Marathon Training, Week 16? Is that right? I've lost count.

4 weeks until race day.

4 weeks is not a lot of time.  That's becoming very, very clear to me.  Kind of freaking me out, actually.  One 20 mile long run to go, one 12-miler at race pace, and then I'm on taper.  And then it's race day.  Crazy.

Anyway, went out today for a 12 mile at race pace.  It didn't go as fast as I hoped.  Certainly not the "race pace" I was hoping for.  I'm not upset about it, but it does make me nervous.  Granted, I run on a trail with LOTS of hills, and the marathon course is very flat, so likely I'll have an easier go on race day than I have on any training run.  The first few miles were right on target race pace, but my splits got worse towards the end.  I could make all sorts of excuses about why my pace didn't hold up, but that's not helpful.  I ran more than I have been (yay for having fun running!) and thought I was keeping a really good walking pace.  Looking at the data, though, my walking pace was NOT up to par.  My running speed was typical, and yes, I did run more than the original plan of 1/4 of each mile, but it wasn't enough to make up for an unusually slow walking pace.  I think that means that I need to do some serious walking over the next four weeks.  Apparently I've neglected that part of my training in my excitement over learning to run.

Still, though, I just keep telling myself that my only goal is to finish.  I don't care if I'm the last one over the finish line as long as I get my participant medal.