The rules of long runs

We got back from our trip to Philadelphia, and I was scheduled to run 20. HA! I forgot the first rule of long runs--I don't go out to run them doing an "I might run..." with my distance. Oops. Loaded up the Camelback with water and strawberry banana gels--enough to run 20. But I set out with the mentality that I might not do 20, and I gave myself permission to turn around at any point, and guess how well that run went?

My legs were bricks. My lungs were not cooperating. My pace was turtle slow. I couldn't stop looking at my watch. Most importantly, my head wasn't in it. Damn. I was back home after 11 miles, and I was once again kicking myself and wondering what the hell I was even doing out there. I was thinking, "I have a marathon in 5 weeks, and I can't even comfortably cover 11 miles?"

Rule number 2 of long runs--remember that sometimes they suck, and sometimes they don't. I'm sure that there are plenty who disagree with me and would say that success on long runs isn't random. It's not entirely random. Clearly. There is nutrition. Rest. Previous mileage. Mentality. Even weather. But there is also this other thing, and I often know how a run is going to go within minutes of stepping out for my first mile. So, I headed out Saturday morning for my 20 miler, and it didn't suck. In fact, it went really well considering where I'm setting the bar right now.

Things that worked for me:
         I walked for about five minutes to warm up. My knee has been a little bit twitchy lately, and the little walking warm-up actually helped.
         I abandoned monitoring my mile pace. I'll do that on my shorter run days from here on out, but I have been beating myself up every single long run because I'm not remotely happy with how fast I'm running. Beating myself up isn't making me run any faster.
         I ran "easy" through mile 15. I actually did a route where the toughest miles were 8-14, so I focused on making those miles feel easy. Then, I ran consistently through the last miles.
         I took in a gel every 30 minutes. (I need to pack something else, though...I am so sick of strawberry banana power gels that I never want to see one again.)
         I finished feeling like I could do another mile. Since the marathon has 6.2 more, I was happy to feel like I wasn't dying at the end of this one.

I don't have a profound closing thought on this one. The run fell on an odd weekend. I was supposed to have run 20 last week, 12 this past weekend, then 20 again next weekend. Now I'm trying to figure out my schedule for the last weeks before the marathon. Too early to taper. So right now I'm thinking about doing another 20 next weekend, then 12, then 8, then marathon day. Alternately, I'm thinking about amping up my mileage during the week this week and running 16-18 on tired legs next weekend, then 12, then 8, then marathon. All opinions welcome.