The Last Long Run...

This morning I ran 21 miles as my last really long run before the NY Marathon...

I ran the first 16 with my friends Mary and Will...

And then I ran the last 5 miles with Will (Will is also running NY). We decided to do loops (since it's so much easier to refuel that way) but because I don't pause my watch on the really long runs (or at least I try not to because I can't figure out how to turn off the auto save feature on Garmin) our two stops for refueling messed up my splits...

Splits...

It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference if I had paused my watch based on my average "moving pace"...

So I've decided to throw all my finish time goals for NY out the window. This training cycle has been really really slow. And as much as I wanted to get faster as a runner it just didn't happen this year. So in NY I will just focus on finishing injury free and having a great time. If I can do that in under 6 hours that will be amazing, but it's unlikely based on the TCS NYC Marathon Race Predictor...

As a reward for getting through my 21 miler I treated myself to Starbucks and saw that they had my new favorite snack...

I bought all of them :)

Yesterday I presented at a regional pediatric emergency conference and took a moment to reminisce about the Chicago Marathon that I did last year. I have bored all my running and non-running friends with my stories about last year's marathon in Chicago, but yesterday I had a room full of people that hadn't heard them yet...

I didn't spend the entire time talking about Chicago I promise ;)

It's amazing how much running has become a defining part of who I am. Especially considering I've only been running for a little over three years. Once I finish NY marathon #2 will be checked off and I will start focusing on marathon #3 (Miami Marathon in Jan 2017). Then I will try figuring out what other marathons I'm doing next year.

I didn't get into the 2017 London Marathon so I'm considering MCM for the Fall, or maybe even doing Chicago again since it's the 40th anniversary of the race (if I can get in to the lottery again).

Even though I'm already planning for races a year from now I'm still excited about the races I have coming up, like the ZOOMA Half next weekend...

I'll be running the race virtually but I'm still taking it as seriously as if I was at the actual event. It sucks that I won't get to be there in person, but on the bright side I get the advantage of being able to start much earlier (that way I don't have to run in the sun too much).

Do you pause your watch/app when you stop for breaks?

Have you ever had coconut chips? (they are so yummy!)

How far in advance do you plan your races?