Running long

In 12 days, I'll be running the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon. To do my final prepping, I ran long today (20 miles). This was my one and only long run between Syracuse and the marathon. Last week I did a couple hour runs at an easy pace to remind my legs that they are not in their off season yet. 12 days legs, 12 days.

Today was hugely successful and has lifted my spirits quiet high! Given that I've let myself eat a good amount of junk food last week and that I haven't worked out hard, I thought my run was going to be a struggle. Even with the strong headwind and raising temps, I managed to pull out a 19.84 mile run in 2:45:22 for a pace of 8:20min/mile ON THE DOT! (I don't use my running pacer, this is all off feel). I had to stop a couple times to breath quickly because once I hit the Mt. Vernon trail, there were no water fountains to fill up on for 1hr 25min, so I had to go easy on the hydration so that I had enough to last me through to the next water fountain. Anyways, I'm really happy about today and I hope I can keep it up for the marathon so that I can get me one of them Boston Marathon spots :)

I am crossing my fingers a million times for good weather on race day. This year has been kind of a wreck when it comes to my races and weather. Goofy Challenge: rain/sleet/snow/40 degrees both days, TriRidgefield: rainy, EagleMan: hot/more hot/100 degrees, Timberman: rainy/cool/60 degrees, Syracuse: rainy/super foggy/60 degrees. What I would love for my marathon is partly cloudy, high 60's to low 70's. That would be ideal for me. Cross your fingers, too!