I had been struggling mentally with this run coming up. With a little over a month left until this race I know I need to get in two long training runs to get me up to 20 miles. I prefer to go further than that, but I haven’t had the time dedicated to the training for this race. But I used the Disneyland Half Marathon as upward momentum toward that mileage increase.   I didn’t worry too much about the run during the week, but I was waiting for the humid weather to break because I did not want to run another plasma run in the heat.  I wanted to enjoy the run.  Thankfully the day I ran the humidity was gone.

I had my breakfast, and tea, gathered up my fuel for the run, loaded up my iPod with my favorite podcasts, and hit the road.  I felt really good except for one thing, after mile 1 I really had to go pee.  I didn’t want to go into the woods and was hoping to see a port-a-potty somewhere along the way.  Eight miles into the run and I still wasn’t able to go.  I was going to have to take a detour from my original route and stop at home to use the bathroom.  I had just 6 miles left to the run after the stop so I chose to modify my route to stay close to home.

Here are the stats of the run:

Nutrition

Breakfast was oatmeal
2 cups of caffeinated tea

Time of day

I began the run at 9:15 a.m.

Weather

It was 70 degrees, cloudless  and with low humidity with a light breeze

Fuel on the run

I stopped home at mile 9 to use the bathroom and had 5 sips of cola and had a handful of pretzel fish. During the last 6 miles, I had several skittles.

Gear

Under Armour running shorts, a hot pink sports bra with more support and no clips in the front, and a tank top.
Note:  these shorts cause me problems with chaffing if I stop and use the bathroom.

Pace

I walked a little on some of the big hills, but maintained my 30/30 for almost the entire run.  I had to pause for a few minutes to rescue two stray dogs so I walked a bit with the dogs and traffic around mile 8.5 But then I resumed my run.  I had to walk 3/4 mile to take a phone call.

16-mile run splits

Post-Run

I felt fine after the run. Drank chocolate milk and had a turkey sandwich.   When I finished my run I definitely felt like I ran 16 miles but it wasn’t painful. My tips of my toes were very tender.

The day after the run I had very little soreness so I am feeling confident that I can maintain the training plan I have planned and will do great for the race!  I am finally starting to get excited about it.  I’ll have to check out the NYC marathon merchandise soon to find something to wear after the race for the train ride home.