20.12 km

Thoughts from my long run on Saturday morning:
- I've been running in the winter for so long, I forgot that running in 10C weather on dry sidewalks is so much nicer than running in -20C and sliding around on the ice and snow
- It's getting too warm for a jacket, therefore I need to figure out a better way to carry my itouch on runs
- I'm done with gels, I should have known that I'd prefer chews aka the more candy-like option
- Listening to a mix of rap/hip-hop, musicals and classical music - and I've started to break out into song periodically on my runs. That damn Wicked soundtrack, why is it so catchy?
- Excluding my 20k walk, I've been beating my Chilly time consistently by at least 15 minutes, hopefully I can keep it up
- So many traffic lights in the city, they keep messing up my groove, man
- I ran through two ridings on Saturday, if the signs are to be believed, it looks like these 2 liberal strongholds might be in trouble - there was at least a 50/50 split in liberal/conservative lawn signs

I've noticed a subtle shift in my longer runs over the past month. Previously, near the end of any 16+ km distance, my body would feel like its had enough. As in, I'd feel pretty much like I was running on empty. My legs would feel like lead and refuse to keep going and my mind would feel completely exhausted. When I finally get to the end of my route, I'd stop and think "OMG, I'm finally finished, I could NOT go any further than that" and I felt completely and totally spent. Lately, at the end of my runs, I've been feeling different. The tail end of my runs haven't been as exhausting as usual. Not to say that I'm not getting tired/sore, but I'm just not feeling as drained and exhausted as I used to, since I still feel somewhat energetic and upbeat. Not sure how this happened (is it because my body is getting used to the longer distances? gels and chews? cross-training? Wicked soundtrack?) but its a good feeling :)

Schedule for this week:
Monday - 6k run (oops...I mean rest)
Tuesday - Cross-training (Bosu bootcamp - my muscles are still burning)
Wednesday - 8 hill repeats
Thursday - Cross-training + Yoga
Friday - Rest
Saturday or Sunday - 20-22k run + Rest on the other day