Well last evening was our first real distance run since the Marine Corp Marathon. Until now, we had done several 10 milers and a bunch of lesser stuff. But the MCM was one month ago yesterday. Until now, I had been blindly thinking, "I'm in great shape now. I could do another marathon". Not.

Mind you, it was a fine, fun run. A bit chilly and windy at times, but very nice conditions. We managed 13.5 miles in 2:16. Which is faster than we ran the first half of the MCM, so a new PR. And I felt fine afterwards. I could have gone farther. But not another 13 miles. So, I figure I'm at about the 16- or 18-mile point in my training. Surprising because I would have thought I was still in the same shape I was in at the time of the MCM. But I'm not.

Today I ache a bunch -- my bod is reminding me that this is hard stuff. I am fortunate that I'm in a club -- the Annapolis Striders. And we've started the Spring marathon training program. So I'll be ready.

Slogging onwards...