The road to 13.1: Who’ll stop the rain?

Today offered a pair of challenges right off the bat.  My schedule called for 11 miles, which was to be my longest run ever.  On top of that, it was raining when training started.  Nonetheless, it started.

Run #25:  11 miles, 1:57:59, 10:43.5/mile

Do I even need to say that I’m thrilled with today’s effort?  I had a couple of rough patches, mostly on the part of the return leg on Kilgore Road, but was able to tough it out.  I even found a small burst of speed for the last mile, finishing it in 9:34.37, or better than a mile below my overall pace.  My feet feel a lot better than they did last week.  My right shin feels surprisingly good.  My right knee is a little tender, but I was also working hard on running with a proper stride, so there may be a correlation.

I can rest on my laurels now … until tomorrow, anyway.  I’m due for another 3.1 miles starting around 0800 EDT.