The scary, tedious, painful, glamorous, amazing..

Yes, you read the title correct.  

I did my last "long" run this weekend.  It consisted of 22 miles!  It consisted of all the above words.

Amazing, long, dreadful, painful, sweaty, etc.  I can keep going! 

This was exactly what I needed.  I still am not sure how prepared I am for NY, but there is no turning back now.  Whether I am prepared or not, I am finishing that damn race.  I am claiming my medal.  I have been running through the heat, new schedule, and injuries.  Ready or not, here I come.

Here is how my run went.

Friday night I can't really even remember what I ate, a half a bagel with peanut butter, and I am sure whatever else I was able to stick in my mouth.  I was sleeping before 9:00, that I know for sure.  My alarm was set for 4 knowing I was meeting my team at 6:30.  4:00 came and I almost said "F" it, I want to sleep.  Instead, I snoozed, got up and got ready.  I vaselined my toes, glided any place that may chafe and was out the door by 4:30.  I had one thing freaking me out.  After talking to Tori and everyone else about my stomach issues, she mentioned trying an immodium.  I could not find it for the life of me, I bought it specifically for this run.   Once I got to my car, I found it!  I was so happy!  It is the little things like that in life.  

At the park, I put all my gear on and ventured out for my run.  I kept gong back and forth on the route I wanted to run because I wanted to make it back for the TEAM.  This totally kept me going because I was thinking about something other than the pounding on my feet. The run started off pretty well, just a bit of quad pain.  It was dark, which I loved.  I love running in the dark because I cannot see my watch, I can't see how far I have gone, or how far I have left to go.  At the 4 mile marker I turned around to head back to the start.  I wanted to get about 8 in before meeting TEAM.  It worked out perfectly.  They had 14 on the schedule.  After meeting up, I was still feeling great!  I would run 2 then walk for a few minutes because I know I will be walking through the water stops in NY.  

8-13 were just fine.  I fueled with Honey stinger chew every 4-5 miles.  I started to want to shoot myself about mile 14.  Not going to lie, mile 15 I tried a powergel.  I have had them in the past, but knew I was 2 miles from a bathroom and had immodium in me so I can be "risky".  I was still walking and running.  The walking started to happen more frequently, but was still maintaining a pace I wanted.  I saw Kat around mile 16 which was a boost I needed.  She is training for Ironman in Panama city.  I saw her, and forgot to turn my watch back on.  It was off for about a mile so you will see that my watch says 21 miles.  Misty and I kept at each other.  Mile 19, Yup, wanted to shoot myself again.  I told myself I can walk it and will rock 20-22.  And that is what I did.  I encouraged myself by setting markers to run to, or minutes to run.  I knew after this, come race day, I would still have 4.2, I would have bridges to climb up.  I wanted to be as best prepared as possible.

I hope I didn't bore you too much with that!

After 22 miles, my coaches were waiting for me!  It was a bitter sweet feeling because I didn't get to celebrate.  I headed straight home to get ready for a bridal shower.  This was my second longest run ever.  The only longer run I had was my Marathon last year.  

It is not Monday night, I still cannot walk like a normal human being.  I say "ouch" every time I walk up or down the stairs, sit down, or attempt to sit on the toilet.

I ran 22 miles, please take a moment to donate your morning coffee to help find a cure for caner

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