this week was a "cut back" week for my long run, my training plan called for 15 miles (in the middle of 2, 20 milers last week and next week)...i had signed up for the fitness 4 miler awhile ago because i remember from last year it was a great race to do at the end of a long training run. last year i had 16 before and completed my first ever 20 miler, but this year i "only" had to do 11 before :) i left my apt around 7 and did my normal route to the bk bridge, and headed over the brooklyn bridge. i stopped at one of the tower spots to snap a picture of the amazing sunrise over the manhattan bridge, it was seriously gorgeous out this morning! i was almost oblivious to the filming crew standing behind me and kept running but when i turned around from taking a picture i spotted Mila Kunis! pretty cool :) apparently Robin Williams was filming too but i didn't stay long enough to notice anyone else...moving on, ran over the bridge and over to the east river path, up the path til the end (around 34th) and over to 1st ave, which i took up to 57th where i cut over to central park. i wound up slipping in to the corrall at around 8:53 (race was at 9) and was at 10.7 for mileage. my goal in terms of pacing for this run was to stay around 9:45 for the first 11 (MGP + 15 sec) and then drop down to 9:30ish for the race (MGP?)...i did pretty well for the first 11, although i had to tell myself to hold back so many times...but it is SO hard to run a race over a minute slower than you usually do! i wound up settling in to 9:20s and it was really hard to hold back. the race was nice though and it was good to hit some rolling hills in the later miles of a long run. even though i only had 15 on the schedule, i wound up cooling down for an easy1.3 when i finished the race, so i could get to the bus. great run overall today. i stuck with the dates at miles 4, 8 and 11 and did cytomax in my camelbak (still undecided if i like nuun or cytomax more, but i think cytomax has more fuel in it vs. nuun which is mostly electrolytes?)...total sidenote: i went to get a manicure after the run since i was in the city and i decided to splurge for the $10/10 minute foot and calf massage and it was SOOOO worth it! it wound up being closer to 15 min and seriously felt so freaking good. might be doing this more often ;)

1 9:35.9 1.00 9:36
2 9:38.0 1.00 9:38
3 9:52.7 1.00 9:53
4 9:16.8 1.00 9:17
5 10:27.6 1.00 10:28 (garmin messed up under the highway)
6 8:41.8 1.00 8:42 (garmin messed up under the highway)
7 9:45.1 1.00 9:45
8 10:03.6 1.00 10:04
9 9:50.4 1.00 9:50
10 9:58.1 1.00 9:58
11 9:21.3 1.00 9:21
12 9:25.2 1.00 9:25
13 9:20.2 1.00 9:20
14 9:20.8 1.00 9:21
15 9:35.8 1.00 9:36
16 10:13.5 1.00 10:13