Jog 'n Stretch

After a full day off yesterday, today was the traditional easy jogging and full stretching ritual that comes the day before a race. Weather was really nice, starting in the high 30's and nice and clear. We really jogged this one, doing 30 minutes per Gilbert's instruction on the trail. My little group was Rich, Amy, Liliana, Alex and Brian, and we had a lot of fun chatting away. It's been a while since I've seen Amy, so we had to catch up on her new job and all that entails. We ended up with something like 3 miles at over 10:00/mile pace, truly easy running. 32 minutes of running time, for those keeping score. Richard showed up late, and joined us for the last half mile or so of the run. There was some good-natured ribbing about sleeping in and all that sort of thing...

Once we got done, we did a few striders on the grass and then Gilbert led the rather large group in balance drills and some hopping around. After that, it was time for the long stretching routine, and by then, it was just glorious outside, nice and sunny, and I think that lifted everyone's mood to a new level. Just a nice relaxing morning with the Gazelles.

Gilbert gave us more advice regarding the 20 miler tomorrow, and basically his plan for me is about what I had considered on my own: Easy 5 miles at 9:00 pace or thereabouts, and then 10-12 miles at MGP (I'm thinking that pace is 8:35, Gilbert seems to think I should be aiming faster than that), and a fast finish over the last 3-5 miles. I may actually run with the GPS watch tomorrow to try and keep myself on proper pacing. This is not so much a "race" as a well-supported long run, so maybe I should approach it that way. My overall pace goal for the race is not well-defined, but I do want to have the feeling of being strong late in the race. If I do what I think I can, I should end up with an overall pace around MGP. It will be a "run how I feel" type deal, and I'll pick up the pace at the end somewhere after the 15 mile mark, depending on how I'm doing.

I've just got to get some GU this afternoon, and I'll be all set. This is also a full pre-race dress rehearsal for the marathon, and I'll eat just like I plan to eat before Freescale.