What one will do with a 4 hour block of time.

There are many things to get accomplished over the course of 4 hours, instead I choose the "easy" path of doing absolutely nothing but running and punishing my body. Today was my last 20+ miler before I start my 3 week taper to the Portland Marathon. I decided to do a timed instead of distance run along Wildwood. Usually I start at mile marker 24 1/4 and work my way backward for an hour and then forward again repeat....this part of the trail is most forgiving. Don't get me wrong, it has hills, every part of Wildwood has hills; but for the most part the 6 mile stretch is not that bad. I should have done that INSTEAD of starting at mile marker 9 1/4 and running forward for an hour and back. My LORD! I felt like I was up and down none stop for 4 hours! Mucho thanks to Jenny for being the tough cookie she is and running with me for the first 2 hours. 2 days prior she couldn't run due to a rolled ankle and she was out today attacking the trail with me, ankle brace and all; now that's mental toughness. The 2nd hour running was challenging. I was tired and my back and feet hurt, plus for the first time I started to experience vertigo running, too much dodging of roots, switch backs, hills and descents. Ugh! I decided to wear my new compression socks to see if they would help at all. I didn't get any leg pain, but then again I rarely do. For the first hour the socks almost felt loose and I had to pull them up twice, don't think that's supposed to happen. Also they are thin and didn't provide enough cushioning over the entire run. My arches of my feet never hurt and they did for 1/2 of this run. I will leave these socks to recovery nights and track workouts, not long distance stuff. At my 3 hour turn around I opted to finally listen to my Ipod. My body was turning on me and I really needed a distraction to keep positive. It worked for the most part. 3:20-3:40 was BAD. I was constantly running up steed ascents and then descending. The repetitious pounding was punishing. My tailbone and lower back was very sore, my feet were swollen and I could feel soft blisters peaking. The trail was beautiful but after so long I had enough and the vertigo was making my really nauseous.

4 hours and 22 1/4 miles later I finished. At LAST! 

Recovery is found with 27lbs of ice an bone chilling bath, followed up by an epsom salt soak....then quality time with the roller and stick.

Thankfully next weekend all I have is a 15-18 miler.....thank GOD.