I’m still on the fence about running the Rochester Marathon this year, which is in mid September. I trained for it last year, but really it was all about just doing it AND I used it as motivation to have a guide and a schedule to make sure I was getting out there and exercising daily to help me stay on track with losing weight.

That said, it was an amazing experience and I wouldn’t mind doing it again, but I’m still not sure. So at this point I’m loosely following the training plan I used last year. Basically I’m just using it as a guide for how far I should be running for long runs on the weekends. This would be the end of week 9 of the 18 week training plan, with the marathon this year on Sunday, September 13th.

I planned to run 12 miles this morning, since my last long run two weeks ago was 10.

I started my morning with a frosty cold one.

A fruit smoothie with a mish mash of frozen and fresh fruit. Strawberries, bananas, blueberries, mango and a splash of almond milk for some liquid to give the blender a hand.

I took it slow and ran the first 7 in an 1:00:00 (exactly!) making my pace 8:34.

I stopped back at the house for a little fuel. I was going to break into a bag of Sport Beans but decided on a whim to swap them out for something better.

WHY would I eat jellybeans when I’ve got cold fresh watermelon in my fridge?? Don’t get me wrong, Sport Beans are great when you are far from home or in the middle of a marathon and you need easy portable sugar, but it didn’t occur to me until I was almost home that I should just eat the real thing since it was so easy and accessible. I polished off the last of the melon and even drank all the watermelon juice from the container too.

I finished up with a 5.28 loop at a slower pace in 46:14 making my pace for the second leg 8:45. I was definitely feeling tired by the end and ready to be done.

My average pace for the whole run was 8:39 and I feel pretty good about that.  I have to say thank you to the my long run idol Robin for helping me come to realize it’s ok to slow the hell down and run at a comfortable pace for long runs right from the start, rather than running fast at the beginning and being forced to slow way down at the end because I’m beat. I’ve read this 100 times before in magazines and message boards but somehow seeing  how a real person incorporates these concepts into their runs makes it seem “real” and do-able.  I probably could have gone even slower but I’m still working on it and getting a feel for what it’s like.

Once home I was ready for another bowl of cookie batter.

I used up the last of my oat groats and subbed in steel cut oats to total a half cup, added ground flax, coconut and two chopped dates and soaked the whole mix over night in almond milk. I threw the mess into the blender this morning and came out with what I swear totally feels like I’m eating a huge bowl of cookie batter.

I am such a dope. I didn’t realize until yesterday that steel cut oats are just cut oat groats! So they worked perfectly for my cookie batter breakfast which is good because oat groats aren’t easy to come by.

Lots to do today, off I go.