20 better miles beats 20 miles of feeling beat

Did the same 20 miles today as I did last week.   Santa Fe Trail Nth from Woodmen up 10 miles and back.  Similar weather to last week (upper 30's, snow / flurries).  This week I was just smarter.  Ate better the day before (thanks to Fargo's Spaghetti and meat sauce).  More Oatmeal for breakfast helped too.  Throughout the run I took a Shot Block every 20 minutes, w/ water.  Didn't fell like my body was wasting away w/ carb depletion or wanting to throw up.   Sure the knees were creaking  aching at times, but that is something I have come to expect.  Wanted to go out easy and then towards the end try to pick up the pace a little - (which was something I could not do last week - the wheels fell off at 15 miles).  So, first 10 miles up I maintained a fairly easy 8:55 pace.  Turned around and decided I was feeling good enough to pick up the pace.  Through mile 12 I stayed at 8:55, then w/ 8 to go I thought this would be a good time to try to run marathon pace while already feeling tired.  So I set out to go 8 min pace for the last 8 miles.  4 miles in I was averaging 7:55 pace and feeling quite strong.  Thought came to mind, what about seeing how fast I could do the last 5K.  Talked myself into it over the next .9 miles at 7:55 pace.  With 3.1 miles to go I decided to not look at the watch for the rest of the way and push - in hopes of maybe doing 7:40 avg.  I pushed on a little stronger, admittedly looking at the watch a couple of times, mostly at the distance - 20 miles came up and I was quite surprised, quite happy too.  Did the last 5K in 23 mins flat = 7:25 pace.  That's a good 5K time for me, figure in it came after running 17 miles and I patted myself on the back.  Then I collapsed in my car for a few minutes, drove home and could barely walk inside - oh, the reality of being 43.  Overall: 20 miles, total time 2hrs, 49 minutes, 8:26 avg, followed by a good nap.