Cutback Week, in All Forms

This was definitely one of the bigger cutback week’s I’ve had during this training cycle. Actually, now that I think about it, it’s probably the first/only cutback week before we go into hardcore cutback (aka, taper time). And I guess that’s a good thing, since I know I’ve been going a little overboard on the mileage lately (58 last week), but that’s also very much due to my going overboard on the chocolate–during Saturday’s 20-miler I wanted glide for the first time in my life! Not cool, Cadbury, not cool.

Cutting back on the miles this week turned out to be not-so-tough. After a long run Saturday and a rainy and randomly fast run on Sunday, my legs had thrown in the towel. On Monday AND Tuesday it was a definite no-go as far as an early-a.m. workout. And while I really wanted to make it to a spin class Monday night, a lunch-time elliptical sesh was all I was up for. Tuesday was very much the same.

After a craaaazy day at work all I wanted in the world was a glass of wine. But I opted for a run up the  Westside Highway instead. It was super sluggish and I’m pretty sure I was cursing all decisions leading up to a May marathon. But after about 2.5 miles I was at Jack Rabbit on 72nd street, meeting up with a bunch of other runners (big thanks to Abby, Baker and Erica for organizing) to friendly fight over free Zensah socks, then hit up Central Park for an all-paces, 4-mile jaunt. Once again, I realized that running with others ALWAYS makes the miles fly by. We covered the middle loop at a much faster pace than I thought my tired legs were capable of, especially after my slow trek to the meeting point. It was loads of fun and I am SO excited about new running friends and my new neon orange calf sleeves . Thanks to all who made that happen!

I’m excited for another runner meet-up tomorrow morning, when brave Leticia and I finally meet up for our first run together–at 6 a.m.! Here’s to knocking it out before the weekend…and BEFORE work! Yikes!

Staycation

I’ve been out of town for so many weddings over the last few weeks that having NO travel plans on the calendar for this weekend felt like a treat. Staycation FTW!

And while there were no flights or bus trips booked, I DID travel…to Brooklyn.

After Friday a.m.’s 20 miler flop, I immediately got to work stalking Jocelyn and Carla’s long run plan for Saturday morning. And before I left work for the weekend, I had plans to meet them and some other fun runners at the base of the Brooklyn bridge for a group run.

After a relatively low-key evening of beers and hockey with the JD, I was in bed early on Friday, determined to finally get a good nights sleep. Apparently, a few good brews and a closed bedroom door are all it takes to remedy a restless cat and a sleepless night. I woke up Saturday morning totally pumped for the long run ahead. Unfortunately, I was out of my favorite pre-run breakfast supply of honey stinger waffles, and had to settle for almond butter on toast…turned out, that works fine too.

I met the ladies right at 10:00 on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge with 6 miles under my belt. Our plan was to cover 14 more by going over the bridge and doing some loops in, around and on the Brooklyn Half Marathon course. I’ve NEVER run in Brooklyn before, so it was AWESOME finally getting to experience Prospect Park (minus its one brutal hill…that we hit TWICE) with a good guide—thanks Carla! Now I just need to convince one or all of these girls to book a flight to Buffalo come May 27th. I’m pretty sure the fun conversation would help carry me through 26.2 miles MUCH better than going at it alone…takers??

Afterwards, we all went to Scottadito for an amazing and well-earned lunch. I had the eggs florentine with PESTO hollandaise sauce. PESTO, people. It was top notch! Oh, and I finally got to meet Susan, which was mega fun since she’s probably one of the first NYC/running blogs I ever read!

Somehow, our 10am “run” lasted until after 4pm. I could NOT believe how fast the day flew by, but I wanted to extend the time in the sunshine a little longer (note: I think I’m the only one who finished up 3 hours of running on Saturday with NO sun-tinted skin to show for it. How does that happen) and took the subway from Brooklyn to Wall Street to drag the JD out of the office. My original plan was to persuade him to go for a nice walk…to 16 Handles. But we ended up just walking home instead. I’ll take it

A quick shower and [yet another] bite to eat later (do I do anything other than run and eat??) and the JD and I were on our way to meet up with the same said runner girls and some other friends on the UWS. We met at a friends apartment for beer, wine and Nuun sharing, as well as runtalk. Most of the guys present hated it. All of us gals loved it. And true story: we may have very well convinced the JD to sign up for his first-ever half marathon (hot dog)! From there, the gang headed out to some bars. I on the other hand…being the sissy that I am…headed home to bed!

I wanted to wake up and get to a free CoreRxN abs class at Jack Rabbit, but even with the early bedtime, was unable to drag myself there. Give me some sneaks and an open running path and I’m down no matter what, but making it to a group class–especially one with an ABs focus takes A LOT more heaving and hoeing on my end.

Instead, the JD and I enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning at home–which hasn’t happened since we moved into the new apartment, so I gladly said goodbye to the coreclass guilt, before we headed out for a rainy day shake out run.

Only it wasn’t so much a short, slow shake out like I planned. The temps had plunged in comparison to the day before and a driving rain only amplified the desire to run fast. The JD kept me company for the first 3 miles or so before heading home, and I [sort of accidentally] added on another 4…the last of which was clocking in at 8:15. Turns out, if I want to go sub-4 on May 27th, alls I need to do is order a downpour from the weather gods (dear weather gods, if you’re reading, don’t take me seriously AT ALL…as I really don’t want to attempt 26.2 in the rain).

Anywho the weekend came to a close with dinner and a movie night (and by movie, I mean getting sucked into a few episodes of Game of Thrones) at the JD’s aunt and uncles apartment. The food was delish, the company was awesome as always and the entertainment choice was…well, interesting. I think I’d rather try the books first

Hope everyone’s having an awesome Monday! Heopfully we’ll be back to warm spring weather soon!

The [Cat's] Sixth Sense

Hi and happy Friday friends!

So sorry if you’ve stopped in to get an update on my 20, pre-work miles this morning. Because they didn’t happen. But before you start playing the blame game and thinking thoughts like, “marathonwiner, you are so lazy and so weak. you can’t run 20 miles on a Friday a.m. and therefore probably can’t run 26.2 miles on May 27th!” I CAN EXPLAIN.

The reason I did not reach my PWD (pre-work distance–it’s a real acronym) goal is this:

don't be fooled by that sweet and innocent face. or that seemingly leisure and relaxed attitude....

This little girl, while she looks cute and cuddly and charming…is The Reason that I missed out on my run this morning.

How so?

I’ll tell you.

I decided to go to sleep nice and early last night since the alarm was set for 5:30 a.m.–plenty of time to down some PB, get dressed and get out the door. I made plans to meet up with Leticia half way through my 20 miles so I’d have a little company, laid out my clothes* and hit the sack around 10:30.

*In hindsight, it’s probably better that this run didn’t happen as laundry day hasn’t happened in a LONG time and it’s down to the NITTY GRITTY as far as running gear is concerned. Leticia would have seen me coming from miles away (all that was left was neon green shorts, neon pink compression socks and a bright purple tank) and ran and hid out of fear/embarrassment…

As per usual, I read for a few to get into sleep-mode, and before long was on my way to snooze town.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is when that black monster pictured above perks up her ears, eyes, whiskers or whatever it is that channels her feline sixth sense, and comes bouncing into the bedroom.

11:15. And in my almost-deep sleep, I start dreaming about some sort of calamity. Scratching and swaying. Perhaps it’s a burglar?

It continues.

I’m pulled out of my sleep, and open my eyes to see the little monster standing on top of my jewelry box (on top of my dresser), on her hind legs, swatting at picture frames hanging high on the walls above her.

Why these picture frames and not the ones in the living room? Why on my dresser and not the kitchen table? BECAUSE THOSE WOULDN”T DISTURB MY SLEEP AS MUCH.

In an effort to get her off the dresser and out of the room without getting out of bed myself (and therefore further taking me out of snooze town), I toss a hair tie (her FAVORITE “toy”) out the door and down the hallway. She tears off after it, knocking off everything on the dresser on her way. Once she’s out of the room, I swing the door closed.

Two minutes later. She throws her entire body against it, and comes running in. No hair tie to be seen.

I depart snooze town. Pick her up and OUT of the room, then close the door.

Two minutes later (of course), the JD decides it’s bedtime, and thus, the door is open again.

I toss and turn, unable to get back to that happy place.

Midnight. Little monster is in the kitchen. Not knocking things over or swatting at picture frames for no reason, but laying in the middle of the floor, hair tie under her paws, letting out the most MOURNFUL, pathetic moan of a meow you’ve ever heard (this is a regular occurrence, but anyone hearing it for the first time would probably think she was dying a slow and painful death. Really, she just does this when she wants someone to play fetch with her).

I depart snooze town again. I throw said toy into the living room in an effort to appease her/get her further away from my bedroom door.

It is now 12:30. I know there is no way I will be able to get to sleep in the near future, let alone, wake up in 5 hours, run 20 miles and work a full day of work.

I start stalking Leticia on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, you name it–trying to make sure she gets the message that this run is not happening in a few hours. And by the time I finally feel like I’ve done everything I can to re-tire (is that correct? probably not) myself [read: drink hot chocolate cause the idea of hot milk makes me want to vom, read, play games on the iPad and putz around on the internet finding lots of articles about insomnia, and then more articles on insomnia and obesity...while eating a big spoonful of almond butter at 2 am...awesome], it’s a little after 2 a.m. and I hit the sack.

And finally fall asleep.

And wake up moments before needing to be out the door and at the office (oh yes, I missed that “important” call I had scheduled).

Le sigh.

But it’s all good. SILVER LINING MY FRIENDS. Because about 597657654 other running ladies in this fine city have plans to run long tomorrow. And then eat delicious brunch. And then probably delicious froyo followed by delicious dinner and oh, delicious drinks. Twenty mile run: take two! It’s gonna be awesome

Know what else is awesome? Unsure of what to do work-out wise today after my long run flop (THANKS A LOT SANTANA. Oh, you didn’t know who I was blaming for that?) I went to the gym and busted out a few–no really, only 4–miles…400s style! I did 4 400m laps (friends, that’s one mile) at a 7:00 pace! And all of the others but the first and last were at 7:30, 8:00 or a wee few at 8:30. It’s nothing wicked fast, but it’s SOMETHING speedy, and that’s all that matters. Big confidence boost on this otherwise floppy Friday.

Have an awesome weekend kids! I certainly plan to!

The Long Distance Debacle

It’s so funny how one run can set the pace (har har) for your entire week.

I’ve known for a while now, that at the end of this week, I’d need to knock out a 20-miler. My first thought was “hooray! No weddings! No traveling! I can run long on Saturday like a normal person!” (normal being a relative term, and applying to persons IN the running community who think that waking up at 7 am is a standard way to greet the weekend).

Then I remembered that I had signed up for my fearful Surfing lesson…to take place at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. Thought process then became: 20 milers prior to an activity you’re already afraid of falling/failing at=NOT the greatest idea. (Why not Sunday, you may be asking?? Because I also booked that right up. An a.m. “abs” class—I’m already laughing at myself just thinking about it–followed by a bike ride with the JD.  Which weather.com says will be canceled. Blurg)

So I thought, okay. I have conquered up to 17 miles prior to starting the workday once before…what’s a few more miles thrown on? And so I began planning my workouts for the week backwards from Friday…a few short runs sandwiching a “longer” midweek one (well, the sandwich isn’t fully complete since I haven’t done anything yet today, but I DID successfully get my sweat on every other morning this week BEFORE work) and an awesome cross-training day. I missed spinning so much that I hated it for a good 40 minutes yesterday. Then loved it all over again. You know what I mean…or maybe I’m just crazy.

Only I accidentally scheduled a potentially important phone call for tomorrow morning, not to mention, have a meeting the second the office opens [read: can't really be late]. And now it’s 5:00 on Thursday afternoon and I have NO IDEA when I’m going to do my long run on this nice, “relaxed,” weekend at home.

Somehow, running was easier the last three weeks when I was scooting off to an out-of-town wedding every Friday or Saturday. How does that work?!

And now I’m asking for input on this far too late in the day to actually GET ANY. But if you’re still at the office right now or maybe even on your commute home with your google reader pulled up, and happen to be really bored and happen to be reading this…please vote! 20 miles at a painfully early hour tomorrow morning in what’s supposed to be gorgeous weather, Saturday morning before an afternoon of surfing on legs that will at that point be jello, or I guess (though I hate putting it off for so long) Sunday–when there’s a strong chance of not-fun-running-weather?

 

 

Forgot the Speedwork

I forgot speedwork in yesterday’s list of things I don’t really love about marathon training.

But I’ve also sort of completely forgotten about speedwork in this training cycle.

I didn’t really do any when training for The Marathon in Richmond. Mostly because my only goal was to just finish, so I figured as long as I followed Hal’s recommends for daily runs and built up my mileage, I’d be good to go.

But then I shocked myself in Richmond. By running fast. A full 30 minutes faster than my “pipe dream” goal time (again, that was ALL thanks to my race-day BFF’s Larry and Tracy, and my dear, dear friend who jumped in to pull me through the last 10k).

When I got home from a December vacay (and overall “break” from heavy running) with a foot “injury,” I found myself in the gym more often than Central Park (which let’s be honest, during a NY winter is NOT a bad place to find yourself). I was aiming to do things that didn’t aggravate my foot further, like ellipticalling and spinning, but would still always find myself itching to get some running done. And because I was already in the gym, I soon found myself on the dreadmill, “just for a few slow miles.”

Turns out you can’t easily read a book or watch TV while on the treadmill–unless you have a stomach of steel and all the bouncing around while trying to keep your eyes focused does not make you queasy. And unless you’re rich and have your own personal Bob or Dolvett (any Biggest Loser fans out there?) chasing you around NYSC, you also don’t have mantra’s and instructions to “push harder” and “GO FASTER!” ringing in your ears (which, depending on your instructor, you CAN find in the cycle room). So I confirmed something I already knew this winter….that the treadmill is BORING.

How do you fight the yawns of no scenery and nothing to do but stare at your sneakers covering the same strip of black over and over and over again? You speed up. Not only, does watching the pace numbers grow smaller and smaller make things a little more tolerable, but speed helps the workout go by SO much faster.

So I was supposed to do light-on-my-sore-foot jogging on the treadmill this past winter. But instead, I discovered speedwork. And tried 400s for the first time in my life.

Somehow, I loved them. And I found myself not only doing them in visits after work, but BEFORE–we’re talking 7-minute miles at 7am…something I never in a million years thought I was capable of.

Only now those 400 sprints feel like a million years ago.

Somehow getting back outside got me back to long, slow miles (and NOTHING about the gorgeous weather of late makes me want to go back indoors).

oh look! i finally am including something pretty to look at/better entertain you with. this photo was snapped by my stupid phone last night when i was locked out of the apartment and walked around for 1.5 hours waiting for the JD to get out of work (note to self: always keep gym bag at office, then you can go work on speedwork when these situations arise).

And even though I signed up for Buffalo as a buffer between my speedy Richmond race and what I know will be a MUCH slower NY race, I know I’ll secretly want to PR in Buffalo.

Only not so secretly.

But that’s very unlikely to happen with the way I’ve been running these days. My mantra’s have been all “it’s not about your pace it’s about your distance.”

Dear marathonwiner, stop lying to yourself.

Without my fast friends on the racecourse to pull me along through the early miles, and without my good friend to pick me up at mile 20, and without (at least I assume) the large and cheer-crazy crowds from the streets of Richmond, Buffalo may be a challenge. And to be up for it, I need to start upping my pace. Stat.

I Love All Things Marathoning! Except For Those Things I Don’t Love…

As you’ve heard me mention about 48932043 times, I absolutely LOVE marathon training. In fact, because I missed the schedule and organization and build up of marathon training so much, I signed up for the Buffalo Marathon in May, rather than waiting until NYC to conquer my next 26.2. I knew I’d be antsy through the summer months, waiting for July and the start of my training program to roll around. In fact, in March I already WAS antsy, and randomly challenging myself to 18 and 20 mile runs on the weekends. So it made sense to be running those long miles for something. Enter, the Buffalo Marathon.

But as much as I love the set schedule and discipline required to follow it, I have one giant problem with training. Or maybe its with this marathonwining lifestyle as a whole, as this was a problem in the downtime between Richmond and this training cycle as well. The ravenous HUNGER that comes with those long miles.

I. am. always. hungry.

Legitimately.

And ALWAYS thinking about food.

Even as I’m unbuttoning the jeans from a meal that left me uncomfortably full (likely because I cleaned my plate AND the JDs), I’m thinking about my NEXT meal, and all the snacks in between.

Fellow runners: do you have this issue? And how do you combat it? I know what foods are healthy and what portions are healthy, but that does NOT stop me from diving right into a jar of peanut butter and single-handedly emptying a large bag of Cadbury eggs (in my defense, the idea there was: the faster I get rid of them the sooner they won’t be a problem!)…

Another issue I’ve been facing as of late is getting back into the yoga/strength training groove.

I. Do. Not. Like. Yoga.

This is a fact of life that I have learned to accept, but I know that doesn’t count as an excuse not to force myself to do it…especially at the peak of a training cycle when the old legs could use a good stretch. Last time around I did a “decent” job of going…and by decent I mean I bought a 10-class package and used about 3 classes before it expired. But that’s still 3 classes more than I’ve attended this time around. In fact, I’ve almost completely said sayonara to the quick and simple post-run stretches I used to do by force of habit. Tell me how to fix this. Ready…go!

I. Can’t. Stop.

When I’m not eating (which is almost always), and not sleeping, I almost always want to be running. Is that normal? If I’ve gone for a run in the morning, then make it out in the afternoon or evening and its a gorgeous day, all I want to do is run (and/or find the nearest bar with outdoor seating and a good HH deal on wine…)!

I don’t have any spare time to actually run, but I’d like to think that if I DID have spare time, I’d rather spend SOME of it doing useful things like unpacking my bag from this weekends wedding, doing laundry from the last three weekends of weddings, going to yoga, eating less and applying to jobs and/or grad school and finally figuring out what to do with my life…other than, you know, run and ask people to run and take people on running tours and look for jobs that involved running…

I’m a marathon mental case.

Happy Tuesday!

Marathon Monday

Hi friends!

Sooo this is going to be short and sweet, seeing as how I doubt anyone has ANY interest in reading marathonwiner today. Why? Because I was not in Boston today, racing amongst thousands in insanely high temps on what should have been a cool April morning.

Instead, I was at work (helloooo, if Patriot’s Day/Marathon Monday is an official holiday in Beantown, in should be one EVERYWHERE) listening/watching coverage in between word docs and PDFs, and now I’m still juggling my post-sickness workload (update: I feel sooo much bette!) with Twitter updates and recaps as they come in.

So check back tomorrow, when we return to our normal broadcasting here in marathonwiner world.

In the meantime, a big giant CONGRATS to all those who raced today–and extra kudos for those absurdly high ticks on the thermometer!!!

Friday Night [High]lights!

So it’s 9:30 on a Friday night and I’m back on the couch tuned into Glee on Netflix with a devoured bag of Energy Kitchen dinner wrappers on the table in front of me. I must have a long run early tomorrow morning, right? Wrong.

That run actually just happened. After work on a Friday night.

I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen at all, given the week of ickies, but after a visit to the doctor this morning my confidence started to grow. And after a quick trip to CVS to pick up a Z-pack, my symptoms finally started to wane.

Two popped pills, a lot of water chugging throughout the day, and I was off for 12-13 miles around Manhattan. I opted for Hudson River Park so I could catch the sunset, and I’m really glad I did. I retraced a lot of Wednesdays route [read: run from hell, sans Z-pack. Big mistake], only this time felt much stronger as I went over it. For the first time ever, rather than cutting towards the park as soon as I got to 110th street, I followed Riverside up a little further, until I was almost at the GW bridge. I really wanted to be adventurous and go all the way up to it/try to run across it, but got worried I’d be caught somewhere unfamiliar after the sun sank. Mom, I know you’re proud.

So I double backed to Cathedral Pkwy and made my way to my favorite long run spot of late, the reservoir. I did two circles around Jackie O, and watched the sun set over the city. It was as pretty as the sunrises over the reservoir but in an entirely different way. I loved every second of it.

Things started to ache a little as I made my way back towards midtown, which I imagine I am allowed to blame on this past week, but I finished it up at a little over 14 miles! Between that and the fact that I can squeak out a little more than a whisper every time I try to speak now, I think I’m in as good a place as I could be heading into the last crazy wedding weekend of April!

Have a great weekend everyone! And to all those running MORE–good luck!!! Rock it!!

Mom is Always Right

I am stubborn. And sometimes I do things that everyone tells me I shouldn’t do, and that I know I shouldn’t do…like…go for a run when I’m sick.

But let’s back up a second.

Yesterday I took a sick day from work. I can’t be 100% sure, but I’m highly confident that this was the first (or at least one of VERY few) time I’ve ever actually taken a sick day from work while actually sick.

Scoff and roll your eyes all you want, but you must have played hookie at some point in your career, and if you haven’t, well then you’re missing out.

In my time in the working world I always “saved” my sick days as special “vacation” days. I’d go to work with a cold or a headache or what have you, and power through the workday because I knew I’d rather save those 8 hours of time for something much more fun than sitting on the couch watching The Price is Right and flipping through an afternoon of soap operas. Still think I’m a bad person? I’m just curing the world obesity epidemic one white lie at a time: http://mashable.com/2012/03/02/work-death-infographic/ (thank you, Jocelyn, for tweeting this yesterday).

Any who. Back to yesterday.

Yesterday I woke up, still without a voice, and after a fitful night of hacking I called in sick. And even though I was actually sick, I subconsciously took on the day like the sick days of my past. I had a nice breakfast and drank coffee while watching Hoda and KL. I read my favorite blogs and stalked the Twitterfeed for a while. Then I got myself dressed and ready to go for a run.

Wait. Hold the phone. A run??

Here’s what I assume was going through my dayquil-clouded head, “I have this entire day to do nothing, I might as well get my run in!” “The fresh air will probably have me feeling better in no time!” “I don’t need to go fast, I just need to get it done.”

Stupid. Lies. Stupid lies.

Things started out okay enough. I popped a cough drop, stashed a few extra in my pocket and took off toward the Hudson River. The plan was to run north along the water, then cut over near the old neighborhood and head east to Central Park. The jog along Riverside Park was just okay. I was certainly not going crazy fast (in fact, I was literally chanting the mantra in my head: “it’s not about speed it’s about getting it done” and trying to distract myself by all the pretty spring flowers: “I would have missed out on this had I stayed home on the couch. I hate the couch!”) but I also wasn’t going embarrassingly slow…yet.

By the time I started darting in the direction of the park I was ready to be done. Five-ish miles felt worse than the numerous 15′s I’ve covered over the last few weeks, but I told myself it was all “homeward bound” from that point, so I might as well finish. I did one loop of the reservoir and knew the run was a mistake when trekking around my favorite running spot didn’t brighten my spirit or quicken my pace. By the time I got back on the Bridle path to head south (aka, home), a terrible stomach kicked in, to make matters even worse. At this point, I’m pretty sure my Garmin told me my pace was somewhere just under the 11-minute mark. Not cool. But I repeated my mantra of the day and kept on going.

The stomach issues got CRAZY bad as I reached the SW corner of the park…and what perfect timing, as there is a bathroom there (hey, we are runners, we’re allowed to openly share this sort of information via the internet. right??). I had planned to just walk the rest of the way home, as the 8 miles I set out for were done and done, but the bathroom stop gave me a chance to cool down and by the time I was back in the outdoors I was FREEZING. So I sucked it up and decided to jog the rest of the way home. During that wee little jog, a band-aid on my knee (remnants of a shaving accident) randomly decided to stop doing its job, and I had blood dripping down my leg. At the bottom of that same leg, my shoe came untied when I was all of four blocks from the apartment, bloody, cold and miserable.

Needless to say, I think I learned my lesson. Mom*, JD, Squiggs and everyone else out there who did or would have advised against attempting this run “in my condition”: you are correct. And I am a moron.

*Mom also loves, LOVES to tell me that I am stubborn. I always argue that I am definitely NOT. baha.

I’m sure this lack of judgement makes everyone want to jump at the chance to hire me as their run coach come June 18th, right? But for the record, I’ve decided that I did it for my future students. So when they catch a cold in the midst of training and are really itching for that “healing fresh air” I can tell them that I know, from experience, it is not a good idea

Sick Day. Bleh.

After trying to make it to work and workouts all week despite not having a voice and carrying around a nasty cough, I’ve finally thrown in the towel and called in sick to work today.

I’ve spent the morning drinking Dayquil like it’s OJ, attempting to answer work emails and stalking Twitter. This has resulted in both good things and bad things. Good- I think I’m about 4383 times closer to convincing the JD to sign up for a half marathon (the fact that it’s in VEGAS, and in far-off December, months after I am a CERTIFIED run coach, certainly don’t hurt). Bad- 1) First email I woke up to today was from Active Schwaggle, advertising 50% off registration fees for the Buffalo Marathon. Two weeks too late. Grrr.  2) I realized, while reading other race recaps and the like on blogs all morning that I do not have a race on the April calendar. And then I remembered that in January, I “vowed” to race once a month. Oops. Since I’m already feeling bleh, I figured now is as good a time as any, to see how I’m doing on the rest of those “resolutions” I made a few months ago…

1. Take better care of myself. This obviously can cover a very wide range of daily habits and longterm behavior, but in my marathonwining world, it basically encompasses these key things:

-Take rest days if my body is telling me they are necessary (i.e., if my foot screams out in pain every step I take, a rest day is necessary. I really should NOT push through a run just to get a few more miles on the books). Inadvertant success. Thank you, wedding season.

- Not overindulge (specifically, on sweets and vino. Yes, I posted a rebellious post on the joys over overindulgence and why they are okay, but I shouldn’t need to try THAT HARD to cut alcohol out of my system in the weeks leading up to a big race. It shouldn’t be such a vital part of my diet to begin with). Meh, this is a half win, half fail. I gave up sweets for Lent, so that took care of a good 40 days or so of OD’ing on sweets, and even moreso, on PB. But thanks to Easter and (again) wedding season, the balance is still, well, off balance. 

- Fix my stupid horrible posture. Sitting up straight, how hard can that be? Oh, you’d be surprised. I just straightened up while reading this. Does that count? Maybe if I put a post-it note in front of my face that says this…

- Learn NOT to suck at anything core-related. I want to be able to bang out 500 sit-ups and hold a plank for more than 5 seconds without cringing in pain. While watching the Biggest Loser last night I finally attempted to plank for the first time in months. It lasted an embarrassingly short time, but hey, I still have 8 more months…baby steps, my friends. Baby steps. 

2. Race once a month/run somewhere new once a month. This one gets the “/” because I’m hoping these goals can be combined in the direction of “race once a month somewhere new,” but I know my schedule/bank account may not always allow that to happen. Already, I was scouring the running websites for a decent race I could sign up for in January, preferably one that is not somewhere I’ve already been to and/or run in. I looked in Megabus, Boltbus, Amtrak and Metro North-friendly cities and could not really find much. So I’m doing the NYRR 10k this Saturday, just in case. If anyone knows of any other runs on the horizon in a reasonably nearby place [read: reachable from NYC by cheap/quick public transportation], please let me know. This also goes for Feb, March, and so on and so on. I think I failed in February because I registered for a run the same morning we were supposed to move out of our apartment. And that was on the last weekend of February, so I sort of blew my chances at rescuing that. I think I’m  doing okay otherwise though…#weshallsee.

3. Set a new PR. I’m not going into many specifics on this, because I don’t want to set myself up for a big fat fail. But I’d be happy in PR-ing any distance this year–5k, 10k, half marathon and (gulp, dare I say it?) the marathon. I’m pretty sure the latter won’t be happening as I shocked the hell out of myself with my first marathon time, and this years will be a much harder course, but pigs can fly, right? I have hardly run any races and those that I have run have not been fast. Again, it’s early. 

4. Do the flying pig half marathon (or full?) or at least DECIDE on which of my next “dream” half marathons/marathons will be up next in the queue. I’m dying to do the Flying Pig, ANY race in Disney World, ANY race in Hawaii, and newly added to the list, the Olathe Kansas Marathon, thanks solely to its awesome website: http://www.olathe.org/sports/marathon/. I’d also like to combine this goal, with my goal of traveling more to new places. Again, money is always a debilitating factor, but if I could make goals 2 and 3 work in conjunction with my age-old dream to visit places like Oregon, Montana, Hawaii and Australia, then its worth the money, right? It’s no Hawaii, but Buffalo is a place that I have not visited before! And I made a decision as far as my next marathon. I’m also trying desperately to convince Squiggs to sign up for Disney 2013 with me…so I’ll count this as a success. 

5. Figure out what the hell I want to do with my career/life. This could be about 9348042 posts on its own, so I won’t go into the details right now. But the bottom line is I’ve been a sissy for the last five years, specifically the last 5 months, and I need to just bite the bullet and make some major decisions. Biggest fail yet. Still have no idea. But I typed in the words “GRE” into Google the other day. Baby steps again??

And there you have it folks, the reason I tend not to make resolutions, because clearly I’m not good at keeping them. Or at least keeping them in full.

Now it’s back to the couch and by bottle of Dayquil.

Keep it classy this hump day.