Rock-n-Roll: NY 10k +14 #RunAllTheRaces Virtual Race!

I found someone to run 18 of the 20 I wanted to run that day. Guys? A running partner is where it's at! How did I survive before?! No wonder I was having meltdowns! Clearly, just music wasn't working for me. No matter how loud it was or how awesome, I still ended up crying. Crying and freaking out in front of someone else? Not as easy. I was still in pain, lots of it, but I didn't focus on it and I felt better.

I got to Prospect Park early to get my 2 extra miles in and my right glut was giving me serious pains (Damn you Jillian Michaels yoga! 1. WTF was I thinking? NOT your normal yoga. and 2. I have never seen The Biggest Loser or any of her other videos, but I could tell within 5 minutes of this video. You know what I'm talking about. Just sayin.), so I cut it short and hoped for the best. Once the race started, the pain went away (weird).  It felt so good to run in 40 degree weather. Perfect. Now let's hope it's that beautiful for marathon day.

We finished our 6.2, got our medals, chugged a chocolate milk (FINALLY RNR starts giving them out at the end) and then continued on to finish up our 12. I was actually pretty excited and happy with the course change from last year. This time, we ran outside of the park and only doubled up on a part of the course. The post race party looked like fun (no insane lines to get your tshirts) but we didn't get into the thick of it because we weren't even half done.

Since Prospect Park is only a 3 miles loop, we circled the outside (which was about 6ish? and the concrete was so much better than CP) then came in to loop one more time. We wanted to see "20" on our watches, so we walked for 2 more miles (such a good plan! Totally made my legs feel better instead of abruptly stopping), giving me a total of 21.6 miles and a whole new confidence. Thank. God.

Wearing compression also made a world of difference. My Asperis compression shorts and compression knee socks? O.M.G. Total game changers. I was so spoiled with my lululemon capris, but I knew I needed to do a marathon dress rehearsal, so compression it was- even if trying to go to the bathroom requires an act of Congress. I also decided I want to get a new iFitness Belt, one without water bottles used solely for nutrition and carry my water. The more places to hold things, the better. Nov. 4 is going to be a long day.

Besides this being the last of my long runs, I also decided to make 13.1 of these miles apart of Becka's #Run All The Races Virtual Race to raise money for Suicide Awareness. This is an issue that hits home for me and honestly, if I ever joined a charity again, it would be along the lines of this. This is apart of her awesome journey to run a half marathon in every state, where this weekend she ran her 50th State! Congrats, Becka! You Rock!

This long run totally got me mentally ready. Bring on 26.2!

(after the taper. I am so damn excited about the taper).