Saturday morning. Finished the 35k!

I got up a lot earlier than I had expected to this morning, but I think I am going back to bed to get some sleep.  I was up until past 3 last night... but for a really good reason.  I did my second long run!

After doing three hours (25k?) last weekend, we ventured out for the next long training run on Friday night.  Well, today I'm feeling fine (not sore) and I would say we faired pretty well.  We finished doing over 4 hours (not including breaks); I am guessing somewhere around 35k.  That's only 7k away from the full marathon!

We have started to run on Friday nights, along the Shinkansen tracks (elevated bullet train tracks - lit path!) because the weekend weather has recently been questionable, and because it is nice to get the long run done for the weekend.  With a straight, lit path, the cool evening weather and lack of foot traffic, it actually does make for a fantastic route and a good wind-down from the week.  

Last night we ran from my house to my school in Takasago, around town a bit, down the river to Kakogawa (stopped in the Secret Tree Bar to see if our friend Leanne was there on the way...haha), back towards the water and along the MeikiKansen (highway) for a bit, before re-joining the Shinkansen tracks and following them home.  We didn't actually start out until around 8pm, which means we were running until after 12:30 (stopping twice for Aquarius, an energy drink, and some food half-way), but with talking, I honestly sometimes forgot I was even moving.  

I did feel my knees at the very end, but I was wearing my new running shoes and it's no surprise that so much impact on the pavement is going to affect you.  I think we have a good pace now, though.  There are only three more weekends until the race, so the plan is to do one more long run next weekend, possibly to Akashi and back, and then start to wind down the training (you almost stop running at all 2 weeks before raceday).  I think this is going to be the last weekend I will allow myself to drink, too, but I can definitely feel my body getting stronger, again.  

We're totally going to do this marathon - YES.WE.CAN ;-)