11/12/12 – 11/18/12 – Not much at all. It was a relatively low-key week and my post-Richmond Marathon relaxation time! I also spectated the shit out of the Philly Marathon!

Tuesday 11/13: Erin and I (and Erica, wooop!) went to a hurricane relief fitness fundraiser. It was hosted by Mahri of Body Conceptions and Brook Marrone of Brooke Marrone Fitness. It was a perfect collaboration of both instructors. It was a cardio and strength workout through dance and movement and a strength and core workout that incorporated many pilates moves . Both instructors were beyond helpful and the class was very challenging. I love trying new things and I also want to look like them so I need to practice my moves.

Wednesday 11/14: I ran 2 very slow miles at NYSC because my bus at Port Authority had about a 3 hour wait.

Thursday 11/15: Christy and I went to Refine Method and got our asses kicked. Great class as usual. Note to self (and everyone reading): DO NOT eating Mexican food before Refine. You will feel like shit.

Total Weekly Mileage: 2

Total Weekly Workout Time: 2 hours

11/19/12 – 11/25/12

Monday 11/19: Very early run on the West Side Highway with Fiona. I bundled up because I was nervous, and as usual, I was sweating within 5 seconds of running and was upset about the layers I had on. I will never learn my lesson. We chatted and ran and talked about work and marathons and dogs. It felt good to be out there! My legs were definitely still tired from the marathon!

Total: 7 mi, 1:01, 8:42 pace

Tuesday 11/20: Another early morning run! I met Jess in Central Park and we struggled a bit to get into a rhythm during the loop around the park. Tired legs and wine will do that to you! It ended up being a great run (even though it did not feel like it)! Great company, great weather!

Total 5.4 miles, 48 min, 8:51 pace

Wednesday 11/21: Rest

Thursday 11/22: Morris Township Thanksgiving Day 5K – The weather was a perfectly chilly. Kara was running the race with her boyfriend and roommates and I also convinced my friend Stephanie to run with me (because she is REALLY fast) and I wanted to PR. I had no idea if I could.

Steph and I started out strong but a 90 degree wall around the halfway point basically stopped us in our tracks and our pace dropped drastically. I forced my body up the hill and picked up the pace and tried to keep breathing. I finished strong and someone threw up next to me. At least I felt better than that guy.

Official Results: 23:04

Place: 242/2284

Age Place 8/178

I didn’t have my Garmin because I (shockingly) had to sprint to the start line and forgot it so the splits from my phone are: (1) 7:28, (2) 7:43, (3) 6:57 (.1) same pace who knows

Friday 11/23: Refine Method with Dori. This was the first time I took the class with Brynn (the owner of the studio) as the instructor. Don’t get me wrong, all of the instructors are amazing but holy hell she kicked our asses. I was panting like a dog and was so tired. She held the back of my pants while I did push ups and made sure I didn’t wimp out on anything. She was like a hawk, but in a good way. We are there to work right? I’m still sore.

Saturday 11/24: Rest, so sore.

Sunday 11/25: Work it Out, 90 minute Turkey Burn with Dori!

Total Weekly Mileage: 16

Total Weekly Workout Time: 2 hours 30 min

I was excited to finally try Work it Out, a boutique studio in Hoboken. Dori and I signed up for a special work out called the Turkey Burn for the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

The studio is gorgeous. It is bright and welcoming.

Photo Credit: WiO Studios

There is a small locker room which lockers that you can program each visit right past the reception area (you do not need to bring your own lock, which is awesome for people like me who ALWAYS forgets your lock).

Photo Credit: WiO Studios

We were given a quick tour of the studio and then give the agenda for the workout (which scared me that any workout is long enough to have an agenda).

Warm up: 1 mile run outside

Ride Class (spin)

Sweata Weatha Class (strength circuit)

Dori and I were in the first group back from the run so we went into the spin class first, ON THE PINK BIKES!

The spin room is Teeeenty tiny. Only 8 bikes, 4 rows of 2. It didn’t feel cramped though. The instructor, April, was amazing. The class was really tough but she helped us through each part by being very motivational!

After spin, we took off our shoes and went into the work out room. The room had a springy gymnastics floor. My childhood memories came rushing back to me and my initial reaction was to do a back handspring but then I remembered I would probably break something. The next part of class was the circuit training taught by Monica. There were stations set up around the room (8 or 10 total I cannot remember) and we did each station for one minute. In between stations we did 30 seconds of burpees. I am positive I did 6,000 burpees yesterday. My favorite station: boxing with Monica. I love boxing and used to go often and I lost my touch because she gave me a look like “Come on, is that really all you’ve got?” Constant motion, constant work on a different part of the body. Awesome format. We finished up with a 2 minute wall sit that made me want to jump off a bridge. We ended the entire class with a great stretch and I felt refreshed.

My only peeve about the class was the lack of correction by the instructors. We were given the instructions of a lot of exercises quickly and it was hard to remember. I had to take a second at each station to see if I was doing it correctly. Because she was boxing the first time, it wasn’t until the second time around the circuit that she came over with corrections and instructions to help us out! I found myself doing the wrong thing on more than one occasion.

I really did love the classes and the studio. I would 100% love to go to a spin/strength combination workout like this each week! It was great to visit a new studio! I am loving the boutique studios more and more! Bonus: I got to spend some more time with Lynda, who was also taking the class!

For more information on Work it Out Hoboken, you can visit their website at http://www.workitoutgym.com/wio/

You can visit them on Facebook and Twitter as well!

The address of the studio is as follows:

603 Willow Avenue
Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 222-0802

I had already made plans to stay at Shannon’s house (roomie from HLS) with Kara and Ritsa, who were running the half. Shannon was an amazing hostess. She welcomed us into her home and cooked us an amazing pasta dinner (that she did not even eat because she is on the Paleo diet)! Philly was her first marathon. She did all of this for us instead of panicking in the corner like I did before my first marathon. Kudos Shannon!

We got there early and met up with Melissa. I hugged her about 14 times and wished her a billion good lucks!

Me, Shannon & Melissa

I went to find my cheering crew and found Ashley & Kristin. More good lucks and more hugs. I also handed out an elephant sticker to everyone, extra good luck to stay with them during the race!

After I said my good lucks to everyone, I went off to cheer for the marathon!

My serious photog face

Photo Credit: Erica

I saw so much and experienced so many emotions from 7:00 am-4:00 pm. I saw the marathon winners, elites throwing up and still maintaining a sub-5 minute pace, leg cramps that stopped runners of all speeds in their tracks, families running to the finish with their marathon participants, tears, laughter, disappointment, ear-to-ear smiles, triumph and most of all COURAGE.

I cried way more times than I can remember. I was proud of every single marathoner. Kara and I stayed out and cheered on the course for a very long time. It was the best thing we could have done. We cheered, yelled, high-fived, low-fived, jumped, chanted, and danced for the runners. I have respect for every single person that crossed that finish line. I am SO happy that the race organizers put everyone’s name on their bibs! Cheering for the runners was made even easier

Below is a slide show (that of course uploaded backwards) of my pictures from the race! If you see a picture of yourself, feel free to take it as a memento. There are a few that I love that i want to seek out the runners myself!

Thank you Philly for putting on an amazing event, and for welcoming all of the NYC Marathoners with open arms! Congratulations to all of the finishers and to the NYC Marathoners who changed their plans and completed the race successfully, especially to Abby, Jocelyn, Shannon, Melissa, Ashley & Kristin. PRs all around! It was a pleasure to cheer for all of you and I am SO proud of all of you.

New to my Google Reader:

• Pumps and Iron – Amazing mix of step by step workouts, DIY projects and recipes. Definitely give it a read if you haven’t already.

Helpful Posts:

• Foodie Fresh - The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Food Photography - I take pictures of my food with my iPhone. The pictures look like shit and no one would ever want to eat the food I cook. This post helped me.
• Simply Zesty - 25 Quirky Social Media Tips you Probably Didn’t Know
• Runner’s World – Plan Carefully for Back-to-Back Marathons
• Start Cooking - How to: Pomegranate

Awesome Recipes:

• Oatmeal After Spinning – Sweet Breakfast Burrito
• Hungry Healthy Girl - Quinoa with Brussel Sprouts & Cranberries
• Oatmeal in my Bowl – 30 Green Smoothie Recipes

Must-Have Accessory:

• Sprout Watches - High quality, affordable, eco-forward watches. I have one and I am obsessed and need more.

10/29/12 – 11/04/12

Monday 10/29-Wednesday 10/31: Hurricane Madness. Lots of tears. Lots of drinks.  Zero workouts.

Thursday 11/01: I went to an awesome Mizuno event at City Sports where we learned about their new shoes and clothing. Bart Yasso also spoke to the group about Mizuno as well as his running history, how he became the Chief Running Officer at Runners World and his all-time favorite races (Comrades Marathon, South Africa). He gave us advice about the NYCM course (in order to run a successful race, you must negative split, you want to be the person passing others at 23, not getting passed, it will bring a wave of energy to others who need it). He told us he has never seen such a negative attitude towards runners in regard to the NYCM/Sandy issue. He told us to run the race we trained for and to finish proud. We got an AWESOME Mizuno gift bag that included Bart’s new book (which he so kindly autographed). Abby and I snagged a pic with him before we left!

Best friends.

After the event, Abby and I went for a run on the west side. Due to the lack of power, so many  blocks were pitch black and vacant. Result: We ran faster.

Total: 5 mi, 42 min, 8:24 pace

Friday 11/02: This was fun. Volunteer at NYCM expo. Spend $300. Meet awesome Mizuno people. Find out NYCM is canceled, first via text from Dori, second by complete and utter silence of the Javits Center. Instinctively try to return everything I bought. Get denied by vendors. Leave with Beth and meet up with other displaced NYCM runners (Katie, Leticia, and Ashley). Also joined by Theodora (thanks a million for the Tequila shot), Laura and Abby. Frantically pound 10 margaritas. Sign up for Richmond Marathon. #TeamRichmond was established.

Ashley fact: I am an impulsive alcoholic. Also, It was my younger (almost the same age) sister’s birthday. Happy 26th Shelley

Saturday 11/03: Hungover, obviously. I had 10 margaritas. I gathered myself together and went down to the Jersey Shore again (this time to Fizz’s parents) to help clean up some hurricane damage.

Sunday 11/04: Met Laura in Central Park to run some miles. The atmosphere was unbelievable. I’m guessing tens of thousands of runners were out, all in great spirits. People were cheering, passing out snacks and water to the runners. Mostly everyone was in their NYCM orange long-sleeved shirt. or some sort of ING NYCM gear picked up at the expo.

Closest we’ll get to the NYCM finish in 2012.

Total: 8.11mi, 1:11, 8:45 pace

Total Weekly Mileage: 13.11

Total Weekly Drinks: A million

11/05/12 – 11/11/12 – Marathon week

Monday 11/05: Rest

Tuesday 11/06: Rest

Wednesday 11/07: Sad attempt at running on the treadmill at my house. I ran 1 mile and went upstairs and had wine.

Thursday 11/08: Another sad treadmill attempt. I went to NYSC at lunch to get 5ish miles in at a speedier pace. I forced Beth to meet me there. I ran 2 quick miles and was 100% over it. I spent the rest of the time taking pictures of myself foam rolling. Beth caught me doing this and offered to help.

Miss America

Friday 11/09: 8.5 hour drive to Richmond.

Saturday 11/10: Richmond Marathon (click for recap)! New PR by 1 minute. Official Results: 26.2 mi, 3:57:40, 9:04 pace

Sunday 11/11: 6 hour drive back to NJ

Total Weekly Mileage: 29.2