Uptown Girl

As I write this I'm on my way to chicago. Game time, go time, whatever you want to call it is less than 48 hours away! The weather? Less than ideal - the latest had potentially record high on sunday (84 for those wondering). I thought the chances of a second hot marathon was nil considering last year! At least I've run a marathon in heat and humidity AND trained in it.

No matter what I'm looking to enjoy every minute. Isn't that, in the end, what we all run for?

My trip to the airport was exciting. The GCP was a parking lot so my cabbie took a super alternate route. This had me on the brink of complete sickness! Upon arrival I had the joy of being reminded we pay for checked luggage now. This was followed by waiting in the longest security line around. Yeah airports are more like trying to not have a stress attack before flying out!

As I got on the L, AH informed me the women for obama convention was taking place at our hotel this weekend!! Obama, joe biden and oprah are all scheduled to speak. Neat! Then, while walking around, ben folds was giving a free live concert at the apple store. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Today it is off to the expo and time to stay off the feet!

So I will see you at the finish line!

I think not.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are confirmed as a registrant for the 2009 ING Miami Marathon or Half-Marathon!

Nothing wrong with a trip to Miami at the end of January:)

Chicago Weather:








This would be a beautiful thing!

Wow I've been a bad blogger.  Things have been pretty busy around here but here we go.  Last weekend I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run strictly as a marathon tune up.  Unlike 2 years ago, there would be no attempt at shattering the PR today.  One cool aspect of this race is my dad's friend has run the race every year since it's beginnings (31st year in a row!).  As such, he gets VIP treatment for himself and friends.  We were able to hang out in the area with the elites before the race and have our own personal baggage check!  Sweet!  I ran into nyflygirl at the corrals and AH was there too.  I told nyflygirl that she should finish way ahead of me today;-)  I was looking to run 1:45-1:47.  The national anthem started and all of a sudden it was like "wait, those aren't the words."  Whoops!  Finally we were off.

Immediately, within the first mile, my stomach started to give me issues.  I just thought it was nerves or something and just needed to run it out.  By mile 4 I was still feeling pretty uncomfortable but continued to ignnore it.  As we got to the Park Drive I started to look for a pit stop as I knew there was no way I could finish this half without stopping.  It was that BAD.  Finally just passed the 10K point I made my pit stop for 2.5 minutes or so.  I felt a bit better and knew I'd be able to finish the race.  Given the stopping, etc I made my new goal sub 1:50. 

I started back up and ran a very controlled 8:10-8:15 pace.  Final time: 1:49:21 with the pit stop.  Not too shabby.    The photo is from the Ben Franklin Parkway - just another walk in the park home;)  I've started to utilize the hat again as a repellent from sweat in the eyes.  I'm thinking that will happen for the marathon too.  Yellow cap anyone? ;-p

Since the last time I've also finished up two more 20 milers and a 55 mile week.  One twenty miler is shown on the left.  We ran from Columbus Circle, around the tip of Manhattan, over the Brooklyn Bridge to Prospect Park, a lap of Prospect Park before heading back and ending on the LES.  As usual, a training season would not be complete with me wiping out somewhere.  I managed to wipe out on a sidewalk in Brooklyn and now sport a lovely wound on my left knee (good job by the photographer not to get that knee in the photo!).   It was nasty humid with essentially 100% humidity as when we got to the tip of Manhattan you could not see Brooklyn!  It was eerie as a cruise ship was coming in it looked like it was coming from nowhere out of the fog.  Surreal.  Finished that run in a shade under 3 hours. 

Yesterday, for my final long run I joined a group for the bridges run.  The first four miles I realized it was definitely going faster than I needed to be at.  I was running closer to MP then LSD pace! I dropped back a group and feel great today.  Ran another solid 7 today.

Two weeks to go.  Unbelievable.  So far the weather is good but we all know what happened last year in Scranton and Chicago (both turned into Steamtown Marathons literally!).

With the big day coming sooner than later, I've fallen into a bit of a lull the past couple weeks.  More from outside factors than me but it's kept me from some of my runs.  It may be a blessing in disguise as I feel fresh and ready to dive back into training for the last month and  a half.  I look at last night as day 1 as official back into training mode.  Just take a look...


This is the time I kept my watch on.  My route: I ran from Midtown down to the 14th street area to meet a friend.  Once he joined me we ended up doing 7.29 miles of tempo at 7:56 pace!  I felt pretty good and it was just what the Dr. ordered to get me back into the swing of things.  Overall I put in a little over 12 and that's after 15 on Sunday which felt like poo.  It's amazing how you can feel a zillion times better depending on the day! 

Yesterday was the Team Championships once again.  My last race as a 27 year old - which also happened to be my first one last year:-p  Anyway, I had been plagued by a stomach virus the past few days and barely ate anything before the race to make sure I didn't have any issues during the 5 miles:-p  So after the men did their tour of the park I headed over to the corrals and saw nyflygirl there.  As we chatted, all of a sudden the horn went off and we were off!

I knew this was not going to be a great race by any stretch for me - no where near my 36 minute range the past couple years.  However, I ran with EV and we kept a pretty stable pace the whole time.  EV has a tendency to take a race out 30-40 seconds too fast in the first mile and completely collapse by the end.  She stuck like glue to me and ended up running close to her 5k time in a 5 miler (I asked her if she knew what that meant;-)).

Anyway the times:
Mile 1: 7:29
Mile 2:  7:24
Mile 3:  7:40
Mile 4: 8:04 - Cat Hill and nearly choked on the water.  Oops!
Mile 5: 7:30

As you can see from the times, I never did go into the afterburners.  With the exception of that sad mile 4, I had a fairly consistant race.  Not spectacular, but a solid run to put in the books.  With just 8 weeks til Chicago, it's time to get those last few weeks of hard core training in.

So today, it was a 14.5 miler to PB&Co!  Mmm... 

Anyway, time for sleep - gotta get up at 5:30am to head to VA for work.  Lovely way to start the week and spend your birthday, no:-)

Today marked my first 20 miler of the season. With the urging of flygirl, I signed up as a pacer for the Long Training Run in the park. As it had been all week, the humidity was 70-80% and temps near 80. Gross. However, Mr. Sun stayed in his clouds!

I volunteered to lead the 9 min/mile group and was placed in the third tier of them. It actually worked out for the best as later I found out how the earlier groups became rabbits. How good am I? Try 8:59 pace for 20. Not bad, right? I felt really good and I'll be curious to check out my official stats on my computer (I'm in Philly right now). I wore my heart rate monitor and I have a feeling it never rose too high as I was able to maintain conversations the entire time.

Why are my pace skills for sale? I was asked by at least 5 people if I would be at the LTR in September as well! Who knew? I had promised that I would be able to get them to the finish line safely and those that did 20, we would be as fast as our slowest person. I'm really glad I had a good run as it erases last week's 13.1 crappy run.

With tomorrow's run I'll have put in 54 miles this week - crazy.

Oh, I think I can announce the true reason I was exhausted for the half. I was actually up in Providence, RI taking a certification exam for my job. I'm happy to announce that I've passed the exam and now have fun letters after my name (RCDD®:)

After a hellish week at work which included an end of the week trip to Rhode Island, I was not in the mindset to PR.  Add to it a super sticky Sunday and yes, this has turned into a long training run.  Expensive training run but still fun.  According to NYRR, the starting temp was 70 with 90% humidity.  Awesome:)

So the run.  I got to the race around 5:45 since corrals shut down at 6:30am supposedly.  As I left, thunder clapped, lightning lit up the sky and rain fell.  Just what you want to enjoy at an absurd hour on a Sunday. Hmm...  As I arrived, police were directing people away from trees since there was serious lightning in the area.  Little did I know these storms had killed several people in the tristate area!  Once the storms left the area, I headed to my corral and ran into RK and JS.  We stated our goals and for me, I intended to run well within comfort zone.  I also got to briefly meet Quinto Sol! Comfort zone to me is 1:48-1:50 on a normal day but today humidity was going to have fun with us:-p

Central Park meant rolling hills for the first 7 miles.  It doesn't matter how well you know the park those hills still play havoc with you.  The most exciting part was exiting the park and POOF Times Square just was there!  So cool.  I saw flygirl on my first loop of the park and the TRD folks were manning a water station on 57th and 7th.  I stopped to grab some gatorade and get a quick chat in.  As we turned on 42nd street I had to stop to allow a stretcher to go through with a guy hooked up to an IV:(  That would be the first of several people I would witness being taken away or attended to due to the heat/humidity. 

The west side highway meant zone out time.  I definitely didn't feel great but crossed the finish line feeling OK.  However, my stomach was killing me today for some reason:(  Sadly I wasn't able to enjoy the free jamba juice:(  I ended up running a 1:54:09 (8:42 pace).  My garmin did say I ran 13.32 miles which I attribute to running the outside lanes in Central Park, instead of the usual inside portions.  My legs must have been OK as tonight I went out and did 6 at a sub 9 pace.  This mileage plan must be working!  I'm looking towards the Philly half to hopefully race! I did end up with a battle wound: the bottom of my left foot sports a lovely blood blister.

After the run I headed uptown and to my new office to unpack.  Definitely weird to go to a new work place after 5 years of doing the same routine.  Who knew I'd move office locations before moving my Manhattan apartment??? Amazing!

Up next?  54 this week!  Whew!

This past week I reached 50 MILES for the first time ever in my running career!  Crazy, right?  How did I do it? 11.25 miles on Tuesday, 3.75 miles on Wed morning, 11 miles Thursday, 18 on Saturday and another 7 last night.  How do I feel?  I actually feel good and healthy!   Definitely want to eat a house all the time now.  LOL.  I was with LS and MS for my big milestone.  Funny part is I think LS was more excited about it then I was;-) 

The 18 on Saturday certainly was a war of attrition.  It was brutal!  I started at 6:30am knowing that later in the day 95 degrees loomed!  You know how you start to run and you can tell it's not going to be a good one? That was this one.  Not good when it's 18 on the plate.   I actually felt pretty awful for the last 6-7 miles and that's with taking 2 gus.  Fortunately with the help of the group run I had a couple of great friends drag me through the last portion of the run.  I could tell how bad it got since my ankles/lower legs were caked in dirt which means I had issues picking up the legs.

Yesterday I volunteered for the NYC Triathlon!  What an amazing experience.  I was by the Swim/Bike Transition.  It was pretty amazing to watch people run along the west side path in BARE FEET to head out for a 25 mile bike ride.  It made me realize I never want to swim in the Hudson, EVER!  First, every person coming out was b**ching about the jellyfish whether they swam through a sea of them or got stung!  Yuck.  Second, some came out with a lovely Hudson River mustache. Yikes!  Although one of my friends suggested perhaps you get a facial from the oils in there?  Kind of like a mud bath?  Hmm, not sure how much I buy of that!  Anyway, I was in charge of making sure no one crossed over into the bike lane and vice versa.  After everyone left from the yellow transition, I filled Accelerade cups like it was my job (well, it was for the morning!).  I tried it again and I'm still not a fan!  Congrats to all that raced yesterday.  Looked for Josh out there but didn't see him - sounds like he was going too fast for me to see him!

This week marks a reduction of mileage to somewhat prepare for the 1/2 on Sunday morning.  I'm looking to get a good run in - and look at it as a preparation for October.  I'll keep an eye on the forecast but I'd love to shoot for 1:45.  We'll see how I feel as the week goes on.

Whoops, it's been a while again!  That's what happens in the summer with a hectic schedule including a marathon schedule which is ramping up big time these days.  Last week brought a 45 mile week and this week another one.  And next week? My FIRST 50 mile week!  It was supposed to be the following week but with the NYC half and a hectic work week I'd rather save  my low 37 mile week for that;-)

Anyway, this week I found myself down at the E 6th track for a tempo based workout.  I was scheduled for a 9 mile run with 4 miles at half marathon pace.  Perfect!  I wanted to shoot for 7:30 pace to keep it to a pace that wouldn't kill my legs but tough enough to push a bit.  See below and I'd say I succeeded!  Good to see the pacemaker is still in shape;-)

800m	3:45	7:30min/mile
800m	3:42	7:24min/mile
800m	3:45	7:30min/mile
800m	3:45	7:30min/mile
400m	1:50	7:20min/mile
400m	1:48	7:12min/mile
400m	1:47	7:08min/mile
200m	:53	7:07min/mile
200m	:47	6:19min/mile

The last 400 and 200s were spent running through horizontal wind blown rain.  That's an experience to say the least or as Coach Sponge says, a "sprinkle." It was fun but by the last 200m my feet felt like huge concrete blocks with the water.  White t-shirts would not be a good idea for a workout like this:)  I never went anywhere near my maximum effort for this workout which is extremely encouraging.  I'm thinking the next time to try closer to 7:15 pace and see how that feels. 

And in this week's "I never win anything" column, I actually did win something besides a running lottery!  A couple weeks ago my work was holding a raffle for Red Sox/Yankees tickets on July 6.  Since it was the holiday weekend, the tickets needed to be used by someone and why not:)  So, as we were having a get together to celebrate the office move in a couple weeks, a name was pulled out of a hat and what do you know?  It was me!  What an experience and even though the Red Sox lost (sorry, NY.  You will never get my support for your sports teams!), I had a great time.  I forgot to mention this came after a 15.5 mile run that day.  Whew.

I also found out yet another reason why to be weary about bridges.  I was driving back from NJ and using a GPS device.  I had thought it was smart and having us go around traffic.  However, I'm not sure how going over the Verazzano and getting home via Brooklyn is fast:-p  I got a good kick out of it and hey I got to drive part of the NYC Marathon course.  Damn, that bridge is steep!!  I also saw the waterfalls by the Brooklyn Bridge.

And in this week's odd occurrence in NYC:  I went to dinner with a couple of friends at a local diner.  After finishing (which included finding a bug in my salad! yuck!), 3 women in mini skirts were walking around handing out free cocktails.  I have no idea.  I'm just saying...

Coming up tomorrow?  17 miles on the agenda ending at Grimaldis in Brooklyn.  Mmmm....
91 days to go.  Who's counting?

Training like a mad woman I got peer pressured (not really;-)) to run the race yesterday.  A 5 miler run by the Front Runners New York running club as part of their celebration of Gay Pride week.  In an attempt to show our "pride,"  LS, MS and I dressed in the colors of the rainbow.  Well, at least we attempted to.  I looked more like a commercial for McDonalds or perhaps a sampling of ketchup and mustard?  You be the judge.

So the race.  With between 6 and 7 put in Friday afternoon and another run for Sunday, I knew this was not going to be an all out racing attempt for me.  The conditions were less than optimal (and that's being nice!).  It says it was 80 with 67% humidity at race start but I'd be willing to say it was warmer.  I ran to the start at the 102nd transverse and was dripping in sweat by then.  Yikes!  LS and MS met me by baggage and we all started together.  I figured this would be good so I wouldn't be tempted to race.  Plus, our fun colors went together!

So the race was pretty uneventful.  I never dipped into 7 min/mile pace and stopped for water whenever possible.  Fortunately, there were several people out there with hoses which was a touch of heaven.  The finish had ice pops waiting for us!  I think they should have this at every event:) 

Final time: 41:29 (8:17 pace) - Considering I had run the day before and a tough speed workout on Wednesday, not too shabby!  It was right where I wanted to be - I figured somewhere around 8-8:30 pace. 
We stayed around to wait to see if we would win the raffle for free airfare.  While none of us won that, it turns out the TRD women finished third in the race!  That meant $100 for the team!! YAY!  Had I not come out to run, we may not have won 3rd. Pretty darn exciting!

So this morning I woke up hoping to get my 14 miler in but I should have thought better knowing the tough workouts I had put in since last Sunday in hot/humid weather (trail half Sunday, speed work on Wed, and a race (even if it wasnt all out) on Sat).  My body caught up with me and my right quad cramped up badly after just a few miles:0(  Rather than risk making anything worse, I stopped and came home to rest it.   October is my goal, not getting miles in for the sake of miles.  I still managed 33 miles this week and did I learn anything? Yeah, the body is not invincible.  Tomorrow is another day:-D

A few weeks ago after a night out with some teammates,  I got asked if I wanted to participate in a trail run/race.  Looking at the ole' marathon schedule, I noticed 13 was on the schedule for that weekend and hey, that's perfect as thee was a half marathon distance!  Oh boy, I should have realized what I was getting myself into when the race doesn't even really have an official name (see website). I also should have noticed this: "The hand made awards for the top 3 in each age group are worth the pain and suffering."

Considering the longest true trail type run I had ever done was M&G I knew this was going to be a tough test.  However, my goal?  Finish in one piece and have a good time out on the course.  There were maybe about 40 people TOTAL for the 10K, 1/2 marathon and marathon (yes, there were people even nuttier than I!).  We all lined up and with a simple "go" we were off.  As we turned left and the 10K people turned right, it was the first instance of "what the heck am I doing here?"  As I ran on, a lot of people passed me but I knew there were still a lot behind me.  

A couple miles in, I settled into a comfort zone with another woman, Julia for the rest of the course. However, at mile 3 I stopped for a cup of water and she kept going:-(  For a couple miles I was completely alone which was rather creepy.  Our bibs had our ages as how old we turn this year, not at this point.  The joke was that this was so they knew how old you were when they actually find you out in the woods:-p  Ha.  To add to the experience of running alone in the woods, mother nature thought it'd be awesome to have a huge rain storm!  Since it was nice and tree shaded, I didn't get rained on until a few minutes into the storm.  And at that point, wow did I get rained on!  At that point, I walked portions of the course since I didn't have true trail shoes and falling flat on my face was not on the agenda.

Around mile 10, my legs started to tire.  Unlike road racing where you dont have to worry about picking your legs up, in trail racing it's essential as those rocks and various other things in the ground will get you (not to mention tree trunks!).  Anyway, I was running with Julia when all of a sudden my leg didn't pick up enough and I caught my foot on a rock.  I fell with a pretty good thud and managed to scrape up my left leg and brush my right forearm.  It sounded a lot worse than the damage produced.  At this point, Julia wanted to make sure I was OK to which I responded "heck yeah, let's finish this thing." 

As we wound our way to the finish, it was a  pretty awesome feeling.  13.1 miles on the rugged trails in somewhere called Pleasant Valley, NY.  Normally a plus two hour half marathon would not be an achievement to me but in this case, huge accomplishment.  Winning times were in the mid to upper 1:30s for the men!  I managed to pick up first in my age group which was cool and unexpected.

My body is sore, my leg looks like a cat went a little nuts on it, but what an experience!  The scenery was amazing and the camaraderie that goes along with trail running is amazing.  This completed a 38.5 mile week.  The up climb on mileage continues...

As you can see from the elevation, it was a constant up and down course.  The middle of the course - which consequently was when mother nature dumped on us - was the highest climbing section.   

So I'm sure everyone remembers those silly "Run Easy" ads Reebok had last year.  Well, it appears Pearl Izumi has a response: Run Easy is an Oxymoron.  I first saw the ad in The Running Times.  I like it.  It's geared towards more serious runners.  Notice, I'm not knocking anyone but just saying that by advertising in that kind of magazine you're drawing more serious runners than the go out and exercise type.  I like it. 

Anyway, week 1 of marathon training is in the books with just over 33 miles.  It proved to be super challenging with 100+ degree heat at the beginning of the week and super humid conditions by Sunday.  I feel good so far and I'm looking forward to 8 in the morning as long as mother nature plays nice!  The rest of the week plays out with a 10 spot on Thursday most likely and my long run being a trail half marathon up in West Chester on Sunday.  

Here's my response to the questions posted on nyflygirl's blog:

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Hmm, 1998?  Non-existant.  I didn't run in high school.  I was a band geek and stuck to softball and basketball.  I played catcher if you can believe that!  One memorable play?  I blocked the plate with one of the biggest girls in the league barreling down the line.  I held onto the ball and she was out.  I was too...

2. What is your best and worst race experience?

Best- I would say either the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005 with my dad or the Philly Distance Run in 2006.  The Philly Distance Run because I was probably in the best condition in my life to this point and just ran a great race given the horrendously humid and hot conditions.  MCM is easy - my dad and I ran it together!

Worst- the Mini or Coogans 2006.  The Mini 2005 and 2007 - ugh.  Reason enough for me not to sign up this year!

3. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

Best-Listen to your body.  It knows when to say "no."
Worst-usually it's more of the issue of not taking the advice;-)

4. Why do you run?

I run to keep my sanity.  I run to keep from getting fat by sitting in front of a computer and sitting at meetings daily (you think I'm joking?:-p).  I run to eat.  I run to be happy.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

I came oh-so-close to moving out of New York winter of 2004.  After the NYC Marathon my training partner got pregnant and I felt very alone.  I also was dealing with the post marathon blues and didn't know very many people.  My first roommate was getting ready to move out of the city.  It was a very tough time for me and thanks to finding other crazy runners at TRD, here I am 3 1/2 years later still kicking and running strong!

Just 18 weeks til I give 26.2 a run for its money again.  18 short weeks which will contain runs of joy, pain, and everything in between.  We shall see where it leads but one can only hope mother nature is a bit more cooperative than this weekend.  94 yesterday, 95 today. See the graph below and you'll see the fun times NYC is having right now:


Seeing that the weather was less than ideal for racing, I "wussed" out of the mini 10k (aka race from hell) this year and did 5.25 miles with the team instead.  I forgot how rough it is to run in the three terrible "H's": Hazy, Hot and Humid (actually very similar conditions to last October 7).  It just zaps any energy you have and my face turns the color of a lobster.  No, not from sunburn but from the rigorous activity.  Not to worry though, no heatwave will stop me!  I stayed to watch the women running the 10K.  Saw a bunch of TRD teammates as well as flygirl (haha, yes I was smart to stay out of this one and cheer!) and 'chelle (looked way too happy given the weather!).  The times showed the weather as the elite women were even off their usual speedy selves.  Crazy to think a 32:30 10K is "off" pace...

Today I headed up to Rockefeller State Park with 3 others for a longish run.  Talk about survival of the fittest.  This was one tough run as within a mile it just felt really hard.  Yes, it's hilly and hard to run there but worse than usual.  The max ascent was 300 feet!  That definitely gets the heart pumping.  In total I got 7.99 miles in which is right on the money.  We also saw pheasants, turtles, vultures and pigs while running the trails. 


Total mileage: 34.7 miles for the week.  I'm ready for the Pfitzinger plan to begin.  Week 1 calls for 32 miles.  I think I'm going to wait til Tuesday morning to start and go for x-training tomorrow...my body needs a break from this heat!

5:30AM…do you know where your running shoes are?

Actually, more like, 4:15AM and are you really dopey enough to get out of bed to run a 5 mile race? The answer. Yes. It was the 50th anniversary run of the NYRR!

My alarm rang out the tunes from a CD and the cobwebs shook their way out of my head and it was time to see if it was worth the pain of getting out of bed. It was pitch black outside with the sound of rain drops hitting the trees in the courtyard behind my apartment building. My mind definitely was beginning to say “screw this, go back to bed.” However, thanks to the coercion of a friend ("Suck it up, Cupcake!”
Me: "ok this better be worth it " Friend: "Running almost always is!") off to Engineer’s Gate I went. Leaving at 4:45AM I ran the lonely streets of the UES. I saw one homeless man and one doorman along the entire path to Engineer’s Gate! This definitely made for the sounds of “you’re an idiot” and “you’re a moron” to creep through my brain. However, since I already had made the pain start by getting out of bed and now, soaking wet, no turning back now!

As I met JR and CM we jogged another 1.4 miles to Tavern on the Green where the race would start. It began to rain harder which furthered the questioning of coming out to run. I knew this was not going to be a “race” for me as I had flashbacks of Grete’s Great Gallop from two years ago. If you recall, this is when the calf issues started and kept me out of action for 6 months! My goal? Go for a jog and cross uninjured.

Upon arrival, I stood under a tree as it began to rain even harder. Awesome. I saw ST and it worked out great because she wanted to take it easy as well. As we headed to the corral, I ran into LD as well. Mary W. gave final instructions and it was time for the insanity to begin.

The race itself wasn’t all that exciting. ST and I ran together. Shortly after we began running I saw EV who was actually all out racing and she mentioned that KP was looking for us. Oy, more power to her. Once we found KP we settled into an 8:30-8:45 pace and chatted the entire 5 miles. It was great to catch up and I made sure to thank the volunteers. I’m amazed that there were people willing to stand in the rain, let alone run. Made me feel wussy:-p

Anyway, my time was 43:16 or something. 8:39 pace I think. No injuries and 9 miles later it was time to hit the shower and get ready for work. Right now I’m ready to conk out. I think I’ll sleep very well tonight.

Finally, I’ve done another silly thing. I signed up for a trail half marathon in a couple weeks. Good thing I have 13 miles on the schedule anyway. Yikes. No 10K mini for me this weekend. Especially happy now that they are calling for 90+ degree weather. YUCK!

Just to let y'all know, I'm fine. Yes, it was in the general area.

Anyway, I had the following conversation with a teammate last Saturday re: the crane that collapsed. We had been discussing the fast construction in NYC.

Me: Yeah, that crane on 1st avenue scares me. I don't feel safe around it and something doesn't seem right. I make sure to avoid it.

Teammate: I dunno, I just don't notice anything different.

Me: I'm on construction sites all the time and if it were me, I wouldn't go near that one.

How did I find out? I walked into work and the first thing my boss says is "I'M GLAD YOU'RE OK!" I was very confused because it happened probably about 10 mins after I had left for work.

Finally, I wanted to state the following for those that may want to be quick to blame Bloomberg, etc. Bloomberg actually has done a lot to firm up construction standards in NYC. NYC is switching to the International Building Code which is much stricter on standards. We'll see what happens.

I'm going to try and find a photo of the crane before the collapse because it just looked UNSAFE.  In the meantime, this was the scene.

Tuesday night I ran the Wall Street Run.  A 3 mile run through the narrow streets of the Financial District.  My gameplan?  Again, just run and see what happens.  I had been in Chicago the week before and had put a huge 9 mile week on the board.  Oy vey.  My day was hectic and not the best of days so this run is just what the doctor ordered. 

The start was by the World Financial Center with thousands of others ready to tackle the narrow, pothole, slick streets.  I got as far as I could up front but still managed to be stuck behind walkers!  As I started running, I remember looking around and thinking "wow, this is really cool."  We ran by the WTC site, Wall Street, FRB-NY, amongst other heavy hitters for our American economy.  As you can see from my Garmin, it went a bit nuts.  At least it didn't have me running in the water.  I've had that happen before.  However, rest assured I didn't run onto the FDR Drive.

I felt pretty good during the race and passed RK and flygirl along the way.  I even ran into an old TRD teammate, Marco.

My splits?  Your guess is as good as mine as the mileage from my watch said I had run 3.42 miles which is completely wrong.  It was a 3 mile race.  My time came to 22:13 (my watch said 20;06 which I knew was wrong!), or a 7:24 pace.  Not too bad.  I had to slow on the turns big time otherwise there would have been a down goes uptowngirl going on.

After the race, I headed to a local watering hole for some liquid refreshment.  Good time had by all and I think I'll make sure to include this run next year.  It's really a lot of fun to run around the streets down there.  It kind of reminded me like a scene from Pamplona and running with the bulls, only this time it was people!

140 days til Chicago!  Official training starts June 9th.  I'm bringing the Pfitzinger book to my parents with me to start studying the plan.  I signed up for the Philly Distance Run on September 21st.  I also signed up for the 5:30AM (yes, AM!) race on June 4th.  Needless to say, I may be dragging at work a bit that day.

I'm in Chicago this week for work. Just booked my flights back out here for October for that little 26.2 jaunt on October 12.

I'm thinking about doing the boat architecture tour on Saturday afternoon before heading back to NY on Sunday as long as it doesn't rain. Unfortunately no time for running since my work business will take up almost my entire time here.

I ran the Brooklyn half today on a whim.  I really haven't trained and had no idea what today would bring.  My goal: make it to the finish line without bonking.  It was my first race in a couple months?  My training? One long run and a few 25-30 mile weeks.  No true speed training.  It was a true test of seeing where I will be starting my march to Chicago.  It was funny - I was nervous today.  Genuine nervousness I haven't felt in a long time.  I know I could run the 1/2 but I wanted to run it in a time that was decent.  After speaking with my dad a couple days ago, I said I'd be happy with around 1:50.  All things considered, this wouldn't be horrendous and wouldn't trash my legs.

So the race.  I stayed with my friend MS since she's downtown which cut the commute time in half.  7 1/2 hours of sleep and it was time to head out to Brooklyn.  We had just enough time to throw our stuff on the bus and use the portapotty before heading over to the corral.  Not without incident, though.  I ended up tripping over fencing on the ground and went flying through the air.  I made good air as another teammate saw me and he came over to make sure I was OK. My family is well known for the klutz factor...

So over to the corral, I waited for the gun to go off with some other teammates.  They were looking to run around 1:40 which I knew was not in my plans for today.  I set my watch to beep if I went faster than 8 min/mile and slower than 9:15.  I really had no idea what pace my legs would decide to do today.  I loved that there was a corral system as it alleviated the bottlenecks at the beginning of the race.  I was off and running right away!  As we started on the boardwalk, my legs found a rhythm and the first mile clocked in at 7:53.  Hmm, faster than I expected but I guess I'll go with it for now.  7:52 for mile 2.  And no wipe-out on the boardwalk! 

Once I hit Ocean Parkway I knew I just needed to hit my zone and ride with it to Prospect Park.  It was a bit windy but not terrible.  As the miles peeled away my legs started to tell me that I was ill prepared for this race.  I fought through and kept my pace between 8:00-8:15 for the most part.  Mile 10 I stopped for water/gatorade to get myself ready to hit the last 3+ miles hard [which included the lovely 1+ mile hill].  Success as I managed to pull it together and run under 8:10 the last couple of miles.  My final time was 1:47:17, good for an 8:11 pace (my garmin said 13.19 miles I had run which is an 8:08 pace:-p).

My watch was awesome!  I knew I was in for a good race when it kept beeping at me for going too fast.  One guy even commented "your watch needs to stop beeping."  He laughed when I told him it was for going too fast:-p

I'm back in the game and with a race like this on no training it makes me wonder what will happen once the training commences. Hmm..


Splitsville:
[1]7:53
[2] 7:52
[3]7:59
[4]8:13 - water
l5]7:59
[6]8:11
[7]8:02
[8]8:12 - water 
[9] 8:09
[10]8:32 - stopped gatorade/water to regroup
[11]8:24 - hilly mile!
[12]8:08
[13]8:07
[.19]1:32