Week 8 -- toughest week thus far

i did 33 miles this week, including a 13-mile long run yesterday. tuesday's run was by far the most painful; thursday's: the most difficult to finish--a mile in and i wanted to just stop. my long run went ok, though i didn't have my normal bounce and finished with little in reserve. today's run went ok. my legs feel really, really strong. thankfully, week 9 is a recovery week, including a long run of only 10 or 11 miles. i'll do 15 or 16 the following week. looking back at my week 8 long run of 2007, of which i did about 13 miles, as well, my pace was about 10 seconds slower, but i noted that i felt extremely strong finishing. i think i might have pushed too hard the past two weeks, but i'm glad i caught it when i did. i'm going to go completely on feel this week and recover the right way. cheers. //ryan