Marathon Monday: Taper Time

Scenes from my last double digit long run...

There's so much that I want to say about these past four or five months, but I don't even know where to begin. So instead of writing this recap the way I normally would, I'm just going to bullet out my thoughts as they come. Here goes:

• I just reread my first training recap from back in June of this year. So many bold statements... that I would learn from my first marathon and actually do strength training and yoga, that my diet would be better, that I was going to focus on time... None of this happened. #marathonerproblems?
• I've been complaining a lot over the past couple of weeks when in fact I should be incredibly grateful. During the course of training, there was not one but two serious health scares that, if realized, would have definitely taken me out of the race. When those situations were going on, I just remember thinking, "Please, please, please let me be able to run New York" over and over (because... #marathonerpriorities?). It's been so easy to forget how scared I was at one (or two) point(s) that not running this race was a possibility. 
• Speaking of not running, the two people whose training I was following along with for the past several months are both not sure if they can run the race. Due to an injury and health issues respectively. So when I was sweating it out (AKA melodramatically "dying") in 80° heat on my final double digit run on Saturday, I tried to think of them and how much they would gladly switch places with me. Again, gratitude. 
• Everyone keeps bringing up the race's biggest question mark for me: the weather. Because of it, my time may be lowered dramatically. I've been training in 80° temps and humidity for months, so theoretically a chilly day could seriously change this for the better. But in true pessimistic New Yorker fashion, I am quick to add that a potential psychotic NYC snow blizzard from hell or a random hurricane would undoubtedly do the opposite. #noshitsherlock
• I've run 350 miles in preparation for this marathon compared to around 320 that I ran in training for my marathon in 2013. One big difference? This time I trained for 5 months compared to 3! 
• I've had 7 million people ask me if I'm ready. My answer? As I'll ever be. 

Not the most articulate of posts, but as real as it's gonna get tonight. 6 days until Go Time!

NYC Marathon Training Week 19: 10/17/16 - 10/23/16

• Ran 3 Days For a Total of 20.98 miles
• Average Pace: 11'31" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 1x

NYC Marathon Training Week 20: 10/24/16 - 10/30/16

• October Total Mileage: 83.03 miles
• Ran 2 Days For a Total of 13.01 miles
• Average Pace: 11'34" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

Burgers and Trivia at Nicky Rottens Coronado

Television and celebrity gossip. If you were recruiting me for a trivia dream team, that's what I bring to the table. I mean, the first website I check every morning is People.com. Sad? Almost definitely. But my weakness for celebrity gossip becomes my greatest strength at Trivia Nights. It's where I finally feel appreciated for who I really am.

All kidding aside, Ryan and I have often discussed trying to find a fun trivia night to go to and last week we may have ended the search after a great night at Nicky Rottens Restaurant in Coronado.

Dream Inn Away in Santa Cruz

Just a few weeks away from the start of our trip, I still hadn't figured out where we were spending the night in Santa Cruz.

The plan had been to camp anywhere we weren't staying with friends or family, which was the case for our stop in Santa Cruz. The only problem was that there didn't seem to be any camping options in walking distance of all the things we wanted to do: the Wharf, the Boardwalk, downtown Santa Cruz, West Cliff Drive and Natural Bridges State Park.

Well as it turns out, it's actually pretty hard to even find hotels that are close to all of those things. With one bright, shining exception: the Santa Cruz Dream Inn. Located directly on West Cliff Drive, the Dream Inn overlooks the Wharf and Boardwalk (not to mention the water!) and is walking distance to downtown, Natural Bridges,  and the Surf Museum, making it the perfect location for our night in Santa Cruz!

Marathon Monday: Three Weeks Out

I started trying to write this post yesterday. First I tried to think of motivational things to say about marathon training, then I tried to think about witty things to say, then I just tried to regurgitate the facts. Anything to form some semblance of a legit training recap post.

Instead, all of those thoughts were thoroughly exhausting to me.

At this point, I got nothing. I'm tired of running, I'm tired of talking about running, I'm tired of thinking about it, writing about it, complaining about it. I really just want it to be done.

My heart and body and head weren't really in it for the past two weeks. I've decided multiple times that 5 months was too long of a time to train. I keep telling myself the marathon itself will be easier than my long training runs because for once it won't be 7 million degrees out but what if it is? Or what if it snows or hurricanes? I'm not prepared for that AT all. Nor am I prepared for hills because I've done very little hills training. I feel guilty for complaining anytime I read Ali's blog or think about the parallel universe in which I can't run because of some health or physical circumstance and Can't Run Bri tells me I'm the worst for taking my health and bod for granted.

And on and on these thoughts go.

So there's my motivational, witty post for this week. 21 more days.

NYC Marathon Training Week 17: 10/3/16 - 10/9/16

• Ran 1 Day For a Total of 7 miles
• Average Pace: 10'59" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 18: 10/10/16 - 10/16/16

• Ran 3 Days For a Total of 22.03 miles
• Average Pace: 12'16" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

West Coast Road Trip Part II: Big Sur to Santa Cruz

After a quick stay in Big Sur, it was time to cruise on over to Santa Cruz! (Sorry, I had to.)

On our way there, the original plan had been to maybe stop at Point Lobos, a gorgeous state reserve great for hiking and whale watching, but one that is unfortunately not dog-friendly.  Since this was the first time we'd been in the area dog-free, I had thought that maybe we should take advantage of it. But parking was backed out onto the road and we'd already hiked once that morning and besides... I wanted to make sure we had enough time to stop at the first (but definitely not the last!) tourist trap of our trip.

What tourist trap, you ask? Well... I don't want to keep it too much of a mystery. Heh. Heheheheh.

Next stop, Santa Cruz!

West Coast Road Trip Part I: San Diego to Big Sur

20 months. That's how long it's been since I first shared my extremely ambitious 30 Before 30 list. Not surprisingly, 30 came and went without me crossing more than a handful or two of the items off. FYI.... 30 things is a lot of things!

This was hard for me to (not) do as a person who is pretty perfectionistic about the crossing off of lists. But instead, I bargained with myself a little: I amended my interpretation of 30 Before 30 to mean before my 30th year was over, not before it began.

So I turned 30 and with the generous time extension I gave myself (thanks, Bri!), I immediately set out to continue tackling the rest of my list. The most pressing of which?

Roadtripping the West Coast.

Marathon Monday: Run The World... Or At Least The West Coast

People tell me it's October. 

And I laugh and I laugh because it can't be October. For it to be October, I'd have to have run like 400 miles by now and I've only run... 266. So obviously, it can't be 16 weeks into marathon training. Because if it was that would mean I was terribly undertrained!

Only it is and I am and here we are. New York is 34 days away and not only am I undertrained, but I'm unprepared. I don't know if our AirBnB is legit or not because the host called me Marisa in the confirmation email and asked me for my address so she could mail me the keys (wtf?) and I didn't book our return flights yet and I haven't at all planned out the family and friend visits I am supposed to conduct while there, so yeah. 

F#$^.

Despite the disaster that has become this training, there have been a few wins. The first being that I ran on our summer vacation... not once, but twice, in Santa Cruz and Seattle respectively. More details on that amazing road trip to come very soon!

Which leads me to my second win, my fastest run of training, which occurred in Seattle. 9 minute miles! What? I haven't seen those in years! Although, it doesn't surprise me that I run my best when it's 50° and misting (thanks, Connecticut!). 

But by far, the most important win was surviving my first (and only) 20 miler this past weekend here at home. I ran, I hobbled, I watched Grey's Anatomy on Hulu because seriously 4 hours is just too much time alone with my thoughts, I stopped for snacks and coconut water, I stopped to stretch, I ran some more and then I took a sweaty Uber ride home. It was a day. 

And the next time I run that far, it will be November 6th! Ready or not, here we go October!

You can tell how uncomfortable I am taking selfies by this picture... "What do I do with my hands!?"

The view from my quiet sunrise run down to Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz

A little Seattle on top, a little San Diego on the bottom

There's no place like home... gorgeous sunrise runs back at home in San Diego

NYC Marathon Training Week 10: 8/15/16 - 8/21/16

• Ran 4 Days For a Total of 28.46 miles
• Average Pace: 11'23" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 11: 8/22/16 - 8/28/16

• Ran 4 Days For a Total of 22.02 miles
• Average Pace: 11'27" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 12: 8/29/16 - 9/4/16

• August Total Mileage: 64.6 miles
• Ran 2 Days For a Total of 11.04 miles
• Average Pace: 10'30" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 13: 9/5/16 - 9/11/16

• Ran 1 Day For a Total of 4.04 miles
• Average Pace: 10'30" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 14: 9/12/16 - 9/18/16

• Ran 3 Days For a Total of 22.05 miles
• Average Pace: 11'26" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 15: 9/19/16 - 9/25/16

• Ran 3 Days For a Total of 24.26 miles
• Average Pace: 11'03" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x

NYC Marathon Training Week 16: 9/26/16 - 10/2/16

• September Total Mileage: 59.43 miles
• Ran 2 Days For a Total of 24.07 miles
• Average Pace: 11'16" /mi
• Strength Training: 0x
• Yoga: 0x