You ever have something you know you have to do, but you subconsciously do everything in your power to prevent yourself from doing it? Like going to the dentist, or cleaning out the refrigerator (when the hell did I buy gerkins? why the hell did i buy gerkins?)...you know, oh no! the office is closed! I can't make an appointment...oh I have beer in here, gotta drink it before it goes bad (they do have an expiration date on the bottles for a reason!)

Well, that's how this 20 miles was for me. At first, I questioned my sanity running a 20 without having run more than 4 miles this week (life, man) Then Friday night I decided to carb load with hot wings, blue moon and pigs-in-a-blanket at Blondies. Yeah....that's not respecting the run. I was actually kind of excited to run, but the carb-load didn't settle in my stomach, so after little sleep, I decided to push my run to Sunday before the marathon (the New York City one...maybe you've heard of it?)

That meant a 4:30 am wake-up. And in order to make this run happen, I had to (all together now) RESPECT THE RUN! That meant correct carb loading, hydrating with water and seltzer, and early to bed. Everything was in place, but my legs felt like crap and I felt like dying...so I made an emergency phone call at mile 1.6 and moaned and groaned and wanted to go home, back to bed, back to sleep! I was afraid that everyone would be mad at me or think I was a loser. I decided just to finish up one lap and do 3 miles. As I was running, I negotiated with myself to do one lap around the lake (about 5 miles) Done! Now I was feeling good. How about one more lap? DONE! I refilled the water bottle at mile 8, then 13.3 and I could feel my legs beginning to hate me. Knees were hurting, I ran through the muscle pain and kept moving. Then mile 18, I paused to finish up my GU CHOMPS and close out my 20 with style.

GU CHOMPS - not so much! They were sticky and awkward and it was really hard to get into the bag...GU it is for me.

So, from this point on, I will never stop my watch on a run (I didn't for the 20 too). It's a mental game with me at this point. I need to know I can run. Once my mind knows, my body will follow. That's how I got through San Diego, that's how I will get through Philly...

After my run, I was quite sore...my knees hate me. Running all over Manhattan cheering on the marathoners was amazing (and painful...grrr..stairs) I was worse than some of the marathoners!

But today, I feel great! I needed one day, one bag of ice, 10+ hours of sleep, compression socks, a 16oz beer, and a margarita...