I can do it

The 20K, with its first half at a steady incline, was a good training run. I signed up for the New Mexico Marathon Plus on September 2nd, and the first eight miles are more or less uphill, almost one third of the marathon. When I do big runs on the Academy track every Sunday, a third of it is uphill too, but in loops, so every third mile is uphill, it's not a relentless ascent.

We drove along the course this last Saturday, and I do not know how I will handle it. Sure, there are a couple of dips. Sure, one way or another I can do those first eight miles. But then I have to do another 18.

Ironically, they call this a downhill marathon since the elevation at the start is higher than at finish.

I ran 19 miles this week-end, the last part in overwhelming heat. Between now and September let's have some cooling down, let's have some clouds, let's have some reprieve from the brutal sun.

And the knee is bothering me too. But I can do it. I can do it, I think.