Miracles happen EVERY DAY

How do I know about this?

Well, a miracle happened to me today.
18.15 miles and NO BATHROOM BREAK!
For real. Want to know my secret???
Seriously! 2 Tbsp. before bed, and 2 Tbsp. when I got up at 4:30AM to run. It was a recipe for success.

Don't be shy. Admit that you are grateful that I let you in on this little secret. You can send me a "thank you" in my comments if you would like.

The run was great! I also cut back on the shot blocks. After my first 3 at mile 5 I started to feel the stomach grumble and so I backed off. I felt tired towards the end, but my stomach was still feeling great! I always eat a granola bar before I head out the door, so on my next long run I'm going to try refueling with those and see how it goes. It's all about trial and error, my friends.

My pace was my best yet on a long run- 8:41! I planned a difficult course with hills in the last 3 miles, so I was pretty impressed that I did so well. When we hit the hills Darcy and I had to go at our own paces, so I ended up running by myself the last 3 miles. I ran steady and strong up the hills, and was able to pull out a 7:45 and a 7:49 for the last 2 miles! It was so good.
Did I want to go further? Not really. Could I have? Definitely. I'm getting pretty excited or this marathon thing.

I finished things up with foam rolling, a protein shake with bananas, chia seeds, and blueberries, and an ice bath. Ice baths rock my world. Although you wouldn't know that from my face in the picture. You just have to get past that initial drop into the water.

Aren't my feet lovely? You're welcome for me showing them to you. However, you can't get the full effect without a normal foot next to mine. FREAK FLAG FACT: To give you a little more information- as a child my mother used to joke that we should buy shoes, throw them away, and I could just wear the box instead. After trying on the Nike Frees the salesman asked if I wanted to try on the men's sizes since I had exhausted all efforts in the women's. I tried on Vibram's and it took me 15 minutes, NO EXAGGERATION, just to put the dang things on! High arch + extraordinarily wide feet = a shoe buying nightmare. My foot length is only a 7.5, but I usually have to buy a 9 for the width. It's ridiculous.
All in all, my run took me 4.5 hours this morning. Although I only ran for 2 hours and 37 minutes (which is an insane amount of time to be running, by the way- we are all nuts!), with stretching foam rolling, replacement shake, and ice bathing, it takes a. lot. of. time. to be a crazy runner.

No wonder they call us crazy!

Do you stop your Garmin during walk breaks or water breaks or bathroom breaks?
I used to stop it when I would get a drink of water or something, but I don't anymore. I've stopped doing that since I started training for my marathon. (Truth be told, I didn't use to stop running at all before because I never used to drink or eat at all during a run). I do still stop my watch when I have to use the bathroom most of the time. It's a mental thing. I can't let something I can't control beat me up mentally. I NEVER stop my watch during a race.

Does it take you a lot of time to go through your running "process"?
I miss the days when all I did was lace up my shoes, hit the road (for 30 minutes!), and then come home and crash on the couch without a worry of injury on my mind.

What do you use for a replacement shake?
I use the Cytosport protein powder made by Muscle Milk (found HERE), and blend it with blueberries, a banana, and chia seeds. I freeze the blueberries and bananas to make it like a milk shake. It's super yummy.