Sweet 16

16 miles. 16 miles starting at 6am this morning. My alarm clock went off at 4 am and by 5:15 I was in the car headed to Georgetown.

I was determined to make the "speed walking" thing work today. We have a bunch of speed demons in our group and by mile 4, they had left me in the dust. I can run slow, but I just cant walk that fast. So, I had to make a decision. I switched from walking 3 minutes and running 1, to running for 2 and walking for 2. That seemed to help me pretty well. I finished feeling very, very proud.

The dilemma is this: In the Marine Corps Marathon, you have to cross the 14th street bridge by 2pm because that is when it re-opens for traffic. This means that you must average a 15 minute mile. For those who run the whole marathon, this is a piece of cake. But for those of us using the Galloway method, it simply means that we have to watch our times carefully. My 2:2 ratio did keep me under 15 for many of the miles, but there were indeed times that I was over, and over by a good 30-40 seconds. This is of some concern to me. If you don't hit that bridge by 2pm, you have to board a bus and take it to the finish area. The pace I ran today would have me missing that bridge by about 5-8 minutes. So, this is where my work is cut out for me. In other marathons, there are not such stringent time limits.

Physically, I feel pretty good. At about mile 14 my back began to hurt, and at the end I was a bit dizzy, but after 16 miles, I'll take it. I have to say that I am thrilled to have finished today. It does feel good.

More importantly, it's been a great week of donations which will now be matched dollar for dollar. Thank you to everyone!

Don't forget to visit my donor page where you can see a whole scrolling memo of all my supporters! You can find it at: http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=DC-0334&EventCode=MC06

Thank you to Sylvia Devore and my Uncle Larry for their generous support!

Training runs will be from Chicago and home this week where I will work on that pace once again.

Thank you for your moral support and donations in the fight against AIDS!

Dan

Total Training Weeks: 11
Total Training Miles: 164