I can run for miles and miles

I've been increasing my miles slowly. I slacked on my weekday runs early in September...had a couple of weeks where I only ran once during the week, but I've been pushing my long run on the weekend up steadily. And I've managed to get a bit more on track with my weekday running over the past couple of weeks.

I ran 13 miles yesterday. The previous weekend I ran 12 miles. I felt good on that run until about the ten and a half mile mark when my legs suddenly felt really heavy and tired. I had to push to finish 12 that day. Then on my run yesterday I finished much stronger. I've been trying to keep my pace between 9:00 and 9:30/mile on my long runs since going out too fast will wear you out a lot quicker and a fast pace is also supposed to contribute to more soreness. I did a good job with that yesterday but pushed it hard over the last three miles, running them in 8:53, 8:47 then a strong last mile in 8:26. My legs were definitely tired, but felt much better than the previous weekend's run. And they are hardly sore at all today where last week they were pretty sore for a couple of days after my long run. So it looks like the slow increase is paying off as far as building up my endurance.

Despite that, I'm still undecided about entering the full marathon at the Route 66 this year though. I probably have just enough time left to get my long run up to 20 miles before a taper, but it's close. And I'm questioning whether I should be spending the money (an absolute minimum of $200 for entry fee, gas and food...and hotel?) for it that close to Christmas. If I decide not to do it at the Route 66, I'm still going to try to keep my mileage up pretty high so maybe I can find a marathon after Christmas to  run instead. We'll see how things go.