Holy Wow

I finally took a break from the June Cleaver to-do list yesterday and made it out for a jaunt around the beautiful Central Park that I devoted a lot of gushing words toward. While my knees may have preferred the comfort of the bridle path, I opted to do the outer loop–ALL of the outer loop [read: Harlem Hills]. To the park and back adds about 2 miles so I finished up at 8ish for the afternoon.

From there, I scurried home to shower as fast as humanly possible, because I had yet another interview in midtown. This was round 2 for this particular company, but since I’ve made it to second and third rounds of interview approximately 4323643 times with no good news to follow, I certainly don’t have my hopes up about this one [but let's be real, I sort of do].

I thought maybe the achiness in my legs could have been from me finally sissing out after Friday’s long run/once again falling behind on strength training and stretching. And since I was in midtown anyway, and the JD alerted me he likely wouldn’t be home until midnight or so (really, the lawyer life BLOWS) I scooted over to the gym to hop on the ellip and pump some iron (go ahead, chuckle at the thought)!

So this morning when the alarm went off at the lovely hour of 6:30 a.m. and then again at 6:45 (I do so love the snooze button), it was difficult to drag my butt out of bed. Luckily, I had secured plans last night to run with Katherine. And the beauty of a running buddy is, as much as you want to be lazy, you can’t leave a running friend waiting. Oh but wait.

I pulled the ultimate runwithafriend fail, and rather than spring up an at ‘em, I texted Katherine attempting to get out of a run. Luckily, she is awesome. And agreed to postpone it until later in the afternoon when we both feeling a little more up for it.

I believe Katherine and I both deserve some epic pats on the back, because it’s really not easy to coordinate runs between two people who live on far opposite corners of Manhattan. We’re both a little crazy, and I was trying to squeeze in this weekends long run early and Katherine is upping her mileage base BEFORE she starts training for her marathon…in April. She is a nice running buddy to meet me for 10 miles when she really, really does not need to.

We finally met up around 1 p.m. at Engineer’s Gate (after I spent the morning continuing to clean and pack like a madwoman). The weather was–as it has been for a while now (knock on wood)–amazing. The perfect fall day, and the type of day I hope I wake up to on November 12th.

I felt a bit sluggish at first, but I believe thanks to spending the earlier part of the day dancing around the apartment in my compression socks and having company while running, I finally fell into a good stride. Katherine stayed with me through one and half 5-mile loops of the park and we distracted ourselves talking (as usual) running, blogging, life in NYC and (not always the usual) the wedding I’m attending this weekend

Circles around the park are much more fun when you continually pass by all of the lovely workers setting up bleachers and other necessities for the marathon in just a week and a half! I’m so excited I’m like a kid on Christmas morning, and I’m only spectating in this one!

excitement in the air or just noise from bleacher construction? all the same.

[Note: this photo was stolen from Shannon, who posted it on the NYC marathon FB page]

Funny enough, shortly after Katherine headed out of the park I bumped into none other than my new BFF Paul! This time we were running in opposite directions and [I believe] b0th nearing the ends of our respective runs, so we smiled and yelled some encouragement to one another and kept going. I can’t stress it enough, I love this city and all of its runners!

Since I’m still pretty sure Paul is far too busy of a business owner/father/marathoner/etc to ever read this blog, I do hope we’ll bump into each other again on a lunchtime run, because he is a nice man.

I headed out of the park after finishing my second loop and by the time I reached home had hit 12.65 about miles. I actually wanted to keep going because for the first time in a couple of days, I felt FANTASTIC. Holy wow, what a run! I felt refreshed and revived and ready to tackle more miles. But seeing how its taper-time and I still plan to knock out a few shorter runs over the weekend, I told myself that’ll do for today.

And while I was starving mid-run and have been plagued by taper hunger these days, I did not go home and pig out (get it? “that’ll do pig, that’ll do” okay. dumb babe reference). Instead, I feasted on a lunch of nuun (turns out it actually tastes okay if you only do a half tablet at a time) chased by a bowl of brussels, carrots and hummus (welcome back healthy Katie! your body has missed you) and some more water/nuun. Yum!

It’s on to tackle the to-do list and the day/stalk my email to see if I’ve been hired anywhere (fingers crossed).

Next time I talk to you, I’ll be running around Richmond (both in my sneaks and on wedding errands) gearing up for an awesome wedding weekend!

Happy hump day kids! Get jazzed about something today!

Oh hi. I ran 20 miles today.

That’s what I’m going to say to every single person I come across for the rest of the day. And tomorrow it will change to “Oh hi. I ran 20 miles yesterday.” And so on, and so on. Because guess what…I RAN 20 MILES TODAY! Actually, according to MapMyRun I did 21.58, but who’s counting? Oh, I am. Because if 20 is cool 21.58 is 1.58 times cooler!

Word vomit over. Let’s recap correctly.

I didn’t get home from work last night until about 1 a.m. and it was straight to bed. Rather than attempt a big run this morning off zero sleep, I decided to forego the alarm and let myself wake up when I wake up. Unfortunately, I had a lot of pre-marathon nightmares dreams going on and didn’t sleep that well anyway. Oh, well.

I rolled out of bed a little after nine and was pretty hungry since last nights work dinner was a simple PB&J. I decided to risk switching things up a bit and rather than doing my normal pre-run snack of a nature valley bar (or two) or a honey stinger (keep forgetting to buy) smothered in peanut butter, I lathered up two Van’s low-cal, low-fat waffles instead. They were filling enough and I figured had just about the same amount of fueling ability.

After letting that settle a bit and doing some half-assed attempt at stretching (my legs were still super sore and tired from lots of running/working/etc) I laced up and headed out the door!

The plan was to do four of the 5-mile loops around Central Park (102nd street driveway looping around the southern tip and back up). During the first 10 miles/2 loops all I could think about was how much more enjoyable that distance was two days ago with Katherine. However I got myself through it mentally by reminding myself we covered that distance in the rainnnn, so surely today–a beautiful (albeit slightly overcast) fall day in NYC–two loops would be a piece of cake!

Cake? Maybe not. Slightly enjoyable red velvet cake flavored yogurt or those low-fat dark chocolate decadence jello pudding cups? Maybe.

About halfway through my third loop (this is maybe mile 14?) a fellow runner strided up alongside to make a bit of conversation regarding my compression socks. Do they work? He wanted to know. I told him the same thing I tell people about the knee bands I occassionally wear: I’m not so sure that they do anything, but in my head, they are life-savers.

Compression sock question answered and fellow runner stayed in stride. And here is where we get to the part of my 20+ mile recap where I gush about HOW MUCH I LOVE NEW YORK. Where else, other than Central Park, do you just make friends with other sweat /self-induced pain lovers? My new bff (his name is Paul) was out on a lunchtime run as part of his taper period before the NYC marathon in two weeks. This is his 5th time running the race after about a 3-year hiatus. And from mile 14-about mile 19, I got to pick his brain, chat marathon training and gush to each other about our mutual love of Central Park. I doubt Paul reads my marathonwining blog (afterall, with a full-time job in Manhattan and a family out in Jersey he’s a very busy man…and yes, I gleaned this information and much more somewhere between miles 17 and 18), but Paul, if you’re out there, please know you saved my run today, and without you I may have never ever finished this distance. You Paul, are an angel.

Not only did my new friend Paul help me through some particularly tough miles, he encouraged me to switch up my plan of four 5-mile loops, and together we tackled HARLEM HILLS. This came at about 17 miles in…when I had NO desire to climb any unanticipated hills. But we did it. And we did it at what I’d call an impressive pace for mile 17!

We both let out giant pants sighs of relief coming back down around the west side and stayed together over the 72nd transverse. From there we exchanged names, thanked each other for the company and gave giant high-fives and well wishes for our respective marathons. Paul headed back south to the office, and me back north toward home.

I pulled out of the park and walked the mile or so back to my hood–only after lots of internal turmoil debating whether or not to jog it. My conscience finally told me 20 is enough to be proud of. And if I broke my ankle at any point after that just because I wanted to feel a little more like a badass, I would be a very, very unhappy (non)marathonwiner. I dragged my toosh back home, but not before stopping at Westside market and getting myself the BIGGEST salad known to man, a bottle of raspberry-lime HINT water annnnd a mini chocolate-chip muffin loaf…just in case As it turned out, the waffles were wonderful pre-run fuel, because I accidentally forgot to fuel as much as I should have during the run. In fact, while Paul and I discussed our favorite fuel tactics and failures (more so in my case, as I the marathon is three weeks away and I still don’t know what my plan is), I assured him that I had already had 2 vanilla GUs. But when the run was over and I was digging through my gear belt for my cell (so I could text everyone under the sun about my accomplishment), I found two full GUs and only one empty one. Oops. Told you guys, I really think I black out when I run and forget MANY, many details of many, many miles. Better luck next time? Oh wait, next time is THE MARATHON.

In the meantime, taper begins NOW. Which means I’ve got the next few weeks to carbo-load (no problem there), stalk the marathon website/course elevation chart/everything else related to Richmond, figure out EXACTLY what I will be wearing/consuming/every other detail of raceday overanalyzing, and probably lose so much sleep due to nerves that I’ll spend the month of December catching up. Good plan?

Happy happy Friday kids, have an excellent weekend!

- Are you running NYC? I’m getting so pumped to watch everyone!!

- What’s your max mileage/taper period like? I feel like after doing 15/18/13/18/14/20…three weeks of taper maxing out with a 12 mile run just isn’t enough before the marathon. I KNOW it is, but it FEELS different. Gah!

- Any other exciting weekend plans? My favorite running friend and the JDs sisters are all in the city this weekend Good times!

Clicking of the Heels

I want to jump right to the heel clicking, but I’ll bring you completely up to date first.

So, as I mentioned was likely going to happen on Friday, it was a gorgeous day and I absolutely, 100% could not stop myself from going for a run. In fact, it was the first time in a while that I just got excited at the very thought of lacing up the sneaks and going wherever I felt like going. It was that kind of day. And that’s what I did…laced up the sneaks and just let the sun direct me.

It ended up directing me through my normal loop around the upper bridle path, then reservoir. And I thought that was going to be it. But then I somehow ended up down around Columbus Circle. Which brought my little “do whatever feels like in the pretty sunshine run” to an end at about 7.something miles. Oops.

Afterwards, I was still on a high from the happy fall weather and headed down to the Highline for some moseying (I hadn’t been since they reopened the second half and wanted to check it out). Just as the mobs of tourists and NYers whose lives I want (because they had nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon than putz around some elevated old railroad tracks) escalated to the point of breaking my patience, the JD called. He and some other very important lawyer friends were having a post-workweek drink down near Wall St., so I hopped on a downtown train to join…aka, meet the dudes who the JD spends 90% of his waking hours with. From there, it was a low-key Friday evening with some order in Thai (it turns out, tofu pad thai is not a bad pre-run meal), a documentary on the tube and an early bedtime.

Saturday morning I was up early–but not nearly as bright and early as is required by most NYRR races, as the gun time on Grete’s Great Gallop was not until 9:00! It was nice getting to sleep in a wee bit (if you consider 7 a.m. on a Saturday sleeping in…), but weird getting started on a long run at such a “late” hour.

Unfortunately, I woke up just not feelin’ it. Not feeling the thrill that often accompanies a good race or a long run. I’m not sure why, as I had really been looking to this race for lots of reasons…

- I have conquered a distance of 13.1 multiple times over the last few weeks, and I think it’s actually become one of my favorite distances.

- I was still riding a confidence-boosting high from the previous weekend’s 18-miler.

- It was my first officially timed run since my first-ever half marathon, last November.

But as I made my way down Broadway and across Central Park Saturday morning, all I kept thinking to myself was, “well, you don’t really need to race this. Just finish it, and call your long run for this weekend done.” The same negative/sluggish/IwishIwasstillinbed thoughts were roaming through my mind even as I lined up in my corral (okay, it wasn’t mine, I snuck ahead a few because I just get so antsy!) and faked a few last-minute stretches.

The gun went off (after a lot of inspirational words about the legendary Grete, who the run was in honor of) and I had pepped up a bit, and just said “sera sera”…no real plans to race the two loops or walk ‘em, just get them done and see what happens.

The first loop went down as a loop of the park normally does for me–a bit slow at first, with a small pick up at the end. Unfortunately, with the way this race was laid out, Harlem Hills hit toward the end of the loop. By the time I got down them and reached mile marker 6, I was ready to pop a GU–my first vanilla GU since my first half marathon, at that. I took it down while walking through a water station and couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed the taste of the weird ooey gooeyness. No wonder I stalked up on two boxes of them in the months leading up to marathon training. Now if only I had actually used them before now!

After walking the water station and drinking down the runners version of a can of spinach, I hit a little lull and thought, “oh shit, maybe I do need to walk the entire second loop.” Coming down around the lower east side of the park was obnoxiously and painfully slow, but as I rounded past Columbus Circle and started back up the west side, the spinach kicked in, and Popeye Katie was ready to pump out some miles. I felt like I was flying from mile 7 all the way through mile 10! Again, NO WONDER I had invested so much confidence in vanilla GU. It’s got the touch! Again, unfortunately mile 10 hit right at the end of the Harlem Hills, and the gu’s magic was starting to wear off. I didn’t have any others on hand (you know me and the poor fueling techniques) so I fell to mind games to get me through the last 5k.

I had a great time people watching and having fake conversations with said people in my head. For example, to the woman running in khaki capris, complete with leather belt and tucked in collared shirt: are you late for an appointment or is this your favorite form of exercise apparel?

To the man (in race bib), donning jean shorts (jorts, if you will…): oh wait, I have no words.

To the gal decked out in a banana costume handing out bananas: you are both adorable and amazing. if i had any real fueling strategy i may have grabbed one of your lucious handouts.

To the non-Grete Galloper out for a morning run in the opposite direction and calling the thousands of half-marathoners (squished to one side so runners like himself can still hit the pavement) “assholes” for not squishing to the side enough for his liking: really buddy? REALLY? if you are like 90% of other runners and use the sport to de-stress and make all right in your world, i’d HATE to see you without a pair of Brooks on your feet in the confines of anything other than the Outer Loop.

To the 5445234 other runners going counter-clockwise and offering high-fives and smiles and “you’re looking strong”‘s: I LOVE YOU. you make me proud to be a runner. warm and bubbly and fuzzy happy proud. thank you for your cheerfulness.

And so I found myself at mile 12.

And did some quick math and realized that if I put some pep in my step I might actually beat my previous half time. I took a deep breath. Cringed for a hot sec, and then went balls to the walls and actually tried to power through/sprint the last 1.1 miles of the race. As I neared the finish line and saw that no matter what, I was hitting the finish line in under 2 hours (my one and only record time racing this distance), I actually did the arms-up-in-the-air, glowing smile, mini-leap over the finish line that I always see other people do in their finish line photos (and that I’m usually very jealous of because my own depict me with a grotesque frown on my face looking like I’m returning home from a grueling game of football with NFL stars who don’t go easy on weak, non-football playing girls…during a famine, in the Sahara. yes, usually my photos are HOTT). I’m not sure I really clicked my heels (you know, I tend to black out on big runs), but if I didn’t I’m sure I would have wanted to. This was the first time I ever set out with a goal (granted, the goal was set days prior and I sort of ditched it minutes before the race) and achieved it. And I was elated.

oh, now i know what all the hype is surrounding "PRs". shaved 5 minutes and 30 seconds off my half time!!!

[Note: AND it was my final race in the 9+1 for the 2012 Marathon. Mission=complete!]

That smile stayed planted on my face (I did put my hands down though) all through my very long 9.5 hour shift that followed and into yesterday morning…where I finally did that rest day I had been meaning to do. And by rest, I mean very easy cross-training. Because the JD and I rented some bikes and had an awesome 15-mile ride all the way up the Hudson River and back down, through Central Park to the UES for lunch, and back to the bikes rental owners just below Columbus Circle. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day, and the perfect end to a very exciting weekend.

hello hudson. sometimes i like you even more when i'm on wheels.

whatup GW bridge?

And today? Oh, today I’m REALLLY getting some much-deserved rest. In the form of my FIRST EVER MASSAGE. It’s of course a coupon I purchased on some social media site or other (ha, so were the bike rentals), but its an hour of time dedicated solely to these lovely limbs that have been carrying me through marathon training. I’ve actually heard massages can be scary–sometimes even painful–but I know my body will thank me later!

Happy Monday kids!

- How was your weekend?

- Have you ever had a massage? Thoughts?

- Tell me your first PR story!

on that time I ate 18 miles for breakfast….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Puddle Jumpin

I guess I can’t complain about all this rain, seeing as how I was fortunate enough to get lots of sunshine while in Richmond for Labor Day. While there, I knocked out another half marathon (sort of by accident), a 4.5-mile jog the next day and randomly covered 8.75 miles on Sunday morning. I almost reached 40 miles last week. Sooo, that was pretty cool.

Then, for the first time in a long time (maybe since I started marathon training), I did what Hal told me to do. And took a total rest day on Monday. And I mean TOTAL. Because I was in RVA and not NYC, there wasnt even any mileage covered by walking to the store or up and down our apartment stairs. Instead, I spent the morning shopping and spent the afternoon posted up by the pool. And it was delightful.

Then, due to the drive back to NY and lots and lots of intimidating rain (which is odd, because just two weeks prior the rain didn’t stop me from hitting the pavement), I took another total rest day yesterday. TOTAL. Complete with lots of sweets and wine. Oops. [Sidenote, I've officially decided that to live up to my blog's name, it's only right that I indulge in a few glasses of wine here and there, because this is about marathon running WHILE wine fueling. Or something like that. Or at least that's what I tell myself when the little devil on my shoulder kicks of the halo-d Katie and says "uncork that bottle now!"]

So today, in an attempt to be a good student and really listen to Mr. Hal, I ran yesterdays 3 miles. And today’s 7 miles. And just a smidge more during the cool down. Put me in coach! I’m ready to play!

Was it stupid to do like 11 miles today? Yes and no. I’m still early enough into training that one extra rest day couldn’t have killed me. Then again, my legs had two full rest days behind them, and I took it slow out there. So, all in all, not so bad. The weather was perfect for sweeping around Central Park.There are a lot of interesting runners in the park midday. I saw a man decked out in hot pink spandex kicking a pink soccer ball around the loops, saw a man in street clothes sprinting through the grass with what appeared to be a small tire under his sweatshirt and another old dude–kudos for being out there!–doing JillianMichaels-esque high knee skipping along the bridle path. Not the normal 6 a.m. crowd I’m used too, but made for some great people watching.

I covered the 5 mile loop, 4 mile loop (careful both times to avoid the Harlem Hills) and it was misting the whole time which kept it nice and cool. The heavy rains didn’t really hit until just as I finished up and was ready to do some walking to shake it out. Thank you Mr. Raincloud, for postponing your visit!

Before I head back out of town Monday I realllllllly want to try to make it to both yoga (I have 3 Living Social-given classes that expire next week!) and the gym–I neeeeed to reconvene with that heavenly foam roller AND do some strength training. MAKE ME STICK TO IT. YELL AT ME. TELL ME FIRST TIME MARATHONERS DONT CROSS THE FINISH LINE WITHOUT DILIGENT YOGA. I’ll know you’re lying, but I’ll feel sissy and scared enough to listen to you. Great, thanks in advance for that.

Now I’m off to stretch, contemplate spending money I don’t have on my own foam roller, and spend this rainy day catching up on True Blood. Before you scoff, go watch the first season straight through and try and tell me its not addicting.

Have the happiest of hump days kiddos!