"LAST" "LONG RUN"

YES!!!!! It's true, today was our "last" "long run."

Before I go any further or explain why both of those must be in quotations, let me assure my mommy, who left a very worried comment on my previous post, that I am not injured in any way shape or form. In fact, I'm convinced that my inability to ask our coaches about my injuries actually forced me to overcome on my own. I now have no pain in my legs whatsoever (well, except what is natural after running 15 miles on pavement!).

Moving on, today was indeed our "last" run. Of course, it can't really be the last because there's this one run we still have coming up. It's called the COUNTRY MUSIC MARATHON!!! I don't know, you may or may not have heard of it! And calling this our last "long run," well that obviously depends on your definition of long. Next week we will be running 12 miles, but compared to 20 last week and 15 today, that's like a walk in the park!

And today, we had the pleasure of running the much-anticipated "perimeter run." We had planned to run this run 3 weeks ago, but a huge snowstorm got in the way, forcing us to run our 18 mile run in Central Park. So, this week we set out from Bethesda and headed east to run down the east side of the city. We then rounded the bottom of Manhattan and made our way back up the west side. Here's a visual:Just to briefly recap the run. I really enjoyed running down the east side (miles 0-7) because I got to see some areas that I have never seen before. For intsance, 59-50 street on York Avenue is this really fancy, beautiful area known as Sutton Place. Were I ever to have $5 or $6 million lying around, I might considering investing in an apartment there. Then, we got to run all the way down and past my office in the financial district (approximately where the 7 mile marker appears on the map.

The run back up the west side was rather uneventful except for the fact that I had about 3 miles of absolutely GREAT running!! For some reason, at about mile 9 until mile 12 0r 13, I had this amazing runner's high. For me, it felt like my legs were literally on auto-pilot. I wasn't tired, in fact, I could even really feel my feet hitting the pavement. I was just cruising along, enjoying the feeling while it lasted. Unfortunately, it wore off after a few miles, but I must say, experiences like that are what will get me through the race when I feel like I can't go on! It also didn't hurt that one of my running buddies, Steve - who is usually much faster than me - kept telling me that I was going fast for him and that whatever I had for breakfast, I should keep eating that! Most importantly, it was a boost for my confidence, which seems to be dwindling as race day draws closer!

Well, from here on out, things should begin to slow down as we taper for race day. Please check back for news about the final preparations! For now, I want to share a couple of photos of us that I found on the Team In Training website. Enjoy!

Here we are earlier in the season after a Tuesday practice. Obviously, this was a much more carefree time in the season!
Here we are after our 18 mile run in the snow. Don't be fooled by the smiles, we were pretty much miserable!

And finally, a nice candid shot of all of us just as Karen finished out 20 miler. Kiernan is there in the purplish sweatshirt!