16 miles.

I slowed this long run WAY down. I have pretty much been doing my long runs by feel, trying to keep the effort low. After struggling the last 4 miles of my long run last week, party because of dehydration, I decided this morning, no matter how good I was feeling, I was going to try to keep the pace around 10 minute/miles. I wanted to not just 'finish' this long run, but feel OK at the end and feel like I could actually do more if I had to. I also kept Harlem Hill and the West Side hills for the last mile of the run- just for fun :)

I think I accomplished the goals I set out, and am really pleased. I ended up with an overall pace of 10:12. I felt like I was actually able to push it a bit up Harlem hill, which is saying a lot at mile 15.5. And even though my joints and feet were starting to feel the distance, I definitely think I could have done a bit more, which is nice. At the end of my other long runs I couldn't imagine how I was going to run a full marathon, and I'm starting to feel a bit more confident with the distance.

Being my first marathon, it's hard to trust the 'long, slow' run idea. But the tempo and small amount of speed work I have been doing has confirmed that the speed is there, I just have to trust it to come together with the long, slow runs on marathon day!