Sticky

Gotta keep this short because I’m in a hurry to get out the door and start a fun-packed Friday!

So yesterday did not go quite as planned. I did not, in fact, make it to yoga. Who’s surprised? But for a change, it was not my fault. There was a wee bit of drama (if you can call it that? anyway, more on that later. maybe.) at work and I ended up staying later than usual and missed the 5:30 dadasana (I don’t know yoga poses, that just sounded like a good starting one). I was a bit disgruntled over missing yoga [yet again] and headed home to make sure I was all packed for tomorrow’s early-morning departure to Richmond. Then waited very patiently for the JD to get home from work (sooo late) so I could say hello, how are you, goodnight.

This morning was extra hard waking up, what with hearing the rain pitter-pattering outside. I swear EVERY morning when my alarm goes off I have an internal battle with myself “You don’t need to run now, you can do it later, go back to sleep. You can’t do it later your day is jam-packed. One day off won’t kill you. But you’ve already taken XX days off this week. Meh, take another. Meh, you have a MARATHON to run. Ugh, ok.”

I’ve just admitted to the internet world that I’m crazy. But that script really does play in my head justttt about every morning that I’ve got a run scheduled. Add it some rain and the fact that it’s a solo run (RB’s are SO much better!), and its that much more difficult to bid farewell to the blankets.

But I did. And rather than head to the Hudson as I planned, stuck with the familiar loop of Central Park. Speaking of Central Park, is there one direction that is significantly easier than the other when doing the outer loop? I always tell myself that whatever direction I’ve decided to go is definitely the easier, but then I hit a killer hill (be it any in Harlem Hills or Cat Hill) and I’m like “doh! wrong direction!”

But today was nice. The rain, while sticky, kept things relatively cool. The park was pretty quiet this morning and it made for a nice, peaceful run. I went in at the NW corner near 110 and exited at the same spot. Then headed back toward the apartment and did an extra mile closer to home. The total for today was just over 8, which is just what I wanted!

So I’m feeling really good as this week of training draws to a close. Hal had this week as more of a taper week with 5 on the schedule for the long run. But I was comparing his plan with the one I followed for last fall’s half marathon–comparing  the first half of Hal’s (so 8-weeks) with the 10-week routine I covered a few months ago. At this point I was at about 10 miles, so I felt behind. But after talking with my oh-so-wise RB, she reminded me that last fall, the half was my end goal. This time around, my August 28th half is my midpoint, so I shouldn’t be going full-throttle into it if I want to last another 8 weeks afterward. Thank you again, RB (running buddy/running BRAINIAC)!

After the run I had to run a few errands (har har). I swung by the local bakery for some black and white’s to bring home to the fam (they may be in Richmond, but they know what to ask for in New York), cat food to last the monster while I’m gone for the week and some fresh-from-the-oven NY bagels from Absolute (again, for the fam).

dear fam, if you weren't excited about me coming home before, you will be now. these will arrive with another bakery surprise.

And that super-fun-packed Friday I’ve been talking about? Heading to Discovery Times Square today to FINALLY see the HP Exhibit (laugh all you want, its love) with some cousins and their lovely significant others, then spending the day doing whatever city things we feel like doing! And laterrrr, dinner at the [apparently] famous Sardi’s with some more fam AND hitting up a dueling piano bar! Shwoof. Busy day, so I better hop to it!

Talk to you later….from RICHMOND! YAYAYAYAY!

- Let’s see how much you’d like my day…Are YOU a HARRY POTTER fan? Have you been to Sardi’s? Heard of it at least?

- What do you have planned for this lovely overcast Friday?

Thank You For the Music…(and the advice)

…that thanks goes out to whoever chooses the track listing that plays at my gym. I swear every time I’m there I hear  Ace of Base, Usher (circa ’97, not ’07) or something equally old school. And I love it. Nothing motivates you to push through the last 5 minutes on the elliptical or do an extra few reps on a weight machine like Lou Bega. Nothing, I tell you!

Although it also doesn’t hurt to have fresh-off-the-press copies of your favorite magazines in hand, either. Especially when said magazines have awesome online tools (that tell me I technically can aim for a sub-4 marathon time).

dear RW, i love you and all of the fun info you share with me. especially september's article on facing fears. fear of overtraining? goodbye.

Not that I needed a whole lot of push last night at the gym, because I wasn’t there to go balls-to-the-wall with anything. After a pretty uneventful day at the office (though I DID get to grab lunch with my cousin…just one more thing I love about this city–everyone’s close by) I went nice and easy on the elliptical for a while. I followed up with a litttttle bit of weight work (time-wise and weight-wise) and left a tad earlier than usual to make time to walk up to TJ’s on the way home.  Mostly, to pick up kale. Because as I mentioned, I’m hooked on the stuff.

I still managed to get home far later than I expected and the motivation to cook was no longer in full throttle. So I whipped up something quick and settled in to catch up on the last two episodes of True Blood. I feel like admitting that to the internet world (at least anyone in the internet world who doesn’t watch the show) is like confessing to watching vicious boxing, porn or some other grotesquely embarrassing TV. But I can pretty much guarantee you, especially if you start from season one, you will be just as addicted/know what it means to love Eric Northman.

So what do you do when it’s around 11 p.m., you have a giant bag of kale, lots of chopped veggies that are about to go bad and zero appetite because you already ate dinner? You saute said kale and veggies, make some quinoa and prepare the dinner you meant to have (to box up for the next day’s lunch AND dinner), all the while whining about how you “should have been in bed an hour ago.”

I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have wanted when the alarm went off at 6 to head to the park for a run. Luckily, when I arrived, the RB said she had about 3-4 miles planned for the morning. That sounded pretty perfect to me.

To switch things up, we did the upper loop of the Bridle path (that, combined with the jog to and from the park adds up to about 4ish miles for me). While jogging along RB mentioned that she read my blog post from Tuesday and noted that I was too hard on myself (yes, I bullied, but it was mostly in jest?) and that the commenter who mentioned too much mileage too fast was very much correct. Then RB went Mom and told me I was not allowed to do any more than the 4 miles we charted out . So I didn’t. And I’m so glad I didn’t. Because today’s shorter run–albeit warmer than Tuesday’s–was nice and relaxed…refreshing, even. I loved every sweaty moment of it. Best of all, it made me look forward to the long run on tomorrow’s schedule so much more!

So, big thanks to Kelly, RB and everyone else for the input. And please continue to chide me when I come up with harebrained schemes to run way more miles than Hal wants me to. Yes, lots of the other runners who I look up to are logging many more, but they are also much more experienced when it comes to marathon training. Speaking of runners who I look up to…I read a post yesterday that was AWESOME, over at the Runner’s Cookie. Kudos first and foremost to its author, for writing about a difficult subject so eloquently. And further kudos for shedding some light and perspective on a subject that I believe to be very important yet underinfluenced among women–in the world of running, but also in every other walk of life.

I am one yoga class, one long run and one very fun-filled tomorrow (why yes, today IS my Friday!) away from a week-long vacation to visit my fam in Richmond…and I could. not. be. more. excited. !!!!!

- Who do you look to for inspiration? Be it in a sport, work, anywhere in life?

- What do you love about YOUR hometown?

*This just in…reason #85498503 why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this city:

BELT IT
The Newsies Sing-Along
What: Follow the subtitles for a raucous cinematic experience complete with interactive trivia, newsy drinks, a costume contest, and a dance-off.
Why: Teenage Christian Bale really delivers the goods.
When: Fri., 8 p.m.
Where: The Bell House, 149 7th St., b/t Second & Third Aves.,
Gowanus (718-643-6510). Tickets ($8) online at ticketweb.com.

Tuesday Trickled

This week seems to be going by WAY slower than the last few. And I am surprisingly a-okay with that. Why you may ask? Because I’m hoping it means next week will also trickle by…if not even slower. Next week being the week I am visiting Richmond for a full nine days! Woohoo!

After what felt like a foreverrrr long day at work yesterday, the JD and I met up with our friend from college who lives in Astoria and her bf–who she picked up over on the Emerald Isle a few years ago So it was fitting that we started out at The Perfect Pint. We went to the one on the east side, but just because there’s a location in Times Sq.[read: tourist town, I'm allowed to say that now] does not mean this place deserves a bad rap. Afterall, it’s an Irish pub approved by our two friends who know their Irish.

After a quick catch up there, and without a real plan in mind, we wandered down 3rd ave. in search of a place to grab a beer and a bite to eat (beer? is the marathon WINEr allowed to talk beer on this blog? i fail you not. i was THAT girl, who ordered a glass of wine at the perfect pint). We ended up at Wharf Bar and Grill, which is exactly what it sounds like…a bar and grill with some cheeky surf and turf decor. The food was good though, and a big plus for midtown, affordable.

Sadly, I have no running report to dispel this morning. I spent alllllll day yesterday trying to figure out how I wanted the rest of my running week to go. After reading the solo comment on yesterday’s post (thank you, Kelly) and chatting with a few other RB’s, I decided it was best to scrap the a.m. run and p.m. yoga planned and make today a cross-training day (this has a lot  nothing to do with the fact that I really don’t like yoga). I considered going to the gym this morning and keeping the evening free, but I’ve had some awkward experiences there in the wee hours of the morning (public showers are really just not my thing). So I’ll be looking forward to spending some QT at the gym after work and heading home to relaxxxxxx [read: finally make dinner, catch up on TrueBlood and pack for RICHMOND].

I promised myself that as soon as marathon training really started to pick up I would force myself to do yoga at least once a week. I went once, during the first week of training and it actually was not so terrible. I always get myself super hyped up and psyched out over yoga, but it’s never that bad. 

Sooo hopefully I will get a quick session in after work tomorrow night? We shall see. I’m hoping to do a shorter run distance-wise tomorrow but maybe add in some hill intervals or speedwork (RB-I have not asked you about this yet…) I actually have yet to try hills or speedwork, but I feel like if I’m going to rein back on the mileage I need to find new ways to challenge myself. Hopefully I’ll  knock out the long run early on Friday (I’m off work and there’s a LOT of fun stuff planned–stay tuned) so there’s no pressure to tackle it when I arrive in Richmond this weekend. Yayayayay!

Happy hump day, folks…and hopefully this week’s going at a pace you enjoy as well!

- Do you incorporate yoga into your running routine? Do you notice a difference if you do or don’t?

- What’s your favorite Irish pub in Manhattan?

Taking It and Running With It

Apparently I’m an extremist. And never really knew it (or admitted it to myself?).

I rarely have “one piece” of chocolate or “one cookie” or “one glass” of wine. I have 5. Of each (normal behavior?).

And when sites like Groupon and Living Social shower me with “deals” I scoop up every one in sight. Which is how the JD and I ended up out on the town yet again last night. A little diddy from BuyWithMe (purchased about 3 months ago) was on the verge of expiring…and by verge, I mean it was done-zo after midnight last night. So after his very long yet successful first day on the job (yay! he likes it), we met up back in my stomping grounds in Midtown east for dinner at Gyu-Kaku. We had been to the east village location a few years ago while visiting the JD’s sister, but I had forgotten how delicious and FUN this place is.

Anywho, Gyu-Kaku is a Japanese BBQ restaurant where you do all of your own barbecuing on a mini grill built right into the table! Not bad for a charcoal-loving couple that doesn’t even have access to a patio, much less a grill. After starting off with a massive bowl of edamame, we ordered steak, sausage and shrimp, alongside some zucchini, asparagus and garlic fried rice. A superbly satisfying meal that rang up at just $6. Thank you BuyWithMe.

I actually pretended to be a foodie blogger and took pictures. Here’s a little diddy, just so you get the idea:

why hello, meat lovers paradise. i promise veggies came later.

Chocolate, cookies, wine and coupons aside, I’m apparently also an extremist when it comes to running (I ran one…read it, ONE, half marathon and automatically decided to sign up for a full).

That, or I’m just a big bully (or billy…if Corky and Squiggs are reading this). To myself.

I met the RB at our usual spot to cover about 5 miles in the park this a.m. (the outer loop minus Harlem hills = lovely). Hal said to do 3, but as I’ve mentioned, the idea of back-tracking hurts me.

So I set out for 5. I think we actually covered a lot of that 5 at a really good pace. Not sure if it was the nicer weather or what, but we both thought we were cranking things out a little (a lot?) faster than usual. The RB felt so good she wanted to take on a bit more mileage at the end of the run by hitting up the reservoir (yes, this is the same RB who had just ran 8 miles the night before. She is hardcore). But since one of my biggest fears with marathon training is burning out too early, I “smartly” declined and peeled off for home.

And during my [considerably slower] mile run home, I bullied myself. And told myself I was a weenie for having left my RB.

So when I hit my corner I did not head back to the apartment. I continued on. For an extra mile. And ended up covering a smidge over 8 miles this morning. Oops. I’m just so antsy to finally hit some reallll long runs I think. Que sera, sera though. It felt good and I had plenty of time to stretch afterwards. When I made it back to the apartment the nice man who does a lot of maintenance work on our street told me I “have good condition” and I “do not need to worry.” I told him for now I might, but in a few months I am running 26.2 miles. And he just chuckled…haha.

Do I need to think about toning it down a bit and sync up with Hal’s plan rather than wait for it to catch up to me? Or can I chalk it all up to taking advantage of nice weather? Not sure, we shall see.

In other news. My dress for one of my oldest, bestest friend’s wedding finally arrived yesterday! Woohoo! And speaking of old friends, I’m meeting up with one after work tonight for the first time in aggeeeesss and I can’t wait!

*A very happy birthday to our fake-leo roommate who did not even ANNOUNCE that it was his birthday. But a little bird told me anyway. Hope its a great one!

And to all of my nonexistent followers:

- What do you recommend for a first-time marathoner: doing what feels right or doing what the “coach” says? When you are surrounded by seasoned runners in Central Park or addicted to blogs about badass athletes, it can be hard to figure out whats right for you.

- What are YOU looking forward to today?

Mischief Managed

Happy Monday, friends! And it IS a happy Monday. For so many reasons–first and foremost, the beautiful weather! While the sun isnt out quite as vibrantly right now, it did wish me a good morning and managed to stick around for a nice, breezy, six-mile run! Thank you, Mister Sun, and thank you mother nature for toning it back a bit on the heat and humidity. This morning’s weather was absolutely perfect for running–not too hot, not too cold and a wee bit of wind now and then (just when you needed it)!

My RB wasn’t able to make it this morning, and while I missed the company, I was a-okay with that because it meant I could hit snooze a few more times before heading out to the bridle path and reservoir. Guess that extra hour really makes a difference because I definitely did not see the normal crowds of early a.m. runners. I went at a bit of a slow pace (not sure what that pace was because my watch is nearly broken and I’ve been leaving it at home lately) and took it easy. Given the nice weather I probably could have kicked things up a notch, but since my last few runs were in immense heat and humidity, I decided to enjoy the easy weather with an easy run. Besides…Hal had a “rest day” on the sched. for today and I still knocked out about 6 miles.

Why you may ask? Because I [as has been the case with me a lot lately], overindulged during my awesome weekend on Long Island/Fire Island. New York is a tricky city because there is always delicious food to be eaten and delicious drinks to be consumed. But with a half marathon fast approaching and a full marathon 8 weeks later…I need to work on tapering my indulgences. Hence the title of this post–gotta get a cap on that mischief for a bit!

Friday afternoon I hopped a train to Farmingdale where I met up with my pseudo-aunt (pseudo because she is actually my moms college roommate and close friend, but for as long as I’ve known her she has been [and always will be] Aunt Doreen). We ate at a great southwestern restaurant, where we chatted through two glasses of wine, great dinner specials and an amazing dessert that involved real thin mints and oreo crumbs. Highly recommended.

Afterwards we continued to chat back at Aunt Doreen’s but hit the hay early because we had a Fire Island ferry to catch the next morning! In anticipation of a quiet, laid-back afternoon on the beach, we decided on Sailor’s Haven–a part of FI that’s family friendly and considerably less crowded than other areas (especially when compared to weekend crowds at Jones beach).

There were no crowds as far as people are concerned…but sand flies were another story! After spending the first half of the morning/afternoon swatting at our own skin, jumping and squealing and trying every anti-sand fly tactic imaginable, we let them win. And Aunt Doreen said since the bugs were biting, and it was my first time at FI, the next best thing to do was let me get a real taste of the place…at Cherry Grove. So  off we headed, just a mile stroll down the beach.

If you’ve never been to CG, you may want to enter it via ferry for the first time, and not via sand. Because even though I had been warned, I don’t think I was fully prepared for the number of naked people I saw, and their many piercings on their many private parts. I’ll leave it at that.

Since the sandflies were no better a mile down the beach (and well, we wouldn’t have really wanted to set up camp right there anyway), we decided to hunt down a late lunch…and perhaps a cool drink. And thank goodness we did!

We arrived at Island Breeze per the friendly suggestion of a FI regular we passed on the sidewalk and grabbed some seats at the bar. More friendly suggestions were made by our neighbors at the bar as we pondered what to order, and moments later we found ourselves sipping on refreshing Arnold Palmers…with a touch of Citrus Vodka. The perfect beverage for a hot beach day. Before we knew it, we were three AP’s and 2 shots deep (remember, how I don’t do shots? Thank you, too-nice bartender. Thank you for making me go back on my word) and best friends with the couple sitting beside us (who confessed after 5 drinks that they had thought Aunt Doreen and myself were a “cute couple” when we first saddled up to the bar, haha). We had an awesome afternoon sharing all kinds of stories from the sad and serious to hilarious and happy. Cheers to new friends at Cherry Grove!

Saturday night we were WIPED out from an afternoon of sun, sand, and beach bars and went to sleep early again. Which worked out well because I was up bright and early for a run Sunday morning. Running in Long Island can be super nice because every other house has a sprinkler going (makes for plenty of misting stations during hot summer runs) and it is very flat. Running in Long Island can also be super hard because it is very flat.

While I have been known to curse a hill or two, sometimes its nice to have a downhill to look forward to. Anywho, knocked out 5 miles (I had been aiming for 6 but my sweat-laden clothes were weighing me down too much), closing up week 2 of Marathon training with around 26 miles. Meh, I’ll take it.

After the sweltering run, Aunt Doreen whipped up some yummy waffles and we scooted over to Aunt Kathy’s house (no pseudo here!) to spend the rest of the afternoon swimming in her pool, eating delicious food and hanging with friends and family. Great way to end an great weekend! 

*Want to know what else made it GREAT? My cousin got engaged Congrats to you both, I’m so so happy for you!

JD gets a job, cousin’s getting hitched…good things come in threes right? Wonder what’s next…

What good newssss have you heard lately??

Holy Heat

So last night was another lovely [yet unexpected] night out in the city. The JD and I decided to do a more subdued New Job Celebration [read: sans shots of Jameson], and headed down to a restaurant called (aged.) on Broadway. Note: I know what you’re thinking, “he just got a job after working pro bono, jumping the gun on spending a bit, eh?”

Well,

a. its a rarity that this actually happens.

b. we had good reason to celebrate. and

c. we certainly DON’T live beyond our meager means…we live off of groupons and coupons!

So thanks to a gift certificate picked up on restaurant.com, we were able to enjoy lots of delicious food at (aged.). I had the crabcake app and a side of kale (I’m a wee bit obsessed lately) and the JD had a delish chicken dish. I’m not going to pretend to be a “foodie” and post pictures of said dishes. But know they were yummy and not a crumb was leftover. We even managed a super good [albeit, pricey] glass of pinot noir each (later, I looked up the wine that we had online and discovered I can get it at a wine store on Columbus for $10 a bottle, vs the $10 a glass we paid. And I plan to).

I had an early bedtime and 16 handles was a smidge out of the way as far as getting home goes, so instead we had our first-ever trip to Tasti D Lite (confession: I’ve been dying to go here for YEARS, and only because Charlotte and Harry went on a cute little date night on SATC). Seventy-calorie creamy coconut frozen yogurt rolled in mini chocolate chips? Yes PLEASE. It was delish. And froyo has calcium. Runners need strong bones. So…perfect little pre-early run fuel? I think so.

And speaking of running. I’m the kind of person who thrives in the heat. I LOVE it. People argue with me when I say I’d much rather be a little sweaty if it means sitting in the sun rather than bundled up in a blanket or coat on a freezing winter day.

That mentality may very well change during marathon training though. Especially if we continue to have scorchers like today.

Even at the painfully early hour of 6:20 when I left my apartment for about a mile warm-up jog to meet my running buddy, temperatures were in the 80s. Walking out the door was like walking into a sauna. And I’m not exaggerating (remember, under most circumstances I enjoy hot weather). Maybe this will help demonstrate just howww scorchingly hot Manhattan has been this week. Yesterday, while walking home from work I passed a trio of people awkwardly standing around a mess on the sidewalk with camera equipment. Come to find out, they were literally testing that old saying of it being “so hot” you could “fry an egg on the sidewalk”. And it was working. Gross.

*Update. I just saw on NBC NY that they group also successfully cooked a pizza and some mac and cheese. On the NYC sidewalk.

But considering the heat, running this morning really wasn’t that bad. Luckily, I had an RB who was willing to tackle 4 miles with me (she’s baller and doing the NYC marathon so is a week ahead in her training). We did the inner loop of the park, going counter clockwise across the 102nd st transverse, down the east side and back along via the 72nd st transverse. She peeled off back at our 100th st starting point, bidding me the best of luck as I continued on in the heat.

I thought about just heading over to the reservoir to hammer out a mile and a half before heading home, but some random burst of superwoman strength overcame me and I decided to get the extra 1.5 miles in on the Harlem Hills (dun dun dun). Running past a beautifully sparkling public pool when you’re so gross that you run the risk of your clothes coming off in a tidal wave of sweat (and when the pool is not open to the public until 11 a.m.) is a bit like harakari, but I got through it. And felt like a bit of a bad ass afterward.

So much so, that I contemplated doing an extra lap of the reservoir anyway, but once I started in that direction I realized that a self-induced heat stroke was not the best way to end week two of marathon training. Instead I told myself “next time,” and headed home. Once there, I was worried that I’d contaminate the building with grossness, so I walked another mile around the neighborhood to cool off.  When it hits the expected temperature of 99 degrees later this afternoon, I will feel VERY happy to have that run (turned out to be about 7.68 miles) out of the way.

It was also nice to be back early enough to start tackling lots of errands AND catch Hoda and Kathie Lee (I LOVE Hoda, and I’m not afraid to say so). Later this afternoon I’ll be grabbing a train to Long Island for the weekend…first trip to Fire Island is tomorrow and I can’t wait! Have a good weeeekend guys!

P.S. Apparently the “bloggy” thing to do is ask your “readers” questions at the end of the post and the blogger with the most comments is the coolest. I’m pretty sure I don’t even have readers, but just in case, and at the risk of being uncool…here’s a few questions. What are your tips for training in the heat of the summer? Have any fun plans this weekend??

Call it a slip-up?

So last night didn’t go quite as planned. And day 2 of this blog isn’t going to go quite as planned (i.e. I will likely not be reflecting on this morning’s run, as it did not happen, or focusing much on marathon training at all. Tomorrow, I promise).

A few weeks ago I thought I was being cute and picked up tickets for “An Evening with Entourage” as a sort-of surprise for the JD (I’ve noticed on all of these blogs that ladies give their boyfriends cutsie little nicknames, and this was the best I could come up with. And while it’s lame to use JD because my boyfriend HAS a JD, I don’t mind it quite as much since it’s Zach Braff’s character on Scrubs and who doesn’t love Scrubs?). Well, as is often the case, the legal field did not want him to attend said Evening with Entourage. For a change though, it wasn’t his pro-bono boss keeping him late…it was a potential future boss calling him in for an interview. Ok, I’ll take it.

So in very chivalrous style, my cousins boyfriend came in from Long Island and attended what I thought would be a sneak peak of the season premiere of Entourage and a live Q&A with the cast. I was severely wrong. Apparently only money-tossing members and HBO exec’s were actually allowed in the same theater as the cast themselves, and my friend and I were banished to an upstairs “theater” where we watched what was going on underneath us on a big screen. And I don’t mean big screen like when you go see a movie “on the big screen”. I just a large and portable screen quickly thrown up in an empty room with some chairs for us “nonmember” and “nonHollywood” nobodies. Epic fail.

In the venue’s defense though, I very politely (no really, I was very polite!) told them that the web site that sold me the tickets was a wee bit misleading and they very kindly reimbursed me the money paid and my friend and I very politely exited and headed downtown in search of a bar. Oops.

*Note: we atleast were able to get a glimpse of Drama (Kevin Dillon) and a few close up’s of Ari (Jeremy Piven) as he spoke with press on the “red carpet.”

A bar wouldnt have been so bad if I had just one glass of wine and headed home to rest up for the run I had slated for [very early] this morning. But I felt bad that my friend hiked all the way into the city under false pretenses (though he was amazingly nice about it all and played it off  like it was NBD) and thought the least I could do was have another glass of wine.

Then the JD called.

And came to meet us.

And said the interview went swimmingly.

And that he had been offered a position on the spot.

A paid position!

So more wine was [naturally] had. Bad Katie, I know. But at least I said no to the many celebratory shots the boys were putting back! I have some self control. Read: HATE shots.

Sooo the 6:00 wake-up call/run did not happen. Stinks a bit because I was actually looking forward to (well, sort of) my first hill interval I had planned with a running buddy (hence forth, another nickname: RB). Oh well.  A mini slip up is a slip up I can live with when it means toasting to your very hard-working boyfriend finally getting what he deserves. I am a very proud gf this morning.

And it works out. No really, it does!

My “long run” for this week is supposed to be 7 miles on Saturday. I say “long” run because prior to the start of training I was clocking about 6-7  miles on my normal runs, and I am essentially now waiting for Hal’s Novice 1 (again, you’re only doing the Novice 1, Katie? Not even Novice 2??) to catch up to where I am, and then I can really start whining about how hard marathon training is getting excited about new mileage. But I am heading out to Long Island for the weekend to visit friends and family and planning to do my 7 tomorrow morning. Hal usually requests a rest day or easy run the day before a long one. Yes elliptical, I hear you calling me! You will find me at the club gym as soon as I head outta work this afternoon. Best way to beat the heat!

Stay cool today, kids!

Hello world!

Everything about this blog to date is misleading (and its only about 5 minutes old). As I’m sure you oh-so-savvy and seasoned blog readers noticed, I was trying to be creative with the title.

Let me back up a minute. I graduated from JMU in the Spring of 2007 with a degree in Media Arts and Design (concentration: print journalism, minor: writing and rhetoric). Beginning in some of my earliest SMAD classes (abbrevo for school of media arts and design that I will use often) professors were urging us to start blogs–they were the “wave of the future,” “the future of the industry,” “The Reason magazines and newspapers were on their way out the door.”  I never had any desire to, and for a number of reasons:

1. While I missed the leo-line by a mere two or three days as far as birthdays go, I am lightyears away as far as personalities go. It’s hardly ever “all about me” in my own little world, so why would the world wide web have any interest in what I have to say?

2. I don’t have that much to say. At least, not that much that I think is deep and profound enough to shoot off into cyber space. 

3. I don’t even read blogs, so don’t know the first thing in the world about starting one, keeping one going, finding and maintaining a readership, etc. etc. etc.

All of those reasons still ring true as I begin this blog–with the exception of numero tres. Since moving to New York City, joining New York Road Runners and signing up for my first-ever marathon (much more on all of that to come), I have become quite literally obsessed with all-things running…specifically, blogs devoted to running.

So I promised myself that to enhance my career (if you can call it that) and recommit to the fall marathon I’m running (you know what they say, the more people you tell the more likely you are to reach your goals), I would sync up the launch of my first-ever blog with the first training day of my first-ever marathon.

Well, that first training day wassss….last Monday. But better late than never, right?! I did at least begin my training according to my coach’s plan the Hal Higdon marathon guidebook and the delay in the blog was due to lack of creativity in coming up with a name. Which brings me back to where this all started.

I need to to be clear to all those who dare to read any further, that if “Winer” is supposed to be a clever spin on words, its a spin of “whiner” and never “winner.” I by no means consider myself a winner when it comes to running–I still have trouble convincing myself I’m a “runner” at all (I did after all opt to follow Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 program. What, Katie?! Couldnt even buck up for Novice 2?!). And while I do love, love, love my red wine, I am also by no means, a wine connoisseur. I don’t really plan to ever become a wine connoisseur either. But I do plan to become a better runner as I train over the next 16 14.5 weeks, and a better blogger as I track that training. And you better believe that after I hit my first PDR (personal distance record…which will be anything beyond 13.1 miles) my reward will be a glass of wine. Well, I’ll indulge in such a reward for many distances before 13.2 as well, but thats besides the point. The point is, I do love to run. And I do love wine. And after two weeks of trying to sum all that up in a blog name and finally get this party started…and failing…I shared those sentiments with my geniusly creative cousin, and such was born: Marathon Winer.

And for those of you completely uninterested in everything I just said and planning to never return to this site again, I will leave you with this: When I’m not running or enjoying a glass of wine somewhere [preferably outdoors], I am for certain traipsing all over this awesome city–hitting every tourist spot in sight (I’m not afraid to say so) and discovering every little street festival, sidewalk art, musical act, workout freebie, restaurant gem and turning over every other rock this dear old dirty town has to offer. So if you’re not on the island–live quasi-vicariously through me. And if you are–return to this site for tips on whats cheap fun and/or free ( I swear I can give couponmom.com a run for its money) or at the very least, to critique my opinions on what is cheap fun and/or free.