Two Big Falls & 19 Miles

19 MILES!!!!

I woke up Sunday morning at 5:45am to fully prepare myself for my long run at 7am. I met up with Nancy and Leslie, a woman whose husband works with Nancy and is also running the NYC Marathon. We started off slow and then began to run pretty consistently. My watch has an auto-lap setting and I was interested in seeing our mileage pace. Again, I'm pretty sure no one cares, but I'm writing this out mainly for me.
We ran 19 miles in 3:02:25, average pace: 9:36, total calories burned: 1959, fastest pace: 6:23 min/miles.

Mile 1: 9:34
Mile 2: 9:55
Mile 3: 9:19
Mile 4: 9:29
Mile 5: 9:21
Mile 6: 9:34
Mile 7: 9:21
Mile 8: 9:22
Mile 9: 9:23
(At exactly mile 9, in the middle of telling some story, I hit a root and went down... hard. I fell on my hand and flat on my chest- my clothes were dirty, my hand started to bleed a bit. After washing my hand off and laughing it off, we kept on going...)
Mile 10: 9:31
Mile 11: 10:04
Mile 12: 9:46
Mile 13: 9:24
Mile 14: 9:37
Mile 15: 9:47
Mile 16: 10:09
Mile 17: 9:46
(This is about where fall #2 happened. I tripped over pretty much nothing. We were running downhill on sidewalk and I think my feet just didn't feel like picking up anymore... so down I went. I got discouraged after this fall, another fall on my hand and knee. But after a few minutes and some sports jelly beans, i toughed it up and kept running)
Mile 18: 9:30
Mile 19: 9:31

So we were pretty consistent... it looks like I struggled the most at mile 11 and mile 16. When I fell the second time, I started to think that maybe I can't complete a marathon and I started to get upset with myself. But then I thought about things when I got home. I ran 19 miles. 7 more and were at a marathon. A little over 1 more hour. I can do this. And I still have 7 weeks of training!

After cleaning and resting, we had a BBQ with some friends. Natalia (my brothers wife) and I made Home-made Turkey Burgers, Ditalini Pasta Salad, Corn on the Cob and Chicken Sausage.

We made the burgers with sauteed onions and argula, oregano, italian spices, salt and pepper, Worcestorshire sauce, 1 egg and homemade breadcrumbs. I love the food processor. Just throw some bread and whirl away! Natalia was my amazing sous chef due to the fact that I cut I up my hand. She dug in there and made the patties! And then Dave was the grill master and added the cheese.

We also made Pasta Salad with Ditalini, Roasted Red and Yellow Peppers, Grape Tomatos, Cucumbers, Green Onion, Feta Cheese and a dressing of Dijon, Red Wine Vinegar, Honey, EVOO, Oregano and Salt and Pepper.
And we made Sangria.... two bottles of Prosecco, 7Up, Sugar and Frozen Fruit.
And here is my plate:
Now to enjoy my Monday. Which so far has consisted of sitting on the couch watching Season 2 of Mad Men! A ran may be on the agenda today, depending! Happy Labor Day!