Screw this heat

Ok, here's my deal:

• My qualifying time for Boston is 3:10:59, which is approximately a pace of 7:17 min/mile.
• A sub 3-hour marathon, which I believe I am capable of, is approximately a pace of 6:52 min/mile.
• Last week my training plan wanted me to do a long run of 9 miles at 7:17 min/mile, but it ended up being 7:34 min/mile.
• This week called for a long run of 10 miles at 7:17 min/mile pace again.

So, thinking that a fast kid could help me get to and stay at that pace, I ran with BJ. It ended up being a good idea in theory. Due to how hot it was supposed to be yesterday, we wanted to get out there by 8:30, but by the time we hooked up and started running it was closer to 9:00 and already it was a humid 76 degrees. We started at a moderate pace, but we both realized it probably wasn't a good idea to hold it in this heat and humidity, so we slowed it down after a couple of miles. It was an out and back 10 miler along the river trail that runs to Lansing, but we cut off course a little bit at the halfway point to find a water fountain. So it ended up being a tad more than 10 miles. Also, around mile 7 we both stopped so that I could take a gel and so we could both get water from the water bottle I had stashed in the bushes...problem was, I forgot to stop my watch but thankfully BJ did, and we were just about a minute and a half different from each other. At the end, I clocked us at 1:17:22....so take 1:30 off of that and you get 1:15:22, which is a pace of 7:32. Granted, that's only for strictly 10 miles, and I think we went just a tad farther than that. If we extract it to 10.5 miles, it would be a pace of 7:10. So....it felt like we were going at a good pace, but it was also hard to know if that was a product of the heat/humidity, going a little more than 10, or running with a fast buddy....or all of the above. No matter what it was, I was still pretty satisfied with the run. I took an ice bath later that afternoon and really felt great.

I feel like I'm crediting Zeke for everything I put in here, but he really gives out some good links and good info/advice. He had this link in his blog the other day, and I think everybody should check it out. Apparently it's a trailer for an upcoming iMax movie that tracks 6 runners (4 amateur and 2 elite, including Deena Kastor) training for and ultimately completing the 2005 Chicago Marathon. I was reading an article about it and I guess they did a follow-up on the runners through this year's Boston Marathon, then started 5 months worth of intensive post-production. They also said it's gonna be out late this year, but based on the post-production comment, it'll be September 17 at the earliest. I know I'm looking forward to it!