I was delinquent last weekend and abandoned my long run in favor of two shorter runs…oops.  Anyhow, I’m back on the wagon and (smartly) stayed in last night to prep for this morning’s 16 miler.  Since I was 1) tired 2) feeling super lame about staying in on a Friday night, I ordered some takeout from my favorite Mexican restaurant .  OBVIOUSLY I needed to carb load, so I got an order of chicken enchilladas (comes with rice and beans) and an order of chips with guac (so much yum).

Sorry I neglected to take a photo before I annihilated it.  I was hunnnngry.  I got to bed at a decent hour, made sure I got a full eight hours and took a leisurely morning to fuel for my run.  I woke up at 8:00 (for those of you who’ve been getting up at 6am all summer to run before it’s 9,000 degrees out know how absolutely THRILLING it is to get up at a human hour for a long run), got coffee from the local bakery, had toast with peanut butter and half a grapefruit (and gummy vitamins), and sat on my bum for a couple hours.

When I was at Target on Thursday I picked up a couple of CLIF Shot Bloks to try out for my long runs.

I actually really liked the taste of these, and they definitely kept me feeling fueled longer and better than Gatorade does.  They’re extremely chewy, so I really had to walk while I chewed them, but since my plan for the marathon is to walk through water stations, these could definitely work for me.  I had one “shot” about every 3 miles, for a total of 5, so the 6 in the pack will probably serve me really well in next weekend’s 18 mile tune-up.  I’ll keep you posted.

So how did the run go?

I ran 16 miles in 2 hours and 35 minutes, for an average pace of 9:41, which puts me right on track to run next weekend in under 3 hours (my goal).  I walked up most of Prospect Park’s “big hill” on my fourth and final loop in the park, which I’d prefer not to have done, but I finished my last two miles strong so I really can’t complain.  New distance PRIDE.

Time to go eat those leftovers!