3 hours and 40 minutes

Three hours and 40 minutes. That's how long it took me to complete 20 miles, just 6.2 miles shy of a marathon.
We started in Brooklyn, right across the street from Cadman Towers. I had four GU's (triple berry is now my favorite flavor) safety pinned to my shorts and I had taken my salt packet before we left the house.
For my first 20 miler I had Gabriela's watch , which is a Garmin with GPS on it, it 's AWESOME! It told me the pace I was running and my mileage.
As we split up into our groups I realized that I wasn’t nervous, and thought should I be? No I shouldn’t . This will be my longest run , but as long as I kept MY pace I knew I would finish.
My group was the first to go (start) .
We had Michael and Eric running with us , and at five minutes passed 7:00 a.m. we were off. We headed up the Brooklyn Bridge ;it was such a beautiful site. It was still early enough where there were only runners on the bridge , and not that many tourist , it was such a treat. It was an absolute amazing day to run . The running gods were definitely on our side.

To give you all an overview of our run , we started in Brooklyn, then headed to the West Side Hwy all the way to the George Washington Bridge and back to 72nd street.

If you remember, I had been on vacation for the last two weeks and although I tried to run , this would be the longest run ever. I went from running 14 miles to 20 miles, which is a little crazy when you think about. I was running without my running partner again, she was in California and hope that her run went well. For all you non runners, running is definitely a mind game, so I made sure that I kept it positive and kept it moving.

At mile 6, I took my first GU and felt great ... I kept it moving along. By now I was running alone there were a couple of people about a mile ahead of me but none of the faster groups had passed us yet. When I looked at my watch I was averaging an 10:15 mile pace and I was so excited! At mile 8 I finally heard my name and it was Raul, Dimitri and Jessica (the fast group) giving me words of encouragement and telling me to keep it up. Its amazing how great they are , they ' re always there pushing us along.
Around mile 10 I think I heard a little Argentine lady scream " is that Jackie? ", I turned around and it was Claudia . She is leading the group to make sure they stayed on track , and she does that so well! Blondie was in the group that caught up to me to make sure I was ok, and when I said I was she told me to keep it up and ran off. Mile 10 is where our water/Gatorade stop was, and it was such a blessing . I drank water ,then made my own half water/half Gatorade mix and kept it moving.
By now we were up to 79th street on the West Side Hwy . Once I saw the GWB I saw my goal . I knew that I could do this ; it was only 10 more miles away. It was so close it made me pick it up and I was running a 10:00 mile. One great thing about Sunday's run was that I felt great throughout the entire run .
As I ran , I imagined where my friends were going to be along the Marathon trail and I thought to myself if I can do 20 miles what is another 6.2 miles ?
There was a long stretch in the run where I wasn’t sure if I was going the right way because I hadn't seen any of the faster people on their way back , but I kept running. Then at mile 13 (the distance of a half marathon) I saw Raul, Jessica, Eric and Dimitri who all gave me a high five and I felt so much better. There was a point when I thought where is Stephanie and Vanessa? They usually pass me up I was a tad concern ed because our little Stephanie had been out the night before . I thought to myself " did she pass out? Did she make it? Where are they?"
With all these thoughts running in my head all of a sudden I am there. There it is . The GWB, I don’t think I have ever been this close to the actual bridge without driving on it.
Brian was there and told us to run to the lighthouse , touch it , and then we could turn around . Brian is so fast and every time he passed me up he made sure I was ok and told me I was doing awesome. It is amazing what a couple of words of encouragement can really do to you. I was up to 15 miles by the time I hit the GWB, I had five more to go and at this point I still felt AWESOME!! When I looked at my watch it said I had been running three hours and two minutes, had 15 miles completed and my pace was 10:25. I thought " this is great! I can keep this pace up for another five miles. "
I started to turn back and then there were my girls!! Vanessa and Stephanie were right behind me and they were so proud of me . They told me I looked great . Right behind them were Brita and Karly ; they also told me to keep it up and that I was doing great. Then I saw Katie , she had about half a mile before she got to the GWB so we gave each other a high five and I told her she was so close. It was so nice to be on the other side and now it was my turn to give the words of encouragement. At mile 17 I knew I needed to take another GU . I was starting to feel a little pain in my foot, and the only problem was that there was no water. Then I heard someone say… " Is that my favorite TFK'er? " I turned back and it 's Stephanie and Vanessa . I asked Vanessa if she could spare some water (she carries a water belt) so that I can take my GU ; She of course shared her water. I tried to run with them, but realized that I need to keep my pace , this is about me not anyone else. As I let them run off without me they told me they would see me at the end.
At mile 18 I have to admit I was not sure if I was going to make it---then I remembered "PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY", I saw that on someone's shirt once and any time my body gets tired I keep repeating that in my head. Remember running is sometimes more of a mental game than anything. I thought to myself ," maybe if I walk a bit I would feel better, but then I thought I cant walk! " I had not walked the whole 18 miles and I was not going to start when I was just two miles away.
I kept going at a slower pace but I kept running, then I remember thinking I am training for the FLIPPING NYC Marathon who would of thought?! So I kept singing the chorus to Jay Z's Empire State of Mind…Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, Now your in New York!!! These street will make you feel brand new, the lights will inspire you, Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York. I knew how close I was and I knew that this was doable ... so I told myself, Jackie keep it going.
I saw Michael when I had less then a mile to go and he told me " Jackie you can do it you look great. " I looked down at my watch and it said 19.50 miles I was so close---do I push it? The watch said 3:35, I didn’t want to hit 4 hours and with only half a mile left I didn’t think I would but still I pushed it a little. As I saw the coaches and teammates they all clapped and I felt great. I stopped the watch and it said 3 hours and 40 minutes.

I completed 20 miles, 32.19KM and 1,267,200 inches in 3 hours and 40 minutes. I was excited I know that my goal of making it in under 5 hours i s totally doable.

The rest of my Sunday was great . A couple of us went to brunch, then Blondie and I went home and I took my first ice bath. We then went up to Sondra and Matt's house on the UWS to watch football, drink beer and eat cheeseburgers and chips.

It was a great Sunday and I cannot wait till Nov 1st!

Its been two weeks wow

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, no I should of I went on vacation and it was awesome. If anyone ever gets the chance to head out to Greece take it. With my vacation a week behind me, I am finally caught up at work so I can devote some much needed time to my blog.

I wont spend too much on this week, here is a preview to what is coming: 20 miles on Sunday! Yes, you read correctly I will have a detailed post for you then. Till then Thank you to everyone for their support!

With only 43 days left to the marathon I am not nervous yet so hopefully...no scracth that I will not get nervous. Sunday will be a great indication about me hitting my goal of 4 hours and 30 minutes. I am excited that my first Marathon is the NYC Marathon there is just something about this city...with that being said I will add the lyrics to Jay-Z's new song Empire State of Mind, its true what Alicia Keys says in the song

"Concrete junlge where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, Now your in New York!!! These street will make you feel brand new, the lights will inspire you, Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York"