kicking some asphalt

"Under the Boardwalk" by the Drifters

2011-05-21T13:34:00.003-04:00

Quote of the Day:
"Think positive. You are a special person. Reward yourself with self-praise as you achieve each interim goal en route to the marathon."
-Hal Higdon, Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide

As cheesy as that quote is (really, who can use the phrase "special person" without wanting to throw up a little?), it is quite apropos for my life of late. I have benefited greatly from the power of positive thought, the self-praise, and just doing good things by and for myself.

One of the good things I did for myself was go to several months of physical therapy. After taking all of November and December off of running, my IT band issues were dissipating on their own, but I had obviously not corrected the problem. I had simply stopped aggravating it. An important step, of course, but three months of pain were not going to go away on their own. In late February I started seeing Jason at Paspa PT in midtown. He helped me to establish a routine of strength training and stretching that I hope to continue. (As of now, almost three weeks after my PT graduation, I'm doing an okay job of keeping up the workouts. I need be more disciplined about doing it so I don't re-injure myself.)

As a direct result of my PT, and primarily the hip and butt strengthening I did, my running form got more efficient and streamlined, and my times got faster.

Last Saturday, I ran the NYRR Healthy Kidney 10k in Central Park. It was the two-year anniversary of my first official race and I beat my previous 10k PR by about 15 seconds. I was only doing it as a final tune-up for this morning's Brooklyn Half Marathon, but about two miles in I realized that I had a good race going and just went for it.

I was a little apprehensive about the Brooklyn Half today, only because my last long-distance race (the Marine Corps Marathon in October) had been such a painful disaster and had landed me in PT. My training was solid this time around, as it was for the marathon, but I was much smarter about it. I was careful about my weekly mileage and didn't increase too quickly. I also trained mostly by myself, which was a new experience for me. I have loved training with my various running partners for previous long races, but training alone allowed me to really listen to my body and go at a natural pace. On a few occasions I ran with a friend (such Heather from DailyMile, who is a fabulous running partner), but for the most part I was on my own. Apparently it paid off.

With some inspiration from Heather, I set six goals for this race the other day.
1. Finish with a smile on my face
2. Beat my PW (personal worst) of 2:21 and change from the Queens Half in 2009
3. Finish in 2:20
4. Beat my PR (personal record) of 2:17 and change from the NYC Half last year
5. Finish in 2:15
6. Finish in 2:10

I was definitely going for the first three, thought I could probably get the fourth, and was hoping really hard for the fifth. Goal #6 was there just for fun. For all intents and purposes, I hit #5. My official NYRR time was 2:15:01. I had to slow down a bit on the final stretch of boardwalk because I almost tripped and broke my face, and as much fun as it sounds, I didn't want to literally trip at the finish line. Plus this way, I've made it easier to break my PR the next time around.

Overall, it was a great race. But more than that, it was a great race experience. I felt good before, during, and after the race. And afterwards I met up with a nice group of people from DailyMile and rode the Cyclone, had a Nathan's corn dog and a giant beer, and enjoyed the good company in the sunshine.

Pictures to come.

Running happy. Gotta love it.

And So It Goes (by Billy Joel)

2011-03-01T19:10:00.012-05:00

Quote of the day:
"I look at running as meditation. It allows me to decompress, download, and get rid of a lot of negative stuff. That's my secret. I go inside myself."
-Jeff Corwin, American animal and nature conservationist

Second quote of the day:
"In every heart there is a room, a sanctuary safe and strong, to heal the wounds from [visions] past until a new one comes along."
-Billy Joel, as edited by my high school choir director

My grandpa passed away today. Grandpa "B" - my dad's dad. It was a fast and relatively unexpected decline, which probably made it easier on us, and no doubt made it easier on him. He's now at peace, and finally gets to see my grandma again. I spoke to him on the phone on Saturday and was able to tell him I loved him while he was still fairly lucid.

When my other grandpa (Grandpa "L") passed away 6 years ago, I thought about all the ways I could remember him, and the one that stood out the most was Italian music. He grew up speaking Italian with his family and always loved it when I sang Italian art songs for him.

In the summer of 2008, as we were all getting ready to say our goodbyes to my grandma (Grandma "B"), I didn't have to think hard to know how I would remember her. Any time I sing opera, she's with me. Any time I cook or bake in my kitchen, she's with me (especially when I use the rolling pin or any of the other dozens of kitchen items that used to be hers). And any time I see a beautiful flower or garden, she's with me.

After our phone call Saturday, I was struggling to think of a thing that would help me remember Grandpa B. He and my brother connected in a lot of very special and very concrete ways. But what did he and I do together, just the two of us? Not much, it seemed. I knew I was very close with him, but the lack of a concrete thing to keep us connected was really upsetting to me.

But then I realized, after making a ridiculous joke on Saturday evening, that Grandpa B and I share the best thing possible - our sense of humor. My humor descends directly from him. I got it via my dad and share it with my siblings, and there is not a single doubt in my mind as to the person to whom I can trace it.

Just see for yourself, in the picture below. That's a fun-loving, joke-telling, easy-going guy. I can only hope that I have more than just a trace of his sense of humor. To have even a fraction of his grace, selflessness, and undying family support would be a gift indeed.

Love you, Grandpa. You're lookin' good.

Her Strut (by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band)

2011-01-11T20:32:00.007-05:00

Quote of the day:
"I sometimes think that running has given me a glimpse of the greatest freedom a man can ever know, because it results in the simultaneous liberation of both body and mind."
-Sir Roger Bannister, English athlete best known for running the first recorded mile in under four minutes

2011 is already impressing me more than 2010. That's not to say that 2010 was bad. It was actually a pretty good year. For me, at least - I'll have to wait a while to see if winemakers agree. That said, parts of 2010 were downright awful in the land of Kristin. There's no way to ignore that. But the parts that were awful were entirely out of my control.

I'll say that again, just to make sure I was listening: the parts that were awful were entirely out of my control.

I can't control everything. What I can control is what I do on a daily basis. In 2010, what I did on a daily basis was too much. I took on too many commitments, plain and simple. Being in grad school and taking an extraordinarily work-intensive class while teaching full-time and also having a student teacher, for example, was not the brightest idea I've ever had. Fortunately I've learned my lesson, and will hopefully not overload myself in that way again.

This new year promises to be more manageable in many ways, in part because I am consciously making it that way. As much as I have always been (and will likely always be) a bit of a workaholic, I am growing to enjoy the tiny bit of extra breathing room I've had these past two weeks. I'm hoping that the small amount of additional freedom I'm experiencing will continue as the year progresses.

My running has paralleled my overall schedule in a way. Rather than taking on giant tasks every day and sticking to a very regimented schedule, I've whittled down my schedule to include fewer and smaller, but still important, things. The same is true with running. I've been running 2-3 miles several times a week instead of the 4-6 I used to do. I'm still attempting a "long run" on the weekends, which has always been my favorite run of the week. (My latest long run was 3.75 miles. Not bad for my longest run since the marathon on 10/31/10, but I can't wait for those long runs to get even longer!) Right now, though, I'm just excited to be simply running and not necessarily training for anything. Don't worry, I'll contradict myself in a couple months once I start training for something and am excited to be back on a training plan.

Regardless, I'm digging this new-found freedom and hope it can stick around a while. I really do enjoy having a life. (Whaaaat?!)

The View (by Modest Mouse)

2010-12-30T02:06:00.012-05:00

Quote of the day:
"May the road rise up to greet you, and the wind always be at your back."
-Irish proverb

I ran along the lakefront again this morning and this time I brought my camera with me. Below are some pictures from the scenic adventure around Lakeshore State Park.

In the meantime... My good (and crazy) friend Kim asked me if I might like to do the Ragnar Relay from Madison to Chicago June 10-11. It's a 200+ mile, 2-day relay race with a team of 12 runners. After thinking about it for 10 seconds, maybe 12, I told her I would very much like to do it. We are looking to assemble a team. If you are at all interested in joining us, please let me know!

Now enjoy the pretty pictures of the lakefront in my favorite city. :)

My aunt Julie:

Me:

Closer to Free (by the Bodeans)

2010-12-28T00:47:00.006-05:00

Quote of the day:
"You know you're a runner when you see other people running and you get jealous."
-my dear friend Erin Vollmer

I have made my triumphant return to running, and to life in general I think. It's been a rough fall due to things going on in my personal life, and thus I tried to minimize my public online presence because it was overwhelming. But now I'm me again, and a stronger me than I ever was before. So clearly that means that I must blog. Duh.

Running is such a funny thing. I started doing it because I was incredibly overweight and incredibly unhappy and after a lifetime of being that way I finally decided to change it. But then I got hooked - hooked on the endorphins, on the lifestyle, on the friends I was making, on the adventures I was having, and quite frankly on the way I felt when I said "marathoner" in reference to myself (especially around people who knew me during the part of my life when I was incredibly overweight and incredibly unhappy about it).

Now I run because it gives me joy. Pure and simple. Yes it helps me stay healthy. Yes I enjoy the endorphins, the adventures, and the knowledge that I push my body and my psyche beyond previously imagined limits. But mostly, I crave the beauty and simplicity of lacing up my shoes and heading out... onto roads, dirt paths, snow-covered tundra, wherever. (Okay, maybe not tundra. But running in the Wisconsin winter near my parents' house feels like that sometimes.)

I went for a run today along the lakefront in Milwaukee, around the Art Museum, Discovery World, and the State Park near the Summerfest grounds. I didn't have my camera with me which made me really sad, because it was picture perfect. (Do a Google image search for "Milwaukee lakefront winter" or "Milwaukee art museum winter" and you'll get a vague idea...) I'm going running there again on Wednesday so hopefully I'll be able to capture it somehow. But even with a camera, I don't think I could capture the feeling I had whilst running there today. (Yes, I said "whilst." I'm that awesome.) It was a feeling of complete and utter freedom. Incomparable.

On a different note... I just (finally!) discovered the Family Guy Star Wars and oh dear Lord it's amazing. My dad and I watched "Something Something Something DARK SIDE" the other night in between watching the Star Wars marathon on the Spike channel. After watching the Family Guy version, we proceeded to watch Episode V and fill in with the Family Guy quotes. Priceless. I'm not the hugest fan of the show anymore (I actually had to turn off last week's episode after 5 minutes because I got bored), but the Family Guy Star Wars trilogy wins thus far.

Here's to 2011 being better than 2010. It really can't not be. Happy winter running. :)

Cold Day in the Sun (by the Foo Fighters)

2010-12-09T19:22:00.003-05:00

Quote of the day:
"I run because it's my passion, and not just a sport. Every time I walk out the door, I know why I'm going where I'm going and I'm already focused on that special place where I find my peace and solitude. Running, to me, is more than just a physical exercise... it's a consistent reward for victory!"
-Sasha Azevedo

Tomorrow morning, for the third time this week, I will wake up well before 6:00 and head out the door in search of peace and solitude. Monday and Wednesday both started with trips to the gym to sweat out the stress. About a half hour was all I had both days, but that was more than enough time to kick-start my day the right way.

Maybe tomorrow, just maybe, I will actually take Barney Stinson's advice and suit up – put on my fleece-lined running tights, a few wicking layers on top, hat and gloves, and winter running socks; leave my iPod at home; and do a tour of Astoria park on foot. How I would love to run outdoors again instead of on a treadmill. I've done a mile without the IT-band pain twice this week. Is that enough of a sign to attempt a 3.5-mile loop on a frigid Friday morning? Maybe. Maybe not.

I suppose I'll see when the alarm goes off. At the very least, I will get my workout in, and that will feel so good.

Give a Little Bit (by Supertramp)

2010-11-20T22:28:00.003-05:00

Quote of the day:
"I'm not sure that I can describe what has been called the "runner's high," but like poetry and beauty, I know it when I experience it."
-Matthew Shafner

I volunteered for the Knickerbocker 60k today as part of my 9+1 (run 9 races, volunteer for 1) to qualify for guaranteed entry to the 2011 NYC Marathon. A 60k is 37.2 miles. That's a marathon and 11 more miles after it. The runners did a short 1.2-mile out and back, then nine 4-mile loops of Central Park. My job was to keep track of about 30 runners and their split times, and tell them what lap they were on every time they passed by. Things I discovered through this experience:

1. The human will is amazingly strong.
2. I have found runners to be some of the friendliest people I've met in New York.
3. I miss the runner's high.
4. I'm an emotional sap (but I actually knew that already) - I kept tearing up because of the looks people would give me when I told them they were finally on their last lap.
5. Even though I can't really run right now, I can support other runners without feeling sad about it.
6. Volunteering for races is something I want to do way more than once a year.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (by The Rolling Stones)

2010-11-18T23:15:00.004-05:00

Quote of the day:
"It's very hard to understand in the beginning that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit."
-Dr. George Sheehan

Life has been falling apart at the seams. The things that generally keep it together for me - running and music - have been out of my reach recently. My voice hasn't been healthy; I haven't had even 5 spare minutes to play the piano, or so it has seemed; my right knee has not allowed me to run. I have been overwhelmed by stress and unable to do the things that I love to do in order to relieve that stress.

I have made the conscious decision to change all that.

Last night, I ran a mile. It didn't hurt for the first half at least. Tonight, I spent an hour not doing work and instead playing Christmas music on the piano. Tomorrow, I will call to make an appointment at the Sports Medicine center at the Hospital for Special Surgery. I am going to get myself better all around.

On Saturday, I'm doing a 4.5-hour volunteer shift at the Knickerbocker 60k. Yes, 60k. That's 37.2 miles. (I will never ever run that far - you can quote me on that.) Then on Sunday I'm "running" the 4-mile Race to Deliver. And by "running" I mean completing at whatever running or walking pace my knee can manage.

Here's hoping I can get out there and enjoy some fall and winter running.

It's in the Way that You Use It (by Eric Clapton)

2010-10-18T07:01:00.005-04:00

"Pain and suffering are often the catalysts for life's most profound lessons."
-Dean Karnazes

Come on, IT band. I have enough pain and suffering in my life without you refusing to function less than 2 weeks from Marathon Day.

That's Amore! (as sung by Dean Martin)

2010-07-30T20:42:00.010-04:00

Quote of the day:
"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore."
-Jack Brooks

I made pizza dough from scratch today. Every time I make something using a recipe from my grandma, I think of her. I called her when the dough was finished and rising peacefully in its covered bowl. She's a wonderful lady, and I hope I will always think of her every time I use one of her recipes.

Much of the dough is currently chillin' in my freezer, but I kept enough handy to make a personal-size pizza for dinner. I sprayed some olive oil onto the pan to grease it and then sprinkled it with Italian-style bread crumbs. After rolling the dough out (with my late grandma's rolling pin) and hand-tossing it (with my, um, hands) it was ready to go on the pan. The finishing touch on the crust was another sprinkle of bread crumbs around the edge.

I made pesto last night with the fresh basil I got from the CSA share I'm babysitting. I used the pesto instead of regular pizza sauce. Then I chopped a bit of onion, a Juliet tomato, and a lot of mushrooms and scattered them atop the delicious dough-and-pesto concoction. The last ingredient to layer on is always the cheese (that's the secret - cheese on top of the other toppings, not underneath). I shredded three different cheeses to rock my pizza world: mozzarella, romano, and havarti dill. YUM.

450 degrees, 11 minutes and two smoke detector beeps later, my masterpiece was ready.

You know I enjoyed that thing. Mmm. Add half a pint of blueberries on the side and a glass of white wine and I was in heaven.

10 miles with Joh tomorrow morning. 10:00 bedtime tonight!

July, July! (by The Decemberists)

2010-07-14T23:58:00.011-04:00

Quote of the day:
"The clock isn't slower; you're just faster."
-Adidas

It seems that in my running I have reached that point beyond the plateau where everything gets easier. Or simply faster.

Marathon training has begun. I am officially in training for the Marine Corps Marathon. (I even have the kickass shirt to prove it.)

I looked at the Excel spreadsheet I made for my training plan the last time around, in which I filled in my distance and time for each run. For nearly every entry, the numbers in the time it took to complete each run were larger than the numbers in the distance (i.e. 4.3 miles took more than 43 minutes). That's the long way of saying I was definitely above a 10:00/mile pace. In fact, most of the time I was hovering around 11:00/mile.

These days I'm finding that a 10:30/mile pace feels unbelievably slow. My default pace is falling below 10:00/mile, and when I want to speed up a little my pace drops even closer to 9:00/mile. Here's a snapshot of one treadmill session last week when I was feeling particularly expeditious:

My tempo run today with Joh was supposed to be between 9:30 and 10:00/mile, and we were thinking of staying near the slower end of that range. We ended up running an average of 9:30/mile over almost 3 miles without even trying to run that fast.

I know I'm getting faster in part because I'm not a new runner anymore. I've been running for over a year and I run often. After all, when you practice anything regularly you're bound to get better. I've played too many instruments for too many years not to know that. However my newfound ability to run faster than I ever thought I could (and we're talking default pace here) is in large part due to the fact that I am actually pushing myself and working hard these days.

When I first started running almost a year and a half ago, every time I ran I pushed myself. I had never run before so running at any speed for any amount of time was a workout. The pounds melted off and I began to develop this new identity of Runner. But now my body has grown accustomed to running and just running 4 miles isn't monumental anymore. If I want to see results (in my speed, on the scale, in my overall fitness) I have to run faster than 11:00/mile. I can't just drift along at whatever pace I want and expect to see different results. I can certainly enjoy running at 11:00/mile; that's not the point in question. What I cannot do is lose weight, gain additional fitness and shave almost a half hour off my marathon time (yes, that's my goal, and it's gonna happen!!!) by running 11:00/mile - regardless of how many miles I run.

So here's to actually putting some work into my workouts! I've been sweating my ass off lately, and I'm damn proud of it!

Runnin' Down a Dream (by Tom Petty)

2010-06-28T22:53:00.006-04:00

Quote of the day:
"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."
-John Bingham

I love this quote. A friend once told me she didn't think she could really call herself a runner until she'd run 4 or 5 marathons. At the time of our conversation she had run one and was in training for her second. I was completely baffled because I felt like a Runner with a capital R not long after I started running. In fact, I just lifted a phrase from my very first entry in this blog, just over a year ago. I meant to write an entry to celebrate my one-year anniversary in runnerbloggerland but I was on vacation. (I'll get back to the vacation topic in a moment.) I went for my first run on a treadmill in February 2009 and my first run outside in April, and I felt like a Runner by the end of June.

If you run, you are a runner. I run, therefore I am... a runner. (Sorry for the misquote, Descartes.) No matter how far, how fast, how often... There may be times when I take a couple extra days off. So be it. I am still a runner. I will still get back out there and pound the pavement. I will still experience joy in running, even when I take more rest days than I'd like. Because I am a runner.

On a different note (actually not really), I just spent almost a week visiting my family in Wisconsin. I flew out last Tuesday night, John joined me Thursday afternoon, and we came home this morning. I had wanted to run almost every day. I had definitely wanted to run along Lake Michigan, which I've planned on doing countless times but have never actually done. Once again I wasn't able to get a run in on the lakefront, and I only ran twice in the week I was there - for a grand total of just over 5 miles. But you know what? I was on vacation, so I need to cut myself some slack. I had an amazing time with my family and it was a great vacation. I spent time with my niece who is now 6 months old; I went out for dinner and drinks with my mom; John and my mom and I went on my favorite brewery tour and walked along the lakefront; my family introduced John to the fabulous tradition of tailgating at Brewer games; I was able to celebrate both my dad's and my uncle's birthdays with my entire extended family; John and I went with my sister and brother-in-law to the ZZ Top & Tom Petty concert at an outdoor amphitheater on the lakefront. We had a great time on vacation. I can always run tomorrow.

Happy running, whenever and however you may do it!

I Eat Dinner (When the Hunger's Gone) (by Rufus Wainwright)

2010-06-18T08:54:00.023-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Running has the power to change your life. It will make you fitter, healthier, even happier."
-Selene Yeager

Running also has the power to seep into all aspects of your life, from your sleep habits to your social circle, from your vocabulary to your wardrobe, and everything in between. I don't know about you, but I was not aware of this in February of 2009 when I said to myself, "Hey, there's a 5k to benefit women with cancer on my birthday. I should run that!" and promptly started going to the gym so I could work my way up from elliptical training to running. I simply thought I was doing my waistline a favor. Little did I know that would be one of the least noteworthy of the many changes in my life.

Many of my friends have mentioned, on more than a handful of occasions, that they don't see me anymore or that I'm too busy. I think some of them secretly pin this fact on my boyfriend, as we started dating around the time that I started running. And while it's true that I often have an early night with John instead of going out with my friends, he's not the reason behind my being MIA - nor is he the reason that I prefer early nights! (Would anyone else rather hit up happy hour and be in bed by 9:30 than go out late, or is it just me?) In any case, I'd bet most of my friends have the culprit nailed down accurately: it's because I run that my lifestyle has changed drastically.

This post could go in many different directions (analysis of the changes in my social life, proclamation of love for getting 8 hours of sleep every night) and I will most likely pursue many of the other possible directions at another time. Today's epistle, however, is about food. (I almost titled this post "Food Glorious Food" but quoting Oliver seemed way less cool than quoting Rufus Wainwright. Besides, this way I get to have two sets of parentheses in the title! Win!) (I think it is fairly evident how much I love using punctuational gems such as parentheses, semi-colons, etc.; I just can't get enough.) () ()

Anyway, back to the important stuff: FOOD.

My mom is a dietician and she runs a wellness program at the hospital where she works. A couple months ago, a package I hadn't expected arrived, and in it was a book I hadn't ordered. The book was called Nancy Clark's Food Guide for New Runners: Getting it Right from the Start, and it was a gift from my mom. She hadn't read it yet but had heard good things about it and thought it might help me, particularly since I'd been asking her questions related to an ideal runner's diet of late.

Nancy Clark is a registered dietician (RD) and is certified as a specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD).

The book sat on my cookbook pile for many weeks until finally about two weeks ago I picked it up and started reading the first chapter. I was hooked immediately. Here were all the answers to all the questions I'd been asking my mother, myself, and Runner's World for the past year. I'm sure most of you have seen, read, or heard the recommendations for percentage of protein, fat, and carbohydrates for a "runner's diet." But counting calories is just not in my future. I don't have the patience for it when the nutrition label is in front of me, and I sure as hell don't have the motivation to go searching for nutrition information for the unlabeled food I eat (i.e. daily cafeteria lunch at work, mini bagel with delicious egg white salad from Brooklyn Bagel Co, unbelievably scrumptious splurge in the form of an ostrich burger from Bare Burger).

Will somebody please just tell me what "25% of your daily calorie intake should come from fat" means in real-life omnivore terms?!?!

Thankfully, Nancy Clark has done just that. The book is broken up into four clear sections:
Section I. Day-to-Day Eating -- The Right Way
Section II. Carbs, Protein, Fats and Fluids -- The Right Balance
Section III. Sports Nutrition -- The Right Foods at the Right Time
Section IV. Weight and Runners -- The Right Diet

I found the book to be clearly organized and jam-packed with information, while at the same time being visually pleasing and able to hold my attention. If I weren't wary of copyright infringement I'd include some examples of the beautiful full-page food photos in the book. Trust me, they're gorgeous. There are also charts, graphs and other sidebars that help keep the structure of the book interesting.

My all-time, top-five favorite things about this book:
1. The practicality of the information - I didn't just read about numbers and calculations, I learned about their practical applications to my life.
2. The recipes at the end of each chapter - I came away with a concrete (and delicious!) example of what I'd just read about after every new bit of information was presented.
3. The photographs and other visual elements - I never wanted to put the book down.
4. The familiarity and sense of humor inherent in the writing style - I felt like I was having a conversation with the author at times, and that she respected me and truly wanted me to understand what she was telling me.
5. The length of the book - It's only 143 pages and a very quick read!

While some of the information in the book is most likely common knowledge to many runners (especially someone like myself who has a nutritionist for a mother!), there was plenty of new information for me to soak up, and new spins put on familiar concepts. I came away with two very noteworthy new ideas, both of which were surprising to me.

First was the idea of a "second lunch." The author advocates eating in the afternoon, as runners tend to get hungry every four hours. I typically eat lunch around noon and am ravenously hungry by 4pm. Often that leads me to buy a not-so-healthy snack on my way home from work because I can't make it until dinner. Even if I try to be good by having a piece of fruit, I'm usually still hungry (duh - fruit isn't going to fill me up!) and end up buying crap anyway. Ms. Clark's recommendation is to eat a second lunch rather than a "mid-afternoon snack." When I think of a snack, I often tend to think about unhealthy food or something that I can grab on the go. When I think about a healthy snack, I usually get bored before I've even finished planning it, let alone preparing it. Why not eat a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread and some cucumbers or an apple instead? So much more satisfying, with more nutritional value! I've been trying it for the past week or two since I finished the book and I must admit, my unhealthy "oh my gosh I'm so hungry" splurges have nearly been eliminated.

The other incredible thing I learned from the book was something that almost made me shout and jump for joy as I discovered it (which would have been quite a sight, as I typically do my leisure reading on my subway commute). Are you ready for it?

It's okay that I don't like salad. I don't ever have to eat salad again.

As a runner, all of my meals should be carb-based. Provided that I have a "healthful" diet, there is no need for me to get a salad for lunch when I would much prefer a sandwich or pasta. There are so many wonderful ways to get all the nutrients I need without putting perfectly good food on a boring bed of lettuce. And besides, I'd need to supplement my blah salad with carbs anyway! (Side note: If you enjoy salad, please rest assured that the book does speak highly of getting your vegetables in any way possible. It just so happens that eating and enjoying salad is not exactly possible for me - regardless of the type of greens. I just plain don't like salad!)

At this point, I am going to stop giving away all the wonderful secrets this book has in store for you. I hope you are inspired to go out and get your hands on a copy of it, whether you're a "new runner" or not. I have been running for a year and a half and I found it incredibly valuable.

I emailed Ms. Clark a few days ago and asked her a handful of questions about herself and her book. If, by some miracle, she responds to my email, I will certainly share that information.

Next up on my reading list:

Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions

Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman

Take the Long Way Home (by Supertramp)

2010-06-15T23:39:00.006-04:00

Quote of the day:
"With a body made joyous through movement, the mind is able to relax. With mind/body balance, we can take the power of feeling good and generate compassion."
-The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche

After running my first marathon in May, my goal was to become more active during the week. I was only running 3 days a week for the most part, and I wanted to work on improving my overall fitness once the marathon was over. In particular, cross-training was going to play a larger role in my weekly schedule. My cross-training has come mostly in the shape of a bike and a handful of bridges on the way to and from work. I'm not exactly sure if riding 12+ miles of hills, bridges and busy streets as fast as I can (with a gym bag, no less) qualifies as the type of cross-training that should accompany marathon training... Luckily marathon training doesn't start for another 6 weeks for me, so I'll continue to bike everywhere.

In related news, I think I'm a little bit nuts.

Taking the long way home was definitely the name of the game this afternoon. As I was getting ready to leave work around 3:30, I realized I had absolutely nothing to do until I go back to work tomorrow. I can't remember the last time I had no plans or obligations after work. For that matter, I can't remember the last time I could leave work at 3:30! (Some people think that all teachers work from 8-3; those people are morons. Try 7:30 or 8am to 5:30 or 6pm. In fact, I've stayed past 7:30 on many occasions this year. At least at my school, we earn our summers.) Since I was commitment-free, I took the opportunity to soak up the beautiful weather and take a really, really long way home. Typically when I commute, I take the route that is most able to be described by the phrase "as the crow flies," which ends up being 10-15 minutes shorter than my subway commute. I think the only crow that would fly the way I rode tonight would be a drunk one.

I don't know if the consistent bike riding is responsible for this, but my running has definitely gotten stronger lately. My default pace is hovering around 10:00-10:15/mile, whereas it used to be in the 10:30-10:45 range. It feels easier and more enjoyable, which is great as far as side effects go. I can't ride 22 miles in a day all the time like I did today, or I'll never have the energy to run. (For instance I don't have to be at work until almost 11 tomorrow - last day of professional development before I'm officially on break! - but the possibility of running in the morning before work is just not a realistic one.)

Regardless, Freddie Mercury couldn't have sung a more apt song for me. I mean, as much as I enjoy singing "Mamaaaaa" I think I identify more with "Biiiiiiiiiiiiicycle, biiiiiiiiiiicycle..." than any part of Bohemian Rhapsody.

School's Out (by Alice Cooper)

2010-06-14T01:02:00.006-04:00

Quote of the day:
"When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting."
-Doris Brown Heritage, 5-time World Cross Country champion

Dictionary.com defines a hobby as "an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation." Racing is an interesting hobby. Not everyone would qualify it as a hobby, but in my case it is. I only do it for fun, and I'm not competitive with others - only with myself. It is something I do in my spare time to enrich my life. It costs money but not a huge amount. The rewards greatly outweigh the costs.

Over the past few weeks, I have been uncertain of my reasons for running. Is it to stay in shape? Is it to lose more weight? Is it to be ready for MCM training to begin in 6 weeks? (Whoa, 6 weeks?!) Over the past several days, I have rediscovered that purpose. I run to enjoy life and to connect with myself, with the outdoors and with God. It has been a while since I've gone on a long-ish run alone, and the connection with myself has gotten lost somewhere along the way. I absolutely love running with my dad and with my amazingly wonderful friend Jo. But I had forgotten that running alone is peaceful and enjoyable - in fact, that's how I started running. I got hooked on running for its meditative nature when I would run by myself.

This weekend, I achieved a longtime goal of mine: break one hour in a 10k. I ran the NYRR Mini 10k in 59:53. Judy (Garmin) says I finished in 59:57, but who am I to argue with the official chip time? I'll take those extra 4 seconds, thank you!

Reaching this goal was wonderful, but even more important was the fact that I had an incredibly fun time running. I ran most of it with Jo until she stopped to stretch and urged me to soldier on. (I later found out that she had gotten sick and that someone had made her wait a minute or two before running again, which was why she didn't catch up to me as I'd assumed she would.) I was having a blast running with Jo, even though we spoke to each other only a handful of times. We were running side by side, concentrating incredibly hard on our form, our pace and trying to clear out the anxiety. When I continued on without Jo, I was channeling her energy the whole way, but I was also conscious of my own strength - possibly for the first time ever.

My new key words or phrases to think to myself during races or hard runs are: "butt muscles" and "extension." I think extension essentially explains itself, however my other key phrase may be a bit less obvious in its use. I found that if I concentrated on the muscle group that would propel me forward rather than on my exhaustion, my body would rise to the occasion and continue pushing me onward. When I can push past being tired and continue to run hard, that is when I really feel successful, like I've done something worthwhile.

So... Butt muscles! Extension!

All You Need Is Love (by the Beatles)

2010-06-11T01:06:00.004-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Running, one might say, is basically an absurd pastime upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the type of running you need to do ... chances are you'll be able to find meaning in that other absurd pastime - LIFE."
-Bill Bowerman

A couple amazing things happened on my run today.

1. I accidentally ran a sub-60 for 6 miles. Well, it wasn't *completely* by accident. After the first 2 miles, that was my goal. But from the get-go, I wasn't planning on pushing my pace. Once I looked down and saw that I was at 20:20 for 2 miles, I decided to really test out my pacing for Saturday's Mini 10k. Jo and I are hoping for a sub-60 10k race (6.2mi) and before this run today I didn't really think it would happen. But now we have a pace plan, and we're going to hit those negative splits. It worked for me today! If I can run the first 6 miles about a minute faster than I did today I'll be golden - which shouldn't be a problem, provided the rain holds off. I got really close to breaking an hour in the Healthy Kidney 10k about a month ago, but then around the 200m mark I realized I wasn't going to get a sub-60 so I ran out of gas. That goal was what carried me. I plan on being a little smarter about my pacing this time around, so hopefully there will be nothing but smiles - and a finishing time that starts with the number 5. :)

2. This one is more important than the first incredible thing. I enjoyed running today more than I have in months. I really am cut out for longer distances. I just flat-out don't like running 2 miles. I don't find it fun. I always feel like I've let myself down because I should be going faster - after all, it's ONLY 2 miles! But for longer runs, I always win. Either I set a goal time/pace for myself and I achieve it, or I'm just so damn happy with the distance that I don't care how fast or slow I was. I had so much fun today just running along the river by myself for an hour. I'm glad I got out there and I'm even more glad that I was able to reconnect with my love of running.

I'm a Believer (by The Monkees)

2010-05-14T15:14:00.009-04:00

Quote of the day:
"When people ask me why I run, I tell them, there's not really a reason, it's just the adrenaline when you start, and the feeling when you cross that finish line, and know that you are a winner no matter what place you got."
-Courtney Parsons

This is exactly how I feel about running. I wore my finisher's medal to work the first day I went back after the marathon. When my students asked, "Did you win?!" or "What place did you get?" I simply smiled and said, "It's not about winning, it's about finishing. Not everybody can finish, so if you finish, you deserve a medal." That was always enough to wow them into an awed silence. (One of many things I love about working with young kids - at some point they realize how awesome you are, and then they'll love you forever. But that's a different story for a different day.)

On marathon morning - Saturday, May 1st - I woke up feeling refreshed. I wasn't nervous or anxious, and I hadn't been up half the night. But I also wasn't feeling as excited as I thought I would. I was definitely looking forward to the race, but I guess it didn't seem quite real yet. It was as if I was just going to the dress rehearsal, rather than the actual show itself. Even after I rode the hour to the race with my dad (who was running with me); bumped into my friends Lindsey and Sarah, who were running the half marathon; lined up in the corral; met up with Erin and her friend Amber, who were running the full marathon with us (Erin's 2nd marathon, Amber's 1st) - I still wasn't feeling that surge of extra adrenaline I'd been expecting. No pre-race jitters here.

Around mile 5, when I saw John with my mom and my aunt Judy from Australia, it finally sank in. I'm running a marathon! A freaking marathon! Yeah!!!

The first 10+ miles went by without any unexpected events. Erin and Amber had made pace bracelets to tell us what our mile splits should be for a 4:43 finish, and we were exactly on target, usually within 10-15 seconds on either side, throughout those first 10 miles. Then around 10-11 miles, I had to use the bathroom. Of course. My race day arch-nemesis: my GI tract. [Cue the Imperial March.] There were no port-a-potties in sight, but I figured they couldn't be too far, so I pushed my pace a little bit in anticipation. Guess what! No bathrooms until mile 12. That's 2 miles of running a little bit too fast. That extra effort definitely came back to bite me in the butt later!

The half and full marathon courses were the same until about 11 and a half miles in, so once we were past that point it got a bit quiet. I was still feeling pretty good until around 16 or 17 miles, when I started to get really tired, and my feet started hurting. My legs were in good shape, but my feet just didn't want to keep going. Thankfully, our cheering crew found the viewing spot I'd marked out for them as: "This is the one place I really REALLY REALLY want you to station yourselves, because I'll need you then." The course was an out-and-back (actually an out-and-back, then out-and-back, then OUT-and-BACK) so that particular spot was around 17 miles and also just after 20 miles. They gave me a nice burst of energy, which I tried to savor as long as I could. At one point around 18 miles or so I turned to my dad and said, "Is this the point where you say I never want to do this again?" He laughed and said, "Yes, but you're screwed, you already signed up for your next one." What a funny guy. :P

Our posse caught us again at the 20-mile mark, which was the last time we'd see them until the finish. I was really hurting at that point. I don't think I hit a Wall, but I was definitely exhausted. I was confused because I'd done two 20-milers, both of which went perfectly fine. But as my dad pointed out, I'd known both times that 20 was the end. I'd also done most of my training through the winter, and the weather shaped up to be 70 degrees and a bit humid on race day, with a slight breeze (for which I was very thankful), so the additional heat and humidity may have been a factor. I had, of course, also expended extra energy trying to find a bathroom earlier, which certainly didn't help my cause.

At mile 23, I turned to my dad and said, "Tell me a joke. No, wait, tell me a story. The long, drawn-out kind like the ones that Mom tells." My father then proceeded to tell me the silliest, most random story I think I've ever heard. It involved bears, and my sister ended up being a bear slut. Don't ask. It was ridiculous. But miraculously, when the story ended, I looked up and saw the 24-mile marker! It was a wonderful sight.

Just before the 25-mile marker, I saw my friend Kim running toward us. She was registered for a 50-mile race the following weekend, her first ultra, and had pledged to run the last mile or so with me. It was so incredible to see her. She ran with us until just before the 26-mile marker, and assured me that even though I couldn't yet see the finish line, it was just up ahead. She said I wouldn't be able to see it until there were less than 30 yards left, but that it was up there! I fervently believed her, but told both her and my dad that I didn't think I'd be running any faster than I was at that point, even once I saw the finish line. I was trudging along at that point, just trying to put one foot in front of the other. I was decidedly NOT walking. I had only allowed myself to walk when I drank water. I desperately wanted to RUN my first marathon. There isn't anything wrong with walking during a marathon - in fact, it can help people finish faster because they have less pain - but I just didn't want to do it.

We kept chugging along, passing the 26-mile marker, and then the 26.1-mile marker. The moment we turned the final corner and I saw the finish line, I grabbed my dad's hand and sprinted faster than I think I've ever sprinted before. It took him completely by surprise, but he came with me. Tears started welling up in my eyes as we dashed for the finish line, and my dad half-quoted A League of Their Own, saying, "There's no crying in marathons!" It was funny though because his eyes were welling up too. We crossed the finish line with our hands up in the air and smiles on our faces. The moment we were across the finish line, a purely physical reaction took over, like an uncontrollable release, and I collapsed into my dad, sobbing. It was unforgettable.

There were brats and beer and much celebrating after the race, and then a big party at my parents' house the next day (which happened to be my 25th birthday). The marathon and the weekend in general were wonderful and fun and amazing. I finished in 5:11, which was 15-20 minutes slower than I'd wanted, but I accepted that fact even before the race was over. I finished, and that was the important part. Now I have something to work toward in my next marathon effort in October. :)

Finish What Ya Started (by Van Halen)

2010-05-02T01:33:00.002-04:00

Quote of the day:
"You finished a marathon and you believe, 'If I can do this, I can do anything.'"
-Grete Waitz and Gloria Averbuch, Run Your First Marathon

I finished. :) Race report to come. Sleep happening now.

One Week (by the Barenaked Ladies)

2010-04-24T14:48:00.007-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Do not underestimate the intimacy of running, and the people with whom you share your miles."
-Kristin Armstrong

The people with whom I shared my miles yesterday are two of the most supportive people I know. Erin and Jo and I did our last "long" run (a whopping 7.3ish miles) before our races next weekend. Friday night, the three of us had a good old-fashioned sleepover. We watched "Spirit of the Marathon" to get even more excited than we already were. We then tackled our morning run with more energy and speed than I'd expected we would.

In the afternoon, I attended a bittersweet but amazingly fun party to commemorate the fact that Erin is moving out of New York this week. I'm very excited for Erin but very sad that one of my closest friends is leaving me. The one advantage I have over everyone else at Erin's farewell party yesterday is that I get to see her next weekend in Wisconsin. We're running the marathon together, and then we get to hang at another drinking-in-the-afternoon party at my parents' house the day after the race. :)

One week to go. One week! Actually 6 days now. Nothing but excitement on this end.

Oddly enough, what's on my mind a week before my first marathon is not marathon-related. Those of you who read my blog but don't know me in person might not know how I got started running. It actually began as a weight-loss tool, in addition to changing my diet, and the combination of those two major life changes helped me to lose 35-40 pounds. I have actually been the same weight for about a year now, but I am not done with my weight loss journey. I don't have to lose any more weight in order to be healthy, for the first time in my life. But I haven't yet reached my goal and I'm ready to pick up the challenge again and finish it out. I have 20-25 pounds to go before I will feel comfortable with a permanent weight. (Mind you, my goal weight is still in the "overweight" BMI range according to the CDC.) I've never really cared about those numbers, because they don't account for muscle, but I'd be lying if I said I'd be content to stay at the weight I'm at right now.

The strategy that worked for me really well the last time around was creating a storyboard of sorts. I set very specific goals every 4 to 6 weeks, and wrote out exactly how I would reach those goals. I lost about 5 pounds a month over a period of 6-7 months, and I've been able to keep it off for a year. Now it's time to do it again. I started by creating a new storyboard last weekend. Here is what I wrote in terms of exactly how I will reach my goals:

I will reach my major goal weight by continuing to run and adding more cross-training to my weekly routine. I will raise the intensity of my workouts at least once a week. My eating habits need to be more consistent and healthy in order for me to reach my weight goal. I will make a concerted effort to eat more fruits and vegetables, and to snack less between meals. I will also try harder to choose healthier foods when I eat out, rather than always reverting to "the usual" - fried foods, additional appetizers, etc.

My first goal is to lose 5 pounds by Memorial Day. In the first week of working harder, I lost a pound and a half. I don't want to lose more than that in a week because it'll be harder to keep that off. If I can lose a pound or so just about every week, I'll be able to reach my goal easily by Thanksgiving, and likely well before then.

More important than the weight loss, though, is my goal to make healthier eating choices. Just because I run a 20-miler on a weekend, that doesn't mean I can eat like crap all week long. A giant cheeseburger and mashed potatoes is fine right after a long, hard run (because if I can't have it then, when can I have it??) but I don't need to be eating things like that all the time.

No Time (by The Guess Who)

2010-04-22T23:29:00.005-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Keeping my eye on today is about all I'm capable of. And today, I think I'll go for a run."
-John "the Penguin" Bingham

Unfortunately I didn't get to go for a run today, and I'm not going for a run tomorrow... But I am playing softball tomorrow night (first game of the season!!!), and running Saturday morning. It's actually the first part of the quote that resonates with me today.

I have more on my plate right now than I think I've had since senior year of college when I was student teaching 5 days a week, taking 15 additional credits of coursework, and working 2 jobs. That all seems like a joke compared with all the things I'm juggling right now. But keeping my eye on today is what is helping me survive. Not only survive, but stay predominantly happy and upbeat through it all.

Life will slow down shortly, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm running my first marathon a week from Saturday. (CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!) It's not marathon training that is overwhelming - not in the least - but all the work and grad school things that are piling up.

As luck would have it, though, my grad school semester is almost over; my student teacher has less than a month left with me; my students' spring concert is also less than a month away; in just over a month I will be moved and settled into my new apartment; John is starting to finally see success in his job search (and not just any job, but a fabulous one that he will adore); my summer schedule is starting to free up a bit... You see what I mean? Life is going to get less crowded. Or maybe it's just my brain that will get less crowded. Either way, I won't argue.

Amidst the clutter that is my to-do list, of which I shudder at the thought, running is there. It is always there. I hope it always will be there. Running helps me stay in the moment. I used to plan my lessons and think about all kinds of future-related things while I was running. But now for some reason I find it to be so much easier to simply shut out all the planning and over-thinking and just run. And thank God for that.

Happy running!

PS - I registered for the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. on October 31, 2010. Couldn't resist. :) Who else is running it?

I Was Standin' on a Corner in Winslow, Arizona (song lyrics by the Eagles, not title, but again, close enough...)

2010-04-03T17:44:00.013-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Vary your training, your running partners, and your environment. Only your imagination limits the ways you can spice up your running routine."
-Bob Glover, The Runner's Handbook

Okay so I wasn't standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, but I was running in Goodyear, Arizona! Does that count??

John (my marvelous boyfriend) and I returned to New York yesterday after spending a glorious week in Arizona. We stayed with my cousin Aaron and his wife Anna, who live in Goodyear, a suburb just west of Phoenix. We got in Friday evening (3/26/10) and spent the night drinking and talking with Aaron and Anna in their beautiful new home.

On Saturday, we went for a short run, just under 3 and a half miles. I didn't want to do my long run the first day we were in the Arizona desert, so John accompanied me on an easy 3 and we enjoyed ourselves. Now, John wouldn't call himself a runner at this point. He runs on the treadmill for 15-30 minutes to warm up for his sports conditioning class at the gym twice a week, and he ran the Yankee Stadium 5k with me, but he doesn't run outside. He bikes outside, and he plays basketball outside, and he supports my running outside, but that's the end of it. I was really excited that he decided to join me as I laced up my running shoes.

After our run, we went to Maryvale Baseball Park to cheer on the Milwaukee Brewers - my absolute favorite baseball team, with which I am obscenely obsessed. This was one of the main reasons we decided to spend our spring break in Phoenix. We are both baseball fanatics and wanted to see as much spring training baseball as possible. In fact, our first non-work-related conversation last year was about baseball. John noticed my Brewers t-shirt at our faculty retreat last January and the rest is history. Or... eventually became history. Ha.

In any case, we went to four Brewer games in the 6 full days we were there. It was pure heaven. We paid $8 each for lawn seats and then proceeded to sit wherever the hell we wanted:

We had some amazing seats. The last day, we decided to spring for the front-row seats on the first baseline just down from the dugout. They were a whopping $13. At Miller Park in Milwaukee, where the Brewers play during the season, those same seats cost $100. (At Yankee Stadium they'd set you back more than $300. I only include this information because John is as big a Yankees fan as I am a Brewers fan.)

On Monday, I was ready to do my long run. I was scheduled to run 18 miles, so I decided to run a 6-mile loop from Aaron and Anna's house three times. Several weeks ago, I had asked John to ride a bike with me so I wouldn't have to do it alone in unfamiliar climate and surroundings, and he happily agreed. He ended up deciding to ride the first 12 miles with me and then run the last 6. Did I mention above that he'd never run more than 3.5 miles?? I was so proud of him; he made it through 6 miles and felt great afterwards. It was awesome having him running with me, especially since it meant I got to focus on helping him rather than on how tired I may have been feeling. We finished in 3:17, which is right on target for my marathon time - and I'm definitely training at a slower pace than I plan on racing.

Tuesday, the day after the 18-miler, we went up to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. I think I drove for a total of almost 10 hours that day. Just under 3 hours to Sedona, about 3 hours from there to the Grand Canyon, and then 4 hours back to Phoenix. Lots of driving, but so worth it. If you want to see pictures from our trip, check out my three facebook albums. Here are some of my favorites from the Sedona/Grand Canyon daytrip:

After getting up yesterday at 3am Phoenix time, or 6am east coast time, we arrived back in New York yesterday afternoon. I went to bed early-ish because this morning I did my first 20-miler. It was marvelous. Well... I suppose I can say that now because it's over. :) I did a pretty thorough post about the run on DailyMile so you can head over there to read it. I need to end this post right here and take a nap at long last.

A Day at the Races (album by Queen, not song title, but close enough)

2010-04-03T16:45:00.007-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Tears streamed down my face as I crossed the finish line. I was a new person, a runner."
-Thomas King

This is my long-overdue race report for the NYC Half Marathon two weeks ago. Overall it was an awesome race experience. I PRed by about 4 minutes, which was very exciting for me, especially since it was a training run for my marathon coming up (4 weeks from today, yay!). I did an almost-3-mile warmup before the start since I was scheduled for 16 miles that day and didn't want to miss out on the mileage... Particularly since my next distance was 18 miles. Didn't want to suddenly jump from 13 to my first 18-miler a week later.

I started out at a comfortable pace with Erin, and within steps we'd removed our jackets. (Luckily our friend Laura and her boyfriend Steele were waiting at the 4-mile mark and we could do the jacket hand-off pretty easily.) Arguably the coolest moment of the entire race occurred just before mile 2. Well, just before our mile 2. The route included almost one and a half loops of Central Park, and runners exited the park at 7th avenue, which was mile 2 on the first loop but of course became mile 8 on the second. When we were approaching mile 2, the elite male runners, who had crossed the start line a good 15+ minutes before us, were approaching mile 8. Haile Gebrselassie and 8-10 other elite men ran right past us. I'm talking 8 feet from my left elbow. What an incredible experience. Seeing them run right past us gave me a huge burst of adrenaline and I took off at quite a clip for a bit.

I ran with Erin for the first 5 miles or so before taking off on one of the Harlem hills. Call me crazy, but I've grown to love those hills. My 10k split time was 1:05:52, which is only a few minutes slower than my 10k race PR. My 15k split, which was right around Times Square, I believe, was 1:38:13 - less than a minute slower than my 15k race PR.

If you know me well, you may know that I avoid going to Times Square if at all possible. The tourists overwhelm and annoy me, and the whole thing is basically a huge example of our nation's obsession with excess. However, there is something ridiculously amazing about running down the middle of 7th avenue from Central Park to 42nd street (and hell yes I made sure I was running right down the dead center) with thousands of people lining the street screaming their encouragement and excitement for you and at you. I may not have cried as I was crossing the finish line, but I definitely let go of a few tears in Times Square.

One of the nice things about the NYC Half Marathon is the music along the course. Once you leave Central Park there are bands, DJs, and singalongs lining the course the rest of the way. I loved the singalong in Times Square. They were singing "I'm a Believer" when I went by. Great song. As I made my way to the West Side Highway along 42nd street, there was a fantastic blues band in front of B.B. King's. And then upon turning onto the highway, the first thing I heard was "We Are the Champions." Yes indeed, we certainly are, thank you very much. :)

This was by far the most fun race I have ever run (in my one-year-long running career). I can't wait to run the NYC Marathon in 2011. It's going to be one hell of a party.

Life Is a Highway (as sung by Chris LeDoux)

2010-03-17T21:38:00.009-04:00

Runner-up for this post's title: Bicycle Race (Biiiiiicycle, Biiiiiicycle)

Quote of the day:
"I do my best thinking when I'm running. I don't know why that is - everything seems to flow so easily. It's almost a spiritual thing for me."
-Apolo Ohno, Olympic speed skater

Second quote of the day:
"Running should be a lifelong activity. Approach it patiently and intelligently, and it will reward you for a long, long time."
-Michael Sargent

Wait, you mean I really haven't written since February? And it's already St. Patrick's Day? Wow, not sure where the time went... I decided to have two quotes of the day because I've had so many good ones saved up. I also have countless stories saved up to recount since my last post almost 3 weeks ago, but I'll try to stick with the highlights... as much as I can. :)

My long runs have been great, and I've done 3 of them since my last long run post (from my 14-miler). My first 15-miler was a little rough, but that had nothing to do with how I was feeling physically. A situation in my personal life spilled over into my running life - I was up late really worried about it, didn't get a good night's sleep, and didn't want to hurt myself by running the problem into the ground so I took it easy. It was a good decision, and my body felt fantastic afterward, so despite it not being my best effort, I made it work. (The situation in my personal life has since been resolved, and the long run did a lot to help me start to work through it.)

The following weekend I did my first 16-miler, and I did this one 100% alone. I'm actually really glad I ended up doing it by myself. It cleared up the debris still lingering in my mind, and it also helped me prove to myself that I can do this long run business on my own two feet (literally). I actually ended up running 16.5 miles rather than 16, because I accidentally miscalculated my route. Not a bad mistake to make, all things considered. I ended up with a 10:43 overall pace, which is faster than my projected race pace so... bring on the extra half mile!

This past weekend, my dad drove down from where he's been working in CT to run with me. We had 15 miles on the schedule, and Erin joined us as well. This was the first time Erin had run more than 10 miles since the NYC Marathon in November because of a knee injury, and the first run over 8 miles that Dad and I had ever done together. The next time he runs with me, we'll be running a little something we like to call a marathon. It was so great to have him by my side and start to understand what an impact that will have on me on May 1st. We ran through wind, rain, mist, and 30 seconds of peeking-through-the-clouds sunshine - and our average pace was 10:01. HOLY SHIT. Really? Yeah, I did a double-take after computing that... And a triple-take, and a quadruple-take, and I'm still not sure I fully believe it. But even if it's not right, it can't be that far off. I know I wasn't more than 0.2 off in my route calculations, so the pace isn't going to change significantly over 15 miles.

I think I've hit a breakthrough pace-wise. Last night was my regular Tuesday night run with Erin, only it was a tad different. My two new favorite running buddies, Erin's friends Laura and Jo, joined us. I'd met Laura when Erin and I randomly ran into her in Central Park in the middle of our long run 2 weeks ago (the one during which I was trying to sort through the aforementioned personal situation), and of course we bonded immediately. I met Jo last night and she is clearly just as awesome as Laura and Erin are, so the four of us had an incredible run together. Laura ran ahead (because she's super speedy) to do hill repeats (because she's a machine), but the rest of us were content to stick with just the full 6.1-mile loop, complete with Harlem hills, in preparation for this Sunday's NYC half marathon. (It was Jo's first full loop ever since she started running in September - go Jo!) Well, we kicked the crap out of those hills. Or if you'll pardon the pun, shall I say we kicked the asphalt out of those hills? Har har. In any case, I had a 10:16 average pace. Jo had her iPhone with her and was using a fancy GPS running app of some kind, and she looked down around mile 5 and saw that we'd been running a 9:36 pace for the past mile, and with only a mile or so to go, we definitely kicked it into high gear. I've NEVER run that distance so fast in training, and only once - barely - in a race. My 10k PR (for the only 10k I've ever done) is 1:01:55. We ran 0.1 mile shorter than a 10k in 1:02:33.

Is now a good time to mention the fact that I rode my bike to work yesterday, and then back down to meet the girls for our run in the park? The ride to work is 7.3 miles, including hills, traffic, and the Queensboro bridge. Add 3+ miles from work to the park to put the biking mileage over 10 miles for the day before running the 6.1 at light speed (for me anyway). Like I said - BREAKTHROUGH. I knew my legs would be a bit tired from the biking, so going into the run I had just resigned myself to pushing through it and getting it done, no matter how tired my legs felt. I was so determined to push that I pushed right on through my normal "this is fast enough" threshold. Maybe I should bike to work every Tuesday!

I'm actually thinking no more Tuesday bike rides, because it really isn't going to be good for me to run on tired legs, but biking to work is saving my sanity. Words cannot express what my new (hopefully twice-weekly) commute has done for my quality of life this week. My commute to work is usually 45-60 minutes on trains including at least one transfer, which happens at Times Square in the middle of rush hour. And then I do it again on the way home. My bike ride was 48 minutes to work, and it was pure bliss. Hills and all. I loved it so much I did it again today, even after last night's run. I just feel so good biking and being outside and NOT BEING ON A TRAIN overflowing with pushy, cranky people. The train turns me into another pushy, cranky person. I had no idea of the actual effect my commute has on my mood every day. All the more reason to look forward to moving to Inwood in June where I'll have an even nicer ride to work - and only 20ish minutes at that.

All in all, a great few weeks. Hopefully I'll be less busy now that the semester is in full swing (and my student teacher is adjusting to teaching and needs less of my attention), and I won't have to cram almost a month's worth of running into one post, which has ended up being longer than I'd planned.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures from my bike ride home from work along the Hudson River tonight at sunset:

Hot Blooded (by Foreigner)

2010-02-26T12:03:00.007-05:00

Quote of the day:
"I don't believe in restricting calories, I believe in burning them."
-Chanamalla Samagond, Indian National Champion at 800m and 1,500m

Well, I haven't exactly been restricting calories in the later part of this week, but I have been burning them! I hope it evens out. I think I am finally allowing myself to stop thinking about losing weight. First time in my life I can actually say that. I wouldn't mind losing a little more, but for the first time ever, I don't *have* to in order to be healthy. I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and my blood pressure was 110/80 and my cholesterol was 180. My mom (who is a dietician and the manager of Wellness Programs at the hospital where she works in Milwaukee) has convinced me to concentrate more on my blood pressure and cholesterol levels than the number on the scale. I'm definitely liking that much better, as my numbers in those categories are right on target. Here are some charts from the American Heart Association's website about healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels:

Blood pressure:

Cholesterol:

If you don't know your blood pressure or cholesterol levels, get them checked! They're better indicators of overall health than your weight or even your BMI.

Okay, enough of that.

This week I ran 5.3 miles on Wednesday night with Erin (first run together in almost a month) and 3 miles at the gym yesterday (Thursday). The run Wednesday night was great; we got it in before the snowstorm, about which I was very happy. Definitely wanted to run outside once this week. I felt really good and was able to help Erin get through a tough beginning of the run. She hurt her knee a couple weeks ago skiing in Denver, and had to take some time completely off running. By the end of our run, though, she was feeling pretty good and was quite cheerful.

My 3-miler at the gym was actually one of the best runs I've done in a while. I know, I know. "Kristin enjoyed running inside? On the 10-laps-per-mile indoor track? No way!" Yes way. My goal was to get it done as quickly as possible, partly because I really don't like running inside, and also partly because Thursday night is date night and I was eager to meet up with John for dinner. I decided to push my pace at the beginning, knowing that if I start a short run slowly, I have a hard time picking up the pace later - which is the opposite of how my long runs usually work, oddly enough. (Anyone know why that might be? I have my theories but nothing strong...)

As I mentioned, the track is 10 laps per mile, and there is a digital clock on the wall at the point where I usually start. Most times when I run on the track, I aim for 1:00 to 1:05 per lap, depending on the length of my run and the motivation I feel. A 1:00 lap is of course a 10:00 mile, and a 1:05 lap is a 10:50 mile. Quite a difference with only a few seconds per lap, but that's actually one of the reasons I don't hate running the track. It gives me immediate feedback. So yesterday on the track, as I pushed my pace immediately, my first lap was 0:48. Holy hell. That's an 8:00 mile pace. After the first lap or 2, I settled into a slightly slower pace, but definitely faster than usual. I was clocking about 0:55-0:57 per lap (9:10-9:30 mile pace), and it was actually feeling really easy! For the last 3 laps, I bumped up the pace every lap, so by the final lap I was back to my 0:48 lap time. I finished 3 miles (30 laps) in 27:52, for an average pace of 9:17. My mile PR in a race is 9:19. Somehow this 9:17 pace felt easier than any other fast pace I've done. I really think I have my speed strategy figured out: shorter steps and quicker leg turnover (quicker steps), the combination of which results in low-impact (read: pain free) speed. Wahoo!

How do you think about speed when you run?

PS - HAPPY SNOW DAY!!! :D

Sunny Afternoon (by The Kinks)

2010-02-21T20:07:00.009-05:00

Quote of the day:
"You feel good while you're running and you feel even better when you're finished."
-Fred Lebow

That's some truth right there, coming from the NYC Marathon founder. I felt pretty good on my 14-mile run today, and definitely felt great when I finished. I felt especially amazing during the last mile, as I had never run more than a half marathon before today. (My route ended up being 14.1, so I really did extend my "longest run ever" by exactly a mile, ha.)

After last week's run on the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, I got hooked and decided to head back there today. But I did this one a little differently. Instead of taking the train in and starting in Manhattan, I started in Astoria, ran over the Queensboro Bridge, and across Manhattan to the west side. I entered the Greenway at 59th street, with a slight detour down to 58th because I absolutely can't stand running across 59th - too many people! 58th was bad enough... I ran once again up to the Little Red Lighthouse underneath the GW bridge. Today, instead of running down to 72nd and over to Broadway, I only had to run to 125th, cross over to Broadway, and finish at 116th. I was really excited about the shorter post-GW bridge jaunt... Until I got to Broadway and remembered that 125th to 116th is 100% uphill. Not a little baby hill either. A definite incline that would be a pain in the ass at mile 2, but at mile 14 is excruciating. Never again. But I finished!!! And right on target, 11:01/mile. That's exactly where I want to be for my long runs so I can do a 10:48 pace for the marathon.

This is a short post because I am in bed and ready to fall asleep in front of a movie (at 8:30pm, yessssss). Rather than extend the post with words, I will include a few pictures. Enjoy, and good night! :D

My route today:

Spending quality time with my baby niece Nadia in Wisconsin all week:

Feel free to check out more adorable baby-niece pictures here. :)

Down by the River (by Neil Young)

2010-02-15T07:45:00.010-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Running is 'focusing' for me. In my profession we might talk about it as body prayer; a sort of emptying of the mind. That's probably why I prefer running in the wilds rather than in the city."
-Most Reverend Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church, New York City

I did my long run on Saturday afternoon - 12 miles. The second-longest distance I've ever run. I'm getting to the point in my marathon training where I will soon surpass the longest distance I've ever run, which was my half marathon on September 20th. And by "I will soon surpass," I mean I will surpass it in less than a week. My next long run, which I will most likely do next Sunday, is 14 miles. Whoo boy.

For my 12-miler, I wanted a different route, a change of pace from my usual Astoria Park/Central Park/Queensboro bridge combinations. I also wanted to run on relatively flat ground, somewhere that would be cleared of the snow we had piled on us on Wednesday. I chose the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway along the Hudson River.

My route started at 59th street - Columbus Circle. I ran up Broadway to 72nd street and turned left, towards the Hudson. When I got to Riverside, I went onto the footpath that led down a steep hill and onto the running/biking path along the highway, right on the river. I followed that path all the way up to the Little Red Lighthouse underneath the George Washington bridge, at 175th street. Then I went back down to 72nd street, up the big steep hill back to Riverside drive, the 2 blocks over to Broadway, and that's where I stopped running.

The run took me 2 hours and 18 minutes. It was definitely a less-than-11:00 pace, more like 11:30, but I'm perfectly fine with that. It was cold and windy, I hadn't gotten restful enough sleep the night before, and I ran almost the whole thing alone. (My coworker Jenny joined me for about a half mile, around mile 10. A sight for sore eyes.) I'm proud of myself for accomplishing it.

The route itself was gorgeous. I love running along the water, which may be why I love running around Astoria Park so much. Once I was above 125th street, it was pretty much just me and the vegetation around me. Especially above about 145th, it almost seemed like I was running along a riverside path in the woods. The closer I got to that Little Red Lighthouse, the less it felt like I was in Manhattan. I think I may just extend this route and use it for most of my long runs from now on. I'll probably still end at 72nd street, and just adjust my starting point. It was nice to know that the second "half" of the run was shorter than the first "half."

This week is a nice change of pace. I have the week off work ("Mid-Winter Break," God bless New York schools), and I am currently sitting at my parents' kitchen table just outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And if I look just over the top of my computer screen, I see the most beautiful baby in the world, peacefully asleep in her carseat on top of the table. My sister's daughter, my adorable niece Nadia, is my charge for the week. Jen went back to work today, and her middle school students are probably just arriving in her classroom at this very moment. They're excited to have her back, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to spend the week getting to know my new baby niece. Except she's been asleep for the past hour. But here's the thing about babies: they eventually wake up. :)

Long Train Running (too bad the Doobie Brothers didn't call it Long Training Run...)

2010-02-07T22:40:00.009-05:00

Quote of the day:
"So listen, the next time you are due for a workout and it is raining, windy, and freezing, and you are thinking of putting it off, count yourself lucky. Get out there and enjoy the best feeling life can give."
-Erich Segal

I've been MIA from blog-land for a while, but it has nothing to do with my last post (when my knee was feeling a little funny). I'm actually feeling great these days, running-wise. I've just been too damn busy, sometimes staying at work until 8 or 8:30 at night. Only about 1/3 of my busy-ness has to do with marathon training... and that 1/3 is fun! It's the other stuff that's been keeping me occupied and driving me crazy. But enough about work.

Since I last blogged, I've had some okay runs, some good runs, and some great runs. The best run of all in the past few weeks since I started my marathon training (4 weeks down, 12 to go!) was yesterday. We were apparently supposed to get a big snowstorm, so I postponed my create-an-adventurous-route long run and opted for my usual many-loops-around-Astoria-Park run instead. The snow never came, but no matter, this route worked out for the best. I was scheduled for 11 miles, the third-longest distance I've ever run, which meant running to the park, doing 6 loops around at 1.6 miles each, and then running home.

Hell Gate Bridge, part of the scenery of Astoria Park

I recently finished reading a book called First Marathons: Personal Encounters with the 26.2-Mile Monster. Overall, the book was fantastic and inspirational. The grammar and spelling perfectionist in me was appalled by the editing, or lack thereof, but other than that it was incredible. It is filled with first-person narratives from all sorts of people - famous runners and regular Joes - about their first marathon experiences. One woman described a specific strategy she used during the last 6 miles of her marathon: She dedicated each mile to a different person in her life. She figured that if she was running each mile for a specific person, she would be motivated to push herself through.

On my 11-miler yesterday, I used this strategy, but added a little to it. Not only did I dedicate each of my 6 loops around the park to a different person or pair of people in my life, I spent that loop thinking about them and remembering stories/events with them. The run to the park was for friends of mine who are runners. Loop 1 was for my mom's parents - Grandma who is still alive, and Grandpa who passed away 1/6/05. Loop 2 was for my dad's parents - Grandpa who is still alive, and Grandma who passed away 8/14/08. Loop 3 was for my brother Matthew and brother-in-law Aaron. Loop 4 was for my sister Jennifer and her new baby Nadia. Loop 5 was for my parents. Loop 6 was for John. And the run home from the park was for me.

When I got to the loop for my sister, I visualized her running by my side, giving me strategies to help me get through the tough parts of the run, as she did when we ran together last April - my first "long run." During the loop for my parents, the image became my dad running with me, saying "good girl" after I made it through a particularly rough windy patch or asking "are we there yet??" like he does on occasion to make me laugh. I saw my mom dancing to "Old Time Rock and Roll." My mom loves to dance, and I will always be able to picture her dancing to a song like that.

This strategy was amazing. I started my run really slow and gradually sped up, feeling stronger and stronger the whole way, until I was pushing to a sub-10:00 pace for the last 3/4-mile or so. The run ended up being 11.3 miles, and my overall pace was 10:42 - almost exactly marathon goal pace. Knowing that I could push it that fast at the end of my long run, as well as feeling like I could've gone another 11 miles after I was done, felt terrific.

It's way past my bedtime, but I've been wanting to post for well over a week, and the experience of my long run yesterday was too powerful not to write about.

Happy running :)

Falling In Love (Is Hard On the Knees) (by Aerosmith)

2010-01-20T22:10:00.010-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Experienced runners learn to respect the changing needs of their bodies. That's the wisdom that comes with time, and - for good or bad - with age."
-Fred Lebow, founder of the New York City Marathon

I am by no means an experienced runner, nor do I have the wisdom that comes with time. But I do have the good sense to say I need an extra day off this week.

Since I did my long run on Monday rather than over the weekend, my mileage is a little funky this week. I'm technically including it in last week's mileage, which I feel okay doing since I started the Tuesday before so it's still within 7 days, but that pushes last week's mileage to about 19.5 miles (2 miles more than planned). But Monday's long run is really part of this week, since my training "weeks" start on Mondays.

So that's why I'm not worried about taking an extra day of rest this week. The reason I feel I need that extra rest day, though, is a bit different. My right knee is not very happy with me today. It actually started over the weekend with my outer hip being a little sore, and then last night I realized my knee was feeling a little sore. I think it's IT band tightness. I'm icing my knee tonight, and I'm going to be more proactive about stretching after runs. I'll be doing the pigeon pose quite a bit over the next few days to loosen up. I'm not too worried about it, but it is a little troublesome since it's my first real soreness since I started running a little under a year ago. But really, if I made it almost a year without having more than your average soreness, I guess I should count my blessings, right?

Last night Erin and I opted against our regular Tuesday 5-6 miler, since we'd both had long days at work and were recovering from the previous day's long run, and instead we decided to run the 1.7-mile lower loop of Central Park - as fast as we could. Erin did it in 15:01, and I finished in 15:15. That's an 8:58 pace for me. Not only is it the fastest I've ever run a mile, I ran close to 2 miles at that pace! It may have had something to do with my sore knee, so I'm going to take it easy pace-wise for the next little while... But hell yeah, 8:58 pace! First time breaking the 9-minute mark. :)

Tonight Jocelyn and I went for a nice easy 3.7-mile run from my work on 112th and Broadway down to Columbus Circle, entering the park at 96th street. I thought I'd mapped it at 4.0 miles, but I must've been thinking about a different route. We got to Columbus Circle at about 35:00, and there's no way we did 4 miles in that time. We decided to turn up Broadway and keep running until we hit the 66th street subway entrance. I could've kept going, but it's probably for the best that we didn't. We did the run at just under 11:00 per mile, which seems so slow to me, but I'm going to have to get used to that pace if the soreness isn't completely gone by the weekend. I'm planning 9 miles for this weekend's long run, most likely to be done on Sunday. It's supposed to be 45 degrees again on Sunday, so unless someone forecasts pouring rain, I'll gladly save my long run for the weekend day with the higher temperature. :)

As I left work at 8:30 tonight (after a faculty meeting, class, and then running with Jocelyn) I stopped at the grocery store near my work, Westside Market. I love that store. Considering the fact that it's all over the upper west side, you'd think it'd be way overpriced. But in fact, I'm finding that some of my regular staples (such as milk, cereal, etc.) are actually cheaper than either of my usual grocery stores in Queens! Imagine that. I picked up a big carton of Fage, which I am now obsessed with. I tried the honey mix-in yesterday, and the strawberry for breakfast this morning. SO GOOD. I decided to just get a giant thing of plain and add my own toppings to save money and packaging. Also bought some granola to mix with it, which, coupled with honey, will be an amazing breakfast tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was my little treat for myself. I decided on the way home that I didn't want to eat any of my new groceries, nor did I want to reheat leftovers of last week's healthy mac and cheese, because that's going to be my lunch tomorrow. Instead, I opted for the quick and easy solution - eggs. I made the most delicious (and somewhat ridiculous) omelet. I used 3 eggs because I was just that hungry. I mixed in some skim milk and poured that into the pan. Inside the omelet I put some sliced mushrooms and 7 (yes, SEVEN) kinds of cheese. I didn't use a whole lot of cheese, but there was definitely a wide variety. I have a package of shredded mozz/provolone/swiss and a package of colby/jack/mozz/parmesan left over from the mac and cheese recipe, both 2% milkfat, so I sprinkled a little of each of those into the omelet. Then I grated up some Wisconsin white cheddar with dried cranberries that I brought back after Christmas (yes, it is as good as it sounds). After the omelet was finished and perfectly flipped onto my plate, I grated a touch of parmesan on top. Drool.

Here's a picture of the dinner I spoiled myself with tonight:

Because sometimes you just need something Delicious. That's Delicious, with a capital D... that rhymes with P, that stands for Pool. (That stands for Pool!)

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (by Simon & Garfunkel)

2010-01-18T21:25:00.008-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Running changed my life and brought it into balance. I now feel as though my entire essence, body, and soul is centered."
-Donna Isaacson

As I said to my dad tonight, since I started running more seriously and regularly, running has helped me put the rest of my life into place. My life has more structure but also more freedom. I feel like every day has a purpose, and I realize that may sound overly romantic, but whatever. You'll deal with it. It's true.

Anyway... :)

First long run of the official training season: DONE! And enjoyed! :) More beautiful weather today in New York - 45 degrees and sunny, and even nicer since the wind had pretty much died down by the time we started. I ran with my dad and Erin today, and we ended up doing just under 7 and a half miles. I had initially planned 8 miles for my long run this past weekend, but since I had the day off and my dad could be in New York just for this afternoon, I put off the long run until today. I did those 3 miles on Saturday partly because the weather was just so damn nice, but also partly because I didn't want to go from Thursday to Monday without running. I didn't want to overdo my weekly mileage by too much, so I opted for just under 8 miles for the long run.

The route we chose to run today started at the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park and went clockwise around the park, up the west side and down the east. When we got to the Reservoir just past 86th street, we cut up onto the bridle path and ran around the north side of the Reservoir and then jumped back on the park drive at Runner's Gate (90th street). We exited the park at 5th ave and 60th street, ran east to 1st ave, and then over the Queensboro Bridge (aka the 59th Street Bridge). After the bridge, I am usually just about ready to be done, but there's still over a mile left. I love running that bridge, but it does take some intense focus to get over.

The distance from the entrance to the bridge to the turnoff onto Crescent Street in Queens is over a mile, and going from Manhattan to Queens, the uphill on the first part is much shorter than the downhill. That might seem like a good thing, but remember, what goes down must have come up first. Oh wait, that's not how the saying goes... Let me try that again. If it starts and ends at about the same elevation, and the uphill is shorter in length than the downhill, that means the uphill must be pretty steep. Okay, so the "what goes up must come down" theory doesn't quite fit here, but you get the idea. Ouch.

When I got home, I checked my stats and found that I had run 7.43 miles in 1:17:04. That's a 10:23 average pace. Holy crap! Considering the fact that I really only stopped once (for my dad to pee at the Boathouse) - I don't count red lights as "stopping" because I don't do it by choice - that's a really great pace for me! I felt like I was pushing it in the first mile-ish, but then I got used to it. I guess I didn't realize that I can maintain a "pushing it" pace for 7 or 8 (or more!) miles, rather than just sticking with my usual conservative 10:45-10:50 long run pace. As my long runs get longer, of course, I'm not going to continue to see how far I can push it. But maybe for my weekly Central Park 5- to 6-milers I can and should push it.

We shall see...

Heat Wave (by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas)

2010-01-16T18:06:00.008-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Music is my life, but running allows me to appreciate the music of the outdoors."
-Gail Williams, horn player

Today was the most beautiful day in the past few months. Or at least it felt like it. It's after 6:30pm now, so it's dark out, and it's still around 45 degrees. When I was growing up (in Wisconsin), I was allowed to wear shorts to school if the temperature was 50 degrees. Well, I didn't exactly wear shorts to school today, but I did wear capri running tights around the city all day! It was absolutely gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky.

As of yesterday afternoon, I was planning on staying in and resting all day today, since yesterday at work I was more physically exhausted than I can remember being in a long time. My school's chorus concert was Thursday night, which meant another music teacher and I were running rehearsals with 200+ kids all week, and then conducting the concert... and then teaching all day yesterday. I have no idea how I made it through the day.

Instead of my planned day of rest today, though, I decided I just had to get out and enjoy the weather. I ended up going for a 5k-distance run in Central Park with Jocelyn and her sister Jenna at 11:30. I clocked the 3.1 miles at 32:30 - not bad considering I didn't have a run scheduled for today. Jocelyn and Jenna kept going after I stopped because they'd planned to do 5 miles. I was initially thinking I'd do the whole thing with them, but by the time I met up with them I'd decided I didn't want to add too many extra miles this week. It is, after all, the end of my first week of official marathon training. I feel good, so let's keep it that way. :)

After I got home from the run (and brunch with my former roommate Sarah), I decided to take my new bike out for a spin. I rode to a bike shop called Pedal Pushers on 2nd ave between 68th and 69th streets in Manhattan - over the Queensboro bridge - and back. I needed a new helmet and someone had recommended that particular store to me. It certainly lived up to the hype. If you ever need anything for a bike, or any kind of bike repair, or a bike rental on the east side, go there! The guys who own it are wonderful and knowledgeable and friendly. So here's what I discovered on my bike ride today: my new bike is amazing. I had a blast! And I was zooming easily. This bike tears it up, and with much less effort than my old one. Woo.

My dad, who is running the marathon with me, is working in Connecticut this coming week, and he planned his flight for Sunday night before realizing that it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday so he won't have to work. Instead, he's driving the hour and a half down from Bridgeport to spend the afternoon/evening with me! We're going to do our first long run of the training season, a nice 8-miler, and then go out for dinner, probably with John joining us for that part. I haven't decided yet if it will truly be an 8-miler, or if we'll cut it down to 7 since I ran 3 extra miles today. Might go with the latter. My dad has never run in Central Park, so I'm really excited to do that with him. It is going to be such an incredible experience running this marathon with my dad by my side for all 26.2 miles. We've run together a few times, but nothing longer than 6 miles. Should be awesome!

I need to sneak in a note about a recipe I tried last night. Jocelyn came over for dinner (and brought wine, yum!) and I made the most delicious, healthy hot wings ever. The recipe is from my new American Heart Association cookbook. If you want the recipe, leave your email address in the comment form and I'll send it to you. A. MA. ZING.

No Sugar Tonight (by The Guess Who)

2010-01-11T21:40:00.015-05:00

Quote of the day:
"He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician."
-Chinese proverb

Just a quick food-related post. Today was a good food day for me, especially when it came to dinner time. My fantastic, wonderful, sexy friend Jocelyn got me the best gift for Christmas: the Hungry Girl cookbook.

She came over last night for the Packers/Cardinals playoff game (I don't want to talk about it, blind refs missed a game-changing facemask call in OT) and I unwrapped my delicious gift! We made healthier versions of pigs in blankets (from the HG cookbook) and spinach dip (which I got from the Mayo Clinic website, recipe is here). Despite the depressing end of the game, we had ourselves a good time!

Tonight for dinner I decided to crack open the HG cookbook on my own and give one of the recipes a try. I really need to start planning out at least a couple meals per week, maybe on Sundays, so I can make sure I have the right ingredients for the things I need... But I happened to have all the necessary fix-ins for the cheesy chicken quesadilla. Well, almost. I have chicken in the freezer that I didn't thaw out today, so I couldn't use that without a ton of hassle, but I do have prepackaged grilled turkey strips from the deli section so I used that instead. I also substituted a spinach tortilla for a plain flour one, and unfortunately had to use regular cheese rather than low-fat or fat-free. But that's okay, I didn't use a whole lot of cheese. The cheese I did use, however, was amazing. It's from a specialty market called Brennan's near my parents' house in Wisconsin, and I brought it back with me after Christmas. It's their Irish beer cheese, and it's pretty drool-worthy. It gave the quesadilla a good bite.

I finished off my dinner with a little fat-free frozen yogurt - neapolitan this evening. Top that off with fat-free Redi-whip and a couple maraschino cherries and I actually feel like I'm eating something reeeeeally bad for me.

Yummy quesadilla (with tomatoes on top and a side of fat-free sour cream) and a disappointed Packers glass filled with decaf iced tea:

Carrots and mushrooms to eat with the spinach dip:

Beer cheese. Drool:

My new fantastic cookbooks:

Mug from John + guilt-free sweets = mmmmm :)

First run of the official marathon training season is tomorrow. Let's get this started!

Start Me Up (by The Rolling Stones)

2010-01-09T11:13:00.008-05:00

Quote of the day:
"This is not about instant gratification. You have to work hard for it, sweat for it, give up sleeping in on Sunday mornings."
-Lauren Fessenden, marathoner

I'm ready to work! I was up at 6:30 this morning (although it's Saturday, not Sunday) for the Fred Lebow Classic 5-miler in Central Park. It was the first race of the New York Road Runners Club 2010 season, and my first official qualifying run for the 2011 ING New York City Marathon. But that's a topic for a later post...

The race was FANTASTIC. I think it was the best I've ever run. My official time was 50:22, which is an average 10:04 pace. I've never run that fast for that long. I clocked my first mile at just under 11:00, and then the other four miles were each under 10:00 per mile. I was feeling good. I worked my arms on the uphills and let gravity carry my legs on the downhills, where I made up a lot of time. My initial goal was to be under 55:00, and then as I was approaching mile 2 at about a 9:45 pace, I thought, "Hey, I bet I could get in under 51:00." And I did - by 38 seconds!

This was a great way to kick off my marathon training. My official first day of training is Monday! Wisconsin Marathon, here I come! The race is 16 weeks from today: Saturday, May 1, 2010. The day before my 25th birthday. I couldn't be more excited about it. My whole family will be there, and John is coming to Wisconsin with me to cheer me on and meet all the family and friends he hasn't met. My dad will be running side-by-side with me the whole time, and John as well as my friend Kim have both pledged to run the last mile with me. Plus there's also the fact that Erin, my trusty running buddy who gets me out the door on a weekly basis, will be running the race as well. It's just a recipe for a great time!

I figured I'd set a few goals to keep myself going through my training, and what better time to document them than now, the very beginning of my training! Erin told me that someone had recommended to her to set 3 "finishing" goals for her first marathon: one to finish, one to finish in a slightly conservative time, and one slightly out-of-reach finishing time to strive for. So, with that in mind, here are some of my marathon goals:

Finishing Goal #1: FINISH with a smile on my face

Finishing Goal #2: finish in under 5 hours

Finishing Goal #3: finish in under 4 hours and 45 minutes

LISTEN TO MY BODY as I'm training.

Stick with my general training plan, especially the long runs and the total weekly mileage, but don't get down on myself if I have to take an unplanned day off or shorten some runs if my body tells me to.

Remind myself, especially when I'm feeling sluggish or dragging my feet, that I get to run today, not I have to run today. It'll make all the difference in my attitude.

Be always thankful for all the support I get from others, whatever that support might look like.

In the vein of this last goal, I have a short anecdote to relate that completely made my day today. I was on the N train in Astoria, just a few stops from home, heading back after the race. I was sweaty and tired, but feeling pretty good. The woman who had been sitting across from me for the last few stops looked at me and asked, "Are you going running today?" I said, "I already did, there was a race in Central Park this morning." She then proceeded to tell me that I was inspiring to her, and that she had been wanting to get herself exercising again. She shared some very personal details about her life in the 3-4 minutes we were talking (and she did most of the talking), such as the fact that she was about to turn 47 and although she wasn't really in a financial position to join a gym, she wanted to start walking or running on a regular basis. She grew up in Manhattan, so she likes to walk a lot, but she thinks the cardiovascular benefits of running are better than just about any other activity. Now picture this conversation happening at a very loud volume, so the whole train car could hear her, and insert things like "You're inspiring me!" and "Thank you for inspiring me!" every 30 seconds or so. Also, she was wearing tight jeans and bright pink shimmery lipstick at 9:30 in the morning. Right before she got off the train, she said, "My mother always told me that if you have something nice to say, say it." I really liked that. And as she was walking away on the train platform, she shouted back to me, "You're a winner!" I love New Yorkers. :)

With a Little Help From My Friends (by The Beatles)

2010-01-09T10:29:00.009-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Running is a kind of investment in yourself."
-The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration, Kevin Nelson

This week, I think I did a pretty good job of investing in myself. I didn't run a whole lot, but I generally took care of myself this week, and as it was the first week back at school (with kids being crazier than usual), I'm content with what I did. I only watched TV one night - couldn't miss the Biggest Loser season premiere! - and I did a lot more before-bed reading. I also stayed on top of my work and ate pretty well.

Speaking of eating, I wanted to post about a new recipe I tried on Monday night. I found a recipe on the Runner's World website for a vegetable frittata that looked good. I didn't have a ton of groceries, but I figured I could scrounge up enough stuff in my fridge to make it work. It called for vegetables like onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spinach. Now, I don't eat peppers, I didn't have any onions or spinach, but I thought I had a can of mushrooms and I knew I had a cucumber and an array of frozen veggies. I thought, What's the harm in swapping out some of the veggies? Ha, more than I knew...

After I'd beaten the eggs with the seasonings I wanted to use (oregano, sweet basil, a little garlic, a touch of cinnamon) I found I didn't have mushrooms after all, but the recipe called for 2 cups of chopped veggies so I needed something... I used a whole cucumber, 1/2 cup of frozen corn, and 1/2 cup of frozen peas. I sautéed the veggies in some olive oil, and they looked and smelled really good. I poured the eggs over the whole mess and it started smelling amazing up in my kitchen. After about an hour of preparation and cooking (way longer than it should've taken, but oh well) I was sadly disappointed in the taste. I'd spooned some diced tomatoes and parmesan cheese over the whole thing, as the recipe called to do, but the eggs and veggies underneath were not all that tasty. I ate a little bit of it and tossed the rest out. I guess in a situation like that, certain vegetables just don't work. Lesson learned!

Here are a couple photos of my mediocre meal:

Looks good in the pan!

With a yummy glass of Argentinian malbec...

I consider myself a fairly decent cook, but I'm Italian. I cook your basic Italian staples - pasta, lasagna, sausage, meatballs, etc. This healthy eating thing is not going to work if I stick with my Italian basics that I've made for years and don't widen my horizons. I bought a cookbook put out by the American Heart Association called Healthy Family Meals and hope to find some goodies in there. It's specifically for cooking for a family with a busy schedule, and even though I just cook for myself, I do have a busy schedule and don't mind leftovers! Saves me the trouble of making my lunch every day... I've also started following a blog that my friend Jocelyn recommended called EatRunEat, which has new recipes all the time. If you know of good places to find easy, healthy recipes, let me know, I could certainly use your help!

So this week I only went running once, but it was a 5.6-mile run in Central Park with Erin on Wednesday night. We were planning on doing a short run on Tuesday and a longer run on Wednesday, but we were both feeling pretty blegh Tuesday evening and agreed that as long as our longer run was long enough, we'd excuse ourselves for this week, because we wanted to be feeling good by the weekend. I wasn't feeling sick at all, but I had a ton of work to do and have my school's winter concert coming up on January 14th (5 days and counting) so I needed to avoid stressing myself out.

After our run Wednesday night, Erin and I enjoyed some delicious wings and beer at Broadway Station in Astoria. Pitchers of Miller Lite for $13 and 20 wings for $10... Can't really beat that in New York! I didn't feel an ounce of guilt for eating wings, because if I can't eat wings after running 5 or 6 miles, when can I? If I tell myself I can't ever eat wings, well then that's when I'll end up going out and ordering a plate of 25 wings just for me. No thank you. A good workout earns me the right to treat myself every once in a while. Right?

Against the Wind (by Bob Seger)

2010-01-03T12:51:00.017-05:00

Quote of the day:
"As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are."
-Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic marathon gold-medal winner

Today, running was definitely about more than just putting one foot in front of the other. It was about pushing against the wind and cold and snow (just starting to fall) and trying to eke out more than just the mileage I wanted... More like trying to fight against all the excuses I've given myself all week that have kept me out of my running shoes.

It would have been cool to say I started 2010 with a run, but I didn't go running on New Year's Day as I'd planned. I napped all day. I also didn't run yesterday, palindrome day (01022010). However, I did run today, the coldest and windiest day of the three days we've had so far in 2010. So now I can stop feeling guilty.

I don't really like making New Year's Resolutions, because I feel like I should live up to my own standards the whole year, not just at the beginning of the calendar year. (Besides, my life doesn't really follow the calendar year, I live by the school year... and likely will for the rest of my life.) Last year was the first year I didn't make a New Year's Resolution about losing weight. Every year before that, I had made such a resolution and had never followed through on it. Last year, on January 1, 2009, instead of making a resolution - an abstract goal with no specific means of achieving it - I made a concrete plan. I broke down the year by month, even at times by week, and gave myself specific weight goals. I guess you could say my overall "resolution," although I tried not to think of it that way, was to get active. In 2009, I ran two 5ks, a 5-miler, a 10k, a 15k, and a half marathon. I definitely achieved my goal. And along the way, I lost 35 pounds.

In 2010, I am going to stay active. I feel like I should say, "I am going to stay active, obviously" there, because at this point there's no way I will stop running. It would be like if I stopped singing. (For those who don't know me, I'm an elementary school music teacher.) Running is now an integral part of my life, even when I have weeks like this past one where I take too many days off in a row...

As I was saying, in 2010 I am going to stay active. The new part I'm going to add in this new year is a more balanced, healthy lifestyle in general. What that really means is I will pay more attention to my eating habits. I do an okay job of eating my fruits and vegetables - much better than I did this time last year - but I still have a long way to go. My weight has been at a plateau for the past 5-6 months (except for the 5+ pounds I gained over the holidays, but who doesn't??) and I still have 20-25 pounds to lose before I am out of the woods in that area. I can no longer be considered obese, but I'm just barely under it and I want to be healthy. I don't want to go down another pants size though, partly because I've spent hundreds of dollars over the past 6-8 months on new clothes and partly because with my genes I would look pretty silly as a size 6 (I'm now a 12 and will be very happy to stay a size 12)...

I digress. My purpose in writing this post is to make a public commitment to living healthy. Eating well, spending less time in front of the TV, procrastinating less so I'm not stressed out, etc.

As far as eating well is concerned, I think I'm going to post about what I eat every so often. Not every day like a food journal, because I've done those, and they become an added stress after a while (and I'm a stress eater!!!) but just as a check-up. I'll include snapshots (visual or verbal or both) of things I'm eating that fit under the "healthy lifestyle" heading... and then things that don't. Because I know I'm not going to be perfect. If I expect perfection from myself, I will go off the deep end when I don't get it. (When and not if, because perfection belongs to none of us.) A coworker of mine posts pictures and recipes of food she makes/eats, and it's really inspiring for me to read because some of the things she posts are so ingenious and healthy and delicious-looking.

I will be looking all over my life for inspiration to keep up the healthy living, so please feel free to comment on my food-related posts with tips or recipes or links to anything helpful... And please feel free to comment in general on any of my posts! I love hearing from you, friend or stranger. We're all in this together, right?

Happy new year, and happy running/eating/living :)

PS - My sister had her baby!!! Nadia Lynne Putnam, born Wednesday, December 30, 2009. She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 19.5 inches long. I was already back in New York as of the 28th so I haven't met her yet, but I will be going back to Milwaukee the week of February 15th to babysit, as it will be Jen's first week back at work. Here are some photos of my little noodle:

Cold Day in the Sun (by The Foo Fighters)

2009-12-29T17:43:00.011-05:00

Quote of the day:
"When the runner's high does set in, usually around three or four miles, my body flows into a smooth rhythm and my mind is no longer conscious of how far or how long I've run or how much farther to go."
-Matthew Shafner

Running is such a fantastic way to oust the frustration that takes hold of me on occasion. Whether that frustration stems from events of daily life, circumstances I find myself in, or (as in the particular case of today) certain people in my life, I can lace up my running shoes and hit the pavement, each step erasing another little bit of whatever it is that is weighing on my mind.

If you've read my last blog entry, you may recall that I have been wanting to run outside for over a week - ever since my last race on the 19th. That opportunity finally presented itself today, and I am glad I didn't let it sneak past me unused. The weather in Wisconsin, where I spent the past week, was not conducive to running outside - more often than not something was falling from the sky, and the roads were covered with snow and slush - forcing me to stick to the gym. In Astoria, however, this was not the case.

Looking out my window, I saw how easily the sun might have fooled someone into thinking it was warmer than it was. There was hardly a cloud in the sky as I prepared to head out for my run around 2:30 in the afternoon. (God bless winter break...) I checked the weather and saw that the actual temperature was around 20 degrees, but with the wind chill (thanks to the winds blowing at up to 45 mph) it actually "felt like" 4 degrees Fahrenheit. I added a windbreaker to my usual winter running ensemble and headed out the door. The only part of my body that was remotely cold within a half mile was my chin. Everything else was sufficiently covered and content.

I ran in the direction of the Modell's Sporting Goods store on Steinway, on the off chance that they might have an Under Armour mask or neck warmer. Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock, but I was warm enough with my hat, hood, and scarf. The wind was a little rough on my cheeks and chin (could've used some Vaseline to block the wind), but I'm no worse for the wear.

For the first time, I decided to run by time rather than by distance. Usually I set my route ahead of time based on the mileage I want to run. (More often that not, the distance is determined by how many loops of Astoria park I feel like running on that particular day, at a mile and a half per loop.) Today, I wanted to run for an hour. I figured that would give me enough time to work the frustration out of my mind and body. It was the perfect solution. I've been reading a book lately called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. Mr. Murakami's long runs often consist of running for an hour, on whatever route his feet might take him. That sounded fantastic today, so I decided to use that strategy. I wasn't concentrating on how much farther I had to go or where the mile markers were, I simply ran because it felt good. When I left Modell's I just kept running north along Steinway until I hit Ditmars (which came up much more quickly than it usually does, possibly because I was completely lost in thought), and from there I ran west to the river.

If you've ever run alongside a river, or generally any body of water, you know that the wind is many times stronger there than further inland. Today was no exception. I thought I was going to be blown over. It wasn't even coming from one steady direction. At first the wind seemed to be at my back, which I didn't mind at all. Then all of a sudden it would gust from the side, then from the front... But for some reason it didn't bother me today. I actually enjoyed it. I got to the corner of the park that begins my return home, when I thought, "Yeah, I'm not going home yet, I'm going to do this again. Bring it on, wind!" I can only describe my thoughts at that point as mischievous. I know it sounds strange, but I felt almost as if I was challenging the wind to a duel. I had won the first round and was giving the wind another chance to beat me (which it didn't). If this type of thinking makes me crazy, then crazy I must be. It's thought patterns like these that get me out of my pajamas and into my running clothes on days like today.

There really are very few things in life that can compare to the knowledge that you have achieved something on your own, with nothing but your own strength and endurance (both mental and physical). Today, I got up off my butt, which had been comfortably resting on my couch in front of a movie, and attacked the pavement. I ran 5.7 miles in an hour in scathingly cold wind. I fought the law-- err... I fought the wind and I won. This time, at least...

In other news, John met me at the airport yesterday. What a sweetheart, that man...

Great Indoors (by John Mayer)

2009-12-26T16:31:00.007-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running."
-Sarah Condor

I spent 2 days (Dec 24th and 25th) wishing I were running. Particularly in the afternoon yesterday, Christmas day. I didn't bring my outdoor running clothes home with me because I didn't have space as I was not checking a bag on my flight. I did, however, go to the gym and run 3 miles on the indoor track around the cardio room on Wednesday. At 14 laps per mile, it gets quite dull after a while. 3 miles = 42 laps = Kristin feels like a hamster in a cage. Oh well. A good workout nonetheless.

By yesterday afternoon, I was getting incredibly restless. It was somewhat warm out, and we actually had rain on Christmas day. I know what you're thinking -- rain on Christmas day in Wisconsin?? I was thinking the same thing myself. But we still had almost a foot of snow on the ground, and we're in the middle of another 6-8 inches more at this very moment, so not to worry. It still looks like Wisconsin.

If it hadn't been raining, I probably would've thrown on my fleece zip-up and gone running outside yesterday. It was about 38 degrees, and it would have felt so lovely to get a run in at that point. I have no idea why I was so restless! I think I'm just getting really excited about starting to train for my marathon so I want to run outside all the time.

I went to the YMCA again this morning, this time with my dad. He will be running the marathon with me (it'll be his 11th, but his first in several years) so he's getting ready to start training for it. My mom went to the gym this morning as well, but earlier than we did. Yay family!

Speaking of family... My sister is getting ready to pop that kid out any day now. :) The baby is really active -- I could actually see Jen's stomach moving. It looked like an alien was getting ready to reach its hand right out of her belly. But of course, it's not an alien, it's my beloved soon-to-be niece, Nadia. I CAN'T WAIT. She's due on Tuesday, but I hope she gives birth today or tomorrow, because I'm heading back to New York on Monday. Sigh. I'm so excited. Jen and Aaron are going to be such wonderful parents.

After I went to the gym this morning, I went to the local bike store to pick out a new bike for myself. My parents gave me some money towards the purchase for Christmas, so with that, some money from Grandma, and a bit of my own, I planned on testing out a couple and picking one out to buy when I get back to New York this week. However, it turns out that the bike I fell in love with, the Trek Valencia, was on sale at this particular shop. The sale savings, plus the lower sales tax in Wisconsin, more than makes up for the cost of the FedEx shipping, so after some brief price shopping at home, I went back and bought it today! I'm so excited, I can't wait for it to arrive at my apartment, hopefully by Friday. It's a really sleek hybrid bike (or "urban" as they call it) with an aluminum frame and disc brakes, among its many draws. Plus the guy at the store said he'd put a comfy women's seat on it, complete with a quick release mechanism so I can take the seat with me when I lock up the bike. He's also changing out the pedals for good metal ones with little shoe grips. Now all I need is a new helmet and I will be ready to take the city by storm... which I will do the first day that the weather permits.

Anyone in New York want to buy my old Trek bike, decent condition, for about $100? I'll post pictures when I get back on Monday...

Let It Snow! (as sung by Bing Crosby)

2009-12-22T10:25:00.004-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Believe that you can run farther or faster. Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself."
-John Bingham

Saturday morning, I ran the Ted Corbitt 15k in Central Park. This was the morning of the supposed "Blizzard of 2009" so I was hoping the snow would hold off during the race (which it did, thankfully). Erin and I met at the subway and headed to the east side of Central Park at the 102nd street transverse for the start. We ended up getting there a full half hour before the start, which normally would be great, but it was "26 degrees, feels like 15" (according to weather.com before I left my apartment) so we were freezing. We walked and jogged around the whole time until we felt we could wait in the bathroom lines without turning into icicles. While in line, we ran into a friend of hers and a coworker of mine. Seriously, 3700+ people in the race, and we run into the 2 people we know in the entire thing. Small world...

I was dressed perfectly for the weather once I started running. I wore the same outfit I wore on my long run last weekend, with an extra pair of socks and a small scarf. The scarf made a huge difference, and I'm glad I wore it.

The race itself was a ton of fun. I'm really pleased with how I ran it. Erin and I ran the first mile in about 11:30, because we wanted to start out slow and have the energy to kick it up later (9.3 miles is no 5k...) and also because there were a couple thousand people in front of us and it's always a slow start. We easily cranked up the speed for miles 2-3 and I clocked those around 10:30. For a couple miles in the middle of the race, we were definitely running at a sub-10:00 pace. I was feeling really good the whole time. I was definitely pushing it, but not so much that I was in pain or really uncomfortable at all. Erin has been plagued by her calf muscles lately, so just after the 6-mile mark, I went ahead. She told me afterwards that she was glad I went ahead, because she could see me up ahead and it kept her motivated. I'm really impressed that she was able to keep pushing it at a pretty aggressive pace with the pain she was in. She had the same pain in her left calf muscle last weekend that she had in her right one during the race, and it was nothing that a few days off couldn't cure so she wasn't too worried.

From the beginning, our goal had been to finish in under 1:40:00, which would be just under 11:00/mile. About halfway through, I started fantasizing about 1:35:00, but by mile 8 I knew it was out of the question. But then I thought about splitting the difference and getting in under 1:37:30. I ran the last 2.3 miles at about a 10:15 pace and finished in 1:37:28, giving me an overall pace of about 10:28. :) Couldn't have been happier. Erin crossed the finish line about 45 seconds after me. With all of the factors working against us (the cold, her calf muscles, the wind that started picking up around mile 8 as a forewarning of the impending blizzard) we kicked that race's ass!

As I said earlier, once I started running, I was perfectly warm. It was after the race that I was miserable -- the walk to the subway, waiting for the train on the platform, and then walking home from the subway... I actually ran most of the way home, even though my legs were trying to tell me they were done running, I just couldn't walk. It was 20 degrees out and I was covered in a nice frozen sweat. Not exactly pleasant. As I approached my building, I was flooded with thoughts of people who don't have a nice warm place to live, or the opportunity to take a long hot shower after being so cold, and I felt incredibly blessed. Something so simple as going inside my apartment and knowing that the heat would be on and I would have hot water available... So many people live without it.

Speaking of blessings, I am getting ready to fly to Milwaukee this afternoon to visit my family for Christmas. I'll be there until Monday (the 28th) and hope to get some running in while I'm there. It would be fun to run outside, but my parents do still have their YMCA membership so I will most likely be running indoors more often than not. Today I need to pack, and then I'm going to finish decorating my apartment. I decided 2 nights ago that I did in fact want to decorate, despite deciding around Thanksgiving that I wasn't going to this year. I live alone and John is the only other person who really ever sees my apartment, and I just didn't think it was worth it. But when I come back from Wisconsin, it will still be the Christmas season, and I want a cheery apartment to come back to!

Happy holidays :)

Baby, It's Cold Outside (as sung by Dean Martin)

2009-12-12T13:48:00.005-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Do quality workouts year-round, including during the winter. You're less likely to get injured because you won't hurry the training process, and you'll race better because you build fitness on a solid foundation."
-Brad Hudson, elite coach

This morning, I ran 9.7 miles. The temperature was hovering around freezing, with a wind chill in the mid-20s, and I felt terrific. I bundled up appropriately, but wasn't wearing more layers than I needed. I wore thick winter running socks, Polartec running tights with a pair of shorts over them (which did a great job keeping my butt warm!!), a thin long-sleeve technical t-shirt, a long-sleeve almost-fleece running shirt with extra long arms and thumb-holes to keep my hands warmer, a half-zip pull-over, a hat, and gloves. I purchased just about everything I was wearing at JackRabbit, my favorite NYC running supply store -- and I bought most of it the day after Thanksgiving at their 50% off sale. (Don't worry, the store didn't open until 11 so I wasn't up at the crack of dawn. More like the crack of 9am.) My ankles were a tiny bit cold for the first few minutes, and my chin was cold most of the time, but other than that I was perfectly toasty. I didn't overheat though, so it was the perfect outfit for the weather. The sun was out in full force, with not a cloud in the sky, so if it's the same temperature but cloudy next time, I may need another layer. I do need to get a neck warmer. Or possibly one of those Under Armour face covering things, like this.

The route was one loop of Central Park (just over 6 miles), and then over the Queensboro Bridge and up Crescent Street all the way home. I ran with Erin, and John rode his bike with us during the park loop. It was really fun! Erin and I started out singing Christmas carols (or more like rasping Christmas carols) to get into high spirits. We passed a woman walking near the beginning of the run who said, "I'm so impressed you're singing while you run. You're my heroes!" It was a nice bit of additional motivation. It was also really nice having my boyfriend beside me on his bike for the first 6 miles. I think it helped keep my energy level high. Another energy level boost was the fact that I had my Clif ShotBloks with me. I ate 3 before leaving my house, and then 3 more after about 4 miles. It was perfect. I did try the Jelly Belly Sport Beans a couple weeks ago, and I liked those as well. I didn't feel an extra burst of energy or anything, but I definitely didn't drag like I sometimes do on long runs.

Another reason I didn't feel my energy flagging at all may have been my very conservative pace. I had an overall pace of 11:22, which to be honest I was a little surprised about. I did feel like we started really slow, consciously, but I didn't think it was quite that slow. But then again, there are hills galore in Central Park, not to mention the half mile or longer incline on the Queensboro Bridge. So maybe that's where the extra time came from. All in all though, I'm glad I went extra slow rather than extra fast. I was still extremely fresh at the end, and could have definitely gone faster and farther. I pushed it at the end, for the last 100m or so -- not quite a sprint, but a definite increase in pace. The fact that I had plenty left in my "reserve tank" makes me pretty pleased. The 15k next Saturday is going to be a piece of cake, I think. It's in Central Park, but we won't be doing the Harlem hills, which to me are the hardest part of the park. Instead of a full loop and a half, it's one 5-mile loop and one 4-mile loop, so we completely avoid the top part of the park.

Moral of the story: I'm feeling really good (actually even bust out into a rousing rendition of "I Feel Good" around mile 4 or 5) and am excited to start my marathon training on January 10th. I'll have a really good base, and my long runs will be much easier than they were over the summer. It seems like training in the colder weather is working better for me than the 80-degree heat of July and August.

Happy running :)

Ah [breathe] Push It... (by Salt-n-Pepa)

2009-11-30T21:56:00.003-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Spirit has fifty times the strength and staying power of brawn and muscle."
-Unknown

This may be true, but I do enjoy seeing the muscular results of the hard work I put in.

I started the One Hundred Pushups program on September 30th. My "initial test" showed that I could do 3 (yes, three) consecutive pushups. To be honest, that's more than I thought I'd be able to do. I'd never really been able to do a pushup in my life. Now I'm not talking about knee pushups or any of the other variations (which I also could never perform). I decided that if I was going put in all this effort, I was going to learn to do *real* pushups.

The program starts out really easy. There are 3 categories you can place yourself in based on your initial test. I placed myself in the lowest level (having done under 5 pushups for my initial test) and began Week 1 of the program. Each day that you do pushups, you do 5 sets: 4 sets of a specific number of pushups per set, followed by one set in which you do as many as you can in a row. They give you a minimum for this, and I've been trying to overshoot the minimum by at least a couple each time. Each "week" requires you to do pushups on 3 days, with one day of rest in between each pushup day, and 2 days off before starting the next week. (I actually have been ignoring the proper days and weeks and just doing it before I go to bed, whenever I can without feeling like it will negatively impact my workout the next day. I made the mistake of taking a week and a half off after Week 3. Oops, had to repeat it.)

In any case, there I was on September 30th, starting the program. Week 1 day 1 (in level 1) is as follows:
set 1 - 2
set 2 - 3
set 3 - 2
set 4 - 2
set 5 - maximum consecutive (at least 3)

I felt a little foolish doing so few pushups as my "workout" but let me tell you, I felt it the next day. There's a reason they have a level 1, and I am that reason. I am happy to report, however, that after completing Week 1, I moved up to level 2 for Week 2 because I could do enough consecutive pushups (10) to qualify. And after Week 3, I moved up to level 3 because I could do 30 in a row!

Tonight I finished Week 4 day 2, and I'm so happy with how far I've come. On Week 1 day 1 my maximum was 10 in a row, for a total of 19 pushups that day. I am pleased to report that this evening, my maximum was 40 pushups (my highest yet) for a total of 144 tonight. The breakdown was:
set 1 - 25
set 2 - 29
set 3 - 25
set 4 - 25
set 5 - max (at least 36): 40

I'm hoping I can keep this up. I have never had any trace of upper body strength, so it's really fun seeing my bicep move when I flex, rather than just a giant flabby arm. My left arm is definitely visibly weaker than my right though, so I may have to start lifting my 10-lb. dumbell when I watch TV like I used to -- and just for the left arm. Poor little weak arm. ;)

Happy running (and pushup-ing and biking and swimming and...)

Autumn Leaves (as played by Cannonball Adderly/Miles Davis/Art Blakey)

2009-11-29T21:37:00.005-05:00

Quote of the day:
"A change of pace in terms of your running pace will give you strength psychologically."
-Bill Rodgers

I don't know why I've been thinking I shouldn't run 2 days in a row, but for some reason that's been my general habit over the past couple months. I've been running 3-4 days a week, making sure to take a day off after most of my runs. I usually do push-ups or sit-ups or something on my days off, but not always. So that means 3-4 days a week I may not be getting any activity in. Back in the summer when I was in the middle of realizing I wasn't ready to be training for a full marathon quite yet, I was running 5 days a week as part of my training. I downshifted a little to the 3-4 days a week routine and set my sights on the half marathon. All went well, and I know I don't *have* to run more often than I am for my marathon training.

But thinking "oh wait, I ran yesterday, I shouldn't run today" is silly. I haven't been thinking that on purpose, but that thought seems to have crept into my mind subconsciously. Really though, there's no need for me to take a day off if I'm only running 2-4 easy miles at a time. The days off are more important when I'm doing long runs or speed workouts or hill workouts -- anything that actually justifies a rest day.

Over the past few weeks, my easy runs have become easier, and I have been happier to get out there. Fall really is the best time of year for running, at least for me. My pace for 3-5 mile runs has been in the 10:30-10:50 range since I started running in February. I have finally started to see some permanent change in that department. I'm now running a consistent 10:00-10:20, even for 5 or 6 miles. I keep doing double-takes at my watch or triple-checking my routes on Google Maps or MapMyRun or the Runner's World Log route mapper. It's really exciting to see the improvement -- and how easy it feels now to run that fast!

Today, I wanted to get out and run even though I ran my 5k park loop yesterday, because the weather was so nice. 55+ degrees and clear skies, can't beat it. I decided to run to church in Manhattan, because I haven't run over the Queensboro Bridge in months and it sounded fun when Erin was talking about it the other day. Church was at 5:15 and it's exactly 4 miles from my door (or so I thought), so I left just after 4:30 and hoped for the best in terms of my pacing. My Astoria Park route spoils me because it is almost perfectly flat the entire time, and the Queensboro Bridge is almost 1.5 miles long with an incline for the first half and a decline for the second half. I ended up running it in 39:52, which was awesome because as I was nearing the final mile I was thinking it'd be great to finish in under 40 minutes. Google Maps had told me it was 3.9 miles, but I mapped it on Runner's World when I got home to enter it into my online training log and it turns out Google Maps didn't include the pedestrian exit off of the bridge, so it was actually 4.12 miles. Hell yeah that's a 9:35 pace. The uphill must not have slowed me down too much, and the downhill really propelled me. I was booking it down that bridge.

I'm very excited about what my faster pace (and presumably better overall fitness) will do for my marathon training. Now I definitely have to keep it up over the winter so I don't lose any time!

Early in the Morning (by Peter, Paul & Mary)

2009-11-25T11:10:00.006-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Nothing's better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, and your friends beside you."
-Aaron Douglas Trimble

I went to bed at 9:30 last night because I was planning on getting up early to go for an almost-5-mile run at 6am. I decided to wake up at 5:30 and really get myself going and ready before I started. The last few times I've gone running in the morning, I wake up 10-15 minutes before I start running, and my legs (along with the rest of my mind and body) are still asleep throughout at least the first mile. Today I got dressed, checked my email, walked around my apartment a little, and ate a few Clif ShotBlocks to energize myself without eating breakfast. I headed out the door at 5:55 to meet Erin at our corner, a block away from my apartment, for our 6am running date. I warmed up a little before she got there and we stretched at the corner before taking off.

She remarked that I was "awfully speedy" near the beginning of our run, and I didn't even realize that I was going fast at all. I think it was all the sleep I got last night... I felt great on the way to Astoria Park and throughout the first loop. Then when we were onto our 2nd trip around the park, my quads started feeling tight. I felt like I was slowing down, but I think it was just the tightness. For the first half of the run, I was pushing Erin, but by the 2nd half when my legs started feeling tight, she was really pushing me. I love running with her for that very reason -- we push each other to stay on pace.

(Sidenote: Erin signed up to run the Wisconsin Marathon as well. Woo hoo!)

We finished our route in 47:16. I thought it was somewhere around 4.5 miles, so I was pretty happy with our time. But then I checked on the Runner's World mapping tool, and it turns out it was 4.8 miles. That's a 9:51 pace! Wow, I didn't realize we were going THAT fast! I'm absolutely stoked about that. Couldn't ask for a better way to start my day! :)

HAPPY TURKEYS!

gobble gobble

Peaceful Easy Feeling (by The Eagles)

2009-11-22T22:47:00.005-05:00

Quote of the day:
"The more I thought about what I get to do, the less I realized I had to do. It was just a shift, just a new perspective, just a new and more grateful method for labeling the things in my life. Think about it—if you stopped yourself every single time you were about to say, 'I have to' and changed it to 'I get to,' it might change your entire experience."
-Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers blog, runnersworld.com

Today, I got to run. :)

For the past 2 days, I've been telling myself I was going to run 6 miles on Sunday (today). I told John yesterday morning that I was going to run 6 miles today. I told Erin last night that I was going to run 6 miles today. I needed it to be out there as fact, not just a goal or a plan, but a fact. "I will do this."

It worked.

I ran 6.2 miles today (10k) and it was spectacular. The weather was absolutely perfect: 52 degrees and sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze coming off the river as I ran around the park... Ahh. :) I couldn't have asked for a better day. I got in bed around midnight last night and slept until almost 10. I haven't had that much sleep in a long time, so I was hoping it would positively affect my run.

As I started out, my legs felt very tired and heavy, and I was a bit chilly. But as I warmed up (literally) I started feeling better. I hit my stride just before mile 2, which is about where it usually happens. I started feeling really good and really enjoying myself. My 10k route consists of running to Astoria Park from my apartment, around the park 3 times, and then back home. Somewhere near the end of the 2nd loop, I started thinking: "Wow, this is a really great run. I'm making good time. I don't want to go home yet. I'm glad I get to do another loop." I don't recall ever thinking that. I've had great runs before, but I don't think I've ever thought, "I don't want to go home, I'm glad I get to keep going!"

I ended up sticking with my plan of 3 loops, partly because I was already going to be late meeting my friend Sarah for lunch, but also because this was my longest run since the half marathon 2 months ago and I didn't want to push it. I'm getting ready to start training for a marathon, I don't need to injure myself by running longer and harder than I need to before I'm ready. My last .8 mile was at an 8:07 pace. I think it's a really good sign that I was able to push my pace almost 2 minutes faster at the end of a long run. I finished the training run in 1:03:26 -- only about a minute and a half slower than my 10k race PR. Hell yeah I'm getting faster!

Speaking of races!

I've signed up for 3 races between now and early February. I'm running the Ted Corbitt 15k on Saturday, December 19th; the Fred Lebow Classic 5-miler on Saturday, January 9th; and the Gridiron Classic 4-miler and Longest Football Throw Competition on Superbowl Sunday, February 7th. I'm really excited to have these short-term goals ahead of me because they'll keep me motivated throughout the winter. I'm considering the NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix Manhattan on Sunday, January 24th, but I don't think I'll run it. I'm about to experience my first winter as a runner so I may lay off the long races and just experience running outside in the cold.

Besides, around the 2nd or 3rd week of January, I'll be starting my official marathon training. Tonight I registered for the Wisconsin Marathon in Kenosha, WI on Saturday, May 1st. I'm really excited for it, and can't wait to start my training. Adding to the excitement is the fact that John is planning on coming to Wisconsin with me! He'll finally get to meet the rest of my family, including my sister and brother-in-law and niece-to-be (who is due to enter this world on December 29th). Plus, I'll get to show him around the place where I grew up -- how cool is that? I can't wait. We're hoping to fly in Thursday night, hang out and relax Friday, Saturday after the race, and all day Sunday, and then fly back Monday.

Anyone else out there planning on running the Wisconsin Marathon? It's supposed to be a beautiful route, along the lakefront almost the entire way. Let me know!

New York, New York... (as sung by Frank Sinatra)

2009-11-15T14:47:00.012-05:00

Quote of the day x3:
"When I first came to Yankee Stadium, I used to feel like the ghosts of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were walking around in there."
"Hitting the ball was easy. Running around the bases was the tough part."
"I always loved the game, but when my legs weren't hurting it was a lot easier to love."
-all from Mickey Mantle

This morning, John and I ran in the Runyon 5k at Yankee Stadium - Run/Walk for Cancer Research. It was a blast. The cause was very personal for me and I ran it in memory of my grandma, Dorothy Bamberger. The race was put on by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Damon Runyon was a writer based in New York from about 1910 until his death in 1946. He was an avid baseball supporter and wrote about games and players. He also wrote the stories on which the musical Guys and Dolls was based. Since I signed up for the race I've read a lot about him and his life was so interesting!

The course was incredibly unique and amazing. The weather was perfect, at 58 degrees and cloudy; not too cold, not to warm, no sun in my eyes until after the race was over and the sun came out. And the company, of course, was just delightful. :) We started with 2 laps of the field level concourse, and from there went down the stairs into what John called "the bowels of Yankee Stadium" -- the service level, where we passed the sign for the visiting team bus and all kinds of other things that made me feel oh so special. That led us to the entrance to the field itself and we ran 2 laps around the warning track. We were on the jumbotron and stopped every now and then to take pictures, because it was a rare event, being on the field at Yankee Stadium. Just to add a little perspective: the last game that was played on that field was Game 6 of the World Series in which the Yankees defeated the Phillies and won their 27th title, and the first in the new stadium (in its inaugural season). This was only a week and a half ago. So freaking cool.

So after our second lap around the warning track, we left the field and went back into the service level briefly, then climbed up 103 stairs to the 200-level concourse. We ran from right field around the concourse, behind home plate and over to left field, where we then climbed another 64 steps to get to the 300-level concourse. We ran the length of that from left field back over to right and then down all the ramps (my favorite part -- SPRINTING!) into the Great Hall. From there we went back up to the 200-level concourse, ran from home plate-ish to left field, back up to the 300-level concourse, all the way around to right field, and then back down the ramps again. The finish line was in the Great Hall right near the bottom of the ramps, so I sprinted my way down again, this time anticipating the finish rather than another bout of stairs-concourse-stairs-concourse-ramp. In other words, I let loose and just ran.

I've only ever raced one other 5k and that was my very first race back on May 2nd. My time was 34 minutes and change -- I didn't even time myself for that one because all I cared about was finishing, as it was only about 2-3 months after I'd started running. Since then, I've raced a 10k, a 5-miler, and a half marathon, and shaved almost 5 minutes off of my 5k time in my training runs (my fastest being just under 30 minutes). Today, according to my watch, I ran the race in 31:36, which I was very happy with considering the fact that my quads burned with all the stairs (334 in total) and I had to slow down a lot after each set. Plus we also slowed down to take pictures throughout the race, some of which I will post below.

I'm so proud of myself for all the work I've done. It pays off every time I lace up my running shoes and head out for a run. I will definitely be a runner for the rest of my life. The feeling I get every time I go out proves that.

Good Morning, Starshine (from Hair!)

2009-11-15T00:38:00.010-05:00

Quote of the day:
"In the 30 years I've been a runner I've run more than 150,000 miles. Still, some of the hardest steps I take are those first few getting out the door for daily runs."
-Bill Rodgers

Twice within the past week (Thursday and Friday), I have gotten up a little earlier than usual to go running before work. On Thursdays and Fridays I can get to work at 8:45 and have enough time to get ready for my classes, as opposed to the other three days of the week when I generally get there between 7:45 and 8:15. It was not easy getting out of bed at 6:15 to lace up my running shoes and head out into the cold, knowing that I could've slept until 7 instead. And both days, the run wasn't all that great. It was really windy on Thursday, especially on my 5k route around Astoria Park along the river, and Friday in addition to the wind it was rainy as well. (Thank you, Hurricaine Ida.) I was running within 15 minutes of waking up because I couldn't fathom waking up even earlier to really wake up before the run, so my legs weren't entirely doing what I wanted them to do. But despite all these negative factors, I'm so glad I went. My energy level for the rest of the day was about three times what it usually is, and I was in an incredibly positive mood. My morning commute was much less annoying because I was floating along on the endorphins from the exercise and the knowledge that I had done something that took willpower. I am certainly willing to sacrifice the quality of my run for the quality of my entire day...

...every once in a while.

Life In the Fast Lane (by The Eagles)

2009-11-02T18:39:00.009-05:00

Quote of the day:
"Whatever the pace, run softly, run tall."
-Joe Henderson, Running 101

Over the past week or so, maybe a little longer, I have been running faster than ever before. I've mainly been sticking to one route which ends up being 3.05 miles after my warm-up, making it almost a 5k. I love this route. I start at home and walk/jog for about a quarter of a mile, do a little light stretching, and then I head up to Astoria Park, run around it counter-clockwise, and enjoy a nice view of the Manhattan skyline as I run south along the water before heading back home. I've only run one 5k race, and that was my first race ever. My time was somewhere around 34:00+ and I was happy with it. I was happy with that pace even throughout the summer. That's just under 11:00 per mile. Hell, I'm still happy with that pace most of the time. My goal when I run is not to race, but to enjoy myself. It just so happens that lately I've been enjoying myself while running a little faster.

The last time I ran my 3.05-mile route I finished in 29:45, which was a 9:46 mile pace. I'd never run at a sub-10:00 pace for more than a mile or so. I was so excited about breaking that barrier -- it felt great! Tonight, I didn't think I'd be able to run very fast, because I only got about 6 hours of sleep last night, but I left work as early as possible so I could take advantage of the little light that might be left since we turned the clocks back. I was so excited to run my park route, especially at sunset! It looked so beautiful. It was as if there was a ledge made out of clouds over the city. I don't really know how to describe it. I wish I'd had my phone with me, but it'll just have to stay in my memory. If you saw the city skyline at 5:30 tonight, you'll know what I'm talking about. The clouds were thick-ish over the city, but to the west with the sun it was clear, resulting in the ledge- or shelf-like image. My words fail me, but it was beautiful. And guess what: I finished in 29:03, my fastest time ever for this distance. That's a 9:32 pace. Holy shit! Look at me go.

I'm running that 5k in Yankee Stadium on the 15th and I'm going to kill it! I'm not worried about pace for that one really since it's such a weird course -- inside the stadium through the ramps and stairs -- and I'll be running with John who works out a lot but has never really run more than a mile at a time. But still, I'm hoping I'll at least feel good regardless of the inclines and stairs.

YEAH running! Happy trails :)

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (by The Proclaimers)

2009-10-24T16:29:00.009-04:00

Quote of the day:
"I focused on reminding myself I was running my race and not trying to keep pace with somebody. It's about your journey -- not everybody else's journey."
-Jennifer Beals, on her first road race

Since my half marathon, I have been slacking. Until about a week or so ago, that is. I was "resting" and "recovering" a lot... And just not running. I'd run about once a week. I wasn't even doing it on purpose! I just didn't have time. The school year was in full swing and it was so much more appealing to relax. I rarely make it home before 7:30 or 8pm and try to go to bed by 10:30 (TRY being the key word there).

The past week or week and a half have been much better. I'm making the time to run, and I'm sticking to a routine. I run every Monday afternoon, usually with my new coworker Jenny. I run again on Wednesday evenings after I get out of class at 7. I can either head up to the Columbia University gym 5 blocks from work or go home and run around Astoria Park at 8 with Erin. If I can swing the schedule, I'm hoping to start running Thursday evenings as well, just a nice short run. It'll be easier in a couple weeks when I'm no longer coaching volleyball on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm trying to do a longer-than-4-mile run once per weekend, in the hope that when I start training for my FIRST MARATHON soon I'll be all set to go.

In addition to my runs, I've been doing the 100 push-ups program (into week 3 of 6 now) and just started the 200 sit-ups program as well. Before you know it, I'll have impressive guns and rock-hard abs. Or something...

Today I ran a 5-mile race called Race to the Finish, which was put on by the Friends of Hudson River Park to help raise money for the completion of the park. The park goes from Battery Park to 59th street along Manhattan's west side, and although they've raised 200 million dollars over the past 10 years and done some great things with the park, they still need almost 200 million more to finish it. It was a fun run on an easy course that I knew well (West Side Highway from 44th street down to Houston and back) -- and I won my first medal! It wasn't even a participation medal, it was a real placer medal! I placed 2nd in the female 20-24 age group. Before you get all impressed, I should point out that there were probably only 4 or 5 people in my age group... But that's okay! I still beat a couple of them! I believe there were a total of 8 people who finished after I did, which was awesome because only about 40 people ran the race and I was convinced I'd finish dead last. I finished the 5-mile race with a time of 51:53, which was really great for me. I was banking on under 55 minutes, but hoping for under 52. I sprinted to the finish line and crossed when the official time read 51:59, but I crossed the start line at 0:06 so I had a little time to spare. My friend Alex came to cheer for me at the finish line and took me out for breakfast afterwards. It was supposed to rain all morning, but it held off and the sun actually even came out about halfway through. All in all, I'm really glad I ran it.

My next race is going to be a fun one. I signed up for the Damon Runyon 5k, which takes place INSIDE Yankee Stadium, ending with a lap around the warning track. John signed up to run it with me (he'd never turn down an opportunity to go onto the field at Yankee Stadium) and my friend Alison and her boyfriend Kevin have also registered for it. I think a few other friends of mine are planning on running it as well. It'll be tough on the knees with all the ramps and stairs, but I'm super excited for it.

I need to find some races to run throughout the winter to keep myself motivated, so if you know of any good ones in the New York area let me know.

Now here's the exciting part: I'm 95% certain I'm running the Wisconsin Marathon on Saturday, May 1st, 2010 -- the day before my 25th birthday. I know I'm going to run a marathon in the spring, and that just seems like the best one for me. It's a nice course, starting in Kenosha and running near (or along?) Lake Michigan. I'll have a TON of supporters, since my family and a lot of my friends live in the area. Another perk? I'll be able to go home and visit my family in the middle of the school year when we don't have a scheduled day off school! Can't complain about that.

Happy running :)

Rock Down To (Electric Avenue) (by Eddy Grant)

2009-09-20T18:47:00.008-04:00

Quote of the day:
"We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable."
-Sir Roger Bannister, first man to break the 4-minute mile

I rocked that half marathon today. And who could've asked for better weather? 55-65 degrees from start to finish, not a cloud in the sky, a gentle breeze coming off the river when we came upon it. Gorgeous.

My friend Erin and I ran the first almost 6 miles together, and our pace was amazing. We ran the first mile in 10:30, and each mile after that was faster. I fell back a little just before the 6-mile mark and reached it around 1:01:30. Just before the 7-mile mark, I decided I couldn't wait any longer and asked a random lady who was watching the race in front of her house if I could use her bathroom. She didn't speak any English, but she was so nice and ushered me inside quickly. She even handed me an ice-cold water bottle on my way out. What a nice lady! I wish I'd checked her address so I could send her a thank-you card. After my brief stop, I rounded the corner only to see the first port-a-potties of the race stationed at the 7-mile mark. Oh well, at least I didn't have to wait in line!

The next 2 miles were great, and I made it to the 9-mile mark thinking I could potentially finish in 2 hours and 15 minutes if I really pushed. My goal time was anything under 2.5 hours, but 2:15:00 was my ideal time. Miles 10 and 11 were really hard. In my hurry to leave the tent and get to the corrals in time, I had forgotten to grab my Clif ShotBlocks. I drank some Gatorade along the way and I did fine without them, but I wonder what miles 10 and 11 would've been like with a little extra boost. Something to work towards the next time around -- a solid back stretch. Miles 12 and 13 were really great though. Right around the time I passed the 8-mile mark, I started telling myself that everything I'd worked for throughout the past 7 months had led up to this event -- and that now was the time to push. That thought process really helped me in the last 2.1 miles. I heard Erin cheering for me just before the 13-mile mark, and I went into an all-out sprint. I was completely shocked that I still had that much in me.

I clocked myself at 2:21:34, and only stopped my stopwatch for my one bathroom break. The official time according to NYRR.org was 2:26:47. I'm going with the 2:21:34. :) I didn't make it in my 2:15:00 ideal, but I did beat my goal time by a solid 8 and a half minutes!

I'm so proud of myself for this accomplishment. There were some killer hills, particularly one super steep hill in the very end that I ran up more slowly than I could've walked it, but I ran the whole thing. I only walked when I went to the bathroom or when I drank water or Gatorade, and I only did that every 2-3 miles at the mile markers. I'm excited to run another one! And to train for a marathon next year. :)

I can't wait to see the awesome pre-race photo that was taken of Erin and myself. Post-race pictures are never as good, because, well I look disgusting of course. Who doesn't??

In the meantime, here's one from the end:

You Can't Always Get What You Want (by The Rolling Stones)

2009-09-14T21:23:00.005-04:00

...but if you try sometimes, you'll find, you get what you need.

Quote of the day:
"People begin running for any number of motives, but we stick to it for one basic reason -- to find out who we really are."
-George Sheehan, M.D.

Crappy, crappy run today.

I went out to do 6 miles after work around 5:00. The weather was beautiful, and I had planned to run along the Greenway, right at the edge Hudson River. The route started at my work (112th between Broadway and Riverside), and from there I headed down to Riverside Park, south to 100th street to cross under the Henry Hudson (aka West Side) highway and onto the waterfront path, all the way up to about 148th street, and back. I made it all the way, but it was very hard and very slow. I can pinpoint the exact culprit: lack of sleep. I got in bed around midnight last night and definitely didn't fall asleep right away, only to get up at 6am. Not exactly enough sleep for me when I'm running. Barely even enough sleep when I'm not running these days. I need a full 8 hours to function properly.

So I don't feel bad that the run sucked. My legs felt heavy and my muscles were tight, so my pace was super slow -- somewhere in the 12:00+ per mile range I'm sure -- and therefore my knees started feeling tight and uncomfortable because I wasn't extending my legs at all. I had to consciously force myself not to stop and walk starting after only a mile. I never walk. Even on my 12-mile run last week, I only stopped for a couple minutes to refill my water, but not to walk. I listened to my body today though, which was telling me to go reeeeeally slowly. Around 5.5 miles (almost an hour and 10 minutes into my run) I stopped and walked the rest of the way back, because it was all uphill and up giant flights of stone steps and I couldn't imagine running them. I could barely run up a slight incline, let alone giant hills and steps.

Everyone has crappy runs. I generally don't have *this* crappy of a run, and it's unfortunate that my crappy run came less than a week before the half marathon, but that's okay. Actually, I'm glad, because maybe this means I'm getting the not-so-great run out of the way so I can have an AWESOME run on Sunday. That's how it's going to go, after all. I'll eat really well before the race (as opposed to last night at my Packer game party when I ate a ton of crap), I'll sleep 9-10 hours the night before (obviously unlike last night), and I'll wake up feeling energized and refreshed.

So, here's to the crappy runs before the race, and a kickass run on Sunday! :)

12-Bar Original (by The Beatles)

2009-09-07T16:06:00.011-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Always take the long term view and train and race smart, with a bit of caution."
-Bill Rodgers

Quote of the day #2:
"Your training partners are key to your success, and friendships based on your runs together are strong."
-also Bill Rodgers

Really, it's been almost a month since my last post? That seems like way too long.

Here's the update: I'm going to kick ass at the Queens Half Marathon on Sunday the 20th.

I haven't been able to train 3-4 days a week over the past several weeks -- more like 2-3 days a week -- but I have kept up my long runs. On the 22nd I did a really hilly route that my dad told me about, starting from my parents' house in Wisconsin, which was supposed to be 10 miles. When I say hilly, I mean HILLY. Sometimes the hills were short and steep, other times stretched over almost half a mile. It was slow going, but a great run. I did that route again on the 30th, and this time my dad came with me. I definitely felt much better the second time, and it was great to have my dad with me for the company and added motivation. Unfortunately, he clocked the route with his car afterwards, and it's actually only 9 miles. That solidified my decision to do one more 10+ mile long run before the half marathon.

In the week between those two long runs, I only made it out once, but I had a good workout. I went to the YMCA near my parents' house and ran on the indoor track, which is a little silly because it's 13 laps per mile, but I'd never run on it before and wanted to give it a try. I did 2 miles, but I ran them very fast for me at about 9 mins/mile, with one walking lap in between.

My second 9-mile run, the one with my dad, came on the morning of my aunt's wedding in Milwaukee, on Sunday the 30th of August, and I headed back to NY the following day. The morning after I got home -- Tuesday -- I went back to work for the first faculty meeting of the year, and then the week flew by as I was working to get my classroom ready for school. I joined the Columbia University gym, which I'm really excited about, because it's only 5 blocks from my work and SUPER cheap. (I'll be saving heaps of money compared to the gym I used to belong to in Astoria that cost me a whopping $80/month -- eek.) On Friday I finally managed to get myself to the gym around lunch time, and I ran about 3.2 miles at 10 mins/mile or faster. Once again I was running on an indoor track, and this one was 10 laps per mile, but it was a really nice break in the middle of my classroom-readying day. I have to say, I'm already a big fan of the Columbia gym after only one visit. It's nothing fancy, but it has all the stuff I need and the showers aren't bad. I love the fact that there's a pool -- and a sauna! I'll have to check that out sometime. I think it's inevitable that someday I'll live on the Upper West Side (because, although I have a love affair going with Astoria, my 45-min commute to work is already annoying) so once that happens, the gym will be all the more convenient.

So that was the past few weeks. Now, TODAY...

I ran 12 miles. It was my longest run to date, and my last long run before the half marathon, which is 2 weeks from yesterday. It was long, it was hard, but it was fun! The only weird thing that happened was that around mile 8 or so, my left arm started getting sore. I was carrying a water bottle in one hand and a wallet-type thing in the other, and I had just refilled the water bottle, so that's probably what triggered it, but it was odd. After a mile or so it went away and I could carry on without paying it any attention. By mile 10, I was wiped. My pace dragged heavily but I didn't really care. Slow and steady wins the race. Err... well, slow and steady FINISHES the race, anyway, and that's all I care about.

The run was beautiful. I started at 57th & 7th and then headed to my usual West Side Highway entry point -- 55th street -- only this time I turned north rather than south. I ran almost to the George Washington Bridge, stopping to turn around near 160th street. When I was getting ready to turn around, I wanted to refill my water bottle, and there were a lot of BBQ pits around so I figured I'd be able to find a drinking fountain somewhere. I asked a guy walking with a little kid if he knew where I could find one, but he said no. I kept running a bit and then asked a guy walking from a grill across the path to where his family was sitting if he knew where I could find a drinking fountain, and he said, "No, I don't know, but come, I'll give you the water." It was so sweet! He opened up his cooler and pulled out two (sealed) mini bottles of Poland Spring, practically ice cold. Oh man, I was so happy. It wasn't all that hot (72 when I started, probably no more than 75 by that point) but cold water was so nice. And it was incredibly generous of this guy to just give me 2 bottles! I really had no idea what street I was up to, because I was in a park west of the highway where there were no street numbers, but judging by how close I was to the GW bridge, I decided I was around 160th.

I love out-and-back routes, especially lately, because knowing when I'm more than halfway done is a great feeling, and I can feel my way through the second half of the run based on the same landmarks I'd seen during the first half. This route was even better, because I was able to cut it a mile short. I ran from the subway to the West Side Highway, which is exactly a mile, and then 5.5 miles up and 5.5 miles down, making it a total of 11 miles on the highway. I did NOT want to run a mile back to the subway entirely uphill, so I calculated my route accordingly and used that mile back as a cooldown walk.

All in all, I think the half marathon is going to go really well. I definitely made the right decision in choosing not to do a full marathon this year, because I just haven't had the time to train. Next year's schedule will be a little easier, so if the time is there, I'll run a full marathon. If not, maybe it'll happen when I'm done with grad school. Regardless, for now I'm really looking forward to the half.

Happy running!

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger [and having more fun!] (by Daft Punk)

2009-08-10T14:19:00.008-04:00

Quote of the day:
"You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face."
-Gatorade ad

I've taken an unintentional sabbatical of sorts from my running blog, but maybe my subconscious was telling me I needed to try out this running-just-for-fun-and-not-for-training thing a little before I posted again.

Guess what? I feel amazing, and in the past 2-ish weeks since I decided not to run the marathon this year, I've had some of the best workouts I've had yet.

Last Wednesday, I went to work extremely tired, as I hadn't slept more than 5-6 hours a night since the weekend. (I haven't been able to function like that since college, before I had to give up caffeine -- especially now that I'm running.) I was planning on getting a good night's sleep Wednesday and running 6-8 miles Thursday afternoon. However, I got home from work Wednesday around 1pm to find a message from my friend Erin asking if I'd like to join her for a 6-miler that night. It was such fortuitous timing, because I really did need to run Wednesday. I'd already taken 3 days off and desperately needed to get going. I took a nap from 3:30-6:30pm and awoke refreshed and ready for a good workout. We met at 7:30pm at the track at Astoria Park, where we locked up our bikes and stretched out, planning out our route. We decided to do loops of the park for a 6-mile total. The loops I usually do are 1.5 miles, but Erin had mapped out a 1.2-mile loop, which we did 3 times, followed by one of my 1.5-mile loops, and then a couple cool-down laps around the 400m track.

The run was incredible, as is almost every workout I do with Erin. We run similar paces, and we're just really complementary to each other's running styles. We're both a little competitive, so we never want to be the one lagging behind. We don't consciously push the pace throughout, but we really kick it at the end, before our cool-down. The weather and timing were just added bonuses to an already great run. Since we started around 7:45 or 8 at night, it had cooled down a bit and the sky was just darkening at the beginning of the run. Each loop of the park brought the Manhattan skyline into view with a differently colored backdrop of sky. By the last loop, it was almost completely dark, and the city lights were gorgeous.

The next day, Erin and I decided to go to the Adult Lap Swim open time at the Astoria Park Pool, which happens every weekday from 7-8:30 am and pm. (We definitely went in the pm.) The pool is actually twice the length of a normal pool (50m instead of 25m) so our 5 laps were actually 10 laps. I would say "no wonder they felt so hard!" but the first 2.5 felt just as hard as the last 2.5, so it wasn't the added length that made it difficult for me. Swimming is a workout!!! I've never really been one for pools and swimming, probably because I couldn't stand the way I looked in a bathing suit so I always shied away from the water. I'm kicking myself now for never having discovered my love of swimming before. Not that I love swimming laps, but I love being in the water, and swimming laps really is such a good workout.

Saturday was by far my best workout in the past month, and probably my best run ever. After Wednesday night's run with Erin, I decided to get in a good long run over the weekend. I had plans with some coworkers to meet for happy hour Friday afternoon, so I figured I could count on being able to go to bed early Friday night. I was in bed by 11, which was later than I'd hoped, but still not too bad. I got up at 8 (only an hour after I'd initially wanted to get up), and took a while going through the morning routines... I made it to Astoria Park by 10 though, and I chained up my bike and started stretching. The plan was to run 8 miles -- 5 of my 1.5-mile loops and then 2 cool-down laps on the track. Somewhere between loop 2 and 3, I decided that if I was still feeling great after loop 5, I'd just forget about the track and do a 6th loop of the park instead, making it a solid 9 miles. After my first loop, I decided that I wouldn't let myself take a break until at least after the 3rd loop. I had a water bottle with me, as well as one more Clif ShotBlock (after eating 2 right before the run), so I knew I could make it 4.5 miles without stopping.

Somewhere in loop 2, I ran past a middle-aged man in a brightly colored baseball hat, going the opposite direction. Then about half a loop later, I ran past him again. I love that about running -- you start to make friends. The first time we passed, I just noticed his hat. The second time, we did the half-nod/half-smile hello. The third time, we smiled and waved. After that, we began having a conversation of sorts. One time he called out to me "hey you're doing great!" He was definitely a seasoned runner, and I was only going about a minute or so slower than he was. With each loop, I felt better and better. I felt my pace pick up a little bit in the middle of the 3rd loop, and decided that I didn't need a break until at least after the 4th loop, then during the 4th loop I put it off until after the 5th. During my 5th loop, I was sky-high. Nothing could touch me. I didn't have my watch and only checked my phone at the very beginning and very end, so I don't know how my splits were, but I'm fairly certain my last loop (miles 7.5-9) was the fastest of all. I drank about half a bottle of water during the run, but didn't take a break at all. My feet, legs, arms, everything felt great. I felt particularly amazing for having done that 6th loop. Every time I neared the end of a loop, I'd say to myself, "Okay, almost done with loop 2 of 5." After a while I started adding "...or 6" with an almost mischievous inward grin. Near the end of the 5th loop, I still said "5 of 5... or 6" so that when the 6th loop came, it felt like a bonus loop. No matter how that 6th one went -- fast or slow, easy or hard -- I was determined for it to feel like a massive accomplishment either way, just the fact that I did the damn thing.

It's such an incredible feeling, achieving and surpassing my goals. And you know what? I did this all for myself. Not for a training program, not to be accountable to someone or something to make sure I'm ready for a race... I ran 9 miles because it was fun. And for the first time, I wasn't the least bit sore afterwards. I felt like I could have kept going for miles.

I have definitely made the right decision.

Float On (by Modest Mouse) -- OR -- Good Times Bad Times (by Led Zeppelin)

2009-07-28T14:34:00.008-04:00

[I couldn't decide which song title I liked better for this post, so you can choose between Modest Mouse and Led Zeppelin. I also couldn't decide on a quote of the day, so you'll have to choose that as well.]

Quote of the day #1:
"I often lose motivation, but it's something I accept as normal."
-Bill Rodgers

Quote of the day #2:
"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."
-Steve Prefontaine

Between the beginning of October and the end of April, I lost 35 pounds. I've been trying my entire life to lose this weight, and I still have about 20-25 pounds to go. For the first time in my life, I have finally started feeling healthy, and proud of myself for really doing something about becoming healthy. One of the reasons I decided to train for a marathon was to give myself concrete motivation to keep running and stay in shape. Unfortunately, training for a marathon has not had the effect I'd hoped for.

My body feels amazing. I loved that 10-mile run. But as my sister and many other people have said, running is 10% physical and 90% mental. It's that latter part that's not working right for me right now. I feel over-scheduled, in terms of trying to get my runs in and get the right number of miles per week. When I get stressed out, I tend to shut down a little bit. I sleep more restlessly, so I'm more tired when I get home from work -- and thus less likely to run and more likely to overeat. The result of all of this lately is that I have not lost a single pound since I started training for this marathon. Conversely, I have actually put 3-4 pounds back on. Not a big deal in general, but up until that point I was losing a steady 5 pounds per month. I know it won't go that quickly now that I have less weight to lose, but I certainly don't have weight to gain. I've been consciously overweight for about 18 or 19 of my 24 years (yes, at age 5 or 6, I was conscious of it) and I am NOT willing to go backwards.

What I need to do is get "back to where it started," back to the "self-satisfaction" and the FUN. Back to running because I enjoyed it, not because I had to.

I can't help but draw the parallel between this situation and the reason I didn't major in music performance in college, but rather in education. I started to feel what it was like to play the piano or sing because I had to and not because I wanted to, and I really didn't like the feeling. That's kind of where I'm at right now.

New plan: No marathon this year. I'll definitely run the Queens half marathon in September. I'm basically ready for a half at this point, and it's still almost 2 months away. I talked to my sister today about what I need to do just to stay in running condition for the half, and for myself in general. I'm not going to follow a specific plan like I am now -- with a spreadsheet of when I need to run and how far I need to run for the next 6 weeks. I'm going to try to run 3 times a week: one 2-3 mile run, one 5-7 mile run, and one 8-10 mile run. I may do a 12-mile run sometime between now and the half, if I feel like it, but I don't really have to stress about it.

With the school year quickly approaching, I'm becoming incredibly conscious of how much is going to be on my plate. In addition to teaching full-time, I'm going to be doing my fieldwork for graduate school, meaning I'll be finding 5-6 hours a week (during lunch/prep time) to spend in a "core" classroom in my school to get experience with subjects other than music. I'll have my fieldwork conference group for 2 hours every Wednesday night, and whatever readings and writing assignments that might accompany it. I'm also picking up 3 new private piano students that I'll teach every week. Oh, and I'm the head volleyball coach for the 7th/8th grade girls team at school through the first week of November. Maybe I have enough to worry about without adding my first marathon to that.

I've been afraid of saying "there's always next year," for fear that I'll lose steam before then. But that's just not possible. Nothing can stop me from running 10K's and half marathons, and when the timing is right, I'll run my first marathon. I know I can do it, which is a great feeling, but I need to allow myself to put this goal on the back-burner for the time being without feeling like a failure. Hell, I'm still a runner. I'll just focus on shorter distances until I have a little more experience and a little less stress.

TENth Avenue Freeze Out (by The Boss, aka Bruce Springsteen)

2009-07-19T15:04:00.004-04:00

Quote of the day:
"I always loved running - it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your own feet and the courage of your lungs."
-Jesse Owens

My own feet and lungs certainly didn't fail me today -- or this week, for that matter.

Wednesday I did an easy three when I got home from work around 11am. I clocked my first mile at about 10:45, which is right where I wanted it to be. The only unfortunate part of the run had absolutely nothing to do with me. When I was about a half mile from home, I heard a giant screech of tires squealing to a halt, and then, almost as if in slow motion, a car rolled through the intersection half a block up the road, there was a loud crash, and a bike went flying through the air. Thank heavens, the guy was okay. He got up right away and walked over to the curb. I have no idea how he was okay. The car's windshield was smashed and the bike seriously flew in the air. He didn't fly as much as his bike did, which was certainly good. I have a feeling he was knocked off the bike before it went flying, but the bike itself flipped over several times, above the level of the car. I stopped in my tracks for a minute or two, but as there were several people crowding around the guy to make sure he was okay (including the driver and all 4 passengers of the car, seemingly on their way to the pool), I decided it was okay to keep going and head on home. That's something I hope to never, ever witness again.

Friends, please, when riding your bike, wear a helmet. This biker was lucky he didn't get killed, and he was not wearing his helmet. Not everyone is as lucky as he was. Okay, public service announcement is over, now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thursday was my tempo run day. Last week, I pushed this run off to Friday because I did Tuesday's easy run on Wednesday instead, which also happened this week... But the difference this time was that I really wanted to have Friday off. I'm never sure if I'm going to get my long run in on Saturday or Sunday, and if I do my tempo run on Friday, there's no way I can get a long run in on Saturday. So, Thursday, tempo run. All in all, it was great. I ran the first 4 miles at 10:00, and the last mile was a cooldown at 11:45. That last mile of my 5-mile route is always a killer -- completely uphill. I love the challenge on my shorter runs though! Not such a fan on the long runs, surprisingly enough. :)

Speaking of long runs... Today was amazing. Really. I never thought 10 miles would feel so good. I had a couple obstacles going into it, but none of them really had an impact, thankfully enough. Friday night at my softball game, while I was pitching for batting practice, one of my teammates nailed me in the leg with a line drive. It was just below and to the side of my right knee, and had it been an inch up and over, it could have quite possibly dislocated my knee. Luckily, it's just a badass bruise instead. I also have a gigantic blister on the back of my right heel from some super cute shoes I wore out Thursday night in the humid weather. As I started my run, I was afraid that these two minor injuries would have an adverse affect on my 10-miler, but they didn't!

A few days ago, I bought a fuel belt that I planned on unveiling today. I filled both bottles with water and stashed some Clif ShotBlocks and my phone/keys/metrocard/etc in the pouch. It didn't feel too bad during the beginning of my run, and I was actually getting used to the rhythm of running with it. Unfortunately, right around 2.5 miles, it completely broke! What a piece of crap. I ended up having to cram my goodies into the handy little zipper pocket in the back waistband of my shorts and carry the water bottles. I hid the belt in a bush, hoping to pick it up on my way back, but it was gone when I came back for it. Hopefully the store will give me my money back with just the receipt, tags, and water bottles. What a waste of $36.95.

The Clif ShotBlocks, on the other hand, were definitely NOT a waste of money! I ate half a package (3 blocks) when I got on the train, about 20 minutes before starting my run, and the other half around mile 6 or 7. I didn't need the boost yet, but I figured I'd have them before I really needed them. I ran the first 6 miles at an 11:00 pace, and then I picked it up for the last 4 miles and ran a 10:30 pace. I finished in 1:48:00, and I felt great during and after the run. The only thing that hurts right now is the damn blister on the back of my heel.

[love potion number] NINE (by Leiber & Stoller)

2009-07-13T14:57:00.005-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Running is like mouthwash. If you can feel the burn, it's working."

Nine miles. Mm mm good. :)

I didn't end up running my 9-miler on Saturday since I did my 5-mile tempo run on Friday. Even though my legs felt great Saturday morning, I decided to keep my day off. I didn't get much sleep Saturday night, but I went for my long run Sunday (yesterday) afternoon anyway. The weather was gorgeous, albeit a bit warm for running -- hovering around 80 degrees and breezy -- so I really didn't want to be inside. Call me crazy, but I actually like running in the heat.

My route was once again along the West Side Highway (my new favorite running spot), and was an out-and-back, which I usually don't do. I like the variation in scenery of a loop, but you just can't beat the flat asphalt of the bike path along the Hudson River. Plus it was so much easier to keep track of my mile markers with an out-and-back. I started at 57th street and 7th avenue and entered the West Side Highway at 55th street, just one block before my first mile marker. The next mile marker was at 34th street, followed by 14th street, and then Houston street. After Houston I ran a half mile, turning around just after Laight street, so mile marker 5 was once again at Houston street. The rest of the mile markers were the same as the first half.

It has been so easy to shave minutes off my time now that I have a stopwatch and keep track of my mile markers. I'm not focusing on pushing myself that much harder, but on extending my legs and hitting specific streets and certain times. For example, if I run 2 blocks per minute along the WSH, that's a 10:00 mile. So every minute, I tell myself when I need to be 2 blocks away. It was actually really meditative so keep saying, "34th by 19:40, 34th by 19:40" over and over. And it worked! My first 3 miles clocked in at 30:30 total, with the first mile being under 10:00. The next 3 miles came in at 32:00. I had stopped pacing myself with street signs after the 4th mile and consciously slowed my pace to my usual long run pace after mile 6, so miles 7-9 were 12:00, 12:00, and 13:15, respectively. The only thing I don't like about this out-and-back route is that the first mile is all downhill -- and therefore the last mile is 100% uphill.

I think I might do something different next time and have the route end on the highway instead of back in the city, and use the uphill mile as a walking cooldown. Or maybe I should just keep it as is and work on running uphill when I'm already tired... What do you think?

I also need some feedback on energy for long runs. I knew of at least one drinking fountain along my route (just before mile 4), so I didn't bring a drink. I stopped for water on the way out, and then again on the way back, also taking about 5 minutes to stop and stretch at the drinking fountain on the way back (which would have been just after mile 5). Around mile 6 or 7, I found myself thinking, "I could really use a little kick right now." What do you use for energy? My sister told me about these gummy things from Clif that work for her. She can't eat during long runs because it upsets her stomach, but those are okay for her. What do you suggest?

And I'm Feeling Good (as sung by Nina Simone)

2009-07-11T12:20:00.005-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Keeping my eye on today is about all I'm capable of. And today, I think I'll go for a run."
-John Bingham

Yesterday was a tempo run, and my original plan was to run the first mile slowly (maybe 11:00), then the middle 3 miles at 10:20 or less, and then the last mile as a cool-down (11:00 or 12:00). However, as soon as I started, I changed my mind. I would do the first 3 miles at a faster pace, and then the last 2 slowly. I made this decision in part because the entire first mile of my route was downhill (from 57th st & 7th avenue to 54th st on the West Side Highway), but mostly the decision came from the fact that I was excited to lengthen my strides again like I did on Wednesday. What an easy way to shave over a minute off my mile time! Instead of thinking about running faster, I'm just extending my legs more. This actually ends up feeling a lot better on my legs, because they're less stiff when I finish. I ended up running the first 2 miles at a 9:20 pace (holy crap!) and the next 2 miles at a 10:10 pace. Mile 5 was nice and slow at 11:59. (I wanted to get it in under 12:00.)

I ran on the West Side Highway again -- my new favorite place to run. The path is perfectly flat, it's asphalt, it's along the river, it's separated from the traffic lanes... And both times I've run there, I've seen a famous person afterwards! Can't beat that. Sunday I saw (and talked to) Josh Radnor who plays Ted on HIMYM. Yesterday I met up with some friends and we went to a cafe in the village to have lunch, and Rosario Dawson was eating there with some friends as well! I wonder who I'll see next time...

This weekend's long run is going to be 9 miles. I will definitely run this along the West Side Highway. I love running in Central Park and I know I need to have hills in some of my runs, but for my long runs and tempo runs at this point, I don't mind them being completely flat. :)

I'd like to run my 9-miler this afternoon because I don't know what my day will look like tomorrow, but I don't know if I should do it today since I did 5 miles yesterday. I feel really good though, not sore or tired at all from yesterday, so I might just do it this afternoon. I'm supposed to go out tonight so I might not get a good night's sleep. That's not the best recipe for a quality long run. We'll see what happens... The weather's so nice today, I don't think I'll be able to resist. :)

Take Me To the River (by The Doobie Brothers)

2009-07-08T23:51:00.005-04:00

Quote of the day:
"I don't think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging. If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups."
-Rita Rudner

I need to start getting used to morning runs. I run so well in the afternoon, but here's the thing: marathons and half-marathons do not start in the afternoon. I know that might be new information, but I thought you should know. Races tend to start in the morning. Crazy, right?

I think I'll start with an easy run Friday morning and see how I do. I know I need a good night's sleep, but I'm not sure what else. My body generally likes to be awake for at least an hour before I run, preferably an hour and a half. I need to eat something before I run -- I can't run on an empty stomach. We'll see, maybe I'll be able to get up at 7:30 on Friday and run at 9. I really do need to kick my afternoon-only habit.

Today's 3-mile run was absolutely fantastic. I went into it feeling a little less-than-pumped. As soon as I started though, I tried to concentrate on lengthening my stride. My goal wasn't to increase my speed, but to increase my range-of-motion during my run, because I know I generally don't use a whole lot of it when I run. I was so excited to find that I was feeling just as good as I usually do when I take smaller strides -- and thus run at a slower pace. Today was also my first run wearing a digital watch (which, until yesterday, I did not own), and it really helped me to pace myself. I checked my time at the first mile, and it said 10:40. I tried to keep generally the same pace throughout, because I often lag in the middle mile. I checked at what I thought was mile 2, and I was right on target: right around 21:20. If I wanted to finish at an even 10:40 overall pace, I'd need to run 3 miles in 32:00. Well, when I was about 10 blocks from home, I noticed that I had 6 minutes until my 32:00 cutoff. I got down to 8 blocks and 5 minutes left, then 4 blocks and 4 minutes left. I didn't consciously up my speed, but I started reciting: "I'm going to break 10 minutes. I'm going to break 10 minutes." Well guess what -- I finished in 29:43. I generally don't run under 10-min miles for more than a mile, so I was super excited (and still am). I think this stride length thing is going to help me a lot. My legs felt so much better after my run today than they usually do, because I'd been extending and stretching them throughout the run, as opposed to my usual short steps. I'm going to try to use longer strides for my next long run. We'll see how it goes.

Speaking of long runs...

I did my first 8-miler on Sunday. Before that, 7 miles was my max, which I did for the first time back in late April, so I was very excited to move past that. I ran down the West Side Highway (along the Hudson River) from 57th street down to the World Trade Center, and then back up and through the West Village to end at my church on 6th ave and Waverly. It's official: my long runs will always and forever take place along the West Side Highway. The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is amazing and wonderful and I can't wait to run it again. I ran an overall pace of 11:15, which is a little faster than I needed to, but it felt so good.

I had a Jocelyn moment at the beginning of my run, and a famous-person moment at the end. I started my run at the 57th st & 7th ave stop on the N train and ran west from there to the river. Somewhere around 9th or 10th avenue, I ran past a slightly larger middle-aged guy walking the other direction who asked, "Who's winning?" He was out of earshot within a second, but I responded anyway. I said, "I am." That was my Jocelyn moment -- not exactly a catcall, but certainly a friendly conversation starter.

My famous-person moment was with Josh Radnor, who plays Ted on the CBS show How I Met Your Mother (and whose name I just had to look up because I simply know him as Ted Mosby). I had just walked out of Duane Reade after buying a post-run Gatorade (and was therefore drenched in sweat). As I walked across 6th avenue, 10 minutes late for church (yes I went to church all sweaty -- God understands) I noticed that Ted was right behind me... and I decided the smart thing to do was talk to him! Here's our conversation:

Kristin: Hi, sorry, but... you're Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, aren't you?
Ted: [big smile] Sometimes I am.
Kristin: It's my favorite show, I really love it. [100% truthful!!!]
Ted: Cool, I'm glad you like it.
Kristin: Thanks [or something equally stupid]
Ted: Well, have a great night!
Kristin: You too!

If I hadn't gone running, I wouldn't have been late for church, and I wouldn't have met Ted Mosby. So... thanks, running!

Ch-ch-ch-changes (by David Bowie)

2009-07-03T10:57:00.004-04:00

Quote of the day:
"The true runner is a very fortunate person. He has found something in him that is just perfect."
-George Sheehan

I'm changing my training plan. The "Rookie Marathon" plan from rw.com had me running 5 days a week. That's just too much. I'm going to use the training plan builder and then edit it to suit my needs. My sister suggested I cut out the speed work, as she thinks that may have been the reason she got hurt a couple years ago. I don't think doing speed work will automatically hurt me, but I think I will benefit much more from an easier plan. I may not cut out speed work entirely, but I don't think I'll do it the way this "Rookie Marathon" plan wants me to. (Whoever made the rookie plan must have a funny definition of the word rookie, because it seems like a plan more suitable for a more seasoned runner.

In any case...

I did a fartlek on Tuesday, alternating one minute of faster and one minute of slower for miles 2 and 4 of a 4-mile run. I actually really loved it. It broke up the run nicely, and the faster spurts made the rest of the run so much easier. (Did I mention it was 83 degrees and humid?) Wednesday was a 2-mile easy run, which was great. Thursday was scheduled to be a 4-5 mile tempo run, but I decided I needed the day off. No more of this rookie plan. Time to make myself a new plan. I think I'm going to concentrate more on getting 3 or 4 really good runs in every week, and making sure I do some 2-3 mile runs quite often. I've found lately that the first 2 miles of my long runs are definitely hardest, and that miles 5, 6, 7 are really fun. I'm hoping that by doing a short run more often than I was before, I can work on having fun for 2 miles.

My sister's been asking me why I feel I need to run a marathon this year, why not run a half and then do a full marathon next year. I think the answer is that I'm afraid I won't do it next year. I'm afraid that I'll lose steam and let it go. I don't think I'll stop running, but I'm afraid I won't go for it. As long as my body is still saying "Okay! Go ahead!" I need to do this. I need to prove to myself that I can. I know a lot of people think that running a full marathon after being a runner for less than a year is not a good idea, but I also know a lot of people who have done it and stayed healthy, whose lives have changed for the better because of it.

Here Comes the Sun (by The Beatles)

2009-06-30T11:14:00.008-04:00

Quote of the day:
"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise."
-Dr. P.Z. Pearce, seven-time finisher of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship

My last couple runs have been great! I did a short 2-miler on Saturday evening and switched my long run to Sunday. Friday night I'd gone out for Jocelyn's birthday and didn't crawl home until 4am, so even though I hadn't been drinking all that much, a 7-mile run was just not going to happen Saturday. I actually did the 2-miler as slowly as I wanted to this time, as opposed to last week. This tme I was at about an 11:30 pace, which is where I want to be for an "easy run." Running that slowly for such a short distance was harder than I thought!

Sunday's long run was terrific. I ran the same route I used last weekend for my 7-mile run, and I actually shaved 5 minutes off my time from last week! I ran it at exactly 11:00/mile. The route starts at my apartment on Crescent street in Astoria, then turns onto the Queensboro (59th st) Bridge. From there I head to the 6th avenue entrance of Central Park and do a 3.5-mile loop that cuts off at 85th street (the Great Lawn ballfields). I exit the park at 72nd street on the east side and zigzag my way over to 60th street and Lexington. I felt absolutely wonderful the whole time on Sunday. My legs, feet, arms, everything. I'm hoping it was a sign that I'm doing this the right way. I'm not pushing myself too hard, I'm not trying to go as fast as I can, I'm just running. I love Jocelyn's philosophy about it: running just for me, not to race, not to compete.

The rest of the day Sunday before my run and after my run was spent writing my final paper for a graduate course I took during June, and I finished it around 5pm. I ended up going for a long almost 10-mile bike ride around 6 because I'd been cooped up most of the day and just couldn't let the beautiful weather slip away. I rode over the Queensboro Bridge and through parts of midtown Manhattan and the village. (My original plan was to ride my bike to church, but it was foiled when I ran into the pride parade, forgetting that my church is right along the parade route. Alas, I'll have better luck next weekend.) I discovered the bike path going up 8th, which may have been my favorite part of the ride. It's so nice in the village and Chelsea because it's completely separated from the driving lanes. I didn't feel like riding back over the Queensboro Bridge again, so I took my bike down into the subway at 57th st/7th ave and headed home.

Yesterday was a cross-training day, and I had a softball game so I decided to use that as my cross-training. I figured the bike ride Sunday night had been enough biking for a couple days and I didn't want to push it. I've just barely begun training for this potential marathon, no need to go crazy the first week.

Today I'm scheduled to do a 4-mile quality run. I like the "quality run" aspect of the training plan I'm using. I can choose from 5 different types of speed work or hill work, depending on what I want to work on. I think today will be a speed day.

Happy running!

Break on Through (by The Doors)

2009-06-26T14:14:00.006-04:00

Quote of the day:
"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
-Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner

I was scheduled to do an easy 3.5 miles today. I needed this run to be GOOD. Wednesday's run was pathetic. I ran a half mile less than I was supposed to and I felt like crap from beginning to end. Erin, who I ran with on Wednesday, was feeling about the same. What a pair. We ran the Healthy Kidney 10k together and kicked some serious asphalt, running at a sub-10min pace. But for some reason we just weren't feeling it on Wednesday night.

Today's run was GREAT. I ended up running it in 35 minutes flat, which was faster than I needed to. I had a feeling I was going a little too fast for an "easy" run, but I wanted to make sure I felt good about it. It started raining about 2 minutes into the run, which felt great because it was about 80 and humid. It stopped raining before I hit the first mile, but it rained again during my last 2/3 mile or so, which felt just lovely. Overall, I felt relaxed but motivated, which is exactly how I like to feel when I run.

Something I've discovered lately: If the first mile is good, the run will be great. If the first mile is hard, the run can still be great, but I have to overcome it. I often have a less-than-stellar first mile or two, which I'm going to try to work on during my easy 2-mile runs. Today, the first mile felt excellent, so I knew I was in for a good run.

In other news...

I think I'm going to start training for my first marathon. My dear friend Jocelyn and her sister Jenna are running the Wineglass Marathon on Sunday, October 4th in Corning, New York. It will be their second marathon -- they both ran the San Diego Rock 'N Roll Marathon about a month ago -- and I think it's just right for my first. The landscape is beautiful, it won't be crowded at all, and the course seems pretty easy, with a long stretch of flat for the final 4ish miles.

My dad and my sister are both marathoners, and my sister was a certified personal trainer in California for a bit, so I emailed them to see what they thought. My sister sent back a very thoughtful email cautioning me against running this marathon, because she doesn't want to see me get hurt. (She's gone through all kinds of running-related injuries and had to stop running for a while, so I know she's coming from a very genuine place.) She advised me to wait until early next summer to run my first marathon. But here's my thought process: Next spring, my work/school schedule will be crazy. I'll barely have time to run, let alone train for my first marathon. This summer, I have nothing but time to train. And if I follow the Runner's World marathon training plan for beginners and listen to my body, I'll do it the safe and healthy way. Most importantly, I know I can do it. I've astounded myself in my running so far. I had never run for more than about 5 minutes before mid-February, and that was just on a treadmill. I started running outside in the beginning of April. Since then, I've run about 4 times a week and done a 5-7 mile long run every weekend -- and have felt great doing it.

Here is my plan: I will do the marathon training plan for the next 3 weeks, as it just about matches my half marathon training plan, just with a few extra easy runs to build up the weekly mileage. At the end of those three weeks, if I'm still feeling good about it, I will register for the Wineglass Marathon. My dad said that if I run it, he will fly out and run it with me. That would mean so much to have a running buddy who will stay with me the whole time.

What's your opinion??

Welcome to the Jungle! (by Guns 'N Roses)

2009-06-25T22:37:00.001-04:00

Quote of the day:
"And on the seventh day, God did an easy three."

I love this quote. Six months ago I wouldn't have understood it. That's one of my favorite things about running: feeling like I'm "on the inside," part of a wonderfully supportive and incredibly FUN group of people who share a love of pushing ourselves beyond our limits and conquering the pavement with nothing but our own two feet. Even as a newly indoctrinated member of this tribe, I already feel that I'm a Runner (capital "R") and I love the camaraderie that comes with it.

I'm officially training for the Queens half marathon on September 20th, which will be my first half marathon. To date, as far as organized races are concerned, I've run a 5k and a 10k. On the 10k I hit a PR of 9:19/mile for one of the miles, and my overall pace was 9:59/mile (also a PR). My goal pace for my half marathon, however, is around 11:00/mile, if not slower. I'm hoping to run it in under 2:40.

Today was a rest day, although it was almost going to be a cross-training day. I wanted to ride my bike but my knee didn't seem to want to be pushed. It wasn't really my knee, but rather the back of my left leg behind my knee. I think I didn't stretch well enough after my run last night and it was just feeling a little bit tight. Tomorrow I'm scheduled to do an "easy three," as God did on the seventh day, so hopefully my leg will cooperate. It feels pretty good at this point.

I'm not sure who you are or how you found my running blog, but thanks for reading, and I hope you stick around! Happy running!