Crossing My Toes

Last night, as I watched my clock slowly tick away the minutes after 6:00 (the time I was supposed to have headed out of the office and over to the gym) while four of my co-workers had an in-depth discussion over letterhead that I just haddddd to be part of, I started loosing my motivation for 400s.

When I finally left work (30 minutes later than I had anticipated, and 1.5 hours later than most NORMAL people…who don’t schedule meetings for 5:00 and then start them at 5:30 and then let them run well past 6) I toyed with the idea of just hopping on the subway home and enjoying a relaxing evening in front of my Christmas tree before social norms demand that I take it down. My feet however, veered me away from the Times Square subway hub and toward the gym.

I did not have nearly as much time to dedicate to running before the 7:00 spin class I wanted to repeat, but I hopped on anyway to see what I could knock out. I had just enough time to do a few 400s at a 7:30 pace with 9:05 recovery laps–a wee bit faster than the night before, but still probably not maxing out to my full potential. Again, I wanted to have enough juice to power through the sweatfest that is a cycle class.

The cool part about my current spin schedule is that in the now 4 classes I’ve done over the last few weeks, each one has been at a completely different time, on a different day and in two different gyms. This means that each one has a different instructor with their own unique style of making you sweat. While I have found some that I favor over others, it’s really nice to go into a class a) not knowing what to expect and b) knowing that even if your butt is in the same “saddle” you’ll have a different ride than last time. Yes, that was nerdy to the max, I realize this.

Last night’s instructor was all smiles (always a plus) and introduced a lot of different moves on top of the same old hill climbs. She had us jumping in and out and over our seats for 2, 4 and 8 beat intervals, doing inverted V’s as far as intensity and speed go and all sorts of other stuff. It was challenging, and it helped the time tick away very quickly.

After class I scurried home to scarf down some leftover split pea soup for dinner with the JD, and spent the rest of my evening stabbing myself in the cuticle with needles and crying over my lack of domestic skill, while making this beau:

this is my pretty new bracelet. homemade with one of the JDs ties.

The JDs sister recently introduced me to the procrastinors heaven that is Pinterest, where I have become a little obsessed with the DIY/Crafts pages. I am not crafty or artsy at all, but I’d like to be, so I spend a lot of those draggingly boring work hours stalking how to blow glass and make baskets out of birdseed. Most of the projects seem way beyond my anti-Martha [Stewart] capabilities, but this little guy seemed feasible–the major “tools” involved were a pair of scissors, a tie, buttons, needle and thread and an old Chobani yogurt container (which you knows I’ve got plenty of). Any who, as we all already knew from my sad attempts at sewing happiness into capes for kids, I don’t work well with a needle and thread. So up close this guy looks a little rough. But from a distance, it’s a lovely little addition to my ensemble (yes, I’m wearing it today) and with a little practice (and more tie-swiping from the JD) perhaps I’ll improve and then everyone will want one and I’ll make millions.

 

Anywho.  Moving on.

 

This a.m. I returned to Central Park for the first time in exactly a week. It was weird being away from my beloved Bridle Path for so long. In fact, it had been so long that before going to bed last night I whined to the JD that I hadn’t run since Christmas day and I neeeeeded to get back out there today. That was of course a lie, because I did those 400′s on the treadmill for two nights in a row this week, but in my marathonwiner world, running doesn’t count unless its running outdoors in places that get your shoes dirty.

 

Unfortunately, I could not enjoy my Bridle Path and Reservoir route to the max this morning because my foot is still hurting me. And by hurting me, I mean it was pure agony this morning. I’m pretty sure the pain initially started (though in much smaller scope) right after returning from the DR, when I ran in my not-so-favorite Brooks for the first time in a long time. I think they were pissed that the Asics got to the Caribbean, and took their anger out on my poor foot. That, or running on the sand set my stride all wrong in JUST my left foot and it’s not readjusting well to the sidewalks and gravel paths that are NYC. Either way, it hurt.

 

The JD ran with me for the first mile or so and even yelled at me to turn around and go home when he noticed the new run/hop/shuffle move I was sporting. But I figured it hurt just as bad whether I was walking or sitting or running, so I might as well endure the hurt doing what I wanted to be doing, and I finished up my favorite run.

 

When I got home I regretted that decision immediately and went into super hypochondriac mode thinking my foot might fall off and I’d have to call in to work as a result, but I took some ibuprofen and wrapped the little sucker in icy hot and an ace bandage. So far, so good. I’m hoping my mediocre medical skills (that wrapping combo + elevation + maybe some ice later) solve whatever little problem is going on, because I realllllllly want to end my year running tomorrow. And start 2012 with some sort of pavement pounding. So fingers and toes crossed that this little blip takes care of itself stat.

 

Speaking of 2012…I’m supposed to do what all the cool blogger kids do and list my resolutions/running goals for the upcoming year. Buttttt I havent quite hammered them down, and rather than throw some filler content at you, I’d like to put some thought into them, and I have all of today and tomorrow to do so. So on Mondayyyyyyy, I will share those with you! Pinky promise.

 

Hope you all have an AWESOME weekend. Be safe, have fun and happy happy New Year!!!

 

PS– Do people reallly not want FREE HoneyStingers? Dear Ashley, you won the giveaway from last week. Please be in touch so I know where to send the goods!!!

 

 

 

 

On That Time I Fell in Love with 400′s…

Good morning kids! Hope this Thursday is going just swelllllll for you. It is for me, because it’s Thursday, which makes it oh-so-close to Friday, which makes it oh-so-close to the weekend. Remember all of those great benefits I plan to give employees when I become CEO of a much-loved and very successful do-gooder company one day? Well one of those benefits is going to be giving everyone the week between Christmas and New Years off. Because half of the world already has it off, so for those stuck in an office [read: me right now], there’s few others to do business with and the days are a big, fat bore.

Anywho. While yesterdays working hours dragged on painfully slow, the evening was a smashing success. I had signed up for a spin class, but all day long had been beating myself up for not having run since Christmas day and not following my half marathon “training plan” that technically started the same day.

Said training plan had called for a “rest” day Monday, a 3-mile run on Tuesday (I did neither…just some time on the ellip both days) and 5 x 400′s on Wednesday.

I’ve never done 400′s before, but had some input on the ol’ blog on Tuesday from Tracy and Katherine, and motivated by my very slow and delayed start to half marathon training, decided to give them a whirl last night.

As soon as I got to the gym I scoped out a dreadmill that had the lap tracker on it and got to work. I did a very quick warm-up at a 9:30 pace, because I was still signed up for a 7:00 spin class and wanted to make it if at all possible. After loosening up a bit I settled in for the 400′s, which I did at a 7:45ish pace, interspersed with 9:15 laps. I had only intended to do 4, 400 ”sprints” as this was my first attempt and I knew my foot was not feeling 100%, but when I got to what I thought was my final cool down lap and saw I was very close to getting a new “PR” in the 5k distance, I decided to stick it out a little longer. I went down to a 7:30 for two more laps, and after finishing the 3.1 miles in around 26 minutes or so, cooled down until I hit the 30-minute mark…at which point, I was DRENCHED in sweat. And it was awesome.

I can handle an elliptical for an hour or longer because I’m still able to read a book or magazine or watch TV. But I usually HATE the treadmill because of the monotony of it. However, I learned last night, that alternating 400 sprints keeps you completely enthralled in the run, and before you know it, 30 minutes (not to mention twice the amount of calories as the same amount of time on the elliptical) has blown by. I may have done the 400′s wrong (if I have, please speak up and tell me now), but whatever I did worked for me. And I can’t wait to do it again (quite possibly tonight). I know for next time, as long as my foot is not in terrible pain I’m definitely capable of going fast for the sprints, and eventually I can build up to the 10 400′s (or more?) in Hal’s intermediate half plan. I’m even MORE excited to finallllly get my Garmin going so I can challenge myself further, by doing these without the aid of the lap tracker, and in the great outdoors.

Accomplishing a 30-minute, sweatastic run on the dreadmill last night was a huge confidence boost. Not only did I get in a much-needed run after a little lull, but doing 400′s (whether correctly or not) for the first time REALLY made me feel like A Runner.

Afterwards I was riding such an endorphin high that I still went to spin class and kept the grossness pouring for another 45 minutes. After about 5 seconds of faux ab work, I finally headed home.

Having loved last night’s workout so much, I’m thinking I may do the same today. Don’t worry–I’m definitely up for it since I did not challenge myself on the sprints nearly as much as I could have, and I know moving forward, I should max myself out when doing speedwork and do a recovery run the following day.

But I’ve sort of enjoyed sleeping in the morning, as much as I hate getting to work without the accomplished feeling of already having knocked out a run. I’m hoping I get back into that routine next week [read: next year. bahahaha]. Not to mention, hitting up the gym after work completely kills my evenings, and I am not a fan of getting home late, scarfing down a dinner (which this week has been homemade–Grandma’s cheese grits Tuesday and split pea soup last night) and jumping straight to bed without a free moment to get something fun in…though, last night I was a giant nerd and managed to watch Biggest Loser marathon episode and see the winner in the season finale. Say what you will, but Bob Harper and Dolvett Quince are so cool and I would like to be best friends with them. And Ramon, who made it to the top 3 and won the BL marathon. 

That’s all for today kids, have a very happy Thursday!

- Have you done 400′s? Did you love them as much as I did? Did I even do them right??

-  What do you like to do during the week when you’ve got lots of freeeee time after the work day? I want to waking up early and start knocking things off a bucket list in the New Year! The fun doesn’t need to be saved for the weekend.

 

OH… AND….WINNERS! Yay!

The new winner of the HoneyStingers giveaway is Ashley! Please DM me on Twitter or email me at marathonwiner@gmail.com with your product of choice and mailing address!

And the winner of the TryChips giveaway is Laura! Please DM me on Twitter or email me at marathonwiner@gmail.com with your mailing address!

Second place winner of Try Chips giveaway is Katherine! Please DM me on Twitter or email me at marathonwiner@gmail.com with your mailing address!

Confessions of a Marathonwiner

Yesterday, and for that matter, just about every day for the last two weeks, you’ve likely read and/or heard me ranting and/or bragging about my year-end overindulgences.

It seems that everyone else in bloggerworld has been doing something similar–at least on the ranting end, but not really on the overindulgence end.

And so I bring you, the TRUE confessions of a marathonwiner.

When I say I gorged on homemade sugar cookies while home this weekend, I don’t mean I had my first sugar cookie in a year. I mean I literally ate about four per gorge sesh, about three times a day. Sugar cookies are great with coffee, as an afternoon snack, and the perfect complement to an after-dinner glass of milk. Or wine. Or both.

When I say I ate my weight in chocolate-chip and what my grandmother calls “heavenly” cookies (likely because of the copious amounts of butter and sugar in them), I mean I literally ate 100 and an undisclosed number of pounds worth of said cookies. How did I manage to do that after the gorge on cut-outs of stars and snowmen blanketed in sprinkles? I had chocolate-chip cookies as the dessert to my dessert. I’m not kidding, I did.

When I say marathonwiner’s been leaning a little more on the winer side of things, I mean I haven’t run more than 4 miles or so in the last week (lie. I just remembered I ran almost 7 last Friday morning) but I’ve done plenty of hydrating. And by hydrating I mean drinking  lots and lots of water the morning after drinking lots and lots of wine. Because I don’t have just one glass of wine in a sitting (especially when that sitting is around a table with lots of ridiculous board games being played) and pat my mouth with my napkin and say “okay, that’s enough indulgence for me for one month, better go chomp on some celery sticks and do some crunches.” No, that’s not me at all. What I say is, ”why is this bottle empty already and where can I find another one?”

When I say I’ve done nothing but eat for the last three weeks, I literally mean I’ve spent the majority of my day putting some food or another into my mouth. Sure, over vacation I had piles of delicious tropical fruit for breakfast every single day. But then I polished it off with some pancakes. And bacon. And TOAST (only a handful of people will understand why toast is in caps and find it funny, but I assure you it’s not in caps because I think that’s the most extravagant of my feasting). Over Christmas I managed to get a few clementines into my midday snackage, and yes, green beans were on my dinner plate on more than one occasion. But they were vastly overshadowed each time by a mound of lasagna or a burger and fries (yes the burger was a veggie burger, but does that really mean anything when hours earlier you were nibbling on sausage breakfast casserole?).

Why am I wasting your valuable time and my [should-be] valuable [work] time making myself look like a fatted cow? Because I find it annoying when I’m perusing blogs and other health related web sites or magazine articles going on and on and on about diets and the holidays. 

Magazines and health columns tell you all of the millions of ways you can avoid gaining those extra five pounds from Thanksgiving to New Years and little tips and tricks on how to NOT overindulge. People (well, most people anyway) are not morons. They realize that one way to avoid holiday bloat is to avoid a third helping of decadent cheesecake. But you only get to put up pretty decorations and listen to songs like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” for this ONE time of year. You don’t limit the number of carols allowed on your Pandora. So don’t limit the number of Hershey Kisses in your tum.

And on that same note, editors and writers from these various health and fitness outlets–including the many blogs I so often frequent–try to play the flip side of that “don’t take a handful of potato chips at your office party, take a handful of crunchy carrots instead!” by saying that the holidays are meant for a little break in the routine, and you should not feel guilty about having one of your grandmothers famous macaroons. They indulge too. They eat THREE peanut M&Ms (because, why not, it’s the holidays) and then they spend an extra three hours at the gym making up for it. Duh.

I love to run. I really, really do. That’s why I ran a marathon. And that’s why I’m [supposedly] training for a half marathon (seriously, I’ll pick a plan and get my sneaks on reallllyyy soon…). And that’s why I have every intention of running 26.2 miles in this awesome city that I live in.

But you know what else I love? I love to eat. And I love to drink red wine. And I love to spend time with family. And sometimes (like during the holiday season) I love to spend 30 minutes LESS hitting the pavement, and 30 minutes MORE playing CatchPhrase, uncorking a nice merlot, and taking a box of crackers decked in fancy cheese dip to the face. I’m 100% okay with that, because I had an awesome time in the process. And that is the truth.

Life is short. And should be enjoyed. So don’t spend this week drafting up resolutions that revolve around the fact that your pants are a little more snug than they were a month ago or that Self magazine made you feel guilty for missing out on your latest Zumba class. Think about how much time you’ve spent over the last year or month or week with people you love doing things you love. And keep that in mind as you plan your 2012 do’s and don’t.

And oh yeah, both of last week’s giveaways end tonight! Don’t forget!

Now then…

- Did this post make you feel better about your holiday season? If it did, I’m happy and feel successful. If not, go eat a cheeseburger and an entire pan of brownies. Now.

- What DO you have in the queue for 2012 goals? Don’t worry, I’ll have the cliche 2011 recap/2012 goals posted on Friday

Stuck in a Holiday Rut?

What I really wanted to title this post was Stuck in a Holiday Rut…with a Brand New Holiday Gut. You know how I love to rhymeeee And I’m not necessarily singing that lovely little diddy with a frown on my face. Because I’ve enjoyed every moment of my end of the year overindulgence.

I can’t believe it’s already December 27th, and I’m technically two days into my National Half Marathon training plan…though I haven’t done too much in the way of training. Between Punta Cana, Christmas and New Years, my marathonwiner world has been heavy on the wine (and cookies and other holiday/vacay deliciousness) and super light on the marathoning…or half-marathoning training, as it is.

But let’s rewind for a hot-sec.

In case you missed last week’s two Christmas giveaways, let me catch you up on those real quick.

Timmer, you were the winner of the honey stinger giveaway. I know you’re usually a glue-to-your-computer-screen sort of dedicated reader, but I understand the holidays leave little time to be wasted on blogs. Unfortunately, I must give you until tomorrow night to email or DM me on Twitter with your Honeystinger product of choice and mailing address before I must pick another winner. So contact me! Pretty please! I want you to get your waffles!

As for the TryChips giveaway….well, let’s get serious. I think I was one of 4 people in all of Manhattan who had to work on Friday, much less was at a computer to be able to read a blog, MUCH LESS have the time to do the many things to gain entry into a giveaway. So TryChips is open until tomorrow night as well, with a winner announced on Thursday morning. Have at it kids!

When I left you Friday I was riding a kid-like Christmas high from the gifts bestowed upon me by the JD and his mother. unfortunately, as soon as I left work I was bee lining it to LaGuardia to catch a plane to Richmond and once there was so busy spreading Christmas cheer, singing loud for all to hear and otherwise enjoying being at home with fam that I had ZERO time to play with my new Garmin. Hopefullllly I can find a hot second to do so tonight!

While I did spend a lot of time hanging out with family and friends, playing games and gorging on homemade sugar cookies, I did manage to squeeze in just a fewwww sweat sessions, consisting of jogs around my parents neighborhood ranging from 30-50 minutes (and therefore hopefully somewhere between 3-5.5 miles) two days, a quick trip to the local YMCA (sneaking in via my sisters membership card) and about an hours worth of ice skating in downtown Richmond with my two little cousins and niece (by far, my favorite of all of the weekend workouts). I only landed on my toosh once, and that was while diving on the ice to try to prevent my adorable niece from wiping out. I failed, but I at least cushioned her fall

Once a blister set in I lost the skates and the fam and I headed to Legends Brewery across the James River, and across from the James Center…which happened to be the very spot where I crossed the finish line of the Suntrust Richmond Marathon just a month and a half ago. I of course forced everyone in the car with me to listen as I pointed out various points along the route while I told my tale of my biggest accomplishment of 2011 and quite possibly, my life.

Which brings me back to my first thought…I have a half marathon to train for. And sort of havent even decided on what plan I plan on following. Even quickly looking at Hal’s intermediate half training plan (don’t jest, I have the book–which I got for free thankyouverymuch–sitting right in front of me, so it’s an obvious frontrunner) I’m sort of behind, because it called for a rest day yesterday, a three-mile run today, and 400′s tomorrow. Well. I did the elliptical and ice skating yesterday. Have yetttt to get out the door for a run today (and have a foot that conveniently decided to start hurting in an “icanhardlywalkmuchlessrun” sort of way). And 400′s? I haven’t even begun to research how to properly do speedwork. BAH! Help me! I’m stuck in a holiday rut!

- How was yourrr holiday weekend?

- More importantly, HOW DO I DO 400′s???? HOW DO I WORK MY GARMIN?

Christmas Came Early!

Last night I left the office feeling pretty good. I had the entire night ahead of me to knock out all of my last-minute Christmas shopping, present wrapping, packing, movie-watching and everything else on my to-do list with plenty of time leftover for getting to bed early.

Things got off to a rough start when the shoe repairman I had left my favorite pair of booties with yesterday afternoon decided to lock his door a half hour earlier than he promised, leaving me without the single pair of shoes that make todays work outfit what it is. Better luck when I swing by there later today, eh?

I was able to shake off the disappointment of not having my booties in tow with a little bit of holiday cheer, provided by the Le Parker Meridien hotel’s hot Gingerbread House bake-off! I somehow had expected to find a village of life-sized homes made out of cookies and gum drops, but instead, found about 8 lovely creations by some of New Yorks finest bakers and chefs.

this had gretel in the name and thats all i remember. that, and it was my favorite because it looked like it tasted the best.imagined flavor rating aside, this was my favorite. because duh its a typewriter and im a writer. apologies for the dumb phone pic that does it no justice.

Anywho, after getting far more excited over gingerbread buildings than the many kids also wandering around the little exhibit, I made one last pit stop at the Columbus Circle holiday market (which I’ve been to 4234 times already) and then scurried home to wrap the JDs gift before he got back from work. I was so proud of accomplishing so many Christmas tasks in such a short period, that I got cozy and queued up a movie to settle into once he was home….only to find out we had more Santa-like work to do once he arrived–like hunting down cute gift bags for the fancy chocolates he and his coworkers had bought for their paralegals and whatnot. The hunt took us all over the UWS from Rite Aid to Duane Reade, finally to Michael’s where we scored some very boring white bags that I happily jazzed up with lovely red holiday ribbon.

We had wine and leftovers (from my homemade zucchini lasagna) for dinner while watching A Muppet Christmas Carol and having our own little Christmas celebration since we’re parting ways for the holiday later this afternoon.

And I received the. greatest. gift. this marathonwiner could have possible hoped for. Ladies and gents, I give you…

MY FIRST EVER GARMIN! OMG OMG OMG!

 As you can tell by the time on the watch (which was actually still an hour behind when this was taken because I still havent figured out how to work the contraption), it was considerably late by the time our Christmas came to a close and there was still the packing of bags to Richmond to be done, as well as prepping the apartment for cat-sitting in our absence (aka, laying out 439204 water bowls and resetting the automatic feeder).

While the JD labored over the automatic feeder, I took a 5-second break from playing with my new favorite Christmas toy to open a gift his mom had sent up from Jersey.

Which turned out to be the second greatest gift this marathonwiner could have ever hoped for.

howwwwwwww did MamaJD have any idea that i’ve been wanting this shirt for the last 482304 years?? love. love. love.

 Needless to say, I went to bed very happy–very late? Yes, but happier than Ralphie when he’s snuggling with his official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle.

Unfortunately I still hadn’t worked out exactly how to use the new Garmin (if anyone wants to give me a quick tutorial in Garmin 101, feel free to volunteer) before this mornings run, so I had to go without it. But don’t you worry, I’ll spend every spare second of sitting at the airport/flying to Richmond/any other free moment of time I can find pouring over the user handbook and comeback a master, ready to share splits and times and heart rates and so many other fun things after the holiday. How convenient, since half marathon training begins on Christmas day!

What’s that? You thought this post was done? Think again. My running around like a crazy person had still not ended when I woke up to run this morning. After busting out (what I hope was) 6ish miles I still had to pick up some black and whites and the neighborhood bakery, shower and lug my luggage to the subway and make a pit stop on the way to work for one last present pickup–a beautiful necklace for my grandmother made by Erica Sara. I’ve had my eye on her work ever since I got wind of her beautiful 26.2 charms, and in very last minute fashion, hit her up yesterday to create a “generations” necklace for my grandmother. It’s gorgeous people. Go check her out.

Now I am one boot pick up (fingers crossed they are there today), one ride on the 7 and some other random bus and one [what I expect to be very long] security line away from heading home for the holidays

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and every other happy to you all!

AND P.S. THERE IS STILL TIME TO ENTER YESTERDAYS GIVEAWAY FOR TRY CHIPS. DO IT HERE. WINNER ANNOUNCED NEXT WEEK. WOOT WOOT!

A Holiday from the Holidays

Three years from now when I am the CEO of a wildly successful company that the entire world loves for all of its philanthropic good-doing and the fact that it gave jobs back to thousands that are currently looking for work, not only am I going to give all of my employees the week off from Christmas through New Years (as so many are already doing, and therefore its a given that EVERYONE should…though my current company has yet to catch on to that), but I will likely also give them the week off before Christmas (again, because so many are out of the office visiting family and friends anyway, and then its three days before the big day and there are sad few people sitting by their lonesome in their flourescent-lit cube. They should go home and watch Elf and use wrapping ribbon to play with their kitties, at the very least). On top of that, I shall ALSO make a point to hold the holiday office party…in late January or sometime in February.

December, especially in its final weeks is no time to try to squeeze in a party. People are far too busy taking care of shopping and laughing and wrapping and smiling and going to other holiday parties. So as the world’s greatest employer, I shall wait until all of the holiday hubbub has died down and people have finally had time to relax,  but winter is at its worst and they need a little pick-me-up. And I will throw my employees a holiday party to help them unwind from the holidays. (Start tallying how many times I’ve used the word “holiday” in this post. Ready, go).

But for now, I’ll suffer through the December holiday parties. For instance, the “two” I attended yesterday. My office is in the middle of a GINORMOUS move and many people are working until the wee hours of the morning trying to get things ready for an insanely busy January, so it was understandable that they couldn’t rent out a swanky room near Rockefeller plaza for our office gathering. Instead, we had a lunched provided by Southern Hospitality and received lovely cards filled with AMEX gift cards. No complaints here.

After work yesterday, I headed to Chinatown for the JD’s office partay. It was held at a dim sum restaurant right off of Grand Street–a very interesting pick for the Christmastime shindig, but yummy and fun nonetheless. After eating ourselves into a food coma and whining for our beds, we headed home on the B train–one I don’t typically take. So when they announced the next stop was Rockefeller Plaza and I knew there was some abnormally warm weather going on outside (high 50s on the first day of winter? whaaat?), we decided to hop off and go get in the spirit by paying a little visit to this guy:

oh christmas tree, how i never get tired of seeing you. oh and yes, that’s me, playing where’s waldo upfront

Shortly after taking this photo and commenting on how unusually nice the temps/weather were…we were struck by a monsoon at the southeast end of the park. Aka, not a subway in sight for the short span of time that hurricane-like rain decided to pelt us.

We got home super late, and super soaked. I somehow managed to wrap up a single Christmas gift before hitting the hay and hitting it hard.

This morning when my alarm went off, the very last thing I wanted to do was get up. But, the reservoir was calling me so off I went.

my anger at everyone still curled up in their beds subsided significantly once i came across this beaut.

 Between the late nights of holiday dinner parties at home and office parties out and about the city, and 6 a.m. wakeup calls for runs and spin classes, I was tired all over the place this morning. My run was SLOW and my legs were heavy. But for the first time in a while I didn’t overdress (win!) so I was comfortable, albeit pokey. And pretty views made me happy, albeit sleepy.

Now somehow, it’s already Thursday. And I have just tonight to take care of all of my last-minute shopping, wrapping, NYC Christmastime sight-seeing (yes, I’m still a touristizen), packing and so on before taking off to Richmond (yet again ) tomorrow afternoon. It’s go time!

Oh, what’s that? You waited through that entire run-on of boring marathonwiner thoughts only to see who the winner of the Honey Stinger giveaway is? Okay, okay. I’ll tellll you. Drum roll, please…

The winner of one box of stroopwaffles (or really whatever they choose, though this was listed as a fav :)) is Timmer!!

Please email me at marathonwiner@gmail.com or DM on Twitter with your product of choice and mailing address!!

Thanks all for playing, and worry not…because I have YET ANOTHER CHRISTMAS PRESENT/GIVEAWAY FOR YOU! And this time, there’s room for TWO winners!

My good friends over at TryChips have agreed to giveaway one mixed sample box of their yummy treats. Trychips are potato chips for those who love flavor and crunch without the side of grease (and in all fairness, salt). They are made of 100% real fruit and super charged with good-for-you things like green tea! I first discovered them at the expo for my first-ever half marathon in Philly in 2010. Tim and Jerry themselves were manning the booth, sharing their awesome goodies and their AWESOME story.

They’ve got three signature flavors and you’ve got a chance to win a box of 12 of them by doing the following things:

- Liking Trychips on Facebook (leave a comment letting me know you did so)

- Following marathonwiner on Twitter (leave a comment letting me know you did so)

- Tweeting about this Giveaway (leave a comment letting me know you did so)

- Following this blog (leave a comment letting me know you did so)

- Sharing with us (in the comments) your biggest TRY story of 2011!

That’s five chances to win the big prize, and a second place winner will win a sample of each of the 3 flavors of TryChips!

Ready, get set…tryyyyyyyy to win this giveaway!

 

It’s the Holiday Season

with the whoop-de-do and hickory dock…

Sorry kids. I’m sure you get sick of me starting many a blog post with song lyrics… but that one had been in my head since the Dominican. Yes, even in the DR me and my travel buddies were humming the Holiday Season out the wahzoo. Unfortunately, when I got back, I was experiencing a bit of shell-shock when I realized Christmas was just five days away.

But last night got me right back into the spirit! We had the JD’s aunt and uncle over for dinner and a movie. I made a homemade zucchini lasagna (served with store-bought salad, bread and apps), cracked open a few bottles of wine and turned up the Christmas carols.

Afterwards, we watched a not-so-Christmassy movie…Bridesmaids–which I had been wanting to see for a really long time (especially with having just been in a bridal party in October and getting ready to get dolled up as one again in March). I definitely found myself chuckling A LOT, as was expected, but I certainly did not expect so many sad and girly moments. I wanted Old School–lots of laughs, a happy ending but not a lot of sap. Overall though, glad I finally caught it

And even though I was up late watching Melissa McCarthy go full-out in anti-Sookie, I dragged my butt out of bed for a 7am spin class.

in case you were getting tired of pictures of central park in the a.m. (/palm trees)...here's a little seen shot: times square at 6:30 a.m.!

Look at me! Twice in three weeks (with a vacay in between) certainly trumps twice in 6 months (or maybe it was longer?)!

This mornings class was even better than the one I tried out before going to Punta Cana. The instructor still didn’t have the drive of my first-ever machine of a teacher back in April (or whenever it was), but she did force us to cycle up a LOT of “hills”. And the sweat was pourrrring. It was a lovely way to start the day

Afterwards I did a quick cool down on the ellip, paid my arms and abs a few seconds of fake attention and headed out the door. Even with a stop at the local Duane Reede (I know, every one is local because they are on every block) to pick up some boxes for wrapping Christmas presents, I made it into work early!

Not early enough apparently, because this is the first free second I’ve had all day to throw a quick post up. Meetings, meetings, meeeetings galore!

And we’ve also got holiday cheer galore–an overindulgent catered lunch at the office today, followed by the JD’s office Christmas party tonight. Thank goodness for morning sweat sessions!

And thank goodness for the nice people at Honey Stingers! Friends and blog readers, you’ve still got until 10 p.m. tonight to enter to win a box full of your Honey Stinger favorite, whatever that may be!

See yesterday’s post for the full deats! And good luck to ya!

- What holiday fun have you been up to this week?

- How do you balance the holiday treats with your workout routine? My answer: I don’t! The holidays are happy for a reason!

Twas the day of a giveaway

and all through the blogosphere, not a reader gave two hoots about marathonwiners a.m. jog near Harlem’s meer.

That little piece of prose, ladies and gents, is why I am NOT a poet. Not only can I not rhyme in the right beat of the famous Christmas tale, I can’t even make a cutesy poem out of the truth. For this morning, I did not really go anywhere near the Harlem meers. I did my same ol’ jaunt around the bridle path and reservoir for an easy 6 miles or so.

I know I swore I would shake up both my running routes and workout routines and not bore you with the same recap of the same 2-loops every morning, but today was my re-introduction to NY/Central Park/Winter running after my week-long stay in paradise. I figured the lovely dirt laid out on the Bridle Path and Reservoir was as close to white sand as these legs were going to get…and that’s what they started getting used to all of last week.

if you squint hard enough while standing on the southeast corner of the bridle path, this is what you see…

 Now considering I hadn’t really covered more than 3 miles or so at any given time over the last week, and my usual stint on the ellip last night left me drenched in sweat, annnnd the fact that I slept through my alarm this morning by a ridiculous 45 minutes….this morning’s run went really well. I thought for sure it would take me two hours to cover the distance and I’d be crazy late for work and get fired and be unemployed all over again….all due to Pina Colada-laden legs. But it all worked out just peachy. I finished in a respectable time (kept by my kitchen microwave since I am still running sans watch) and made it to the office with 5 minutes to spare! Wootwoot!

Now I’ll shut up about all of the other little stresses and details awaiting marathonwiner world today and move on to the real reason you’re all here…a shot at a lovely little early Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/whathaveyou gift!

The lovely people who make the deliciousness that is HoneyStingers have agreed to let one of YOU very lucky readers try them out for freeeee.

For those of you who don’t know, I chowed down on one of their amazing stinger waffles (smothered in peanut butter) before many a long run–including both of my 18-milers–during marathon training. And they kept me charged up through every mile. Aunt Jemima’s got nothing on these bad boys. If you’ve got a big race coming up, and some Saturday long runs on the calendar, I highly suggest you do the following, and get yourself many an entry to try to win some of these energizing goodies:

1. Follow HoneyStingers on Twitter  (and leave a comment letting me know you did so).

2. Leave a comment telling me your favorite honey stingers product (deciding this will come in handy if you win)!

3. Follow me on Twitter (and leave a comment letting me know you did so).

4. Follow my blog (and leave a comment letting me know you did so).

5. Leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about Christmas (I wanted to throw something seasonal into the mix )

So you’ve got FIVE ways to enter for a chance to win a full box of the HoneyStingers product of YOUR PICK!

That is so nice of those cheery people over at HoneyStingers! When was the last time Aunt Bertha let you pick out the sweater she sent you for Christmas? My guess is never. Or maybe Bertha wised up and started sending you gift cards or checks. Or maybe you like her sweaters…and maybe I need to hush now.

REGARDLESS….start entering now because this giveaway ends tomorrow night at 10 pm! I’ve got to announce the winner Thursday so I can get moving on yet ANOTHER Christmas giveaway before Christmas is already here. Goodlordy it snuck up!

Happy Happy Tuesday kids

Back to Reality

Hiiiii friends! Happy Monday and Happy holycraphowaretheyherealready Holidays!

Spending a week in paradise in the middle of December makes it reallllly easy to forget that Christmas is literally right around the corner! Eeks!

Yes, I spent the last week here:

dear palms, i love my christmas tree but i miss you soooooo

The weather forecast for Punta Cana the day before we headed south was rain, rain and more rain. And it rained a lot shortly after we landed in the Dominican Republic, which made me a bit nervous. But after a quick downpour after de-planing, it was nothing but sunshine and beautiful blue skies for the rest of the week.

I had had it in my head that I would be sticking to a pretty good sweat schedule while away, but most of that sweating was simply a result of the 80-degree temps I did, however, manage to get a few workouts in…albeit, short ones. The house we were staying at was located on a gorgeous golf course that had a lovely paved golf cart path. Perfect for running!

i love running in central park, but i could get used to this too

Due to wanting to get back to the house’s infinity pool, the company of my hilariously fun travel crowd and the white sandy beaches, most of my runs didn’t last more than about 30 minutes or so. And this particular route around the golf course was only traversed in a solo run twice. Because on the second one, I ran into this:

welcome to the arachnophobic’s worst nightmare

 (source)

Okay. So I cannot confirm that it was this EXACT species of spiders I stumbled upon while on a jog. But I swear to you, whatever 8-legged monster I saw was at least this scary, and bigger than my hand. Normally, I’m all about seeing the creatures and animals that naturally live in a certain locale. I loved all of the different birds, SMALL bugs, snails, shells and other critters that we came across. I may have even liked meeting this guy…through a very thick glass in some sort of zoo. But on the wide open path of a golf green all by my lonesome? No, thank you. Needless to say, I stayed off THAT path from that point on.

The rest of my runs consisted of bathing suit clad, barefoot trips up and down the beach before settling into a lounge chair with a rum and pineapple. I also managed to (for probably the first time in about 12 years) do a decent amount of swimming in the pool attached to the house. I learned that I STINK at swimming, and a triathlon is likely nowhere in my future, but I certainly did enjoy it and really want to make an effort to get to the pool at NYSC more often. Fingers crossed that that actually happens.

Overall, it was a week full of awesomeness and I was very sorry to say goodbye to the vibrant Caribbean colors and temperatures and even sadder to the freezing cold that welcomed us back to New York on Saturday night. A big, big thanks to all of you who continued to tune in to marathonwiner world in my absence, and an even BIGGER thank you to those who kept marathonwiner alive and kickin’ with their kickass blog posts! If you didn’t get a chance to see Meghann on the Moves tips on cold-weather running, Pavement Runners post on the run-work commute, how Jill Will Run maintains the joys of running, proper hydration techniques courtesy of Racing Stripes or found out what SweatPassionandTears has learned from running, I highly suggest you do so…stat!

Once you’re all caught up with that, hopefully I’ll be all caught up with life [and more importantly, running] in good ‘ol New York City! I’ve got a lot to do this week between running, gymming, Christmas shopping and Christmas partying, so must hop to it!

And while I’m veryyyy behind in Christmas shopping for my nearest and dearest family and friends, I’ve got all of you lovely blog readers and runners very much taken care of! Tune in tomorrow for an awesome giveaway, courtesy of HoneyStingers! And another fun surprise coming Thursday! Merrrrry Christmas kiddos!

 

 

 

 

What Running Has Taught Me

Most of you probably don’t know me, so let me introduce myself! My name is Katherine and I started running a little less than a year ago and started a blog to go along with my running journeys. Nice to meet you all

I always hated running. No “hate” is too kind, more along the line of “loathed.” I clearly remember throwing up in 6^th grade when being forced to run a mile in gym class. As I grew up, I slowly started picking up running in spurts as a means of fitness, but never got above 3 miles and never really enjoyed running per say.

Well, all that changed last January 2011. A couple of my friends were talking about running a half marathon together and I was mad that I would be missing out on the fun just because I “couldn’t” run. I’m not a big fan of “can’t” and I figured if they can do it – why CAN’T I? I decided a little motivation would push me along so I signed up for a half marathon (giving myself 2.5 months to go from 0 – 13.1 miles).  My goal was to finish and I finished at a 10:10min/mile pace and was ecstatic! I was hooked on running from that point on.

A little less than a year later I have 3 half marathon’s under my belt and am training for my first marathon – the Paris 2012 Marathon in April! Running has been an eye opener for me and it’s taught me a lot about life and myself.  So let me share…

It’s OK to talk to strangers

I’m completely against teaching kids not to talk to strangers – sure, don’t talk to kidnappers or perverts, but not all strangers are bad. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people through meeting fellow bloggers and runners (Katie being one of them!) who I wouldn’t have met if I were afraid to talk to strangers. I’ve also heard a lot of interesting stories and met some great people just by randomly chatting up people during a race or while on a run in the park. It’s funny, because I’m not normally an “extroverted” person, but I guess boredom on a long run will pull it out of me.

I’m competitive

I grew up always playing a sport – I was mediocre at all of them, but not great at any of them. I didn’t have that competitive edge and I didn’t care enough about winning in order to put in the effort. Running has taught me to challenge myself.  I know I’m never going to win a race and there will always be others who can run faster or farther than me, but every run and every race is a small personal challenge. I compete with myself and push myself harder to in order to beat myself.

I get in ruts

For someone who in the last 4 years has had 5 jobs, even more apartments and has moved across the country and back – this is a little strange to say. But it’s true! Ever since I’ve started running it’s been hard for me to get into other exercises such as weight training and swimming, which I used to do regularly. I also get in route ruts and tend to run the same paths over and over – there’s something comforting about knowing what’s to come.

Cars run on gas, bodies run on fuel

I haven’t been on a “diet” since high school, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t watch what I eat. When I’m training, though, if I’m hungry I eat. If I’m still hungry, I eat more.  My body needs fuel to run.

Slow and steady wins the race

Seriously, it’s true – did you watch the NYCM this year and notice how Mary was ahead in the women’s race until the very end? I’ll never complete a marathon by racing the first 10K. In the same respect, relationships take time to foster and grow; it takes time in a job to prove yourself and be promoted; it takes a lifetime to learn J

If you never try, you’ll never succeed

I think you get that one…

Only the wicked witch melts in the rain

…I can be “witchy” sometimes, but I don’t melt J. I’m a baby about the cold and bad weather, but nothing’s going to stop me from a run!…besides maybe a hurricane, snowstorm, or broken leg (let’s hope none of these happen)….

I don’t settle

OK, this I kind of already knew about myself. Nothing is ever good enough and nothing ever will be good enough because when we stop pushing ourselves, we stop living. There will always be a new PR to beat.

I’m proud of myself and that’s perfectly OK

I’ve accomplished a lot in both life and running. I’ve always thought that by recognizing this I was “bragging,” but for some reason running specifically has taught me that it’s OK to acknowledge my successes. To date I’ve run 16 miles further than I ever thought I could and I’m proud of that.

I can do anything I put my mind to

I’ve been lucky and have had parents who fully fostered this belief. When I crossed the finish line at my first half marathon, though, it all made sense. If you asked me a year ago if I’d ever thought I’d run a marathon, I’d say I could NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER , but in April  2012, I will.

So I leave you with this: