Where there's a will, there's a long run

Wintry Mix

It's the last long run of this cycle and I need 16 miles. But I need 16 miles at certain paces that get progressively faster. On tired legs. At the end of a very sucessfull training cycle.

And I realized that I needed to find a race to help me get out and get this long run done.

Even though it was going to be the weekend after Christmas I was able to find the perfect local event.

Sporty Diva's Annual Last Run of the Year at Green Lake. The funny thing about this event is that it was a 2.8 mile loop course and you just picked how many loops you wanted to do. Did you want to run 1 loop? Great! Did you want to run 6 (for a 16.8 mile long run)? Great! Did you want a last marathon of the year? Fantastic! You make your race.

The weather was going to be frightful with increasing rain during the course of the event. It was breezy too and then at times a chunky rain was falling. That's the "wintery mix" we can get at this time of year which is mostly rain with some chunks of soggy snow. Fantatstic! Make your own race.

I talked K into running 2.5 loops with me. We'd keep it easy for 4 miles and then run a tempo pace for 4 miles (a bit slower than goal marathon pace for me).  He'd add on a couple more miles for a good long run and workout. Then I'd speed up to the next paces i needed to hit. It was great to have some company. And as I started off on the faster portion of the run I also had some friends out who live along the lake cheer. Fun! And that did keep me focused.

Those six laps went very fast and I had a great run successfully hitting goal paces and even a bit faster than expected. 

Rose who is the Sporty Diva and the race director is a ray of sunshine. She is full of energy and inspiration and support. Super fun way to get in a workout and I'd do this one again.

Taper!