Go Long and Prosper

So today was my 25k run leading up to the marathon on the 16th. A perfect day, temperature in the low teens (celsius) and bright sun. B. was going golfing at Dentonia with her friends and the plan was for me to swing by the course at the end of my run to pick up the car. It worked out perfectly - almost exactly 25k. An almost complete circuit of East York, too - around the Don Valley to Cherry Beach, across the bike path to the spit, then up to Lakeshore Blvd and over to Coxwell, north to Gerrard, east to Victoria Park and finally north to the VP subway station where the golf course is. 5 more km would have had me back home again, actually.

I felt ok for whole run, so that's a good sign. Knee pain was kind of lurking in the background but never became a problem, I think largely because my pace was... casual. 2.5 hours to run 25k is pretty slow, around the 6 minute per kilometre mark. Whoa, that's really slow. But that was with more than the usual number of stops and included a longish stop at a variety store to refill the water. Why do I always get behind someone buying a fistful of lottery tickets? That killed about 10 minutes, I swear. So actual runnng pace may have been not quite that slow.

However, if I was to run that pace on the day, my time would be... 4 hours 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure there are no variety stores along the route though, so I might be ok there. A sub 4 looks in reach, barring any meltdowns in the final 15-20k.

That was my longest run of the year by about 10k, a large jump up and not recommended, so I'll know tomorrow if I've done any damage. The Taylor Creek 5k Cross Country run is at 1pm so any stiffness or soreness will make itself apparent pretty quickly. Again, not looking to set any PB times tomorrow, but once the gun goes on a 5k it's hard to hold back. I'm usually in the 21-22 minute range on these XC races so we'll see.