Half-marathon training – Week 7 – Run long

06/11	–	Rest day
07/11	6 miles	Tempo Run, 4m @ 8:40 min/mile on the dreadmill (stupid rain!)
08/11	5 miles	Slow & easy
09/11	–	Rest/Travel day
10/11	–	Rest day
11/11	11.5 miles	Long run @ 10:38 min/mile in London
12/11	3.5 miles	Recovery run with Matt in High Park
Total	26 miles	YTD: 668.5 miles

This past week included my all time longest training run (11.5 miles) and my all time longest training week mileage (26 miles). Woot! Saturday’s long run was an epic journey along the streets of London, Ontario. OK, epic might be a strong word. The run lasted just over 2 hours and in that time I only saw one other runner. Maybe everyone else was avoiding the wind and drizzle. Not me, I thrive in that stuff. Or so I’ve decided to tell myself. The temperature dropped significantly in the second hour and I’d forgotten my gloves so opening gels was almost impossible and probably somewhat comical to watch. It was actually a big confidence booster to get a 2 hour training run in and prove to myself that I can go for that long. All I have to do in the race is move a bit faster!

There are now less than 2 weeks until my half-marathon. This means that race day (November 26) is starting to show up on long range weather forecasts. I know it’s too early to expect the forecasts to be accurate but that probably won’t stop me from checking daily. Given how November has been going so far in Seattle (we hit the average monthly rainfall 6 days into the month) I predict rain for race day. The half-marathon starts at 7:30am which is the exact time of the sunrise which means that the temperature will probably be much cooler at the start than at the finish. Dressing for the race is sure to be a challenge. I may just have to accept being cold in the first few miles so that I don’t overheat towards the end. We’ll see.