This shot of downtown Oakland, Oregon, was lifted from the home page of Oakland Antiques. They claim to be "semi retired," so they are open "Saturday or by chance or by appointment." So if you are going to head up there, try to go on Saturday, or make an appointment. Unless you are feeling lucky.
I ran the same route today as I did last Saturday, only slower. It didn't feel slower. I actually thought that I was going faster. But then again, last Saturday came after a day off. Today's run follows a 10 mile run yesterday, and is the culmination of a 50 mile week and a 100 mile fortnight. It was a tough run, but again I was never tempted to drop out. I walked only my scheduled hydration breaks, and I kept them reasonably short.
I'm feeling pretty good about the marathon. I still need to put together fast and long. My "fast" runs (scare quotes because they are dead slow for lots and lots of people) have been up to about 10 miles, and my long runs have been a minute or more per mile off my pace. Hopefully, it will all come together on race day. I have three things going for me, that I can think of:
- I will be well rested on race day. My last 20 miler is September 28, three weeks out, and I'll taper off from there.
- I will have the excitement of race day, and the support of the other runners and the crowd. The trick there will be to try to spread it out over the whole race, and not let the excitement drive me to go out too fast at the beginning.
- It's fairly flat. There are some hills, but they are mostly in the first eight miles. By the end, it's fairly flat and slightly downhill. That certainly could not be said about today's run.
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