Long Run #1 in the Books

Today was the first official long run of spring marathon training - woo hoo.  Holla.  Yippieeee.  I'm really glad I have Bill and the rest of the group because if I didn't, no way would I have done this run today.  It was 38 degrees and pouring rain.  Awesome.  We set out for a 2 hour run and I thought we'd stick to the straight, flat trail I usually run on,  I couldn't have been more wrong.  He took us on a hilly route for the majority of the run only to hop on the trail when he wanted to run 2 miles at marathon pace.  The area he took us to while hilly was really awesome.  Beautiful open spaces, and I imagine that on a sunny day, is even better.  It was really good to get out of my comfort zone and these hills are great training for me.  This is the longest I've run in I don't know how long so between the length of time on my feet and the hills, I was pretty tired by the end. Having said that, I'm really glad I went and feel great about it now that I'm dry.  And warm.
Bill is full of information.  Nothing like having a multi-time Ironman training you for your next marathon.  We ran most of it at a conservative pace - which was another reason I'm glad I have him because normally, I run way too fast and if the weather is shitty, I run even faster just to get it done.  He kept me at the proper pace, talked a lot about fueling and heart rate.  It was a great learning day for me.  Then when my legs were good and tired, we got on the flat path and ran 2 miles at marathon pace.  After a short slow down, we ran a half mile at faster than marathon pace then .2 at about 20 seconds faster than that.  The idea is for those bursts to get longer in distance.  The last 2-3 miles were a nice steady cool-down type run.
Obviously by all my run on sentences, my mind is swirling with information right now.  I'm excited about the prospect of finishing the marathon strong and finally having the OBX monkey off my back!