Monday, January 28, 2008

i forgot

my second favorite moment was when, as we approached mile 5, a truck sporting a bullhorn drove by commanding "runners move to your left, the leader is passing on the right!  runners move to your left, the leader is passing on the right!"  and then he did.  The course was 2+ loops of Central Park and while we were still working on our first loop, the ultimate winner was heading into the last 3 miles.  He finished the race in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 33 seconds.  Yowza!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

manhattan 1/2 marathon

We're halfway there!  Today I ran my first "official" half marathon in Central Park.  30 degrees and cloudy.  My running buddy Amy and I hunkered down and just tried to run a consistently paced run.  (Note - I avoided the word "race")  We have a half marathon in the Bronx in two weeks so Coach Ramon advised us to treat this as just another long, EASY, run.  And we did GREAT!  We aimed for 10 minute miles and that's exactly what we did.  10:02min/mile to be exact.  13.1 miles in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 37 seconds.  Can't wait to see how different the Bronx race is.  

Thanks Amy for keeping me going!

My favorite moment?  The chuckles from the surrounding runners as I raised my fist and yelled "Damn cat!" at the cat statue on Cat Hill (the second time we had to run up it!)


Saturday, January 26, 2008

connection to the cause/ first comment

So this morning I went to GTS at 8am but only ran 2.5 miles.  Tomorrow is the big Manhattan 1/2 Marathon.  13.1 miles.  2 + loops in Central Park.  8:30am.  I'm as ready as I'll ever be.  

But this morning was also a Team in Training event called Connection to the Cause.  We all met at an intermediate school auditorium on the west side and got to hear from 3 of our honored teammates.  These are people who actually suffer from leukemia or lymphona and are TRAINING ALONG WITH US to participate in marathons, 1/2 marathons, triathlons, century rides, etc.  They are in remission or even currently undergoing treatment.  Amazing.  It was inspirational to hear them speak and even more touching to hear several people in the audience stand up and speak about their connection  to the cause - a father lost to lymphoma, a brother passing away and leaving behind a 10 year old and a 4 year old and a family forever changed, a best friend recently diagnosed with leukemia.  I cried (you knew I would) and became even more determined to hit that $10,000 mark.  Only $1700 more to go.  One more check arrived today.  Thank you John.

And thanks to Carlos for posting my first comment - (he (you) might actually be the only person reading this so it was inevitable ;)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Cats. Hills. Hate 'em.

Okay, I don't really hate cats, but I am allergic to them. But I hate hills.  And I really hate Cat Hill on the East side of Central Park just above 72nd Street.  Well, tonight was the first night of hill training.  Up Cat Hill and then back down 7 times.  SEVEN TIMES.  The scary part is, Coach Steve says tonight was not the hardest hill training session.  Omigosh.

On a side note - I sent out yet another round of fundraising e-mails and the response has been great once again.  I really think $10,000 is not out of the realm of possibility.  We can do it!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Cold!

Yesterday morning was a GTS (group training session in Team in Training speak.)  My training buddies and I are up to 10 miles - so that's what we did!  10 miles in about an hour and 42 minutes.  Our head coach, Ramon, gave us pace runners for the first time, so we stuck pretty closely with one of the mentors running at a 10min/mile pace.  Well, until I got all discombobulated about which loops we had run and headed off in the wrong direction.  But we stuck together and finished strong with a little over 10 miles for the day.  (Subconsciously, I think I just wanted to avoid Cat Hill the last half of the run ;)
It was the farthest one my running partners had ever run.  Woo hoo!

And today - it's cold.  Really cold.  I initially intended to run my prescribed 5 miles inside on the treadmill, but I just couldn't do it before work.  I'm not feeling the treadmill at all these days.  Which meant I needed to run outside.  Between shows.  During the super short break.  Always a challenge.  I started with my running pants under my jeans and made a quick top change at intermission.  Rip off the jeans during the second courtroom at the calling desk, restore the sneaks during graduation, grab my gloves and speaker hat after the "see you at 6:30" announcement and I'm out the door. 4:23pm start - not bad.  Ran up 7th Ave. to the park and did two lower loops plus a bit before heading back down 6th Ave.  23 degrees on the CNN billboard.  My legs were a bit chilly and it took about ten minutes to warm up my lungs.  But I got in 5.27 miles and even survived the shower in the nasty ladies room backstage.

Did I mention I'm running a half marathon next Sunday? :)

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

mile repeats

Test #1.  It's cold again.  We start just south of 64th St. on the west side and run as fast as we can.  For one mile.  We recover for a little less than a mile.  And then we do it again.  And again.  The key is to run as fast as you can and still be able run that pace the second and third time.  I did okay.  8:08 on the first pass, 8:15 on the second and 7:57 on the third.  I honestly think I ran faster on the third one because by that point, there was no one else running around me!  It felt like I was all alone, in the dark, in the freezing cold, in Central Park.  run!!!!

Monday, January 14, 2008

saturday's race

So Saturday was the Fred Lebow Classic 5 mile race in Central Park sponsored by New York Road Runners.  The race was our prescribed Saturday group training session (GTS) and I ran it with my running buddy Amy.  Here are the race stats:  
Total finishers: men - 2344, women - 2065, total - 4409
Weather: 44 degrees, 53% humidity, Wind Calm
Total women in my age range (40-44): 219

Here are my stats:
Finish time: 44:43
Overall Place: 2278
Gender Place: 715
Age Place: 79
Pace/Mile: 8:56
AG Time: 42:52 (This is your time if everyone were the same age!)
AG Gender Place: 672
AG %: 56.4% (I don't know how to explain this one, but the higher the better!)

That's my second race with a pace under 9 minutes per mile.  Let's see if I can improve that even more!

Friday, January 11, 2008

rest days

I am learning about rest days.  I am forcing myself to take rest days.  Right now the designated rest day is Friday.  It feels weird.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Effort Levels 1 & 4 and Brother Jimmy's

So last night's practice was a toughie - effort intervals across the 102nd St. transverse.  What does that mean?  Well, effort level one is just a little easier than my normal - chat with a running buddy - easy breathing pace.  I initially thought that would be hard.  It's hard to go slow! I was wrong. Because effort level four is run as hard as you can to the point where you can't talk and your breathing is labored.  Our crazy Spanish coach used the words "pain" and "discomfort" several times.  And he meant it.  

So we intermediates ran 1/2 the transverse at level four, and then recovered at level one for the other half.  We did that about 6 or 7 times (I lost count after 3).  I'm not gonna lie - it was hard.  Slow was not an issue for those second halves.  I think I may have even walked for several yards a couple of times. I felt old and out of shape and slow and.... well, you get the point.  But afterwards?  I felt kind of good.  Surprisingly. 

So I joined my mentor, Peter, and several other teammates for some pulled pork and fried pickles at Brother Jimmy's on the east side.  It was fun and I met a lovely Irish woman who had run the NYC Marathon with Team in Training and actually qualified for the Boston Marathon this year.  NYC was her very first marathon and she ran it in under 4 hours!!!!  Now that's inspiration.

Saturday is a 5 mile race in Central Park.  I'm curious to see how I do.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

The new year.

It's started with a bang and I'm amazed at how busy things are already. The training is going well and as I passed the twelve week countdown mark (this past Sunday) I started thinking about how far I've come.  The e-mail from the Kaiser Permanente 1/2 Marathon and 5K solidified everything.  That was my first race - a 5K in San Francisco.  I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to finish.  I had only recently run for a 25 minute period.  But I finished and finished proud.  And, as with most of my races, I headed off to work when it was over. The same will go for a 5 mile race this Saturday and my first official, run-with-other-people, 1/2 marathon in Manhattan at the end of the month. I can't wait.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year!


Happy new year all!  I just ran the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park.  Fireworks, costumes, noisemakers and all.  Thanks to Ron and Val for letting me join them.
Four miles done in 2008!  

This first run of the year put me over the 1200 mile mark with my  nike+.  You read that right, since January 16, 2007 I have run 1200.8 miles.  Crazy!