6am. Cold front came in and the weather was awesome! 70F for the entire run.
I hadn't run much the last couple weeks because of work and illness. I was feeling really down. Finally, I just decided that I am ok with running NYC slow. I'm ok if I don't PR. My life is so busy and stressful right now, I am proud of myself for just not giving up on running and doing a marathon with all the other things that are on my plate right now. Once I said that, I suddenly was re-inspired.
Most of my friends were running a race at my running store. This new girl, Maureen, I recently met said she was going to run 17 miles at 9:20 pace. I decided that sounded perfect. It was just her and I. We talked non-stop. We didn't stop much so it was really good practice for the marathon. 9:20 pace was great! My legs started hurting by mile 14 though. I think I was dehydrated because I had a stomach bug for three days this week and on the run I wasn't drinking much from the water fountains along the trail ... er, well, I drink more when my running store has cups and water jugs out.
When we had about a mile to go, I told her I had to put in my ipod to focus because it hurt. We sped up to 8:30 for that mile. I realized that my legs felt much better when I changed pace. I think that's going to be key to remember in a marathon... sometimes when your legs feel dead, you need to switch up the pace.
When I finished, I felt great! | 