Mini Vacay, Here I Come!

Happy Thursday kids! It’s a very happy one here in marathonwiner world, because in about 30 minutes I start my trek to La Guardia to board a southbound plane (should probably figure out how I’m getting to the airport…). Southbound to sunny Florida, where one of my best friends is getting hitched to her best friend. I am SO excited for this wedding on so many levels. These two lovebirds are a match made in heaven (that’s not lip service, anyone who knows them knows it’s true), the bridal party whom I finally met all of a few weeks ago during the Bachelorette extraordinaire is an insanely fun and awesome bunch of gals, and I get to pal around with the JD and an old friend in 80 degree weather in Fort Lauderdale (and later, the Florida Keys!) for a long weekend

In order to fully enjoy this trip to the max, I made sure to get my long run for the weekend out of the way early…aka, early this morning. I was up before the sun heading down Hudson River Park. I had originally planned to meet up with the old RB in Central Park for a little catch up time, but insomnia insisted she push the snooze button this morning (if anyone can relate to that, it’s me!), which probably worked out better for me in the long run (I’m so PUNNY) anyway. Had I met up with her for a 4-miler in CP, I likely would have stayed there to finish up my long run, and my legs then would have revolted against me and I’d be screwed on the dance floor* come Saturday.

*I feel the slightly wicked need to let you know that said dance floor will be on a yacht. Yes, the reception for this wedding is on a YACHT. Hello, good times!

So with the wind in my face, I made my way back over to the lovely, FLAT Hudson River Park running path. I roped my way down the southern tip of the island (where I saw a surprising number of people up doing sun salutations and interesting stretches that I probably should have joined in on), back up the east side and across the park at the 72nd transverse. My Garmin read 14.6 at the end, MapMyRun declared a 15.15 mile run, so I’m going to call this mornings jaunt a 15-miler. It was a beautiful morning to be out there (much better than yesterdays lunchtime run in the rain) and I even snapped a photo of Lady Liberty sparkling in the sun rise, but I’m too crunched for time to post it. And let’s be serious…with my Zach Morris phone, you probably wouldn’t have been able to see her anyway.

The only downside to today’s miles were the 3/4 or more of them spent cursing shin splints–a problem I know all too well, that usually comes when I need a new pair of kicks. But at the moment, I’m far too broke (read: saving my money for #weddingseason) to splurge on a new pair. So I’ve got those tricky Brooks that I’m convinced gave me my mid-December running injury  packed for this weekend, because as finicky as they are, they have the least amount of miles logged on them. I’m hoping since I’m taking them to sunny Florida they will keep their cool and take care of my feet/ankles until I’m able to drop some cash on a new pair of Asics…the real love of my life.

Have a happy Thursday, and an even happier weekend

Lunch “Hour” Sweat: Take Two

Ok, ok. The jig is up. Yesterday, when I sent out this tweet to the twitterverse:

…I already had a spray tan session booked. WHO CAN BLAME ME?! Winter decided it wasn’t done with New York this week, and I am supposed to be wearing an aqua blue bridesmaid dress on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale in a mere three days. Not to mention…the bride to be has the most gorgeous, year-round [yes, she lives in Florida, but it was the same case when she lived in Virginia] olive skin you’ve ever seen. I did NOT want to be the bridesmaid that ruined all of her wedding photos with a camera flash/glare issue, so I skipped the oh-s0-bad for you tanning bed and was a total girl at the salon. Turns out, spray tan was not NEARLY as scary as I thought it would be. There are only two downsides:

1. The Unknown. This was my first one ever (and maybe forever?) and I have no idea how long it will stick. Aka, I have no idea if come Saturday pretty new tan (it’s not orange, it actually looks light and REAL) will have faded in awkward blotches making me look a little like MJ circa 1998…

2. The Sweat Interference. I was a little concerned at the lack of rules that went along with this process. I was expecting the nice Russian girl (her accent was SO cool) to yell at me to wear a loose-fitting paper/plastic bag for the next three days, not shower, and cover myself in hairspray twice daily to help the tan stick (clearly, I was not a science major). Instead, she just told me not to sweat before I let a good 12 hours go by, AFTER a shower. This basically screwed up any chance to get a morning run in. Or a morning any-sorta-sweat in. Grr.

So instead I came up with a plan of attack to try my second ever lunchtime workout, but for the first time ever, via a run along the river.

Of course, knowing me and my running/weather watching failures of late, the second I headed out of the office door it started to rain. And it continued for all 5.8 miles of my run (oops. meant to stick to 4). I ended back at the apartment–omgIlovelivingsoclosetowork–for a quick rinse and change of clothes, and by the time I was out the door heading back to my desk, the sun of course popped out. Oh well.

Tomorrow my plan is to try to get my long run in in the a.m., before a weekend of wedding festivities in Florida kicks off. Some of those miles are planned with my old RB (you know, from foreverrr ago, the one who moved to Brooklyn)! I’m excited to catch up with her, and I am STOKED to get down to sunny Florida for a nice long weekend.

Happy hump day kids! Make it a good one!

NY: The New Windy City?

Holy moly it is windy out there today. And I think they strength of those gusts gets more serious as the day goes on because I’m fairly certain it was not so crazy out there when I trekked back and forth to the gym this morning OR on the commute to work.

*Side note re: the title of this post? I found out while reading Devil in the White City that Chi-town did NOT actually get its nickname from the heavy breeze off of the Great Lakes but rather, from a bunch of New Yorkers who retorted to Chicago’s politicians bragging that after the World’s Fair it’d be the greatest metropolitan city in the world or some hoopla. The Big Apple said they were a bunch of windbags. I’m not saying I agree (fact: I fell in love with the Windy City back in August), but think it’s pretty funny regardless.

Any who. All thoughts of attempting a post-work run tonight have been swept away, but I am still considering a return to the gym to do some way overdue strength training.

Remember how I wanted to run 20 miles on Friday and didn’t? Well I ran them Saturday morning instead! Huzzah!

I [perhaps not-so-smartly] agreed to do a running tour on Saturday morning in Central Park. Nice pace, nice route, nice day for a run…at the not-so-nice hour of 5:30 a.m. So by the time we finished up it was only about 6:30/7 and you know me–Queen of the Insomniacs–so there was no way I was heading back to bed afterwards. I figured that if I was awake and the rest of the world was asleep, there was no reason not to try to tack on a few more miles. And by a few more miles…I mean 15. I headed back to the park for a full loop, then exited at the southern end and ran up along the west side to my old neighborhood. From there I crossed over to Riverside Park and followed the Hudson back down to midtown. I ended at almost exactly 20 miles, in Times Square where I met the JD for a $2 treat from Jamba Juice (first visit. yum!). It was just what I needed after a long and sweaty run.

While I did have a small break after the first 5 miles of the run, this 20 miler went really well, and was a huge confidence booster. They only downside (if you can even call it that) to it was the early start, because I knew I’d need a lot of coffee to stay awake through the evening for our housewarming party. And somehow, I did. And the housewarming was a smashing (albeit, bit crowded) event! There was such a great mix of family and friends from far and near, so big thanks to all who came And big thanks for the many lovely flowers and bottles of wine (you all know me so well) that are now floating around our new digs.

A second downside of Saturday’s 20 miler appeared yesterday though, when I realized that my back was a little achy, likely from having randomly subjected it to 3+ hours of pavement pounding. I credit this to the fact that I don’t think I’ve spent any quality time in the weight room since…oh…October? Not cool, Katie. Not cool.

So new plan of attack as far as marathonwiner’s workouts go: incorporating strength training back into the routine. No excuses.

Hope everyone’s have a lovely day on this blustering Monday!

Firsts and Flops

Hi friends, and happy Friday! It started out as a not-so-happy one for me–and from a very early hour. I went to bed around 10:30 last night (already far later than I had planned to), fully anticipating getting a decent night’s sleep before my alarm went off at 5:15. Why, you may ask? Because I had high hopes of attempting a 20-mile run before work this morning. I’m not currently training for anything, but between the 18 miler I did a few weeks ago, and the race this past weekend, I wanted to know if I was capable of jumping into training for something anytime soon.

Unfortunately, my insomnia, cat and a number of other factors had something else in mind.

I was still pretty wide awake at 11:30. And at midnight. And right around 12:30 when I started to doze, my cat thought it’d be a great idea to start jumping on my pillowcase and attacking my elbow for now reason.

Eventually, she gave it a rest, and by 1:30 SHE was curled up next to me (taking over a good third of the bed) sound asleep and I was still far from it. After spending the next couple of hours dozing and waking up, I was pretty sure that when the alarm went of at 5:15 I would not be making it out for a 2o mile run. Less because I am unable to run after little sleep (in fact, I’m pretty sure I got no more than 15 minutes worth before The Marathon), but more so because I knew after 20 miles (or 18 or 16 or whatever I would have been able to produce) and no sleep, I’d be a waste of life at work today. Had it been a Saturday, I may have gotten up anyway, powered through and headed right home for a nap.

…which, as it turns out, may be how my day goes tomorrow, as I very sillyly (yes, I just made up that word. just got with it)–or rather, stupidly–agreed to lead a run in Central Park tomorrow that starts at the lovely hour of 5:30 a.m. Oops. Guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

So tomorrow could go one of two ways–I go to bed at whatever hour I feel like tonight, wake up groggy and power through 5 miles and get back into bed before 7 a.m. OR. I spend [yet another, oops] evening carb loading, and see how far I can push the distance tomorrow…

It may be another flop.

But flops are okay when you’re not training and there’s no real need to bust out some crazy distance other than the sheer wanting to see if you can.

In other news, I’ve had some firsts and successes over the last two days.

The first being yesterday, when I had my inaugural “lunch hour” workout! I’d been scared about escaping to the gym in the middle of the day for years–I wasn’t sure if I could get away long enough to get in a quality workout, or if I could create a quality workout in the time alloted. Turns out, no one in the office seemed to miss me, even when I accidentally stayed a little longer than I should have (bonus to midday elliptically: Saved by the Bell repeats. Hot dog!). I kept to easy cross training yesterday in anticipation of the run that wasn’t this morning, but that doesn’t mean NO running happened. When the alarm went off at 5:15 and I pushed snooze, I woke up 2 hours later feeling more rested and headed out the door with the JD.

It was awesome to be running in shorts and a t-shirt in MARCH in NYC. The JD stuck around for the first portion of the run, and then I continued down towards Lady Liberty solo. All in all I covered 9 miles, and I’m happy enough with that

The rest of the weekend is shaping up to be busssy busssy with the day starting at 5:30 tomorrow, and then going full-fledge into preparations for visitors and a housewarming partay. Fingers crossed I stay awake to be a part of it!

Have a great weekend kiddos!

Surf’s Up

So try as I might to get my lazy but to the 7 a.m. spin class yesterday morning, it just was. not. happening. Turns out, I need to schedule 13.5 mile runs with out-of-towners to ensure that I actually listen to my alarm when it goes off for a.m. workouts, vs just hitting the snooze button.

And so instead, I made a mad dash to the cycle studio at 6:30 yesterday evening. It was JUST what I needed. After racing Saturday and running an accidental second half marathon on Monday morning (and as per usual, sucking at stretching after both), spin class turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. We had a new instructor, and she had just the right balance of resistance, speed and recovery periods for these tired legs. Every time I thought I was going to have to bite the bullet and give up on a particularly excruciating hill or turn down the resistance knob for a rest, the instructor had us back in the saddle for a breather. And my legs (whom up to that point were threatening to disown me) were really grateful for the change in cardio.

Afterwards, I had plans to do a quick 30 minute cooldown on the old ellip, but after some channel surfing landed me on the latest episode of the Biggest Loser, I was hooked for a full hour (#oops). I never have been a religious follower of this show (shoot, even the shows that I AM self-declared fanatic about I don’t have time to watch these days), but every time I catch it, I get sucked right in–especially, if I’m working out myself. Last night was particularly eye-catching as Bethany Hamilton was on the show, introducing the contestants to the world of surfing. AND this episode happened to happen just hours after Laura sent an email asking for volunteers to join her for a group class at Surfset.

I’m scared to death of surfing–not because I have a fear of the ocean or the creatures in it (which apparently the badass Dolvett DOES), but more so because I am severely lacking in balancing skills and know I would likely suck at the sport. But after watching Bethany for all of five seconds, I was motivated to give it a go. When I got home, I bought a voucher for the group class. This may scare me FAR more than real surfing, because if when I fall it will be on a hard surface or on top of a fellow class goer. Yikes! But I’m excited to try something new!

That said, I have a wild and crazy plan to try and do a 20 mile [not so new] run before work on Friday (don’t ask me why. Well you can, but 50% of the reason is a secret so I won’t tell, and the other 50 is pulled out of nowhere so I just can’t tell). So in sticking to my mileage mantra of never doing a weekend long run greater than double the distance of the longest weekday long run (if that didn’t make sense it’s because I’m just too lazy to go back and reread/correct it), I set out for another 10 this morning. The sky was spitting just enough for it to be annoying for the entirety of the run, but it felt awesome to knock it out and I went into work on a high note.

And now its 4:00 and I’m only two hours away from this Wednesday being over, another high note!

Hope you’re having a good one kids!

 

 

 

A Non-Race Report

I’ve never really been one to post “race reports”…that is, with the exception of The Race (a report that I go back and read every once in a while myself, so I can reminisce on one of the single most greatest days of my life). I’m not really sure why that is, but my guess would be…I had run a number of races prior to starting this blog and training for a full marathon and didn’t really have a Dear Diary sort of outlet available for them, so never really got in the habit. After the big Kahuna, no other race really seemed up to par and worthy of a full-fledged, mile-by-mile post letting you know at exactly what marks I hit the runner’s high, and exactly what ones I wanted to break down and cry.

So for my non-race report on my first ever Rock and Roll experience in DC this weekend, I’ll just sum things up as I would any other weekend run and weekend fun (read: with a quick mention of having covered the miles, and a far bigger focus on the other fun things that sandwiched in the 13.1).

*One exception: because I had read SO many rants about the RnR series and how horrible/unorganized they are, I feel like I should chime in here for a hot second. I was worried sick on Thursday when I realized I had put ZERO thought into planning how to pick up my race packet, and the bus I had scheduled had me coming in way too late to make it to the expo at the DC Armory before it closed Friday night. The web site was covered had very hard-to-find mentions about friends picking up packets, all of which made me think it would be easier to skip the race completely rather than try to come up with a way to get my printed waiver, photo ID and $20 to a friend in DC to pick up packets for both me and my cousin. In the end, I hopped an earlier bus and picked up the packets myself, pain and hassle free. Dear RNR, you made yourself out to be bad guys for no reason. Just remove that “$20 fee for all additional packets over 1″ on your web site and you’ll instantly make a lot more friends.

Any who.

The coolest part about taking an earlier bus down to DC was that it landed me in the seat in front of Samantha. As we slugged along in rush hour traffic on the beltway, we discovered we were both heading to the same place, for the same reason, and decided to share a cab as soon as Megabus deposited us at Union Station. It wasn’t until right before we parted ways at the Armory that we realized not only were we both NY “running” bloggers, but both readers of each others blogs. Small and awesome world!

I grabbed the race packets, swung through the expo (which was already closing down) and hopped right back on the metro to meet up with my cousin (who stuck to the later bus) in Dupont. From there, we walked to my old roomies apartment and shortly after made our way to dinner followed by a reasonably early bedtime.

The next morning, cousin and I got decked out in our St. Patty’s Day finest (greeeen I <3 NY t-shirts, knee-high American Apparel green socks, shamrock sweatbands and neon green shorts) and munched on some flavored Honey Stingers on the walk to the metro…whichhhh (even on a giant and crowded RACE day), took 20 minutes to arrive and then another 20 minutes in delays to get us to RFK. Not cool DC Metro, not cool.

My cousin’s hip had been hurting her so we started off the race REALLLYYYY slow, but after the first four miles, the half marathon [not-so] newbie* found the runners high and she decided to TAKE OFF. We more than made up for the slow start by zipping through the rest of the course and finishing at 2:00:05. PR? Nope. But still a new record–first time I ran a race with someone start to finish And it was awesome! The music was fun and the crowds were great, and I LOVED how many times people saw our matching tee’s and screamed “We love NY too!” My cousin and I gave them a robust cheer every time.

decked. out. nyc style.

*In every single race report I’ve read today, there’s a comment about the crucial hills in this course. My cousin, who was apparently just built to kick ass at races said, and I quote, “hills? what hills? that was nothing.” If Saturday was her running post-injury, I’d hate (read: LOVE) to see (from afar) what sort of damage she can do on a good day!

Afterwards we met old friends, my sister Squigs and new friends at my faaaavorite old haunt, Chadwicks in Georgetown for the champagne brunch. Afterwards, feeling all sorts of bubbly, we walked along the Potomac river and up toward the monuments. Thanks to the glorious weather (yeah, racing in 78 degrees is NOT something I’m used to in March) this non-winter has been giving us, the Cherry Blossoms were out early and we got a lot of key photo ops near the Tidal Basin, AND got to see the newly completely MLK memorial. I never get tired of being touristy in DC, so it was a great afternoon.

hello lovahh

After finally showering up and suiting up we were back on the metro to meet up with even more friends in Arlington, for dinner at Mexicali Blues. The thought process was, it being St. Patty’s and all (yes, I was STILL wearing a headband with bouncy leprechaun hats jumping out of it), we might have better luck with low wait times at a Mexican place. But we were wrong. No worries though–there were many a margarita, corona and loads of good company to help pass the time.

We called it an early night again and after walking around Dupont yesterday morning, boarded the bus back to the city. I was exhausted, but still had a lot ahead of me when we rolled in at 5–the JD and I had concert tickets to see the Head and the Heart at Terminal 5. The show was sooo good–just minus the fact that it was on a Sunday after a super busy weekend down south, AND I had another 6 am wakeup call this morning.

I was leading my first downtown tour as a city running guide! It was an awesomeee run that started in the West Village, followed the Hudson South, snaked back through the financial district with stops at Wall St and the infamous bull, then went and out and back to Brooklyn via the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. I maaay or may not have accidentally turned the entire a.m. experience into another 13.1 mile run, but it was an awesome way to kick off a Monday!

Now I’ve just got to figure out how to keep my eyes open the rest of the day at work, because it’s been a pretty rough battle thus far…

Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend–be it in DC, here at the NY half or elsewhere! And have a very happy Monday!!

Taper Faker

When I ran my first half marathon in Philly in 2010, I followed my training plan to a T. Rest day meant feet propped up, a gallon of water with a long straw and marathons of 90210 on the tube. An “easy 3 miles” three days prior to race day meant 3 SLOW miles. Not 2.9, not 3.21, 3. And not at a quick pace. At the least fatigue-inducing, painfully slow, teetering the line between jogging and walking.

A week before my first half marathon I had a “cut back” week. I think I ran miles the Saturday prior, and filled the rest of the week with those easy 3 milers and lots of rest and hydration.

This past Sunday, the week prior to my upcoming half, I ran 18 miles. And followed that with a spin class on Monday. And followed that with an easy 7 miles on Tuesday. Today I had another spin class on the schedule–not so much because I was craving a hard sweat, but more so because spin gives the old legs a good shake out while still getting the heart pumping.

But then I spent the whole day inside the office when it was gorgeous outside. Like, San Diego temps, plenty of sunshine–the kind of day that everyone magically falls sick on and “can’t make it into the office” (don’t they KNOW that we all KNOW it’s no coincidence that it’s the first 100% beautiful day of a super early spring and that their bedrest is being done on a park bench near the water?). So when I was getting my spin gear ready to go (and by gear I mean a tank and capris purchased at Old Navy and the only “non-running” pair of sneaks I own), and saw that there was still sunlight out the window (say what you will, but daylights savings–I LOVE you), I had a change of heart.

I left the office in said gear and rather than veering right towards the nearest NYSC, I made a hard left in the direction of the Hudson.

And now I’m stoked at the idea of many more evening runs like this, watching the sunset over good ol’ dirty Jerz and Lady Liberty.

It was a beautiful run, and the paths were packed with fellow pavement pounders. I absolutely adore this city and its ginormous running community.

I may have accidentally run 8 miles. Which is not exactlyyy what’s on the taper plan for this upcoming half. But they were a lovely 8 miles. And if having covered them stops me from PRing in Saturday’s race, that’s just fine. I’ll still have a gas dressing up in all kinds of crazy shades of green, running with my cousin and spending a glorious weekend pounding around my old stomping grounds!

Bet you thought I was slipping back into a blogging black hole, eh? 10 pm is better than two weeks of silence though, right?

Have a great night! And a great day tomorrow!

Do you think you have pantophobia?

I don’t think I have pantophobia. But I do think of I have some other sort of phobia that I will need Lucy to diagnose and give me some medication for. It is the fear (or maybe more appropriately, the sheer inability) to make decisions.

Ever since crossing the line of The Marathon on November 12th (okay, maybe like 24 hours after crossing that line–after I’d had time to giggle a bit, admire my medal and sleep), I’ve been wondering whether or not I am capable of and/or want to run a Spring marathon.

As soon as I realized that I had entry to the ING NYC Marathon for 2012, I thought “that’s it, and that’s perfect.” One full year after finishing my first marathon seemed like the ideal time to run my second.

But you know us runners. Once we hit a goal distance, anything under it is rarely enough to keep us feeling challenged and satisfied. I thought signing up for this half marathon on Saturday would be a pleasant solution to my itch to want to keep on running. I’d relax a little bit after The Marathon and train through the winter to improve my half marathon time, and then maybe even just chill until training picked up for the ING NYC marathon.

Ha.

Fat chance of that.

I took one full day off after finishing my first 26.2 (exquisitely spent at a winery in Charlottesville, VA with my family). My first day back in New York City, I was at the gym, trying to loosen up my legs on the old elliptical.

None of my workouts or runs or anything have been incredibly harrowing since the marathon, but they have been often. And plenty enough.

To the point where, a few weeks ago, I started holding up my half marathon training plan to my full marathon training plan and seeing how they may measure up. Turned out, the National Half would have worked out pretty well in the full plan, and could even have me in shape to run a late May/early June race.

Then this weekend, I went a little crazy. And I tackled 18 miles for no particular reason other than I felt like it. And I missed marathon training and I missed that awesome runners high (this is the sad, sad, problem with us runners. once you get the runners high from an 18 or 20 or 26.2 mile run, its hard to get the same buzz off 10 or 12 or 14 miles. I think running has helped me better understand addicts…). And so I ran 18 miles. Then last night whipped out the ol’ Hal Higdon marathon book and discovered that matching THAT up against a training plan meant I could technicallyyyy run another 26.2 by the first week in May. Early May!

There are a lot of different points pulling at my decision. Is it healthy to run multiple marathons per year? Will my body take a toll a few years down the road? Maybe I should try to find something I like other than running? Should I need to though, if I love running as much as I do? Can I afford the registration and travel, depending on where the race is (note: the answer to this one is pretty much a known “no”, so the real question is, is this what I want to make an unnecessary splurge on)? What happens when I DON’T PR and want to shin kick myself (note: this will happen regardless on Nov. 4th, so really we’re just speeding up the inevitable by jumping to a May marathon).

I go back and forth between hitting register and not about 482304 times a day.

This is not unusual for me. I’m like this about every other decision in life as well–big or small. Move to NY? Stay in DC? Rent a movie? Watch TV? Honey Nut Cheerios? Multi Grain Cheerios? Go back to school? Apply for a new job? There must be a name for this illness. Actually, I care far less about the name than I do the cure. Help!!!

If you know of any good doctors, please leave their names and numbers in the comments. If you know if any must-do May marathons, please also leave info in the comments….

Happy Tuesday kids!

 

Back in the Game

Wow. So it’s been a solid two weeks since I was last a fully working part of the blogging/tweeting world. It’s almost weird to be back, but I’m hoping it will soon feel great to be back!

It’s weird that, even when I was out of the country [read: laying on a beach in paradise] for a full week in the middle of December, I took such care scheduling some amazing “guest bloggers” so that marathoniner would never grow stale. In the peak of marathon training I was as excited to tell the online universe about my amazing 20 miler as I was to have been able to run it. Back in September, when I was road tripping from New York City to Fort Smith, Arkansas, I logged in whenever and wherever I could get an internet connection to update my “readers” (you know, all three of them?) on the amount of blown tires seen on Tennessee highways and miles covered in the rain in random parks in The Natural State.

I just rambled on like that thinking I was leading up to the conclusion that I have no idea where this sudden hiatus over the last two weeks came from; but then it hit me–The Marathon. During September’s road trips, October’s long runs and December’s vacations I was either in the middle of marathon training or had just recently shocked myself and the rest of the world with having run my first 26.2. Turns out, not only does registering for a full marathon keep me motivated as far as workouts and training, but blogging as well.

But it’s not JUST the lack of a marathon registration that’s detained me from you fine people these last few weeks. I actually have been busy. With what, you may ask? As if you didn’t see it coming…here’s that bulleted list of what.

I moved! The JD and I (and Santan) are fully moved in to our beautiful new apartment in Midtown. And the place is essentially perfect. With the exception of one piece of furniture that Target.com promised would arrive well over a week ago. And it’s still m.i.a. Not cool Target, not cool. I have nowhere to store my 3820 boxes of cereal until that pantry arrives!

I moved! In the workout sense. Somehow, in the week after moving, I banged out the best mileage and other workouts since marathon training. For the first time since I think October (?) I had a week over 40 miles long, that included another evening run with Jocelyn, two spin classes, a few cross training sessions on the old elliptical AND a climb to the top of 30 Rock.

I climbed! Last Sunday I woke bright and early to Climb to the Top of Rockefeller Plaza for the MS Society. I had been sweating bullets about this climb in the weeks leading up to it, because in the past, me and stairs never got along very well. In fact, I remember at my old job in DC, when I used to try to “workout” in the middle of the day via climbing up the buildings 12 stories of stairs I would be in PAIN the next day. So the thought of climbing almost 70 floors was not an inviting one. Turned out though, it wasn’t too bad at all (I even went for a 5.5 mile “shake out” run afterwards)! And the views from the top of the Rock were AMAZING.   

I cooked! I’ve been making some food blogger worthy meals on and off over the last few weeks. I’d love to share recipes and pictures, but I didn’t save the recipes and I didn’t take pictures. But just know that I’m making moves when it comes to culinary prowess.

I toured! Sister Squiggs showed up shortly after the Climb to the Top (yes, on a Sunday) for a few days vacay. By the time she left Thursday morning, I felt like it was a Monday because we had crammed SO much into the work week, that it felt like a long weekend. We saw aunts, uncles, cousins and friends; we attended a swanky work event; we went to the gym; we went running (I ran the Queensboro Bridge for the first time ever. And loved every second of it); we ice skated in Rockefeller Plaza (first time EVER, and oh-so-cool); we went to a tapas bar and watched live flamenco dancing; we finally tried the legendary Lombardi’s pizza; we had dinner in Long Island City and toured the waterfront park with its AMAZING views of Manhattan…and those are just the things we did outside of my workday. While I was at the office, she wandered the city, went to the Central Park Zoo and made sure to fill up on enough Wafels and Dinges to hold her over til the next visit.

I tapered! (?) I shocked myself with early morning workouts nearly every day that Squigs was in town, but I’d be lying if I said they were all quality workouts. Late nights at West Village tapas bars (on a Tuesday?!) will do that to ya. But I’m okay with that. I figured, with the National Half coming up this Saturday (eeks!/woohoo!) it was the perfect time for a cutback in my mileage, especially after an exciting 40+ mile week.

I returned! Just as I made peace with the idea of a mini taper period, I threw things through a loop. An 18 mile loops around lower Manhattan! I had my final shadow run with NYC Running Tours planned for this Sunday morning. While I was definitely NOT excited to have to cut dinner with Laura, Celia, Leticia and some other friends short on Saturday night (in order to wake up at 5:45 the MORNING AFTER DAYLIGHTS SAVINGS), I am SO thrilled that this run was scheduled. And as shocked as I am to say it, the time and place could not have been more ideal. I was meeting the other two participants in the run dowwnnn, downtown at 6:50 to get things started. I decided to run the 4.5 miles there as a warm-up. It was a great warm-up filled with all sorts of unusually sight-seeing and people watching (read: most of the city half asleep with pockets of people scattered around, still not home from their night out on the town–crazies). After arriving on Stone Street, we set out to catch the sunrise over the East River. The views were beautiful and weather was perfect. We did an out-and-back sticking along the East River running path and ended our run at about 8.5 miles. From there, I was still feeling good and decided to push as many miles out of myself as I could muster. As I started nearing home I knew if I went straight back to the apartment my run would end at 17.5 miles–respectable? Sure. But I typically HATE ending on a fraction, so I added an extra little loop around midtown to bring it to a solid 18. 18!

This run was amazing in so many ways. For one, it started and ended early enough that I was home by 9:10–and still had a FULL gorgeous Sunday of Central Parking ahead me to enjoy. For another, I’m pretty sure I could have tacked on even MORE at the end there. This makes me really, realllly want to sign up for a spring marathon…I know some people (cough, cough…LAURA) can run 3 marathons a weekend, much less 2 in a year. But I’ve been so torn on where I take my running after this upcoming half. I had tried to convince myself that maybe I’d take a REAL break until training picks back up for ING NYC. But after riding that runner’s high all day yesterday, I’ve got the itch to start training for something farrr sooner…

I returned! To blogging. See? Looks like it’s true that the mojo that carries me through a long run also brings me back WordPress.

 

Sorry for all the “I did this” and “I did that”. What have YOU been up to these last few weeks??