Last night my stomach was feeling a bit wonky. I didn’t have much appetite but managed to eat a couple of waffles. This made me nervous since I had made the brilliant plan to do my long run super early this morning, as in before sunrise early. This was partially because lately I have been doing many of my long runs later in the afternoons as the temps warm up—but since my marathon is in the morning and I’ll have to be up really early to drive down to the start I figured I’m running out of long run “marathon day simulation” attempts. I packed everything I needed for today’s run last night so I could just quickly get dressed, take the dog out and then head out to the beach before sunrise.

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all the gear and none of the doodle were used for running today

Luckily this morning my stomach seemed ok. I actually scoped out a port-a-potty just in case but when i opened the door and saw what I saw I think I came to the conclusion that i’d rather poop in my pants if it came down to it =) So yes, grateful that it didn’t come to that. The boardwalk is 5 miles out and back. My first out and back i ran slightly past the end of the boardwalk to the Verrazano Bridge just to make it 6 miles so I knew i’d just have to do 2 more complete out and backs of the boardwalk to hit 16.

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just before i set out

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amazing sunrise

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the fishing pier

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VZ Bridge! 2.5 miles down and 13.5 to go =)

I didn’t take music for the first 11 miles. I stopped at my car for water and fuel at mile 6 and again at mile 11. I wasn’t that hungry or thirsty so I only ate half the bag of sport beans the first stop and finished the bag at the second stop. And I only drank about 12 oz of water! Woah! That’s nothing. Almost 3 hours of running? I should have been thirstier. It was in the low 20s for most of the run and warmed to about 30 by the time I wrapped up.

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i love the horizontal stripes of this image…the sky, the water, the sand, the snow…

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chillin’ gulls

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sunrise face

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testing out my new iphone tripod =)

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Star Wars sand dunes

So with today’s run I continued with my deep life thoughts…today’s thought: Life’s trials and tribulations will always be. You’re never just “one and done”. You have to learn how to deal with the bumps as they come. While I did see some seagulls, wild turkeys and Canadian geese, most creatures were in the form of statues or signs…

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Oh, and that’s me trying to do a Karate Kid pose shadow thing. I had just finished and felt pretty bad-ass. LOL! Feeling accomplished, I headed home to make myself a well deserved and delicious breakfast.

bacon, egg, cheese, avocado, kale, and tomato on a sandwich thin and blackberries and pineapple

bacon, egg, cheese, avocado, kale, and tomato on a sandwich thin and blackberries and pineapple

I relaxed a little, showered and then took this muppet to the park for walk and the usual squirrel scouting…

doodlewalkAnd now it’s almost 3pm! I better get cracking on my to-do list. Hope you’re relaxing a bit this weekend. Oscars are tomorrow. I’m not a big movie person but love to see the red carpet..although nobody will be wearing my favorite look…running attire. LOL!