20 miles: Battle of Franklin

I ran 20 miles this morning. It was chilly at the start and warm and sunny at the end of the run. I took in 3.4 liters of water, 540 calories (via 6 Hammer gels) and 4 endurolytes. I'm glad I left the gatorade at home for this run. I think I'll be skipping it for longer runs as I don't think it helps and might slightly hurt my speed.

My average pace was 10:33. This was my third of four twenty milers before the marathon. I've done each of these 20's with a faster average pace. I was trying to go a bit faster on this run and so I'm happy I was able to do so.

There were two battles during this run. The first was started by a barking medium size dog that ran across the street (around mile 1) and tried to bite me. He jumped at my arms twice trying for arm snack. Just as I was about to take off my backpack to use in defense I hear a door open at a different house, see a bigger dog running out and hear, "Go get him". I didn't really have time to think but that didn't sound good.

However, the bigger mastiff looking dog (I wasn't sure) was a hero dog. It ran straight at the other dog trying to get me and without barking or anything just knocked the 1st dog out of the way and chased it most of the way to its house. It then just jogged still without making a noise back to it's human friend. The guy just waved and I said, "thanks dog." and kept going.

The second battle was a recreation of the battle of Franklin from the civil war (around mile 4). There were a bunch of actors dressed up and just waking up in their tents and cooking morning chow. There was a sign to pay 5 bucks, but I didn't pay as I had no money with me. I was a bit worried being a yankee by birth but nobody shot at me as I ran by.