The 20 Miler - 32.2k

I went out to run my 20 miler at 11am on Sat, possibly not the best decision as it was hot and sunny all day.  Clouds taunted me from the horizon and refused to come any closer.  This is what 32.2k from my house looks like:

I ran an out and back turning at 16.1k which was exactly here:

Deerfoot crossing the Bow at Douglasdale

The splits looked a lot like the 30k I ran 2 weeks ago except I was much faster over the first 10k and much slower over the 10-20k section.  I was trying out GU electrolyte tabs and by 13k I felt like I was sucking up jelly through a straw.  I made a beeline for Mallard Point on the way back (17k) tipped the lot out and refilled with good old plain water.  It still took me a while to get running again.

Gels and blocks didn't work well for me either, my stomach hurt quite sharply for about half the run.  Not good.  I also had to keep stopping at little shady points to get out of the sun.  So Clif Bars & salted potatoes yes, gels and gel blocks not so much.

Overall I moved at an 8:28 run/walk pace again (6 hour marathon). I added another hill and more elevation coming out at 400 metres total.  I have to walk these hills (5 biggies) so it slows my pace overall quite a bit BUT the marathon has 700m+ elevation so there's no point training on the flat.

I am glad that bad boy is in the books.  I felt so generally crappy after it that I announced to Kev I was no longer running the marathon, or possibly anything else ever again.  My knee did great though, it hurt no worse than the rest of me!  Kev had his long run the next day and announced something very similar upon his return.  Oh dear.

Key elements to this marathon may well be 1) sense of humour 2) ibuprofen.

I wonder if anyone ever feels trained enough for their first marathon?  32.2 seems a world away from 42.2.