The Odyssey--24

Can I just say that all that pasta and those Irish potatoes that I ate yesterday really paid off? And boy, I made fun of those goo packets several months ago, but I was so happy to slurp that stuff down 1, 2, and 3 hours into the run.

The first 3 miles were by far the worst. I started at the local high school track. It was early. It was cold (38F) and it was windy. 2 miles into it I couldn't help but think, "This stinks and I've got 22 miles left to go!" Let me tell you, negative thoughts do NOTHING to boost your energy.

But gradually my body warmed up and by mile 4 I was cruising at a 9-minute mile pace.

I moved on to cover 18 miles of road, admiring the blankets of fall leaves that finally succumbed to the previous night's storm and now littered the trails and sidewalks. Every once in a while I would think something like, "OK, I've covered 9 miles and still have 15 left? There's no way I'm going to make it." That's when I would fire up the mp3 player and use music to distract me into returning to a more peaceful frame of mind.

For the final 1.5 miles, I ended up at the track once more and found that I was still strong enough to maintain my 9-minute mile pace! Amazing since the time I ran 22 miles, I was staggering along at about a 10.5-minute mile pace at the end.

24 miles in just over 3 hours and 47 minutes.

Today I am eating anything I want.