126,720 feet - The conversation.

How was your run?
I ran farther than I've ever run today.
How far did you run, Mike?
I ran 24 miles.
Why did you run so far?
It was our last long run before we start tapering.
Tapering?
Yeah, where you decrease your mileage so you start to build up energy stores for the big day on Feb 18.
Cool. So How'd it feel?
It felt really good overall, until Mile 22.
Uh oh. What happenned?
Well, the whole training program consists of Beginners, Intermediates and Advanceds. Three different distances... 20, 22, and 24 mile options for today's run. We, Ostrich, Lightning Larry and I, were to run 24 today. At what I thought was 23.25 or so, I picked up the pace (as always do on my long runs to finish strong) but when we got to the Annex, Lightning says: "Mike, that was only 22 miles." DOH! I grabbed the wrong trip ticket(run lingo for map). So we had to run two more miles on Townlake after having kicked it hard to finish. It was the most miserable two miles I've ever done. My body wasn't understanding what was going on.
Hmm... it'll make you stronger in the long run. So tell me more. You said you were happy overall?
Heck yeah, the 5 miles between 16 through 19 looked like this:

Wow, that looks like a tough 5 mile run in itself.
Yeah, it sure was, especially at Mile 16, but we powered through it realy well.
So how was your time, and your pace?
Pretty darn good actually. We ran around 8:15 per mile. Lightning didn't stop his watch at all; we stopped at 5 water stops and one nature break at the Tetco/Chevron on 2222 and Mopac. We took our time at each stop, and still overall ran it in 3hrs 26mins and 11seconds, which comes out to 8:35s and that's inclduing all the stops, so I'm pretty happy about that.
You know, add 2 miles to that, and don't stop, and you're looking at around a 3:35 marathon?!
I know. That's why I'm happy about it!
What about your friend, Mr. Plantar Fasciitis?
Oh, yeah, he showed up at Mile 9 or so, right before we reached the Hula Hut on Enfield, and got worse and worse for those last 15 miles.
Damn, that sucks.
Yeah, but you know, I'm supposed to embrace the pain, so that's what I did.
What's next for you Mike?
Well, I took Karma to the greenbelt afterwards for a 30 min walk. Talk about a painful and tired walk! Then I took a frigid Ice Bath with 40 lbs of ice, and burnt some popcorn. I think I need and DESERVE some liquid calories.
Sounds like a great idea! Thanks for your time.
You're welcome... any time.

Hey Mike, one more thing. I just looked at how far 24 miles is...
And?
It's like driving up I35 from 1st street downtown to 3 miles past 620, or like driving south on I35 from 1st street downtown past Kyle.
Believe me, I know.