Today my marathon group ran 20 miles.

I knew in advance that I was going to have an issue running that distance today. I sang most of the day with my choir for Yom Kippur services (we are a secular choir hired by a local congregation), starting at 9 a.m. Even with a 6:30 start, I’m not fast enough to cover that much mileage!

So I switched up my plan. I was already off their schedule, anyway, when I ran back-to-back long(ish) runs the week the first 20 miler (I was in Virginia Beach running the half marathon instead).

Well, last Saturday Liz hosted a blogger potluck picnic in DC.  It was a lovely day, and I got to meet some new people – Kirstin, Abby, Beth, Molly and  Alex (and Liz, of course).

Anyway, when Liz initially posted about this early afternoon meet-up, my reply was tentative. I was scheduled to run 16 miles that day. How would I feel about driving  ~45 minutes into DC directly after a long run?

But as we got closer to the event, she emailed us the details and mentioned that the time was flexible as long as it didn’t move too much earlier.  She had a 16-mile run scheduled that day.

Hmm … I wrote her back asking  if she’d want some company!

It worked out perfectly.  While she’d been running her long runs a bit faster than me, I also knew I was capable of pushing myself a little harder. She would have slowed down for me if I needed it, but I think we were  both pretty happy with the pace. We ended up averaging about 9:45 for 16 miles.

Even though I lived in DC for three years, I wasn’t a runner back then.  I lived less than two miles from Rock Creek Park but had never been there. It was great running through a forest in the middle of the city!

We did an out-and-back run, and the miles just flew by. Before we knew it, we were at the turnaround. The run felt great — even at this faster-than-normal pace. There were even a couple of walk breaks (one for Gu/fuel, the other for a large hill  around mile 14 that we ran half of before deciding it wasn’t worth it!) included in the overall pace.

We went back to Liz’s place to shower and stretch, then it was off to the picnic! (See Liz’s post to see pictures of our fabulous food selections, since I didn’t take any photos. Everything was delicious. Perfect for refueling!)

After a few hours in the park, I arrived back home around 5 p.m.

It was still a gorgeous day. And it would be light out for a bit longer. I could just collapse into the couch … or I could go for another run to make it 20 miles.

You know what I did.

I expected it to be very slow and painful. Yes, of course it was slower than the run earlier in the day. But I was pleasantly surprised that I averaged 10:18/mile for those four miles. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was running 11-minute miles.  And it wasn’t even all that painful!

I still have yet to run 20 consecutive miles at in this marathon training session, but I’m not worried. Plenty of time!