Training in Montana

8 miles on the marathon course. Schedules didn't allow my wife to pick me up at the end of 8 miles so I started at the final 10K mark, ran 4 miles in, then turned around and headed back. I'm very very familiar with the final 2 miles of the course, but these in between miles I'd never run before and there's lots of twists & turns. I'm glad I did this route today as I feel much more confident about the course on these difficult final 6.2 miles. I've never been more prepared for a marathon distance race: 1) this is my first one in Billings where I could run the course; 2) I've hit all 3 of the 20 milers, and most of the other long mile runs; 3) No major injuries stopped me from running more than a couple of days. I have high hopes.

On today's run I wanted to do a marathon pace on the 4 miles into town, and I overshot that a bit. I'm okay with that though as it was a better simulator than running actual MP on fresh legs. I backed off a bit on the way back but picked it back up as my legs wanted a bit more. Overall, really enjoyed today's run. Now off to a football game, soccer game, then to a ranch on the Crow Reservation for a fun church activity for the rest of the evening. Dutch Oven cooking, hay rides, potato sack races, etc. We always have a great time out there.

Paces: 8:16, 7:46, 7:38, 7:45, 8:04, 8:29, 7:57, 7:54. AP: 7:59. Avg HR 156.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220238860