9 Miles & 2 Scraped Knees

Severe wind warning? Maybe I should've taken this as a sign to not run today.  

But I didn't.  I have skipped too many runs the past two weeks because I've been exhausted from my internship, so I knew I had to get this long run in.  I'm getting pretty bored with my runs around Astoria park and fed up with the stop lights when I venture further into Astoria.  So after adding a new RockMyRun mix onto the iPhone, I drove over to Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  AKA where I'll be completing my first half-marathon!

I've only ever driven by Flushing Meadows park, so I really had no idea where I was going to run.  Which is why my 9 miles ended up looking like this:

what a mess..

I parked near the Queens Theater and decided to just explore the park. There's a lot of stuff to see and do (botanical garden, soccer fields, skate park, lakes, etc) so I had plenty to look at.  Which is probably why, around mile 1, I bit it. HARD.  I'd like to say it was the wind that knocked me over, but it was just me-not paying attention to my surroundings.  Some parts of the concrete path were buckled and cracked, and I tripped.  Maybe I'm too excited for baseball season, because I did a sweet head first slide...leaving me with 2 scraped knees and a bruised ego.

After peeling myself off the concrete and assuring the sweet old man behind me I was fine, I decided to keep going.  I was determined to get this damn run in!  Over the next 8 miles, I did my best to ignore the throbbing pain in my knees by playing tourist in my own city and checking out the sites (while being careful to watch my steps!).

USTA Billie Jean National Tennis Center

I've heard some pretty cool people play tennis here sometimes.  I've played tennis a few times. I even own a racket.  But I stink.  So I'll leave it up to the professionals.

Oh, heyyy Unisphere.

The Unisphere, a symbol of peace built for the 1964 World's Fair(see how much you can learn during a run...), is probably the coolest thing at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.  It's giant and shiny and I can't wait to see it again after I run 13.1 miles!

Even with my falling mishap, I finished my very slow 9 miles in about 1 hr 35 minutes (~10:30 pace).  I wore my fuel belt, taking in a total of 24 oz of fluid-2 bottles of water and 1 bottle of Gatorade.  I also took a Vanilla Bean Gu around mile 5.  

All in all, a good long run for me.  My knees are hurting of course, but now I'm all cleaned up and bandaged, looking forward to yoga and an Oscar party tomorrow!

Happy weekend to you all!