Tuesday, February 26, 2008

rain

I'll admit, it was incredibly tempting to skip practice tonight.  But I had promised myself that I would not miss another Tuesday night practice!  I argued with myself the whole way there - it was raining although not terribly cold (thank goodness!)  I only really started feeling good again in the last few days - that flu is nasty and holds on hard.  Was I being stupid?  Running in the rain?  And then, as I decided not to get on the first super packed 96th Street crosstown bus and wait for the next one, I started worrying.  One of my running buddies called to say that she wasn't go to make it.  Would anyone else be there?  And then, when the next bus came, it was super packed as well and I realized that 96th Street was actually closed and the bus was going to have to go up and around the top of Central Park.  It was about 6:15 - should have been fine.  Practice starts at 6:40.  But noooooo - the traffic was terrible and to make it worse, we got to East 106th Street and the bus turns to go east!  Nooooo!  I got off at 106th and Madison at 6:35pm.  Urban Athletics, our meeting place, is at 92nd and Madison!  

So I hoofed it downtown - wondering all the way if A.) anyone would still be there - and 2.) if anyone showed up in the first place!  Well, the answers were yes and yes.  So I dropped my bag, found my buddy, Amy, and we headed over to the park with our other running buddy Whitney. And then we ran hills in the rain.  102nd Street on the west side up to 105th and back.  In the rain.  Yuck.  Did I mention the rain?


But here's the kicker - middle of my third recovery I turn my right ankle on one of these:


Stupid prickly things.  Luckily, Amy catches me.  I sit out 1/2 a hill and do some ankle rolls.  It's fine now, but seriously?  Tripping on a prickly tree dropping? Just ridiculous.

So I did 5 1/2 hill repeats.  A little wussy for my intermediate status, but the whole run was about 5 miles and I felt pretty good considering how sore I have been since my 16 mile run.

And I can't wait for my first Wednesday run in more than 3 weeks!  Hopefully it won't be raining.  I can safely say I have experienced rain running and know how it would feel if, by some chance, it were to rain during the Paris Marathon.  I don't need to do it again.  Really.

Monday, February 25, 2008

16 miles

This morning I ran 16 miles.  All by myself.  And then I went to work and did two shows. I have one word for you - "Ow."  That is all.

Monday, February 18, 2008

fundraising

Well, the new fundraising goal has been reached - and exceeded.  I can't tell you how this makes me feel.  I didn't start this marathon endeavor with raising money for a worthy cause as my main impetus.  I started it because I wanted some training.  The fundraising was just a means to an end. But I couldn't be prouder of the fact that I have raised over $10,000!  $10,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  And I couldn't be more humbled by the generosity of the people in my life.

thank you thank you thank you

Sunday, February 17, 2008

better pic!


So one of my running buddies, Meryl, took a fab pic of the GWB.  iPhone vs. camera phone? - no contest.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

George Washington Bridge

Today I ran for the first time in a week and a half.  Our group training session involved running over the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.  Here's a lousy cell phone pic from the New Jersey side.  It was pretty beautiful.  I was pretty pathetic. :(  8 miles instead of 16. Damned flu!

Monday, February 11, 2008

it's for real

Day 5 of the flu and I found this while going through the piles of paper overtaking my apartment.  It's in French.  It's official.  It's my registration for the Paris Marathon.  I'd better find a safe place to put it.  Where I can find it again. :)

Saturday, February 9, 2008

foiled

sadly, i will not be running in tomorrow's Bronx 1/2 marathon.  I have been foiled by a nasty case of the flu that has kept me out of work for 3 days now.  I'm going stir crazy and couldn't be madder that I won't run tomorrow.  I was looking forward to really racing.  I'm thankful that I did the Manhattan 1/2 two weekends ago, but this was a real group training session with a race plan.  Oh, well.    

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

the one at which the coach implies i'm old

Hills #3.  That was last night's workout.  I'll admit I sort of forgot about the (damn) Cat even though we were running back and forth up Cat Hill to Cleopatra's Needle.  The theme was "cresting the hill."  Make your way up the hill at a particular effort level and then be able to maintain that effort level once you reach the flat portion of the course.  In other words, don't push so hard up the hill that you don't have any energy left when you get to the top.  At one point Coach Ramon yelled out as I was passing, "That's right, show the young one's how it's done!"  Considering my two main running buddies are 10 and 15 years younger than I am AND I think I'm actually a year older than Ramon, I heard, "You're old!"  Alright, it did make me run harder.

We were all a little crabby and very annoyed by the 2 (i think) other groups that were training on the hill at the same time. Except they were running in ENOURMOUS packs.  We would be trudging along down the hill during recovery and suddenly 50 or more people would swarm around us. 
Kind of like those car tests where they rush smoke around cars to demonstrate their streamlined designs.  Except it's not smoke, it's people with elbows and flailing feet pushing you into puddles. And let's not even talk about the trauma of trying to change direction as they kept heading south at 72nd St.   If I had tried to signal a turn with my arm, I could have knocked a couple out.  Hmmm - maybe next time. 

We ran for nearly an hour.  But then we had a great stretching session with Coach Steve.  He's my favorite stretch leader because he's thorough. He doesn't let you rush through it.  It's good.

On a side note - I'm only $1180 from my $10,000 goal with 8 1/2 weeks to go.  That's pretty darn good.  Thank you all.

Monday, February 4, 2008

milestones


There they are.  25 race bibs.  Since February 4, 2007 I have run in 25 races in 2 states.  24 in NYC and 1 in San Francisco.  26 races total if you include the Paris 10K.  That's one every two weeks average!

And here's the fun part:

This is my number from the 
San Francisco 5K on 
February 4, 2007.  
My finish time was 35:52.  
A 5K is 3.1 miles.





This is my number from
the New York Road Runners
Gridiron Classic, yesterday,
February 3, 2008, in
Central Park.
My finish time was 34:55.
It was a 4 mile race.                       
                                      



                                    


You read it right:  yesterday I ran a race that was .9 miles longer than my first race ever - and I ran it FASTER!  Woo hoo!  I think that's pretty cool.

Carry on.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

long runs

Back to yesterday:
8am group training in Central Park started with the Paris group branching off and running on the outside of the park.  Great, in that I got to meet a lot more people training for Paris; sad, in that I didn't get to run with my pals Amy and Meryl.  Great, in that there was tons of new scenery (garden on the northeast end of the park anyone?); sad, in that we were forced to run reaaaally slow with Coach Ross (not the "with Coach Ross" part, but the "reaaaally slow" part.) It's all about forcing yourself to hold back in the first part of the race - save your energy so that you can pull it out at the end.  I get it, but boy is it hard.

We ran on the outside of the park so that we could experience a different surface - something closer to the cobblestones of some Paris streets.  I feel I have a little leg up on this one, as the 10K I ran in Paris in October took us over cobblestone quite a bit.  The pavers around the park were a little less "cobbly," shall we say.

So I finished the outer loop with the group,  then ran the inside lower 5 with a smaller group, and then the lower loop again by myself.  I finished 1/2 of the last mile forcing myself up and down  Cat Hill (damn cat) and managed to run into Amy and Meryl as we headed in.  14 miles total and I felt pretty good.

By the end of two shows, however, I was exhausted.  My muscles felt okay, but boy was I tired. So off to bed when I got home - only to get up at 7:30 today for the Gridiron Classic 4 mile race.

More on that tomorrow.  Important milestones in detail then. :)


Saturday, February 2, 2008