the biggest big run

I used to run the longest pre-race run two weeks before the marathon. This time I decided on three weeks, not sure why, perhaps to make it easier for myself toward the end. To make up for the indulgence last Sunday I ran 23 instead of the 20 miles I initially had in mind.

The heat got too be too much like always, the trail mix that had worked fine the week before was a nuisance now, and I did not have enough water with me, so I got totally dehydrated. But it was smooth and steady again, and reasonably fast.

I would have called it uneventful, except I had cramps during the last three miles or so. That never happened to me before, and all I knew to do was to take a walking break until it subsided. Then I learned to stop running as soon as I felt them coming on, and one way or another I finished the planned 23. I was so out of it that I did not remember until later, with some help for a friend, that a common cause for cramps is loss of salt. I had big white rings on my running top when I got home.

Still - it was one of the best long runs I ever had.