Ran the first 20-miler for this training cycle on Saturday morning here in DC.  It was an awesome morning...and I felt 100% as the run began...and as I worked through the first several miles.

Unfortunately...once I hit mile 15...things began to fall apart.  My energy damn near dropped off completely!  I've taken a second look at everything I did pre-run...and I honestly can't find an error.  I had to fight damn hard to complete the last 5 miles...but I did it!  3:00:00 even...for an average pace of 9:00 per mile.  Oddly, that's pretty much perfect for a training run of this distance...but the fact that I came "thisclose" to a crash and burn has me a little uncomfortable.

My conclusion is that I made the jump to 20 too soon.  I went from 16 miles...right to 20.  An 18-miler in between may have made all the difference.  Won't make that mistake for the second and third 20-milers still to come.

Regardless of the struggle...it's ALWAYS good to knock off the first 20-miler!

New York...only 8 weeks away...