NYRR Love

So yesterday I was scheduled to volunteer at NYRR headquarters to give out race bibs for this weekend’s Norwegian Festival. I wasn’t scheduled to be on E.89th until 3:30, so I wanted to try to squeeze in as much as possible into the day beforehand. I made plans to slowly make my way down to Columbus Circle and picnic in the park, then see where the winds took me.

Well the winds picked up while I was underground, and when I emerged from the subway at 59th street, I found myself in a downpour. So much for that picnic! Instead, I stumbled into the Museum of Art and Design…a place that’s intrigued me for quite a while now.

perhaps i should have gone to the school for THIS sort of art and design instead?

The exhibit I had been eyeing while passing by to and from work all summer was no longer on display. No bueno. But there were other fun things to look at/make me feel super non-artistic (unartistic? anti-artsy?):

pretty wooden airplane that looks like its being carried by butterflies

a far better use for these cancer sticks!

Two floors of the museum were closed for renovations. This made for a much quicker trip through the place, but it also meant reduced entry fee. I’ll take it!

Afterwards the rain was still coming down and my stomach was growling. So I wandered around the Time Warner Building (aka NY Running Co., the only store I care about there) while eating a Chobani blueberry yogurt. Yum!

From there, I hopped on some trains downtown to the Nolita/Little Italy area, where I poked around a bunch of super cute boutiques (most of which I’ll never be able to afford) and adorable little kids stores in search of a baptism gift for my cousins new bebe. I found one that I am sooo excited to send down to Hotlanta!

While the Chobani for lunch was yummy, it wasn’t the most filling pick in the world, so I allowed myself a stopover at La-Cremeria. The sun had finally started to peak out and the sidewalks were warming up, so it was the perfect time for some gelato. Not to mention…I had a coupon for a free scoop I went with the tiramisu. It hit the spot for the hot weather the day turned out, but wasn’t a 16-Handles kind of “wow”! In fact, this flavor tasted almost exactly like a Wendy’s Frosty to me….which is not, necessarily a bad thing. Just not what I expected.

The clock was pushing towards 3:00, so I hopped on an express train to get my booty up to NYRR HQ for my volunteer shift. I say “volunteer shift” lightly, because “volunteer” suggests I was doing a lot of personal giving, and “shift” sounds like work. Yes, I did what was asked of me and handed out bibs to fellow runners, but that part was fun. As far as the giving? My fellow volunteers were doing an awful lot of that…in the form of marathon advice for yours truly. Everyone alongside me had run the NYC marathon at least once…and many were on their 10th or 11th training cycles. One man was making this years ING his 20th lifetime marathon, and at 55, was working towards a goal of at least 25 rounds of 26.2 miles. Needless to say, I soaked up every word of wisdom they had to offer, from fueling, to hydration to beating the photograper-wanna-be tourists that run the Big Apples big race (which, thanks to yesterdays time at HQ, after tomorrow I will have AUTOMATIC entry into)! It was a great afternoon, and I might volunteer again just for the fun of picking the brains of my fellow NYC runners.

Afterwards the JD’s aunt and uncle had a chili dinner waiting for us at their apartment, and we spent one of the first “chilly” nights of the season eating, chatting and unloading a big chunk of Wednesday night’s batch of pumpkin cookies.

Today I thought I’d be taking a rest day and spending 8 hours working indoors on this gorgeous day. But, apparently my genius self read the schedule wrong and I’m now not working at all. And its beautiful out. Sooo that little plan to take a “total rest day” will have to be put on hold. I need to be out running in the sun while there’s still sun to enjoy

On the schedule for tomorrow is Grete’s Great Gallop followed immeeeediately by that 8-hour shift I was supposed to work today. Oops. Should be a blast.

Happy Friday kids!

 

- What’s your favorite museum to visit in the city? I want to explore as many as I can while I have the time!

-And along that same line….what’s your favorite ice cream/froyo/gelato place? And DON”T say 16 Handles. We already know that takes the cake, but I need to expand my horizons a bit.

- What are YOU doing for exercise/fun this weekend?

 

It Smells Like Thanksgiving

….in my apartment at least. I got my Izzie on last night and baked a big whopping batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies, courtesy of a recipe Kelly posted a few days ago. I guess since it’s almost October (what?! how did that happen) it’s okay that I’m finally inviting the fall into my home. And the aroma of fresh-baked pumpkin last night got me super pumped for Turkey Day in Richmond [read: the greatest/most anticipated time of the entire year].

I should go ahead and throw a giant thank-you to Kelly for the recipe, as the cookies are absolutely delish. But they are so delish that I can’t stop eating them. And I imagine training will only get harder as I lug around 434 extra pounds of pumpkin/chocolatey weight. My tum thanks you, Kelly, but my legs may feel differently.

The cookies proved to be decent fuel for an early morning run though! I met an old RB down near the river around 8 today (you may remember that my main RB moved to Brooklyn, and its been tough scheduling miles together since). This RB just returned from a summer of volunteer work in Africa. Where she taught adorable little kids and even climbed Kilimanjaro. And she was so busy out saving the world and climbing mountains that she had little time to keep up with her training for the ING NYC Marathon. Yet since she’s been back she’s already surpassed me in long-run mileage. Needless to say, she’s a badass in many, many ways. And she’s an angel for putting up with my slugness when we run together

We spent the morning sort of just looping up and down Riverside Dr. along the Hudson and playing catch-up…aka, I grilled her about Africa for the first half of the run then spent the second half picking her brain on thoughts surrounding grad school and different grad school programs. For those of you who don’t know (which is probably all of you), I’ve been toying with the idea of grad school for a looooong time now. But I’m more indecisive than a hungry fly at a picnic and cannot for the life of me decide what I want to go back for (granted, I have three general “areas” but they are all so different and far out of the others realms that in shouldnt even count to say I’ve narrowed it down that far), much less…where. And it seems there are just far too many options for a fickle-minded girl such as myself. (This is the point where all of you grad-school goers or grads shower me with wisdom and advice)

Anywho, as always, part of our convo also circled around running and where we are in our training. This RB is on marathon like 89 (ok, it may be closer to 10, but goodness, that’s still an insane amount of running), so I’m thrilled that she’s back and can answer all of my annoying omgimsoscaredofmyfirstmarathon questions. She seemed to agree with my decision to keep the run short today and possibly even take a full rest day tomorrow to ensure the success I want at Grete’s. So I wrapped things up after a little over 5 today, and hopefully will heed both her advice and my own hunch regarding tomorrows routine. (Thanks for all the tips, my 26.2 guru!)

Hopefully I can find other ways to be productive between now and my afternoon shift at NYRR. If you’re running this weekend, come get your bib and say hello!

Happy Thursday. And apparently Happy Coffee Day? The Twitterworld is telling me it’s National Coffee Day. Now that’s a holiday I can celebrate!  :)

-You saw this one coming….if you have ANY experience in grad school…pass on what you know! How do you decide what program is best for you? How do you begin the process? HELP!

- What’s your all-time favorite time of year/holiday? Thanksgiving blows the rest of the year out of the water for me.

Define…cutback?

I know “cutback” weeks are important. But when just last week, I hit my lifetime peak mileage of 46.9 (shoot, let’s round up please), it’s hard to tell myself that this week, less is more. But I’m tryingggg….sort of

I LOVE that I’m hitting such high mileage and feeling good! And seeing numbers on my weekly recaps that are near reaching those of the so many other balllller runner/bloggers I stalk every morning. Sort of like the Grinch thought if good ol’ St. Nick could fit his toosh down the chimney, he could too:

then he sliddd down the chimney, a rather tight pinch. But! if santa could do it...then so could the Grinch!

Only unlike Santa’s svelt self, the Grinch got stuck (even if it was “only once, for a moment or two…”).  Santa, in this case, is like those other seasoned runners who can get away with 50 and 60 mile weeks worry-free. And I am the Grinch. It may seem easily appealing at first, but Santa has been scootin’ down chimneys for howwww many decades now? And the Grinch thought he could shimmy down without a problem on the first try? Psh. (Are you still with me? I am the Grinch and this marathon is my first chimney. I need to take it eaaaasy. Assess. Not get stuck…aka, injured, burnt out, etc.)

Lesson learned. Thank you, Mr. Grinch.

After loosening up the old legs on the elliptical last night, this morning I returned to Central Park for the first time since the big 18-miler. I had my doubts heading in that direction thinking I may start remembering the painful part of that run that I obviously just blacked out during (you know, since all I can recall is happy, euphoric thoughts), but that didn’t happen. I darted up Harlem Hill during the early portion of the loop and on the breezy way down smiled and thought, “ha. I did that three times three days ago. Today’s run ain’t got nothhhin on me!”

After a little more than 8 miles with the out-and-back I headed home to shower and change…so I could head to yoga! Due to some summeresque humidity still hanging on, I was drenched after my run, and didn’t want to be “that stinky girl” in an already crowded Manhattan yoga studio, so I got clean and headed out the door to get sweaty again. Welcome to my life.

Yoga was awesome. The class was super slow-moving (aka, reason why I so often dislike the activity), but it focused a lot on hip twisting and stretching…and we allll knows I need that! I have a feeling I will wake up tomorrow feeling 100% refreshed and ready to rack up some more miles! Although this time, I may avoid the park seeing as how first thing Saturday a.m. I will return there for not three, but a mere two loops during Grete’s Great Gallop. I’m super excited about this half marathon for threeeee reasons:

- I think I’m in a really good place to actually try racing it and seeing how I can pace myself

- It is my first officially timed half since the first one I ran in Philly last fall

- Once this race is on the scoreboard, I will have completed NINE, read it–NINE, NYRR races! Know what that means? Only one volunteer (+1) sesh until this little lady gets automatic access to run the ING NYC Marathon! Oh, and I just HAPPEN to be volunteering at HQ tomorrow afternoon. Wootwoot! NYC, here I come!

Well, that is of course, if things go according to plan on November 12th…

this is the happy little fb message i woke up to today. 45 days. EEKS!

Soon after seeing this motivational/terrifying message from SunTrust Richmond Marathon though, they posted this:

Thank you Richmond Marathon. This took the edge of my queasiness just a bit.

So aside from all of this marathon training/raceday excitement and overall honeymoon lovin’ with running in my life, I’ve actually been a little bit down in the dumps in other aspects. How to remedy that? I think I’m gonna get a little Izzy Stevens with my emotions tonight and go a little crazy in the kitchen. I’ll let you know what chocolately sugary goodness comes out of that

Happy Wednesday kids!

- Does anyyyone know anyyyone else who is running or has run Richmond? Put me in touch!

- If you’re picking up a race packet tomorrow, look for me and say hellllooo!

- What activity–yoga, baking, ModernFamilywatching, whatever–pulls you out of a rut–running, work, life, whatever-wise?

Officially Addicted.

Okay, so some of you are probably screaming, “you signed up for a freaking marathon, we GET that you have a weird and insane addiction to running.” And you’re right. But today yesterday I discovered just how strong that addiction was.

After showing the Harlem Hills who was boss and conquering 18 miles on Sunday, I very, very quickly forgot about parts of the three monotonous CP loops that were sheer torture…and all I could remember was the runner’s high that carried me through them. And the awesome feeling I was overcome with all day when I thought to myself, “holy crap. I did that.”

I woke up yesterday morning with legs that were a little achy, and no guilt over the fact that I just might not make it to the gym or yoga or anything that required me leaving the comfort of my couch. But let’s get serious. I’m not the kind of person who can hunker down watching the Price is Right* when there is a beautiful city outside my door glowing in the remnants of summer sun.

*This subject came up recently and it needs to be known that I have never, ever had any interest in the Price is Right. I could write about 45 blog posts about why its bad. And one comment on why its ok–Bob Barker’s a cute old man! Maybe it makes the comparison above pretty bad, and I should have instead used something like “Gilmore Girls” or “Scrubs” as shows that could actually put up a fight in keeping me glued to the tele. But apparently, everyone else and their mother, from the age of 10 onward, thought this show The Reason to fake a fever and avoid school or use up a precious sick day at work. Anyway, the point is, if there is sunshine outside, that’s where I’d rather be. And if there is anything else to be done besides sit on my toosh for more than 5 minutes, I’m likely doing it. TypeAMuch?

So after spending the greater part of the morning doing very June Cleaveresque tasks (i.e. laundry, cleaning, baking, etc. woohoo!) I did not want to spend anymore time indoors [read: in a gym or studio or any other fitnessy place with a roof overhead]. So I did what I do best and laced up my sneaks. Ok, maybe it’s not what I do best…seeing as so many people do it so much better (did you SEE the 3:50 dude at the 5th Ave Mile or HEAR about that insane record set in Berlin), but it is what I can officially say I love to do. And I guess what I’m addicted to.

I’m not alone. Lots of ladies are lamenting about similar relationships. Some on again/off again, some long-term, some still new. But plenty of others love running so much they’d probably hit the pavement for a little jog the day after a PDR too.

Anywho. My legs were still tight and a wee bit grouchy from yesterday, but they very graciously complied to a 4.5 mile out-and-back along the river. Thank you, legs, you are too kind!

The sun was still sneaking out, even though there were some severe patches of fog and ominous “omgisitgoingtorainonme clouds” and it was a gloooorious little jog. While the summer-like heat and humidity were a bit of a pain in the arse around mile 14 on Sunday, yesterday they were fine company, especially joined by the light wind off the river.

Afterwards I went home for moreeee June jobs, i.e. whipping up the JD’s bday dinner. On the menu: pumpkin (yes, PUMPKIN) and sausage pasta (and it was so GOOD) served with a side of bread and a spinach salad (complete with my first-ever homemade dressing). Of course we couldn’t dive in until a little after 9pm when the poor kid returned home from work, but once we did I was pleasantly surprised to see no gagging, choking or other scary movements that may imply I did something drastically wrong in the kitchen from anyone. It was actually a pretty yummmy meal, agreed upon by all parties. I also learned that “homemade” salad dressing maaay be one of the easiest things in the world to “make”.

Also pretty easy to make AND put a big smile on a certain JDs face, is peanut butter pie:

ok, again, dumbphone doesn't take the greatest/most appetizing photos, but its pb pie with Oreo crust. and its delicious.

*Note (s): 1. I realize I’m a giant nerd for cutting a Reese’s cup into the shape of a heart. 2. This pie is proof that I will never be one of those “healthy living” bloggers. Because there is absolutely nothing healthy about the desert pictured here. Unless, I guess, you want to go with the ol’, “well peanut butter is a healthy fat and provides good energy and fuel for fitness, especially for distance runners.” Actually yes, let’s go with that….and pay no mind to the fact that there’s about 3 jars worth of pb and youdon’twanttoknowwhatelse in this DELICIOUS masterpiece of a desert.

Needless to say, I went to bed full of sticky, chocolately goodness and slept like a baby.

Only babies usually wake up super super early and I did not. Instead, I’m being gooood (right? rest is good) and allowed myself to sleep in and take my time getting into work today (if you consider 8:15 sleeping in). After work I’ll reconvene with the legs and see just what they’re up for…if anything at all.

Have a happy Tuesday kids!

 

- When did you discover your true feelings for something?

- Speaking of feeelings. Are you feeling techy today? Giving? Both? Fantastic! Than you’ll want to do some reading, right hurr: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/864968865/metropoli-monopolize-your-life-one-check-in-at-a-t

- Is anyone else doing Grete’s Great Gallop on Saturday? I just signed up for it…yes, cue up Simple Plan again…

on that time I ate 18 miles for breakfast….

Sometimes I think I must black out when I run. No, really…I do. One minute I’m stretching in the corrals before the gun at a race, and after just a few fuzzy memories of agony vs. tuning into my inner cheerleader, I’m somehow limping past the finish line chugging Gatorade. But in most cases–and especially today–I’m beaming on the inside as I slosh down some electrolyte grossness (note: for some reason I like gatorade…except for when it’s served before, during or after a run. weird, I know).

But as per usual…let’s back up a bit, to the beginning of the weekend.

Friday night I met my aunt, cousin and new friend Holly in midtown to go see Brandi Carlile perform at Town Hall (did you listen in all weekend as I recommended?). Traffic was HORRENDOUS all over the city with delays on the 1, 2 and 3 and cars at a standstill due to rain and rush hour. So by the time I finally made it to Penn to meet up with my posse for the evening, my decision to not drink has shifted a smidge. We grabbed a few drinks and appetizers at a nearby bar and headed in for Brandi.

She. was. amazing. Tingles my friends, tingles.

Afterwards we decided to keep the happiness of the night flowing by keeping the drinks flowing and stopped into yet another midtown bar (not necessarily a favorite neighborhood for a Friday night, but certainly convenient when friends need to hit the LIRR later), where we were met by the JD. Long story short, but we ended up coming home much later than anticipated, having had much more wine than needed.

So when I woke up for the 5th Avenue Mile on Saturday morning I was severely sleep deprived, and water deprived. But my $18 were paid and its a marathon qualifying race, so off I went. The run wasn’t so bad…it was, after all, just a mile–which is my “go-to” distance. It gets me through every run. I repeat the mantra “one more mile” in my head in whatever form necessary, and I’m no longer dragging (example: one more mile and this run is done, one more mile til the next big turn, one more mile and then there’s only a 5k left, etc. etc). So regardless of the fact that my pores were leaking wine instead of sweat, I laced up and powered through that mile run. And later found out I did so in 7:23. Not bad! But now I’m kicking myself wondering how much better that time would have been had I stuck to the original plan of no vino and mucho sleepo. Man, my spanish skills improve with age.

I spent the rest of Saturday more or less on the couch, catching up on the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy and wrapping all of the JD’s birthday presents. Then I suited up and went to training/work for the evening. Details on that later…maybe?

Now we’re getting to the good part of the post (thanks for sticking with me if you’re still reading)!

I got out of work super late and hurried home to down half a veggie burger and try to get my gear together for Sunday morning’s run. What run is that you ask? Oh, the NYRR 18-mile Tune Up Run. NBD.

I got to bed at the horribly late hour of midnight and was up again at 5:30 (with a wee little 2:30 a.m.interuption when the JD and his sis and friend who were visiting returned home from their night out on the town). I suppressed the little voice in my head that constantly chides me and tells me I’m not a runner, and snuck off to the kitchen to start downing some PB.

Completely having forgotten to stock up on some more honey stingers, the pre-run breakfast yesterday was a cinnamon nature valley bar topped with PB, and a few extra scoops of PB & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams…you know, just to be safe.

Not wanting to put my legs through any extra work before this run (a distance that Hal hadn’t had on schedule for a few more weeks), I took the sissy route to the start line. Aka, hopped on the subway for one stop (covering all of 7 blocks) before walking  east across the park to the 102nd st driveway where runners were lining up in the corrals.

Here is my second favorite part of the day: the emcee (I need to remember his name since he emcees like every NYRR race and is awesome) introduced the course–3 solid loops around the park, complete with 3 whole trips through the Harlem Hills–and told everyone out there that if they conquered this tune-up run, they could conquer anything. Three cycles through the nasty Harlem Hills would for sure prepare runners for the ING NYC Marathon, and definitely prepare runners on less intense courses [read: RICHMOND MARATHON]. With that thought in mind, the gun went off and we followed.

The first 6 miles were just okay–the weather was sticky and humid, which wasn’t so bad except I was expecting a chilly September morning and got the equivalent of a middle-of-July kind of day. But that’s par for the coure…it always takes the first few miles for the juices to get pumping.

Part of the reason I opted to run this a few weeks earlier than called for was to practice a long run with water stations. So around mile 5 or 6 I decided to take a few honey stinger chews and swig some water–so far so good. And by the time I hit mile 7 I was in my groove. If I’ve learned anything from this marathon training, it may be that I like–really like–the half marathon distance. I knew from the last couple of long runs that for miles 7-13 (maybe even longer), I’d be good to go. And I was.

Around mile 10 I forced myself to do some more fueling…by way of trying a Cliff Energy Gel for the first time, courtesy of NYRR. Unfortunately, I accidentally grabbed the “raspberry and cream” flavored one. And was definitelyyy not a huge fan of the taste, but consistency was much easier to work with while on the run than the Vanilla GUs I usually go for (too bad I have two full boxes to go through before I’ll allow a Cliff purchase).

After that, due to the icky mugginess of the morning I tried to make myself take in a lot more water, and probably picked up a cup at every other or every other few stops. Taking the advice from my RB, I even tried to walk through all of the “fluid” stations to get a little breather and conserve some energy.

I let that energy and a good chunk of excitement carry me over the last of the Harlem Hills (woohoo! I made it over HH 3 times, canttouchthis!) and down the west side of the park, but things started getting sluggish near Columbus Circle. My feet were in painnnn and there were snippets of time where I felt I was reliving that run from hell from a few weeks ago. I don’t know if I was having an Ali-like experience in which the “new” gel didn’t get along well with my tum, or chugging H20 was actually not in my bad interest, but I thought I might be sick a few times.

This is where I assume I blacked out. Because the next thing I knew I was powering up Cat Hill with everything I had in me, had another few minutes of fuzz and saw the finish line just around the corner. What? The finish line? But that would mean I ran 18 miles. 18! Omg, I did!

And there is my second favorite part of the day. I crossed the finish line with what I think/vaguely believe was a smile on my face. But I KNOW I was giddy on the inside.

Unfortunately, I did not have a lot of time to bask in the glory of running awesomeness, because there was a Mets game to get to. So I grabbed a half a bagel and a banana (neither of which I was really able to consume due to still feeling a little iffy in the tum) and walked back to the UWS. There was minimal stretching done (I’m definitely not happy or proud of this factoid and would have much preferred a very long ice bath with a coffee in hand) before hopping into a shower and onto the subway to meet up with the rest of the JDs fam and some friends for Citifield.

It was a beautiful day for baseball, followed by an awesome dinner out to celebrate my very old boyfriends birthday (he turns 27 TOMORROW). We went to Acqua where I inhaled every (and there were many) scrumptious carb in sight–this place is highly recommended. All in all, an epic weekend.

Covering those 18 miles was a HUGE confidence booster leading up to the marathon. And I think it even helped that the distance was a little longer than planned, because now I have a solid base of what my pace is like on a crucially long run (NYRR.org tells me 9:15…with those hills, I can dig it) and more time to try to improve it if I feel so inclined (not sure that I will). There’s still another 18 miler and a superultramegascary 20 miler on the schedule before The Big Day.

In the meantime, I’m going to spend the rest of today riding out the high that is 18 miles under my belt and toying with the idea of some easy form of cross training, but if the couch wants me for company, I may just give in…

- Did you do the 5th Ave Mile or TuneUp this weekend? How’d it go?

- Any recommends? During my run the two biggest issues plaguing my happiness were soreness on the balls of my feet (sorry if you don’t want to hear nasty runner details, but they burnnnned) and the feeling of maaaaybe wanting to vom a wee bit for the last 6 miles–was that brought on by the gel? too much water chugging?

Bib it Up

Just when you think training is getting a little too intense, distances are getting eerily long and you’re afraid to walk outside for fear of slipping in a rain puddle in your $2 flip-flops and breaking your ankle and completely missing out on your marathon, up comes a “race weekend”. Aka, a weekend when you get to go to NYRR and pick up a bib that reminds you why you’re training–for those of you who don’t know…because wearing colorful bibs and racing amongst crowds of other sweaty, excited runners is fun.

Today was a rainy, ugly day that made the very idea of trekking outside scary (especially due to the aforementioned fears of slippage). Eventually I made it out to run some errands–aka, dropping off the JD’s dry cleaning and picking up more supplies to ring in his birthday on Monday. And while just a few blocks from home, I happened to literally bump into a close friend of my little sister Squigs, who is from Richmond but now living in DC. And we found each other in the middle of a rainy Friday in the middle of the street on the UWS. What are the odds of that? #justanotherthingiloveaboutnyc (hashtags SO work for blogs, right? wrong i guess. i don’t even know how to use them on Twitter).

After returning soaking wet from stocking up on partay supplies I sat around for too long toying with the idea of forgoing a run and instead curling up with last nights premiere of Grey’s Anatomy. But then I thought about how boringggg this blog post would be if I didn’t have badass rain miles to report on. And bibs to show you:

two bibs in one weekend? that may be a first!

Nevermind. I just remembered that I ran the Race for Hope the day after RunAMuck like a year ago. And I’m too lazy to go back and edit that comment. But this is still cool because one of these bibs is for my super scary 18-miler on Sunday (dun dun dun). Luckily NYRR was nice enough to offer their support of said run by showering us with gifts of sweat rags and deoderant. Guess they know what we’ll be needing afterwards. I am a little baffled by the hair product sampleage and teenie tiny cookbook that was also part of the swag though. I mean, I’m not complaining, but any dudes running Sunday may be a little miffed. As far as the other bib, that’s for tomorrow’s 5th Ave. Mile. I’m still not sure what I want to do with this race, as I know I need to take it realllly easy tomorrow if I want to survive Sunday (where IS that RoadID I ordered??) but I missed a NYRR run while in the Natural State, and really want to hit the 9+1 asap. I also think having the chance to go balls to the walls with a little mile run would be lots of fun. That, and I am digggging the t-shirt they gave for this one. I think this and the Puerto Rican run are the only two I’ve actually kept so far.

Anywho. I cut across the park to NYRR HQ, grabbed the goods and came right back home, for a quick 4+ miles in a steady stream of rain. It actually wasn’t so bad. Next up is stretching, showering and getting ready to go see Brandi Carlile tonight in midtown with some fam and friends I am soooo excited. If you don’t know who she is, please spend the rest of your weekend educating yourself. You’ll thank me later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8pQLtHTPaI&ob=av2e

 

- Are you doing the 5th Ave Mile or Tune Up Run this weekend? Pointers to offer either way?

- What are your weekend plans? After the tune-up we’re hoping the rain holds off for the Mets game, so should be pretty jam packed, but fun

 

Hold Up Due to Laziness and Fake Mashed

This post is coming far later than I’d like because I just could NOT fathom the idea of facing the bloggerworld today, only to report that I have still not yet gone to yoga. I’ve done enough whining about it, and therefore needed to just shut up and get it over with. That was my thought process as I laid in bed with the alarm going off at 7 a.m.

Then I told myself, whelp, if I’m not writing til after I’ve gotten bendy, there’s no need to race out of bed to run. It made sense in my head.

So after a morning of job hunting and whatnot around the apartment, I finally got my toosh out for a run around 11. I had planned to head down to the reservoir, do one loop and return home…which would ring me in at around 4 miles and make Hal happy (if Hal knew I existed/gave two hoots about my training). Instead, my runner’s high got the best of me…again. And I added on a loop of the bridle path. This brought me instead, to a little over 6 miles. Oops. But I just haaaad toooo. It was a gorgeous day (albeit, a little muggy from all this on-and-off rain) and I had nowhere to be and nothing to do (well, minus yoga of course, but you know how much effort I put into getting to that every day…). So extra bridle loop it was. And I felt awesome after. And wanted to do more, but I didn’t because I know the extra little bit I already had done will be deeply regretted come Sunday, when I have to throw down 18 miles with NYRR. Again, oops!

Anywho.

Remember all those things I said were on my to-do list yesterday? A bunch of them were ticked off (the fact that they were slowly ticked off over the course of yesterday and today is besides the point). After yesterdays run and job hunt I took advantage of the free time/nice weather and walked through Central Park to this little gem:

you're almost as pretty as the lincoln monument, but you need abe to really work it

The Met is a place I’ve been many a time, but not once since I became a NYC “resident”. There’s a handful of exhibits that make me laugh and scoff (really? a solid red canvas? my niece could do better). There’s a handful I always enjoy (photography is the go-to, but there are others I’m learning to appreciate), but this is my favorite:

LOVE. this view. and never get tired of it.

It was a lovely afternoon. Then I had a busy night of making money (for reals, I did, and that’s why I couldn’t go to yoga yesterday).

I have another busy night of money-making tonight, so I spent this afternoon making the dinner I meant to make yesterday. Even though I won’t be home to eat it tonight. Makes sense, right? I’ve been wanting to get creative in the kitchen during this down time and it has yet to happen. So with these last two nights being booked up at the dinner hour, I decided I’d just make it, and myself and/or the JD will get to eating it when we do–if we do, for all I know it could STINK.

I’m trying mashed cauliflower instead of mashed taters with honey-mustard chicken from a healthy in a hurry cookbook my sis gave me last Christmas.

Then, in very SweatyEmily style, I decided I would go work on my bendiness (post shower) and head straight to this evenings event (sans a second shower). I’m classy. I swear, I was trying to make it to yoga, but by the time I cleaned all of the splayed cauliflower off the kitchen walls and lets the sauce for the chicken finish its simmer, I had missed all of the afternoon classes. BUT…there’s an awesome but…I WENT TO PILATES instead! My first ever pilates class at BodyStrength Fitness. They have a newbie special fee, and its much closer to home so I scooped it right up. It was awesome. A little less annoying than yoga (since there’s no chanting and no “poses” named after animals) and just as good of a workout for my very non-flexible self. All that hip pain I was experiencing a while back? Would probably never exist if I was a pilates regular. It burned, but in a good way, and I think this is another add-on for marathon training. If I want my hips to be able to support 26.2 miles. Oh, brother.

Anywho, I’m late for said evening event. Tomorrow I’ve got a running date in the a.m. and a concert date in the evening…should be an awesssome day

- Have you ever tried Pilates?

- Have you ever made/eaten the faux mashed potatoes? I don’t think I made them as well as Julia Child might (if she’d ever dare making fake on the tater), but they actually do taste yummy!

September Can Still Make You Sweat

Happy Wednesday! Once again, I was severely tempted to push snooze this a.m. and wake up whenever I felt good and ready to, sip on coffee while watching Hoda and Kathy and getting my run in whenever I happened to feel like it. On marathon day, I will not have that luxury. So today, I did not allow myself to have it either. I got my toosh out of bed and out the door before the JD had even left for work. And I’m sooo glad I did.

Al Roker and all of the other weather dispensers keep telling me its going to rain today. But for the time I spent circling Central Park, the sun was peaking through just enough to say good morning without clogging me down in perspiration. That’s not to say though, that it wasn’t warm out. Especially after my 8/9/10 miles were finished [sidenote: I REALLY need a Garmin. My maps of CP are contradicting with my poor navigation skills on MapMyRun, so all I know about this mornings run is that is was either 8.4 miles, 10.1 miles or somewhere in between. NOT COOL. Ok, this rant is over]. In fact, for one particularly bright and sunshiney leg of the run I remember smiling to myself and thinking “ha! all of you that gave up so quickly. summer is NOT over!” And then I passed 8439403 people wearing poofy Northface coats, wool hats and fancy scarves. PEOPLE! It is September. In New York. Not January in New York. And not September in Canada (and even then, I’m pretty sure the pom poms on your head would still be unnecessary). If there’s one thing I learned when I moved here it’s that New York winters are loooong. So why is everyone in such a hurry to welcome this one in? I am not pleased.

Anywho. Minus the not knowing exactly how long I ran, and the continuous feelings of wanting to shin kick every overdressed New Yorker in my path, this mornings run was great. All I really cared about was covering 9 miles, in preparation for this upcoming weekend’s 18 miler. And if I did things Hal’s way, I wouldn’t even be doing 18 on Sunday. That’s not technically for a few more weeks, but my long run in Arkansas gave me the confidence I need to get through the run this weekend, and I really want the chance to do 18 with the support of NYRR and its awesome volunteers (i.e., need to practice fueling and drinking water better, and water stations on the course will definitely help with that).

Once again, I plan to tryyyyy my hardest to make it to a yoga class tonight! The studio I have the 3-class pass for though either has NO classes, or classes scheduled at the most inconvenient times. Grrr. I also plan to find a job/figure out my life today, finally unpack from my week away, put my new cooking skills to use and make something yummy for the JD and I to have for dinner tonight and actually hit up a museum or have some other sort of NYC fun. Quite the to-do list, eh? Guess which ONE I’ll probably accomplish?

Have a great day kids!

- Are you doing the tune-up this weekend?

- Ok, I’ve asked for help with training-time dinner recipes, and you know, I’m a big fancy chef now thanks to TriniSoul, but what about training-time BREAKFASTS? I eat cereal topped with blueberries every. single. morning. And I’m not complaining, because I LOVE it, but I know I should be incorporating some better foods in the a.m. meal. Any quick and easy suggestions?

Caribbean Flavaaa

Due to technological troubles, this post won’t be nearly as fun or as colorful as it could be. We took some snapshots at our Trinisoul Cooking Class last night, but couldn’t figure out the wee little task of getting them from the camera to the computer. Once the two start getting along better, I’ll be sure to update this post so you can see the delicious foods my aunt and I prepared for dinner last night…with the help of 7 other classmates and 2 super sweet teachers.

Cooking classes may be one of my new favorite things to do (so perhaps rather than go on this page, the pics will end up on the “My Concrete Jungle” “must-do’s”). The JD and I went to one in Midtown shortly after moving here and had an amazing experience with Chef Rebecca. She is so cool, in fact, that she donated two classes at The Social Table to a fundraising auction that my aunt helped put on a few weeks ago, for a very good cause.

Last night’s class was hosted by Chef B and Chef D–a whisk wielding, egg beating and habenero-loving couple from Brooklyn. Chef D hails from [I believe] Trinidad, and had a calendar full of Caribbean-inspired dishes for me to choose from…after, of course, I had purchased a Living Social deal for the class. I went with “A Taste of Barbados” because of the fresh fish, and the fact that plantains were on the menu. I never say no to plantains.

We made fishcakes, which really wound up just being fishballs (go ahead and chuckle if you must). Imagine a crabcake rolled into a hushpuppie size round, and made with tilapia instead of crab and a boatload of other fresh ingredients that me, my aunt and our 7 new friends chopped, diced and otherwise prepared. For the main meal there was more fish (this time, I believe it was cod?), with a sauce that was to KILL for…until someone dumped too much of Chef B’s super special HOT sauce into it. And then the sauce almost killed me. And I was unable to eat the maybe cod-fish. But I did manage to eat everything else and love every last lick of it. I’ve already gone into far too much detail that’s probably put you to sleep because as a nonfoodie my best descriptions of meals are “amazing” or “too spicy for my sissy tastebuds”. But if you’re somehow still interested, check out the TriniSoul web site for the full menu, and then maybe sign up for a class and tap into your own inner chef sometime.

Today I was slow moving, yet somehow still productive. All of the JD’s birthday gifts have been taken care of (his bday is Monday), I ordered my Road ID that I won in a giveaway hosted by Jess (this was super exciting for me because I’m pretty sure prior to this sweet safety bracelet I’ve never won anything), stared lovingly at my new pair of Tom’s that arrived last night and eventually made it down to the gym. Details from that our boring, so instead I’ll show you this photo of my child, who also got overly joyful when I opened my box of Tom’s:

she hasnt left this spot all day.

Now, for all of you doubters/haters out there reading this and saying, umm what happened to you saying you were going to do yoga today? And maybe even yesterday? Well it wasn’t my fault. There were NO classes offered during the day yesterday (and I wasn’t going to give up my Barbados night for the single one that was available later in the day) and there was not a single one today either. Soooo after my run tomorrow! Hopefully. Maybe…

 

-Have you tried any cooking classes? Thoughts?

- Do you like yoga? Okay, regardless I guess of whether or not you like it, what are some ways to get myself more mentally pumped about it??

Fist Pumpin’

I’m getting sort of pumped about this peak marathon training period.

Example:

i'm not too great with twitter. because i have a dumbphone.

but I use it anyway because running/blogging friends are so nice. and get me pumped.

So big thanks to Katherine, Twitter and the rest of the running/blogging world. If it weren’t for reading your posts and tweets during many longggggggg hours in the dreaded cubicle, I might not have found the motivation I needed to train for my first marathon. And I might not have kept the momentum I’ve got going right now. I ran a very big confident-boosting 15/16 miles while in Arkansas, all by my lonesome. So I’m pretty excited for this weekend’s 18-mile tune-up run with NYRR.

Last week ended in the 35/36 mile range. I wanted to bring it to a solid 40, but aside from Friday’s monumental run, Arkansan mileage stayed pretty low due to needing to spend quality time with fam and have lots of fun (well, that and the m60 that brought me home from the airport tonight took waaaay longer than I anticipated. Grr). But the QT and fun? Done and done:

There was a night in Blacksburg with Squigs, which was too quick for my liking, but better than nothing.

There was carb-loading at my favorite place west of the Mississippi:

yes. its a drive up diner, just like arnold's from happy days. and they bring beer to you. not that i condone that. but they have awesome t-shirts. see the masthead.

There were margaritas and live music:

the lovely ladies

There was the purchase of this amazing t-shirt:

i am a dinosaur. and its a long story. so we'll leave it at that.

There was that post-long run celebration at the epic Electric Cowboy. That apparently involved a lot of “dancing”:

what do you do when the arkansonian bar you're at starts playing weird, slow country songs? you start your own dance party. and make everyone jealous of your sweet moves.

There were also lots of board games and card games (my family is known for this, and I am proud of it), my uncle’s bday celebration, lots more wedding dress shopping (dear kleinfelds, you should take a lesson from the nice ladies at the Always & Forever of Ft. Smith), helping the cousin load her U-haul for Chicago (ok, I know I said I was glad for a place to visit, but now that I’m back in NYC I’m super sad you’re not here) and many other good times.

And now that I’m back in the Big Apple, with about a month and half to go til marathon day and BEAUTIFUL running weather, it’s go-time (even though I’m secretly still trying to convince myself its summer). I’m fist pumpin’ my way into some serious training.

This morning was a big welcome home jog in Central Park with a loop around each of the reservoir and bridle path, rounding out at about 6 miles. The weather was so perfect and I would have loved to go further, but want to stay in sync with Hal’s schedule. Not to mention, after the interview I’m about to head out to, I’m truly hoping to squeeze some yoga in. Yes, I can do yoga. And I can enjoy it. So here’s hoping that works out today.

And then, instead of inhaling french fries and other delicious food reminiscent of Ed Walker’s glorious menu, I will be indulging in good-for-me foods from now til Nov. 12th. Beginning with a made-by-me spread of Barbados-infused fish. Details on that tomorrow, so stay tuned

Happy Monday kids!

- Sad to see summer go, or too pumped for fall [read: pumpkin everything] to get too bummed?

- What’s your favorite training recipe?