Heading home to run 26.2 by MikeFromNC

One month to go until the Knoxville Marathon and I can't wait.  This week added up to a little over 30 miles, including about 5 miles of interval training on Tuesday, a 10-mile tempo run on Thursday, and a long run of about 15 miles on Saturday.

I got up on Saturday morning and looked at the temperature - 45.  That's not too bad, so I put on the shorts and short-sleeve shirt that I would normally wear.  I knew that there was a good chance that I'd be running in the rain, but I wasn't really prepared for the combination of rain, wind, and falling temperatures that I'd experience.  One mile in, my teeth were still chattering.

I was beginning to wonder why the big drops of rain falling off the trees didn't seem quite right when I ran into a clearing and continued to feel the big drops from trees that weren't even there.  It turns out that I was running in a combination of rain and snow... in shorts and a t-shirt.  Looking back on it, it seems like an extremely stupid idea.  At the time, however, I just remember a stubborn sense of pride for being a "real" runner.  A real stupid runner, maybe, but a "real" runner all the same.

Favorite moment of the (long) run:  The realization that none of it was on a treadmill.  I didn't post an update last week, but the long run conflicted with a day full of activity, starting with a 9am departure for my daughter's birthday party.  With 20 miles to run, I was up at 4 and headed to the gym where I put in the first 12 miles on the most monotonous piece of exercise equipment ever invented.

Song-of-the-run:  In preparation for the race, I won't be listening to music for the rest of my long runs.  So it was with a sense of anticipation that I approached the end of my run and the last song I'd hear during training.  The result nearly made me stop in the wintry mix to catch my breath: "Rocky Top".