Not too bright

That pretty much sums me up.  I did two things this past week that have given me lots to think about.

1) I went running this Sunday and did just shy of 15 miles.  No big deal, right?  I was supposed to meet up with Zac, David and Melissa for the run, which was perfect because I could count on Melissa to help keep the pace below the "wanting to die" threshold, which is right about where David and Zac do their easy runs.  Problem is that she didn't show up.  Apparently she stayed out late the night before and decided to sleep in.  Wimp (alright, I'll cut you some slack since it was your birthday).  So here I was with two very fast runners with only 15 miles to go.  Yeah for that!  Mile one and two was a nice conservative 8:20 pace.  And then that was the last of anything near an 8 minute mile.  Through the streets of Dover and Westwood I followed them along at a brisk pace, up and down hills, around snow banks, and through the slush.

But here's the interesting part, while it kicked my ass and left me with sore knees, I kept up.  Which was strange because I didn't expect to be doing that kind of pace over that distance.  I had it in my mind that I was still sticking to around an 8 to 8:20 pace and that's where I would end up being for the marathon.  Now I need to rethink all of this.  If I can do 15 miles in the low 7's I should not be doing all of this running in the 8's.  Basically, I think it's time to step up my game and do it fast, the marathon is only 5 weeks away.  At this point I have no idea what my marathon pace should be.

2) I agreed to do a relay.  Well, actually two of them but the one that is on my mind is the New England Relay.  Zac asked if I was interested and since I had so much fun at the 13 Relay last year I said yes.  After all, if that was such a good time then running an Ultra relay must be a blast.  Oh, I didn't mention that we were doing it as an Ultra team?  Well we are.  He sent over the mileage chart yesterday and that's pretty much when it hit home; the average distance for each runner is around 36 miles.  Over the course of one day. That's like my entire weekly mileage all rolled up into one 24 hour span.  It looks like this relay is going to hurt as much as the last one will; I only hope that the pain is the "Another leg successfully completed!" type and not the "Holymotherofallthatisfukingpainfullthishurtslikeamotherfucker!" type of pain.

Guess I better start training for this thing.