Battle scars

An inventory of today's run:
1 new music mix for the ipod
3 gel snacks
3 bottles of water (probably not enough)
3+ bandaids (more on that later)
6.5 pace miles
20 miles total

I earned some battle scars from today's 20 miler in San Francisco. We started near Golden Gate park and ran up to the Cliff House because I love hills. Then we ran back to Lincoln Ave. and went up to Sunset Ave. Running up Sunset Ave. was a treat and discovering Stern Grove park was quite nice. Around mile 8, while running back down Sunset Avenue's dirt path, I tripped on a rock and kersplatted to the ground. I landed hard and flat on my hands and chest. Oopsies!

Unfortunately, I skinned one of my knees and the palms of both hands pretty bad. After taking a moment to assess the situation and squirt some water on the smartly bleeding wounds, J and decided that we needed to procure some first aid supplies. Fortunately, we found a small hardware store in the primarily resisidential Sunset district. The employee was a super nice and helpful dude who concerningly asked me if I was okay...I think I may have resembled an assault victim :( J and I took care of the wounds in the small bathroom by washing my hands a few times with very soapy water and then 'borrowing' some bandaids...Thank you, Noriega hardware store!!

It was time to get back on the road, and the next few miles were uneventful. For this fast finish long run, miles 12-18.5 were at pace. So, I ran all of the 6.5 miles at sub 9:15 pace, which is nicely within my goal range. I tried to push the last 1.5 miles and managed to run those in 8:57 pace. But after mile 17.5, it was hard to keep moving and may have been close to hitting the wall, which is never, ever a pleasant experience. Considering the ups and downs of the route, the accident (our third falling accident of THIS marathon training cycle!!!), and the general state of my body & legs at this point in training, I think it was a terrific twenty miler!