Long Run Sunday - Easy 10

I use the "easy" quite loosely here.  For every marathon I've ever run, I've used my favorite 10-miler route as the final run.  See the reports from 2009 when I learned rats can swim through pipes into your toilet, 2010 when I learned about pharmaceutical interventions for runners poo, and 2011, I still remember how good I felt that morning.  Fantastic.  Also, last night was a full moon.

 
Food: This morning I decided to try using a Cliff Bar as nutrition instead of gels as I think that will be part of the marathon strategy.  Gels, as you may know, are an amazing substance.  They are the most disgusting substance ever, until you've been running for an hour, then they are glorious and tasty.  Science is still trying to explain it.  Cliff Protein Bars, on the other hand, are always disgusting.  Positives are they have more calories than gels and they do not upset my stomach.  For the marathon I will try to get at least one down before I switch to Gu Gels or Chomps. 

Route: My favorite.  Fall colors are all over the place.  I'm kind of sad that the maples probably won't be as incredible next week as they are right now, but I'm hoping the oaks and some of the other trees come alive.  The most beautiful urban marathon in the country got that way by usually running when fall colors are at peak.  Also, the 'road detoured' signs are out and ready for next week!

 
Pace: All over the place, as usual.  I have a history of taking this last 10-miler kind of fast, especially in the beginning.  It's only 10 miles...  In honor of running Beth, I tried to run up the big hill as fast as possible.  In some ways she's right and it makes that thing less horrible.  That huge dip in the middle - that's where I was doing my best to get myself up that stupid hill.  I'm glad I kept after it.

Other thoughts: I'm a little nervous about my shoes. I'm currently doing long runs in the Brooks Green Silence.  I have two concerns - one is these are sort of minimalist shoes and offer very little support (on purpose), second is my feet seem to slide around in them sometimes, in my socks, so it's really my socks doing the rubbing.  I haven't had too many blister issues but I haven't worn them for 26 miles either. 
I'm trying to make a music plan, but for now deciding I shouldn't.  At first I was all "I'll stick with the pacer this long and stick my music in here, before this god awful hill" and then I was all "maybe I should listen to music here..." and now I'm like, "just carry the headphones and see how it goes".  I actually listened to music for about half the run today, the beginning and the end when the scenery was not the river.

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