The Yankee game was awesome on Friday night! Our seats were just a couple of rows from the right field foul pole. The game itself was one of the most exciting Yankee games I’ve been to live and I make it out to a handful of games each season plus the playoffs if I am lucky. We were fortunate to watch Martin Prado hit a two-run home run to put the Yanks on the board that night but also his walk-off single in 9th inning.
Our awesome seats at the Yankee game
Group shot before the long run
Somehow though during Friday’s rest day, I got a blister on the inner part of my big toe. I was extremely anxious about how my foot would feel during Sunday’s 20-miler and fortunately, I was okay for the run. Since I needed to get in a couple more miles than the team’s distance, I met my friend, Amanda for an earlier start. We ran the 5-mile loop in Central Park at 6:30AM and got to catch-up. It is amazing how quant the park feels that early in the morning. After that I embarked on the remaining 15 miles with my team. Our route was Central Park to Prospect Park via the Manhattan Bridge. It was definitely a tough and fairly hilly course for a 20-miler but I am so glad I got it in. I didn’t have much of a plan for pacing except to be comfortable. In hindsight, I was probably too conservative and too comfortable during the run since I ran a negative split and the last 3 miles were over 30 seconds faster than the overall average pace. However, I needed a run like this to prove to myself that I have it in me to and hopefully this will help set the mentality for the remaining long runs of the season.
The rest of Sunday was extremely lazy — a nap, quick swim in the pool, and making a lobster dinner. Pretty amazing, huh? I wish every Sunday could be like this last one, well maybe minus the 5:00AM wake up call.
What a view for a pool!
Yum!
Unfortunately, for my toe though, the blister got much larger (sorry for all the details!) and today I couldn’t fit my left foot into work shoes. Along with a slight cough that I seem to be developing, I had to convince myself that my body was telling me to take an unplanned day off. It’s amazing how much devil/angel back forth I need to go through before I realize that I really shouldn’t go on my recovery run. That’s the crazy runner in all of us; the part of us that is addicted to this sport!
My new gear!
I am super excited though I was able to pick my NYC Marathon gear from the Alzheimer’s Association offices this evening. We received a short-sleeved purple tech shirt earlier in the season but today we received a half-zip long-sleeved shirt and our singlet branded with the TCS NYC Marathon logo. Just 68 days until NYC Marathon day… crazy!
For this week, I am looking forward to the drop-back mileage and the upcoming long weekend to celebrate a very special birthday boy!
How do you convince yourself it is okay to take an unplanned day off?