5 weeks to Chicago

Today was my longest run in the training cycle for Chicago. It was supposed to (by the letter of my plan) be my 4th of 5 twenty-milers, at an 8:42 pace, but instead I went a little slower (9:05 on average), and did 22.5 miles. 
It was a little crazy, but I feel pretty good. Sean came along with me, so he could ride the bike and keep me company. We ran a version of my favorite "five quadrant" run, going up a little bit further out of the way to round out the extra mileage. We were moving at a nice chill pace, until at mile 11.5, Sean got a blowout in the back tire of the bike. Wouldn't you know it - we were seriously as far away from the car as we could be. Not exactly the best possible place. I left Sean to continue my run, figuring he could have a beer or a coffee or something while I ran back to get the car. As it happened, he came upon a bike repair shop (maybe not that unusual in North Portland, but still a nice thing to stumble upon), and got the bike fixed while I was finishing my run.
The pressure to get back to the car quickly gave me a little extra kick, and I ended up running a negative split, and brought my average pace up from 9:30 to 9:05. I wish I could say I did it on purpose, but it happened to situationally give me a great workout.
The last few Very Long Runs, I have come home and gone swimming, which has helped so much with soreness. It's nice to unburden the joints and stretch out in the water. I recommend it!
Next week I travel to Seattle for work, so I have to squeeze in 15 miles on Saturday morning. The week after that I have my final twenty miler before tapering. It's time to hunker down and work on speed. Or just try to stay healthy. Race day is almost here!