SUCCESS! I now have guaranteed entry into the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon. Two marathons in four days had never been on my agenda, ever! And my body had a “discussion” with me about this decision lol I’ve never had chafing before either, but I did today. Right between my upper thighs. I have no idea where it came from. Tightness/stiffness throughout my lower torso. Nothing stretching/foam rolling can’t fix. Did not overdo it because I wanted to avoid any injury. So I did some walking on the latter half of the run.

I was asked this question by a young lady after I completed this run.

‘What do people think about for those hours and do they think about anything special in say the last mile? (I know it probably varies but perhaps there’s a general theme).

Me:  I’ve never heard a general thing that people focus on. Personally, I sing or chant. Chanting anything silly on autorepeat like something I see in my path and then change it to another thing when I get tired of repeating the previous one (That tree is green, that tree is green, oh that’s so mean, that tree is green). Sometimes it’s the Wizard of OZ song that the Wicked Witch’s guards sang (“Winkie Chant”), “All we own, we owwwe to her. All we own, we owwwe to her.” It has a rhythmic pace. You can find something that matches your pace. It gets more involved when I’m doing a pace push. It becomes an all-out club mix in my head. The funny part is people say I look so focused. I guess so. My party is for a party of one LOL Hope that helps.

Me:  I forgot: the last mile. For me, it becomes who can I burn at the finish line? Who’s going to be my unsuspecting victim? And then I dig down deep, find that last burst of energy and zoom past them in victory. My high school coach taught us to not sleep at the finish line. Look for the slow sleepers.

Now to recover and prepare for the last of the 4 marathons in the series: Athens Authentic Marathon. Fueled by @maurten_official.