar.. and on no sleep. I drove to the Reservoir planning on just making it 4 miles (to get 100 for the week) but wasn't going to rule out going longer if I warmed up. I ran (limped) through 6 miles of easy jogging (I jogged a bit with Roman who was out getting it done!).. then felt ok enough to decide on another 18 miles.. So off I went up 36 to Left Hand Cyn and up to Heil Ranch where I turned around and decided to push for a bit.. mile 16 went by in 5:27.. mile 17 in 5:34.. and so on for 9 miles. Once I got my legs locked in to the rhythm it was like I was on cruise control- I could relax and let my legs just go.. it was kind of cool. I averaged 5:30 for that last 9 miles, which was a net elevation loss, the same as the Austin course.. In no way was that easy- it felt like I was finishing a marathon for sure! But that really is why I think it was the best run ever for me. I was able to play around with my pain threshold and really examine what I was feeling inside. I had a few aches.. my right foot felt like I was running on broken glass, and my achilles was reminding me every step that it is time to taper or else... but when I asked myself if I was really hurting, the answer was always "no". I kept drawing confidence as each mile passed at faster than my goal pace... it really wasn't that bad.
Over-all I averaged 6:17 pace for 24 miles with an average HR of 151.
I'm taking a huge deep breath right now.. as I think I got lucky with my timing.. I am very border line injured and teetering on the abyss.. I love it!!!!

Here is a great ad I cut I out of a magazine..