9 weeks to go...

I'm into the single digits for weeks until the marathon. Nine weeks from today is the race.
This week was more miles running than any before but I ended at 43 miles. Monday I didn't have time to get the whole 10 in so I only did 6. Tuesday was an easy 5. Wednesday I ran in the evening and did 10 miles at 8:07/mile. That felt good on Wednesday night but I hurt on Thursday. I leave early Thursday mornings so I didn't run and didn't feel like it on Thurs. afternoon. I woke up hurting on Fri. morning too but pushed myself to do a slow 4 miles. I was supposed to do 8 but looking ahead at the 18 I had to do today, I just couldn't push myself. As it turned out I think that was a good decision. Today I ran 18 and it felt good. I even finished with my fastest mile of the day: a 7:54 pace. We ran steadily faster as we went along in the run today. It was a fun run. The weather was perfect. Terry and I had company, Justin Lyman (who is planning to run the marathon too). The conversation made the miles go faster.
I'm tired but feel good otherwise. Over all our pace was 8:35.
So, I need to shave off a few seconds and then keep going 8.2 more miles. I feel confident that I could finish if I had to run the race next week but I need to get faster to reach my goal time.
I have 9 weeks to get faster and build my stamina.