I finally did a 20-miler today!!! I was hoping to have done it last Sunday, but I bailed after 8 miles. I regretted it after I got home and I decided that I do it this weekend.

I felt pretty good for the first 15 miles, but then I started to feel the onset of cramping in my left calf which caused me to do a lot of walking. I would run a bit and then as I feel my calf starting to cramp, I would walk so as to prevent it from actually cramping. I need to find a way to deal with this. Others have recommended various electrolytes tablets and I think I will definitely need to get some.

I drank a lot of fluid….a total of 120 ozs of which 64 ozs was Gatorade Endurance. Together with 2 Gu gels, I would have thought that would have provided sufficient electrolytes.

In the end, I ran the 20 miles in 3:51 which is quite an improvement over my last long run of 19 miles 4 weeks ago which took me 3:57.

Now I get to taper for 2 weeks. My plan is about 15-20 miles this week and then 10-15 miles the last week with no running in the 4 days before the marathon.

Now that I’ve burned well over 2,500 calories on my run today, I’m going to enjoy some Buffalo Chickien Wings for lunch!!!