Getting there, slowly

So finally today, I ran with no pain and hit the double digits again! NYC here I come! It's been close to 3 weeks since my last long run and I would be fibbing if I didn't admit to looking at how to defer my entry until next year.

Today was the test, at least in my mind it was. I had no great expectations, my 2 three mile runs didn't feel great this week, so how was I going to be able to go further. We had planned to start at 5:30am and were shocked by the temps, it was in the upper 40's and made the very tough decision to go back to bed!

Starting again a little later in the morning, things felt good right out of the gates. We hit the 1 mile mark and Joe asked if I wanted to stop and stretch and we just ran by it. This had been the spot for weeks where I would have to stop and deal with the building tightness in my legs. No need for that today! My garmin was out of battery so we didn't have an exact idea of our pace, but kept up the conversation as a way to keep ourselves from going to fast. My legs felt very rested, which is great, just what my confidence needed.

The first 6 mile loop was smooth and before we knew it we were back at the car. The 2nd loop was a little tougher, no pain, but my legs haven't done this in a quite a while. The pace was much slower but I kept my form in check. Decisions, decisions, marathon training is built on long runs. Do I suck it up and go for the full 18 or play it safe and stop at 12? To be honest my feet made the decision for me, the last mile of the 2nd loop was fairly uncomfortable. My pigs were pissed off, they thought we were done with this long distance thing. I can't complain though, 12 miles with no leg or calf pain!

It's hard to be flexible with the training, if you only could see the pages of logs and calendars and printouts I have from day 1 planning the whole thing out. I just want to follow it to the T, but that's not going to get me to the starting line. There is still time for some more double digit runs and I need to keep myself healthy and keep the confidence high.

Days till NYC: 42
Miles trained today: 12