Now What?

Runner’s World sent an e-blast this morning that essentially mirrored one of my post-marathon write-ups regarding PMD, and essentially every other thought that’s crossed my mind since Nov.12th:

i've asked myself that question every day for the last 10 days. holy crap. it's been 10 days??

Apparently I’m not the only one who equates race-day excitement to Christmas morning. And post-race depression to the after-holiday haze.

And my being one of those people is the reason it’s taken me until 11:30 to get myself writing a post for today.

I spent a good hour or so covering the dirt paths of a quiet and overcast Central Park this morning, racking my brain for ideas of something to write about once I finished.

I didn’t do anything cool and NY-ish last night. I had a late night at work, plugged away for a bit on the elliptical and went home to have a bowl of cereal for dinner. Not exciting at all.

I wanted to try a spin class as part of my plan to “use this month of downtime to train in fitness areas outside of running.” Spin class was filled. Fail.

I banged out 6-ish miles on my favorite running route this morning. Big deal. I’ve done that a few times in the last two weeks. It wasn’t part of a marathon training plan so I can’t even mention Hal’s name when rehashing it to you. And you’re probably bored by the rehashing.  You probably don’t care or need to know that I was way overdressed for the warm weather this morning or that my glutes are still a little tight from The Marathon but overall, I felt comfortable, and good. And like my legs are getting back to normal and I really, realllly want to hit a distance higher than 6 in the near future.

So last week PMD left little hints that he was planning on making an appearance in my life in the near future. I acknowledged those hints for about 5 seconds, then pushed them aside and started gushing about my marathon again. If you want to see another picture of my medal, I’m happy to show you. Or perhaps you’d rather take a peek at my sweet marathon-worthy tshirt:

this shirt won me two awesome friends on Race Day. their names are larry and tracey. you knew that because i talked about them 24/7 last week and still hope they will stumble upon this blog some day and say hi to me.

But this week, despite my trying to convince him not to come–my NYC apartment is way too tiny, and my life is too busy since I finally have a real job and the holidays approaching–PMD moved in anyway. The jerk.

Luckily I’m only one more boring run around the reservoir (please note that my whining about my “monotonous” runs these days have nothing to do with how I feel on them or the route–I love them, just hate boring you), half a workday, and one very long and potentially frightening Chinatown bus away from the greatest holiday of all time with the most fun fam in the world:

raise your hand if YOUR thanksgiving includes props?

there are no words. but everyone’s welcome. so if youre interested in having the best turkey day of your life, let me know and book a chinatown bus ticket.

I’m 100% positive that this weekend will convince PMD that I don’t need him in my life. I have plenty of other things to make me happy. Like the people you see above, and many, many more. Not to mention…the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, pumpkin bread, delicious food, board games and of course, wine.

 

I plan to come back happy, refreshed and miles away from that nasty PMD. And I plan to come back with a gameplan on how I’ll tackle this next month of non-running focused fitness, but also a gameplan on how to get back up to 8 miles, and 10 miles and more. Not just for me, but for you reading about my recaps on it.  

 

In the meantime, for putting up with me and my PMD-afflicted self, you get the chance to win free delciousness. Friday’s giveaway is still on, and readers can continue to enter until it closes tonight. A winner will be announced in the morning!

 

Have a very happy Tuesssssday kids! I may not, thanks to the unwanted guest I’ve got, but I still certainly hope you do!!

On a Monday I am waiting

Tuesday I am fading and by Wednesday I can’t sleep….

Little Ashlee Simpson to start your morning! Because I think she’s an amazing singer and I love every one of her songs? No. Because I belted out this particular song during karaoke at the Grisly Pear on Saturday night and now it’s stuck in my head? Maybe….

But let’s back up a bit

Friday night after my first  work happy hour at the new job, the JD and I met my friend off a bus from Baltimore. A new megabus stop left her at Port Authority, right near where we already were, so we grabbed a drink then headed back to the UWS for a low-key night of catch-up.

Since this is the friend whom I credit for helping me become a runaddict, I knew she’d have her sneakers packed, and on Saturday morning we laced up so I could introduce her to the reservoir. I’m pretty sure there’s a big chunk of non-New Yorkers who have hit up Central Park during one visit or another, but don’t know much about Jackie’s beautiful dirt path because it’s so far north. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall morning and perfect for an easy run with an old friend. It was soooo strange passing runners from the NYRR Knickerboxer 60K (holy crap, 60k!!) and thinking how only a week before I had been one of those crazy distance runners, up on a Saturday morning running for hours and hours just for the fun of it. And it also made me a little sad. Good thing training starts for the National Half (which same visiting friend is also running) in just a few weeks.

And while our jog may have been a weee bit shorter than a 60k, we still kept the mileage up by spending the rest of Saturday walking all over the city. We hit up the holiday market at Union Square, checked out the dressed up windows and Lord & Taylor and eventually made our way up to Bryant Park for some more seasonal shopping. The JD met us there and we ended the day by introducing our guest to the gloriousness that is Wafels and Dinges, coupled with a hot toddie from the Southwest Porch. If you haven’t been it’s a small outdoor restaurant/bar in the SW corner of the park. There’s lots of comfy chairs and swings and best of all…heat lamps at every seat.

We met up with yet another college friend who was in the city and segued into Saturday night in the west village…where somehow or another, we wound up at the Grisly Pear, signed up for karaoke. I’d only done karaoke one other time in my life–after which I had sworn I’d never do it again–but this west village watering hole turned out to be a pretty good venue for the spot. The mic and stage (if you can call it a stage) were set up in the back room of the bar where lots of tables and chairs were set up. Most people were there with a group, and if one of their own wasn’t on stage, you didn’t have to worry about capturing their attention too much. We paired up girls vs. guys and had a blast belting out the words to silly pop songs like the aforementioned Ashlee number and Miley Cyrus’s Party in the U.S.A. It was an amazingly fun night, and a much-needed let-loose after all that serious marathon training

Sunday we took the crew to the neighborhood jaunt we take everyone–Tom’s. You may know it better as, “The Seinfeld Restaurant.” And the rest of the day was dedicated once again to traipsing all over the city. I played tour guide and pointed out all of my favorite running routes (Riverside Park and the rest of Central Park), we made a quick trip down to the new World Trade Center site and came back through Times Square, because what visitor doesn’t want to make a pit stop there?

After my friend caught the bus back to Baltimore, I still had some fun lined up. Thanks to the new job, there were two tickets waiting at the box office at Playwright Horizons, for me and a friend to see Maple and Vine. I grabbed dinner and drinks with my aunt at Reunion Surf Bar (SUCH a fun place) and the two of us headed down the street to catch the show, which is still in previews this week. It had a lot of zingy one-liners and was an overall clever and enjoyable story, but we weren’t happy with the ending. I won’t go into details why just in case you plan to see it

Now it’s time to settle in to this oh-so-short work week…I can’t believeeeee Thanksgiving is just days away!

Hope you have a very happy Monday!

And if you want to be made even happppier, enter to win Friday’s giveaway. What’s better than free deliciousness arriving at your door?

Happy Giveaway Day!

Happy Friday kids! And happy first-ever marathonwiner Giveaway day! More on that to come in a hot sec…but don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging on too long, as the work day has already begun and I’ve got to get a move on things so I can get out of here at 6 on the dot, and welcome my very good friend–you know, the one I credit for getting me into running to begin with–to NYC!

After a quasi-productive trip to the gym last night–I say quasi because I’m still just easing my way back in via my old “CT” moves on the ellip, and not really challenging myself, as I kind of want to do during this downtime before half marathon training sets in–my legs felt far happier than they have in all of the preceding post-race days.

So this morning, I headed back over to the park for a loop of the bridle path and reservoir. It was a little chilly at the start, but not nearly as bad as I expected. And thanks to my lovely new NYC marathon expo gloves and Lululemon jacket (snagged on sale last year), I was actually TOO warm by the end, and never once felt hypothermia settling into my nose or toes. It was just the perfect return to my favorite little run–right temps, right amount of sunshine, right distance and the bright yellows and reds on the trees surrounding the reservoir was just the right touch! But those vibrant fall colors mixed with the nip in the air reminded me that HOLY CRAP, November is almost over. How did that happen?

It’s so weird to me that this time one year ago, I was a belly full of nerves getting ready for my first half marathon. And this time on week ago, I was a bigger belly full of nervier nerves getting ready for my first marathon. Actually that’s not entirely true…my porta potty stops prove that I may have been somehow a bit more mentally prepared for the latter….

And this time one week from now I’ll be home the most hilariously fun family in the world celebrating the greatest and bestest holiday in existence. This Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving, I am enormously thankful for my family:

dear peacemaking pilgrims and indians, I owe so much of my happiness to you.

These are the thoughts I had on my mind for this mornings run. It’s a wonderful way to start the day. Glutes and hammies are still a little tight, but I credit that to my being very, very undisciplined when it comes to stretching. Something I REALLY need to nail down if I plan on keep up with this whole running thing…

Aside from those muscles being a little unwilling to unwind, I actually feel like my legs and body were FAR more weary in the days leading up to the marathon, which is a little strange to me. Has that happened to anyone else?

Anywho. I’ll keep this post short for you because like I said, have a fun NYC weekend that I must plan, in and around my workday. Woohoo for visitors!

And to make up for the time I’m NOT typing…and to reward you for putting up with all of my marathon talk this week…it’s time for the first-ever MARATHONWINER GIVEAWAY!

Hosted by the very nice people at Chobani yogurt. No really–they are the nicest. If you don’t believe me, read this.

Chobani essentially saved me from myself during marathon training, because during the peak of the peak, I was logging LOTS of miles on my feet–both in Central Park and at the restaurant I worked out. There were also late nights with long stretches of nothing to eat other than burgers and fries…or whatever I brought with me. To try to curb my training induced ravenous appetite and avoid piles of greasy french fries for dinner at 8:00 p.m., I brought Chobani to work. Basssically every single day. It was yummy. It was healthy. And most importantly, it held me over so I wouldn’t chow down on complete crap the night before a long run.

I know some people have their issues with yogurt. But even my cousin, whose food groups consist of plain chicken, plain burgers and plain pasta with a side of fruit, is officially hooked on this stuff.

And because they are so nice, Chobani is letting me send the case that I won in Lindsay’s giveaway, to my cousin. See how nice they are?

And now they will send another 12 pack of their yogurt, to one lucky reader. And they didn’t even request that you just read through all that propaganda. In fact, they didn’t even request that I write it. I just think their product is that good. So there.

So to be entered to win, do one or all of the following (each one earns an entry), and in the comments, tell me which one(s) you’ve done PLUS add something you love about Chobani orrrr to make me happy, something you are  thankful for this  Thanksgiving:

1. Follow Chobani on Twitter

2. Follow ME on Twitter

3. Like Chobani on Facebook 

4. Mention this @marathonwiner giveaway and @Chobani on Twitter!

Happy entering kids!

A random winner will be selected and announced on Wed. Nov. 23rd–the perfect Thanksgiving gift!

Have an awesomeeee weekend

Autumn in New York

I never actually saw that movie…was it any good?

Since moving here I have an even stronger desire to see every single movie that strongly features this awesome city. I’m a giant nerd and stumbled upon this clip posted by CentralParkBuzz this morning:

I had been dreading the idea of a run today. My legs are a bit achy–I think I’m finally feeling Friday’s big run (guess I’m not as baller as I thought) and I have a laundry list of things to accomplish before a second interview this afternoon. One of those things happens to be laundry. Which is probably by far, my absolute least favorite thing in the world to do. I’d rather wash dishes for two hours straight. I’m serious. I don’t know why, but I really really hate laundry.

Anywho. As I was saying, I was toying with the idea of skipping a run today, when I stumbled upon the video above. It’s a little cheesy, but it’s a lot awesome.

I love Central Park.

I tell people all the time, if it weren’t for living in this city and having that glorious park to rack up mileage in, I don’t think I ever a. would have wanted to run a marathon or b. would have been able to properly train for it. Or at least not nearly as easily. How many people have so many perfect running paths just dropped into their back yard? On any given day I can walk out my front door and turn right towards the hilly park, left to the nice, flat banks of the Hudson River, or if it’s too dark to feel comfortable on paths, I can just take to the brightly lit sidewalks of Broadway.

New York is awesome. And it’s an extra special kind of awesome when the sun is out and there’s the crisp, cool air of fall. Autumn in New York is what is motivating me to get my running shoes on today.

hello pretty bridle path. i love you lack of pavement. and how nice you are to my knees.

My goal is to do my usual 6.5ish miles along the Bridle Path and reservoir OR be brave and try to tackle an 8-mile run that consists mostly of the paved outer loop. We’ll see what I’m up for.

And autumn in New York likely will continue to motivate me from now until I board a plane for Richmond in a little less than three weeks.

I’m all over the place trying to decide when to get certain runs in this week between work and heading out of town for a very special weddddding on Thursday, a wedding that will leave me pretty wrapped up in festivities all weekend (read: with very little, if any, time for long running, or running at all).

Thanks for giving me the chance for a little gush on Central Park/New York lovin’. And in case the above video clip was a little too mushy gushy for your liking, here’s some other NY entertainment for your viewing pleasure: http://halloweenorwilliamsburg.tumblr.com/

Have a very happy Tuesday kids!!

 

- What is your favorite place to run in NY? I know there’s still so many I have to discover!

- What is your favorite season, and in what city/state? I am loving how gorgeous NY is in the fall, but don’t get me wrong–summer sun is still my absolute favorite!

Dinges DOES sound like a dirty word.

But it is in fact, quite the opposite. Dinges defines all of the most tasty and delectable treats you can add on top of a warm, freshly made waffle. At least that’s the definition used by Wafels and Dinges (wordpress, whhyyy can’t I put links in anymore? http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/index.html). Who fed me my breakfast-for-dinner last night.

To be more specific, dinges is apparently a Flemish word meaning “things” or “whatchamecallits.” Works for me. And to be more specific, works for my tum.

After a very long overdue visit to my gym where I did my normal elliptical/weight routine (and for the first time ever, took advantage of the fact that the gym has foam rollers on hand–my body appreciates the fact that I’m finally paying attention to it) I meandered up Broadway in search of the Wafels and Dinges wheels. I had (brace yourselves for this shock), a living social voucher for the Belgian food truck that was on the verge of expiration..aka, it technically expired yesterday, but due to the weekend’s closures they extended the deadline to today.

Never one to let a penny go to waste, I was determined to get my one savory, one sweet waffle and a drink deal no matter what it took. Apparently many other New Yorkers had the same idea in mind. Because I ended up waiting on the corner of 71st and Bway for an HOUR. For waffles. Who in their right mind does that? Penny pinches and waffle lovers I guess, because the line was out the wazoo. People grew impatient after the first 45 minutes or so, to the point where I actually witnessed a woman dropping f-bombs at the poor dudes manning the truck. F-bombs! Over waffles! And here I thought I lived in the friendliest city in the world. Guess some New Yorkers get overly touchy when it comes to grid-shaped dough smothered in spekuloos and other deliciousness?

What is spekuloos? I have no idea. I tried to find out by asking one of the super friendly (even after the f-bombing) men in the truck’s window and the reply was something along the lines of “butterflies and rainbows and sugar and love for your tummy.” Sounded good to me! So I brought home one savory waffle (covered in pulled pork, bbq sauce and cole slaw…yes, you read that right) and one savory (with said spekuloos–amazing, by the way–hot fudge, bananas and strawberries). To try to rid myself of some of the guilt that comes with eating two overflowing waffles for “dinner,” I had half of each and saved the other halves for the JD to try when he got home. We went to bed dreaming of dinges.

This morning I very begrudgingly woke up for a run (waffles are good pre-run fuel, right?) and reenacted the same script I roll through every morning: “Just go back to bed. You don’t need to run today. You don’t need to run any day, because who are you kidding? You are not a runner. You can’t run a marathon.”

I told myself that was all true, and all well and good, but marathon or not I had some pork and hot fudge to burn off, so I pulled on the sneaks and headed out the door.

For some reason, all of my runs lately have been realllly dragging for the first few miles. And today was no exception. I told myself as long as I did 4, I’d be happy and I’d be in line with Hal’s recommended distance for the day. I entered a branch battered Central Park (Irene didn’t do too much damage otherwise), at 96th street and pushed myself through one loops of the Bridle Path. If I had headed home from there I would have hit the 4 mile goal, but as is also the case with my runs lately, by the time I hit 3-4 miles, I finally fall into the groove. So I did another loop around the reservoir and headed back towards home. Once near home, I went beyond the groove and found my runner’s high (Oh, HELLO high, why can’t you visit first thing in the a.m. when I really need your company?) and tacked on one more hilly mile before calling it quits. All in all, around 8 miles covered this a.m. And heading into the 8th mile is when I reallly started to feel good and wanted to keep going. If I wasn’t already crazy late for work, I probably would have (as it is, I already had to text my boss and make up an excuse for being late. It was “the JD locked himself out of the apt and I had to bring him keys.” Thanks for being my scapegoat, babe!). Getting this second gust of wind at mile 8 was a confidence boost…I’m hoping I’ll get it again in a few weeks when I have to hit 15-16 miles (my longest/scariest distance to date).  

But 8 miles for this morning worked out perfect,  since I am going to a BYOB Painting Class tonight (you’ll get full details on that tomorrow morning…this post is already far too long) and expect I’ll want a shorter jog tomorrow morning.

-Thoughts on foam rollers? I’ve been toying with the idea of buying one for ages, but they are pricey. After getting to check it out at the gym last night, I’m thinking it could definitely be worthhh the splurge. On the other hand, maybe I could just use it when I can get to the gym?

- What’s your favorite food truck? I clearly, may have discovered mine last night.

Taking It and Running With It

Apparently I’m an extremist. And never really knew it (or admitted it to myself?).

I rarely have “one piece” of chocolate or “one cookie” or “one glass” of wine. I have 5. Of each (normal behavior?).

And when sites like Groupon and Living Social shower me with “deals” I scoop up every one in sight. Which is how the JD and I ended up out on the town yet again last night. A little diddy from BuyWithMe (purchased about 3 months ago) was on the verge of expiring…and by verge, I mean it was done-zo after midnight last night. So after his very long yet successful first day on the job (yay! he likes it), we met up back in my stomping grounds in Midtown east for dinner at Gyu-Kaku. We had been to the east village location a few years ago while visiting the JD’s sister, but I had forgotten how delicious and FUN this place is.

Anywho, Gyu-Kaku is a Japanese BBQ restaurant where you do all of your own barbecuing on a mini grill built right into the table! Not bad for a charcoal-loving couple that doesn’t even have access to a patio, much less a grill. After starting off with a massive bowl of edamame, we ordered steak, sausage and shrimp, alongside some zucchini, asparagus and garlic fried rice. A superbly satisfying meal that rang up at just $6. Thank you BuyWithMe.

I actually pretended to be a foodie blogger and took pictures. Here’s a little diddy, just so you get the idea:

why hello, meat lovers paradise. i promise veggies came later.

Chocolate, cookies, wine and coupons aside, I’m apparently also an extremist when it comes to running (I ran one…read it, ONE, half marathon and automatically decided to sign up for a full).

That, or I’m just a big bully (or billy…if Corky and Squiggs are reading this). To myself.

I met the RB at our usual spot to cover about 5 miles in the park this a.m. (the outer loop minus Harlem hills = lovely). Hal said to do 3, but as I’ve mentioned, the idea of back-tracking hurts me.

So I set out for 5. I think we actually covered a lot of that 5 at a really good pace. Not sure if it was the nicer weather or what, but we both thought we were cranking things out a little (a lot?) faster than usual. The RB felt so good she wanted to take on a bit more mileage at the end of the run by hitting up the reservoir (yes, this is the same RB who had just ran 8 miles the night before. She is hardcore). But since one of my biggest fears with marathon training is burning out too early, I “smartly” declined and peeled off for home.

And during my [considerably slower] mile run home, I bullied myself. And told myself I was a weenie for having left my RB.

So when I hit my corner I did not head back to the apartment. I continued on. For an extra mile. And ended up covering a smidge over 8 miles this morning. Oops. I’m just so antsy to finally hit some reallll long runs I think. Que sera, sera though. It felt good and I had plenty of time to stretch afterwards. When I made it back to the apartment the nice man who does a lot of maintenance work on our street told me I “have good condition” and I “do not need to worry.” I told him for now I might, but in a few months I am running 26.2 miles. And he just chuckled…haha.

Do I need to think about toning it down a bit and sync up with Hal’s plan rather than wait for it to catch up to me? Or can I chalk it all up to taking advantage of nice weather? Not sure, we shall see.

In other news. My dress for one of my oldest, bestest friend’s wedding finally arrived yesterday! Woohoo! And speaking of old friends, I’m meeting up with one after work tonight for the first time in aggeeeesss and I can’t wait!

*A very happy birthday to our fake-leo roommate who did not even ANNOUNCE that it was his birthday. But a little bird told me anyway. Hope its a great one!

And to all of my nonexistent followers:

- What do you recommend for a first-time marathoner: doing what feels right or doing what the “coach” says? When you are surrounded by seasoned runners in Central Park or addicted to blogs about badass athletes, it can be hard to figure out whats right for you.

- What are YOU looking forward to today?