A long run and a fall marathon

Saturday I was back at the long run, meeting up with the Trail Monsters at Pineland for an early AM run. I am guessing the group was 12-15 strong at the outset of the run at 7 AM, and included some VIPs. Many of the Vermont 100 participants were there: Jamie, Ian and Emma, Erik, Chuck, and the VIP, Rawfood Frank. If you read my 2008 Vermont 100 Race Report you will recall that I ran with Frank for the first 40+ miles of the race. He is currently residing in Connecticut but we are working on getting him to set up his raw vegan shop here in Maine. Frank was visiting for a wedding and decided to join us for a long run. It was great giving him a tour of our running grounds and hopefully we will see more of him up this way and at other New England races.

The Saturday run was good, taking just over 3:12 and covering 20.25 miles. It was a bit humid but the pace we kept was a nice training pace, especially since this was the first long run most of us had done since Vermont. The deer flies were tame, considering the humidity and recent rainfall. It was really nice getting together with everyone for a long run. I have missed these runs since Vermont, but have been quite happy in my new role of supporting Kelly in her marathon training.

Speaking of Kelly, she ran the St. Pete's 4-Mile Road Race in Portland Friday night and did well, running an 8:46/mile pace on a very difficult course around the East End. Riley also donned running shoes and ran the kid's 1/2 Mile Fun Run, smiling the entire time, just like her mother.

Yesterday I played aid station for Kelly during her 18-mile long run. She struggled a bit, as most of the run was in full sun (and on the road to boot). Riley, Quinn and I met Kelly near mile 11 and refueled her, and as "mama" headed down the road the kids and I went to eat pastries at Maine Roasters Coffee and perused the bookstore. I knew that if we saw Kelly too soon the lure of a drive home would be great (based on how she felt when we saw her the first time) so the kids and I took our time tearing up the bookstore. By the time we left and hit the road, it had been over an hour and Kelly was already home. Good thing because she said she would definitely have taken the ride home!

Today I hit the roads of Freeport solo and had a pretty good run as a follow-up to the 20+ miler on Saturday. I ran a 6.14 mile course in 43:35, which equates to a 7:05 pace. The good thing about this run was that it was done in negative splits, starting at a 7:29 warm up pace in mile 1 to a 6:50 for the final mile. It was also hot and humid, so I felt pretty good about this run. It definitely gave me some confidence for a fall marathon. I haven't run a marathon this year and so I still don't have my Boston Qualifying time for 2009, so I just might hit the roads this fall for 26.2.