I'm typing this at 9:45 p.m. Friday night, July 17th.  This morning I ran 5 miles, worked until 5:30, then went to the gym for my efficient 20 minute workout.  My wife had not mentioned plans for the night, so I was gonna head home to hang out with the family.  I also had planned to wake up early tomorrow for a long run in the 2 hour, 20 minute range.

At 6:15 p.m. on my way home from the gym, my wife informs me she's taking the kids to the Ventura Aquatics Center (by the way, the kids had a blast!).  I could have joined them but I would have to take a separate car.  So in a split second I decided...I'm going to get my long run out of the way tonight so I can sleep in tomorrow!  (My wife didn't mind as that means SHE gets to sleep in too!).

It wasn't until I was lacing my shoes up at 6:45 that I thought, hmm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  I had 5 hours sleep last night, ran already this morning, pumped iron 30 minutes ago, and now I'm going to run until 9 p.m. on a Friday night?  What am I, crazy??  Yep.  But I thought, why not.  It'll free me up tomorrow.

So, without a dinner (I nibbled late in the day), I downed one of my kids' juice boxes (shh, don't tell my wife, as she screams at me not to do this), squirted a Chocolate GU down, loaded up my awesome Nathan fluid pack with a combination of watered down lemonade and plain water, and took off.

There were a few other things I did before taking off, including nip protection and lubing up.  It was 78 degrees at 6:30 and no doubt I'd be sweating.  Need chafing protection.

What I also did tonight that I reserve mainly for 2+ hour runs was...slather my toes and heels with Vaseline.  Yep, sounds kinky, but early in my marathon experience I learned this trick for minimizing blisters.  I RARELY get blisters when I liberally (I'm not talking a dab, I'm talking a glob) rub it around, then put my socks on. Petroleum jelly is cheap, so don't skimp. Feels strange at first but I'm telling you, not only will you reduce or (in my case) eliminate your blister count, but your feet may actually feel smoother at the end of your run!  (Bruno, are you listening?)

The run went really well.  Basically a large loop tracing Lynn Road east in Newbury Park, over the freeway to Hillcrest.  West on Hillcrest, looping around Amgen, through the Target/Home Depot parking lot, on through Peppertree Park up to Borchard to the west end of Dos Vientos, then back home via Lynn Road.  2 hours, 15 minutes, no stops, 19.4 miles (according to MapMyRun above).  I finished at 9 p.m. in the dark, tired, a bit sore, thirsty and hungry!

I'm very pleased and I have more I want to discuss about exciting topics like fluids, toenails, running effort, running in traffic and more...but it is now 11:30 p.m. (I had family duties to tend to) and I'm BEAT!  But feeling great and I'll write more soon!