NYCM Phone Dump

I'm not really a taking pics while running type of gal, but I did manage to get a few before and after race shots.  Warning, I look OLD.  Like woa wrinkles, but really, I was just dehydrated...

I was also lucky enough to have my boyfriend and best gal there with me! They got a GREAT shot of me feeling awesome at mile 19.  I'm still amazed that I felt as strong as I did!

Verrazano Bridge, I ran the bottom which was fine by me, it was windy!

Mile 19!

My Toms SAVED my feet after!

Day after glow (selfie fo life!)

NYCM

I'm coming out of blogger retirement (or self imposed timeout) to jot down my marathon thoughts :)

Sooo NYCM was in a word AMAZING.  I didn't PR (that was done in Chicago last year) but I had a course PR which I'll take!  It was a cold (but then got warm, then cold again), windy day - but no excuses, I ran the race I was supposed to run.  I felt happy, strong and confident the entire time.  Nothing major happened, I ran, I high fived, I contemplated life.  When it was all said and done I finished in 4:50:33, not my 4:3x:xx that I was hoping for, but I can always do that next time.  Best part was having my boy and forever friend out on the course cheering me on.  That was the icing to an already top 10 day.  Oh, the roses at the end of the race didn't hurt either!

One thing I will say - and this is for everyone....always be happy with your effort.  You ran a marathon.  Never feel like you have to make an excuse for your time (I tripped and ended up in medic, I took an extra long dump) we will see in your splits that it didn't happen.  Be proud of what you ran.  The majority of people in this world were on the couch.  Not us, we were out running our asses off. So be a good sport and don't make up a story.  #tacky

So what's next?  I'm signed up for the brewery 10 miler, maybe the NYRR Manhattan half, I'm in the lottery for the NYC half and lots of crossfit.  I need to focus on some other things to keep running as awesome as it is.  No burnout for this gal!

2 Loops!

Yesterday's Selden Hills run was in a word, AMAZING!  The "team" (which is in quotes because we really aren't a team, just a bunch of crazy hill runners) threw out a challenge: 3 loops, and the crew accepted!

I have talked about the hills before, but basically it's a 10k course of the hilliest hills around (seriously).  Long Island is relatively flat, there are some neighborhoods that are hillier than others, but nothing compares to the Selden Hills. 

Ok, so the challenge was to run 3 loops, I ran 2 because my training only called for 13 so I didn't want to push it, plus I'm slightly wounded (note: graphic wound shot).   I felt really great, strong even...and of course winded.  Some of these babies are STEEP!  This group is notoriously fast so I was at the back of the pack.  The first loop took a little over an hour, the second a little longer, but not by much (I'll update the times when I get home, gotta check the garmin).  I ran the second loop backwards with a new friend so that we could catch the speed demons coming back, great strategy as we got to see Will finish his 3rd loop (this guy is a machine). 

I love this run, I wish I worked closer because I would be up there weekly, for now though I'm going to try and get up there on the weekends.

Here is Sue and I at the finish - you have to slap the pole when your done (twss)...tradition!

Holy Road Rash

Wow, road rash is no joke.  I have had some spills resulting and scrapes and bruises, but this is just wild.  According to running partner I didn't just fall, I skidded across the sidewalk which explains the horrific road rash I now have.  I'm still in shock over the swelling and pain, I even went to urgent care which is pretty big, I'm cheap and I hate to go to the doc when it's not really necessary. Luckily there was no break (which I considered mainly because I couldn't really put too much weight on my leg).

I'll spare you the pics, although I did post one yesterday, but it's just ugly. I picked up some Tegaderm to dress the wound with as I've read really great things, plus I like how it's like saran wrap and not gauze which hurts like a mother when I have to change it.  Aside from the constant pain, I'm having a hard time sleeping, every time I move I wake up.  I really feel for cyclists and bikers who have gotten into accidents with a substantial portion of their bodies injured. 

I'll stop complaining now, because really, it's bad, but not that bad, at least not anymore :) No need to call me a waaammmmbulance.

So this put a little detour in my midweek plan, but I hope to get out there Sun for my long and maybe even to crossfit tomorrow.  Right now the plan is to run the Selden Hills for a double.  There is a group going out for a triple which is just insane - 18 miles of all steep hills.  It will be a fun day with some new and old friends. 

Next week starts up a new cycle.  The goal here on out is to 1. not injure myself and 2. get all my miles in.  No slacking!

#runningfail

I like using hashtags, I liked them before they were cool...

Ok, so #runningfail....I have tripped while running twice in the last two weeks.  This mornings fall was particulary awful as it was on concrete and I'm pretty jacked up.  Last weeks fall, while dramatic, was down at the docks and on wood so not that bad.

Here is a pic which truly does not do the damage justice.  I am crazy swollen and can barely walk.  I'm thinking that I should have gone home after I fell, instead we ran 4 pretty speedy miles. #runningwin.

Marathon Pics

I am officially the worst blogger when it come to posting pics. I usual think about taking a picture after the fact...it's bad, I know.

A 13 year old blogger once comment on one of my posts that blogs without pictures are boring, and she's totally right.

Anyway. I did take some pictures at the start, nothing fancy and certainly not taken during my amazing run (how do you guys manage that?), but for posterity, they'll do.

Once I got off the bus and saw all the banners I really got crazy excited. It was my first real moment of OMG, I'm actually HERE about to run a marathon.

3rd wave, 1st corral...it was pretty cool being that close. We got to talk to the volunteers and joke around a bit.

The start! I felt amazingly calm and centered here. Met a few international runners, but kept quiet and focused....I had a marathon to think about!

Best Day Ever! A (Different Kind Of) NYC Marathon Recap

I'm not even sure where to go with this post, I mean how does one really sum up just about the best day ever? I'm not sure, but here goes.

First off I finished!

My official time was a respectable 4:50:30.

Secondly, I felt amazingly good, but did have some foot pain towards the end.

I'm not a big recapper, and I'm sure this will pale in comparison to all the other bloggers out there, but my 5 readers know the drill...

Saturday I was pretty laid back, I played around with not packing a bag, only bringing the necessities but quickly changed strategy once I realized how easy the bag check process was. This is where having runner friends seriously comes in handy... I wasn't stressed, just super excited. I'm not sure how this works out for me, but excitement = sleep, in bed by 8:30, snoozing by 9 (which was really 8 due to day light savings) slept all the way through, got up, got ready and walked to the train. Easy peasy. I didn't poop though, which made me nervous...

I'm just about to walk up to the train platform when I hear Coach Bob yelling my name, that mother got up just to see me before I left, what a guy. He's also a little controlling, but it works. He had written me a beautiful note/letter basically giving me the extra race day boost I needed. And he took a pic... All kidding aside, it was one of the nicest gestures ever, one of about a million I would experience...

If you have read one report, you have read them all - it pretty much goes like this...Staten Island Ferry, view of the Statue of Liberty, start village, wearing clothes you donate, New York New York over the loud speakers then the gun then the bridge then Brooklyn, Queens and the 59th st bridge where my garmin lost signal (!!!) then the 1st ave frat party....ok, you get the picture.

The real race report for me is more about the love I received throughout this whole process. My friends all supported me, were totally not annoyed when I said no to things or left early so I could get a run in and were there for me in full force on race day.

I had so many texts messages wishing me luck and my Facebook literally blew up from the outpouring of support. People who I haven't spoken to in ages were posting on my wall, mentioning me in their status updates, liking other peoples posts and pics, it was absolutely crazy. And to think that on Fri I was feeling sorry for myself thinking no one would be there for me (hello single girl drama!).

I never thought that that this race would be more than just a run, it never occurred to me that it would be the best day of my life, that I would feel so accomplished, that I would see people in their best light and that I would feel so much love. Shit, I thought it was about not dying before the finish!

I guess I should talk about the actual miles ran - overall, the race flew by, the first 13 went by so fast, then next 10 were ok, the last 3 were killer. This is where my foot started to cramp up, it was bad, but I walked when I needed and ran when I could, even though I was tracking for a 4:40 finish, I'm so happy with my time. I knew as soon as I ran over the Verazzano that I had this, that all my training would pay off, that I was about to have the best marathon of my life. I had absolutely no doubts. Oh, and that single girl drama, all in my head. My great friends took me to dinner (along with the boy, yep that one) where I showed off my medal, talked about the race and just felt amazingly lucky and grateful to be able to call myself a marathoner.

2 Days and I'm a Mess!

Wow, so I am crazy emotional today! Probably because I'm nervous, there are just 2 days left to the biggest accomplishment of my life and I'm worried that I won't have plans once I get home after the race. Womp, womp.

My fear now that I'm super single is that I will be eating cold pizza with my cat olive while crying over the end of my relationship instead of rocking out with my marathon medal on! Good thing I have amazing friends who are taking me out to dinner.

I'm such a weepy thing sometimes!

I also had my first marathon anxiety dream, we kept getting lost, part of the run was underwater and my phone got wet and no one could track me, then the ladies I was running with wanted to stop for breakfast. Super weird.

Ok, so random anxiety and weepiness, sounds just about right for being only 2 days out.

3 Days, 1 Hour, 6 minutes...

NYC here I come! I'm seriously getting so excited, but at the same time in a weird way I'm dreading the run, has anyone ever experienced this? I think it's a little bit of my old self saying "who do you think you are, a runner?".

Ok, back to the positive can't wait to run this mother attitude!

3 days, 1 hour and 6 minutes from now I will be a marathoner. I have waited 4 years to run NY, which from day 1 of running I said would be my first. Although from day 1 the thought of a 10k was scary to me, a marathon unfathomable!

I'm pretty prepared, I trust my training, I have a plan (sort of) for race day, I'm going to try the 10, 10, 10 and see how it goes. I will walk the water stops so I don't die out at the end and I will take in about 5 Gu's. I'm thinking one at the start, then every 5 miles. If I need a 6th I'll go for it. My biggest stressor is coordinating my "fans" and getting to the start, I'm scheduled for the 8:30 ferry but my train line is a little weird with construction, so I may be cutting it close, worst case is I miss the 8:30 and have to get on the last 9:30 ferry. I'm in the 3rd wave and not checking a bag, so I'm sure I will be fine.

Update on the foot: still hurts a little, waiting for the cortisone magic to happen. Anyone have experience with this? How long did it take you to feel better?

And the Diagnosis is.....

...Plantar fasciitis.

Oh man.

I have a friend who out of no where had such bad foot pain that after grocery shopping she could not get out of the car, it hit her out of nowhere.

My Doc days that will not happen. I am really working hard to trust him on that one!

Ok, so now that I know why my foot kills I feel a little relieved, although for some reason tendinitis sounded more manageable (Doc thinks I'm crazy). I got the cortisone, it still hurts, but they say by day 2 magical things happen. Tomorrow is day 2, the magic BETTER happen.

My last run was on Sunday, hoping for a quick run tomorrow, if I'm still feeling crappy I may head to spin where I will just ride, no jumps or anything crazy.

While I wish I was completely injury free, I'm so grateful that this is manageable and nothing worse. I was fearing a stress fracture (I'm super dramatic) and am so happy it's not!!!

On a fun note, I've been trying to figure out where to meet my friends and parents along the course, as well as where to meet after. Still trying to get the logistics together, but I think I will have fans in BK, along 1st Ave and close to the finish!

Feet Don't Fail Me Now!

Cheers to no stress fracture!

Boo to possible tendinitis!

I'm a little bummed to have an overuse injury and really can only blame myself, should have been icing, BUT the good news is that I can run and my Doc is going to give me a shot of cortisone next week to get me through the marathon.

I can run this week, just not anything too crazy, so I'm happy about that, but if I feel pain, I'm going to stop. Last Night I went to Crossfit where coach was like SEEEE, running is bad, blah blah. I told coach to suck it(ok, not really), obvi I have not fully drank the Crossfit Kool-Aid yet, although I'm close :) (actually, I'm drinking it, just not ready to admit it,HA!)

So this week the plan is to ice, get an ultrasound done, take a lot of Advil, run just a little, then my 8 miler on sat, Crossfit maybe 2 more times and get myself psyched up for the BIG DAY!!!

Let the Tapering Begin!

Marathon training is winding down, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm getting a little burned out. I started working with Coach in May, so I've been pretty structured for MONTHS now, which for this procrastinator is huge.

We stared out training for the Queens Half, then rolled right into marathon training. I know for sure that I would not be prepared for the Full Mary had I not worked with Bob, money well spent! And he came through with a crew for my 20 miler, good man!

This weekend I ran with New Running Partner Sheila. We both had 12 on the sched so it was a perfect pairing, although I sort of wanted to do it by myself, I welcomed the company. We met at the gym and headed out. While I like boring out and backs, Sheila does not. Because I'm a good sport, I took her lead. We ran the trail, then through some residential areas then back by my house to the docks and back. I was a little miz. I really like out and backs, or at least a plan. The trail is about 6 miles, but the rest was so unstructured that it got annoying. Regardless we had a great run, and better conversation. I did break midway to stretch out my hammy, but our pace was 9:43 which made me happy.

Ok, so on to tapering. This is tricky for me. I have never really tapered. All my half marathon's I ran my 10 the weekend before the race, so this whole 2 weeks without a long run is weird. I feel like I need to throw a 2nd 20 miler in somewhere. I won't, but it just seems like the right thing to do, lol. The other issue is that I'm a little injured. My right foot has really been bothering me on the outside. I just started icing it (always late to the party) and I have a doc appointment tomorrow. I think it's just an internal bruise, but I want to be safe.
Sooo...crossing fingers and toes and knocking on every piece of wood I can find!

OMG ...I Really Just Ran 20 Miles!

I'm still in shock, I ran my first ever 20 mile run, and I'm still awake at 1:00am!

Today was great, got up, pooped (hooray) had a granola bar and half a mushy bannana, some water and advil (headache) and headed off to my coach's house for 20 amazing miles. Coach set me up with a few different runners for the day, otherwise I was running this bad boy solo and I did not want to do that!

Usual running partner Andrea ran the first 10 with me, Jackie the next five and Coach for the final 5, Jean who I just met and love, ran the entire distance. She was great and was nice even when I wanted to kill people during miles 18 and 19.

The first 10 miles we were are about a 9:40 pace, my goal was to maintain that and for the most part I did. We had one 11 minute mile when we went into the trail around mile 12, it was super muddy and we had to navigate around some crazy wet stuff, but it beat the strong headwind that we had during the first 10. The last 4 miles I slowed down and I basically would have done anything to walk mile 19, but I didn't.

Overall I felt strong, but like usual I was mentally done at the end. I'm nervous that I won't be able to get through the last 6 marathon miles, but I'm trying to stay positive and trust my training.

We ran for a total of 3:20 at a 10:04 pace.

The rest of the day was great, went to Glenn's for pancakes, took a looong nap, dinner with Danielle then a party and a littly flirt action with a new boy (crossing fingers).

In just a few short weeks I'll be able to say I completed a marathon, and even the thought of that blows me away!

29 Days

I'm getting nervous now. I don't feel prepared, I didn't run hills, like at all, I'm still chubby.

But I do know that I ran 18 hard miles, a few 14 milers that were speedy, a great 16 miler, last weeks half +3 was pretty good.

I have to trust my training and know that I will still make strides in these last 29 days.

My Badass 18 Miler!

18 miles, 18 kick-your-ass-3-loops-in-Central-Park miles.

One word. Holy Hard (ok, 2 words).

I love my long runs, I really do. I get excited about the distance knowing that every long run is a distance PR and a new test to my little running existence and another notch in my marathon training belt.

18 miles has meant a lot of things for me: impossible, crazy, something I can't wait to do, something I will never do...you get the picture...so when I completed this feat, I was so elated, even though it was hard as hell and I wanted to quit from pretty early on.

First off, we ran 3 loops of the north end of the park - which means 3 times up Cat and Harlem hills. I love hills, but these hills 3 times almost brought me to tears. Secondly, it was hot and really, really humid. I'm used to the heat as I've been running all summer, so that wasn't too bad. It was the hills that killed me (note to self, must run more hills, ok, any hills at this point!).

I didn't go in with a ton of expectations aside from finishing, but for me the drill is always the same, when I run slow I get a little bummed. My average pace was 10:43, but I tanked at the end. The good news is I didn't run with shit in my pants (which happened to a runner I was with - massive diarrhea, but she placed 2nd) and I just ran the longest I have ever run in my entire life, so I'll take it.

Getting Close!

47 days till the Full Mary!

I'm getting excited. Not nervous, like at all, which I'm sure will happen sooner rather than later. I am a little afraid of getting hurt though, which considering I got caught up in a dog leash yesterday and almost rolled my ankle during Saturday's 12 miler is sort of funny.

So back to the 12 miler, I felt really good, especially the second half which was amazing considering I ate like shit all week at my national sales meeting and didn't run at all.

This week is a light run week, but I have to get back to Crossfit - the goal is 3 sessions, plus 2 3mi and 1 6mi runs. Sunday is the 18 miler in Central Park which I'm pretty psyched for.

16 Solo Miles!

So freaking amazed at myself, it's not even funny! I got in my 16 - longest distance EVER and I ran by myself! Wahooo!!

The plan was to try and find a group to run with as both my running partners had shorter distances planned, my running club was running 16 super early on Sun, which was a consideration, but I had a big party on Sat and I didn't want to stress about having to leave early, so I did what any marathoner in training would do and just powered through it!

I got up Sat around 8:30, headed out around 9 and got 'er done! I was pretty happy with my pace, I felt really good for most of the run, but I broke down a little around the end. My calves were killing me and I'm super paranoid about leg cramps so I really slowed down. I drank a ton, plus refilled my fuel belt a bunch and had some gels, but I think I was suffering because I didn't eat a single banana all week which has proved to be my saving grace in the cramp department. Lesson learned.

I got back to the house and felt like crap. My calves were throbbing and I was pretty nauseous, which does happen from time to time, so I just chalked it up to the long run. I'm going to play around with Gatorade in my fuel belt on my next long run and see if that helps. Aside from that, the run was great and I felt totally accomplished knowing that I did it by myself!

Here is the breakdown:
Split Time Avg Pace
1 0:10:13 10:13
2 0:10:14 10:14
3 0:10:16 10:16
4 0:10:10 10:10
5 0:10:17 10:17
6 0:10:03 10:03
7 0:10:02 10:02
8 0:10:11 10:11
9 0:10:17 10:17
10 0:10:17 10:17
11 0:10:15 10:15
12 0:10:31 10:31
13 0:10:28 10:28
14 0:11:03 11:03
15 0:11:40 11:40
16 0:11:05 11:05
17 0:00:02 8:29
Summary 2:47:12 10:26

(sorry the chart sucks, blogger is giving me a hard time)

When 10 Miles is the New Normal

10 miles before work?

NBD

Not sure when 10 miles became the new normal, but it did and I'm cracking up over it.

10 miles used to be a big deal to me. My first 10 miler ever was a huge milestone, that one holy-shit-I'm-actually-really-doing-this-I'm-a-runner kind of milestone.

I'm sure when I reach the 26.2 mark I'll have a similar experience along with tons of tears!

I'm Running a Half Marathon Before Work....WTF!

Yup, that's right, if all goes according to plan, I'll be done with 13/14 miles before I get to the office - on time!

My plan was to run with new running partner on Sat, but she can't make it, so gym partner who has 10 on the schedule can meet up early tomorrow, I just have to get 2 in before I meet up with her and she will add on whatever she has to so we come out on goal.

The most I have run before work has been about 9.....tomorrow is going to be interesting, but I know I can do it. I have no other choice and I will not miss a long run unless I am dying (knock on wood!).

Wish me luck!

UPDATE: I ran the 13, killed it actually, and I made it to work on time!

88 Days!

Holey moley! 88 days till the FULL MARY!!!

AHHHHH!

I'm getting nervous, but super motivated. I have 88 days to shed some weight, run a ton of training miles, think positively and HAVE FUN because this is supposed to be fun, not a chore! This is what I have been waiting for...and dammit I'm going to ENJOY IT!