Running forever and then we picnic. |

I ran 20 miles on Saturday!! Ahhhh!!Welp, I just had to get that out. So let’s work up to that, shall we? 🙂

This weekend was absolutely beautiful here in NYC. I could not have hand-picked a more perfect day to do my long run than Saturday: brilliant blue skies, zero humidity, in the 60s early that morning, and just exactly the sort of flawless day one hopes September might bestow. It certainly boosted my spirits to see what sort of a day I’d been given on which to spend three hours of my morning running.

Yup: I set out knowing I’d be trekking along for a good three hours, ready to tackle my 20-miler. And I’m pretty dang happy 1. with how it went and 2. to have that baby behind me.

I have to say, it felt amazing to have accomplished this. Even a year ago, I’d have never thought I’d be able to say I ran 20 miles one morning in a straight stretch. I did the whole thing along the Hudson River, and I honestly felt pretty awesome for most of it. There were a few stretches that seemed a bit rougher than others, but I had convinced myself that I could — and would — tackle this, and running is such a mental process. This was definitely one of the hardest and most rewarding things I’ve done in my adult life (right up there with, ya know, college and stuff).

I cut up a few shot blocks to chomp along the way and put some Power Bar Perform Sports drink mix into my water bottle, made sure I had a good playlist, and just set off with high hopes of enjoying a gorgeous morning spent outdoors.

I didn’t let myself think about the distance as being overwhelming; rather, I told myself I had a whole free morning on a beautiful day to spend outside, and I was calm and grateful and hopeful I could last as long as I wanted. A friend met me and ran about 7-8 of my middle miles with me, which definitely helped. I finished feeling pretty great and with a renewed hope that I might, in fact, be able to run a marathon (yep, there were some dark spots of doubt crowding in the past couple weeks here and there).

this is my “i lived to tell about this” face

I think I’m still on a little bit of a high from tackling that baby. Yee-haw.

After stretching, foam rolling and getting cleaned up, I headed out to hit up Whole Foods and join some lovely ladies (my favorite Canadian girls!) for a charming little picnic in Central Park. Could this day have been any better??

Alex, Lauren & Jocelyn — very thankful for these darlings. I have been so blessed to meet the most amazing girls since I’ve moved to NYC! It was a picture-perfect afternoon for a Park picnic, and Sheep Meadow was dotted with hundreds of other NYers who shared the same idea. Nothing like a good dose of girlfriend silliness & healthy snacks to revive you after a hard run.

Sunday was another amazing day; September really has been good to us here in NYC thus far. I ended the weekend with a leisurely stroll along the Hudson River (trading in the sneaks for flip flops this time) and some down time in Riverside Park as the sun set, counting my blessings for a weekend well spent (and legs that weren’t as tired as I expected!).