NYC Marathon Training: Week 15 (Oct 10th - Oct 16th)

On week 15, I ran my longest distance to date, 20 miles. We woke up at 5:00am and drove to Solana Beach. We took the train to Oceanside and headed south, all the way to Del Mar and then back to Solana. It was beautiful. It was cold. It was hard.

My phone ran out of battery at mile 9. No problem. I continued without music. At least my Garmin was operational. Then, I ran out of water at mile 12. I stopped by a pharmacy store and purchased water, Powerade and a power bar. It helped. The last 5 miles were the worse. My knees started to hurt and I was once again thirsty. The distance between Solana to Del Mar and back seemed an eternity. Still, I managed to finish. I kept telling myself "this is your last chance to run a very long distance before New York. You gotta do it. Don't think. Run"

Mission accomplished. I completed the 20 miles in 4:15 min. It's not fast but I am happy. Now, I am heading to the marathon more confident, knowing that I'll be able to cover the distance. Yes, I still need to run 6.2 miles on top of this. However, with the proper hydration and in the right settings (running in the streets of New York, surrounded by my family, friends and beautiful cheering strangers), I'll be able to do it.