The NYC Marathon (Might Be) Six Days Away – Here Are My Thoughts

This post was going to start off with 100% PURE EXCITEMENT FOR THE FUCKING NYC MARATHON. OBVIOUSLY. Until Hurricane Sandy came.

I currently live in Bergen County NJ (very North Eastern NJ, 17 miles to NYC, to be exact). I grew up in Point Pleasant, NJ (Ocean County, NJ, and still wish I lived there). However, there are these shitty fucking things that happen, like hurricanes that travel all the way up to the tri-state area and wreak havoc on us. I will ALWAYS support the Jersey Shore (no matter what those fucks did to taint it).

Prior to Sandy, to me, the respectable Jersey Shore was Point Pleasant, Manasquan, Belmar and (all of) LBI (I have family there). After Sandy, the Jersey Shore includes every town from Long Branch down to fucking Cape May. We are one in the same. After all of the preparations and fear, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in NJ, somewhere just south of Atlantic City. It is hard to write this post without crying. To be honest, it is hard to sit up in North Jersey and watch your hometown be destroyed by the minute. I drank a lot (and ate more than acceptable) to get through it.

THANKFULLY, my parents and sisters (and aunt/uncle/cousin) live more than a mile and a half from the ocean.  My family is ok. That is my first priority. I am happy to report that to you. The damage is minimal, I am happy to report that to you as well.

SO – on to the next depressing topic – What do I know about the NYC Marathon? I have no idea. I read a few articles. Is it legit? I have no idea to be honest!!! (I’m sure there will be updated articles after I post this)!

Now. The content of this post: Why I am excited to run the NYC Marathon: (I wrote these down on the post-its at work on throughout the week last week, actually) 🙂

• I am finally running the race – I have been denied by the lottery for two years (as have many others). For those doing the NYRR 9+1 qualification – you know it takes a long time. I have been working since January 2011 for this race (and luckily for me, the cost went up in 2012).
• I am running with Sky again. I could have never finished the NJ Marathon sub-4 without her. END OF STORY.
• I am excited for all of my friends who trained their fucking asses off for this race. They deserve a PR.
• The support and encouragment  – It is constant and it is endearing! I could not ask for more from my family and my friends! My friends planned on following me throughout the course – through Brooklyn (x2) and Manhattan (x3). Post hurricane and MTA shutdown, may not possible! However, the support is still there 🙂
• I am running (mostly) new streets in NYC!
• My training was unconventional! Prior to my dumb ass injury I was KILLING it in training. I was running fast and hard. Afterwards, I ran whenever and at whatever speed.
• The chills – I get the chills when I think about the marathon in general! I spent the last few years as a spectator. In 2009, I made my way to mile 18 (hungover as shit) to mile 18 to see a friend, and saw many runners visit their family members. I cried, over and again. In 2010, my friend ran. When I saw him I screamed as loud as I could as the same mile marker!!! He looked so strong! At the end of the race, we iced him. I still feel bad, because I know he will eventually pay me back. The sidelines are AMAZING!!!

• Before last week I was convinced that the Central Park hills would be no problem for me. Anyone who has run the marathon before knows better (I am a rookie). The 5th Ave hill (climb) back into the park is no joke. However, I know the crowd will pull me through the god awful MILE LONG CLIMB!
• The NYC Marathon signs. They have been up for weeks now (and hopefully still up now). I ignored them in the years passed. Now I embrace them like a mother fucker. They are MY SIGNS and I love them.

• The finish line!

Although not the REAL finish, and you’ve seen this picture. This shit is LEGIT.

There are probably more reasons. When I think of them, I will create another post 🙂 For now, lets just think of everyone who has been misplaced from the hurricane. She was an asshole. Let’s hope everyone is safe.

As for the NYCM – should it go on? Can it go on? Who the hell knows? Either way, I would love to run it. The city was built on resilience, obviously. But if NYC cannot be cleaned up in time, I get that too. Hurricanes like this are no joke. Me? My legs want to run. My heart wants to help everyone that needs help. It definitely puts things in perspective!

For some reason my B (-) blood is the second most rare blood type and I am going to give it back. I plan going home and donating blood to the American Red Cross (YOU SHOULD TOO)!!!! Even if you do no have a weirdly rare blood type.

NYCM Training – Week 16 Recap

This week was full of emotions. I went from being scared out of my mind, and doubting my ability to pure excitement! I ran more this week than the last (more than double, actually) and gained back my confidence for the marathon! The race is officially 6 days from now. All we need to do is survive a hurricane. What the fuck is that?

Week 16 (10/22 – 10/28)

Monday 10/122: Rest

Tuesday 10/23: Ran in Central Park with a friend – 5.6 mi (9:05 pace)- I felt like crap this entire run. I had a stomach ache and felt like I was dragging ass! I could barely make it up and down the hills without complaining, sorry Jess! Just one of those days I guess!

Wednesday 10/24: I had plans to wake up early and run 10(ish) miles with Abby. Once again my alarm clock and tiredness failed me and I got to the city much later than I had wanted to. I ended up meeting her for most of the run and unfortunately both struggled to get our pace under 9 min/mile for some reason. It was definitely another day of tough running!

Thursday 10/25: Flip for Refine Method event hosted by Well & Good NYC – This was a shortened version of Refine Method (45 min). It was actually a great class considering I felt like crap and didn’t eat enough prior. I was thrilled I was able to meet the founder of the studio, Brynn. She is just as amazing as I had heard! Prior to the class we were able to make a “flip book” of an exercise! Such a cool experience!

Screen Shot from the flip book!

We also got some goodies!

Refine Tee:

Photo courtesy of Refine Method (I chose the FASTER tee)

Birch Box:

Beauty Contents

We also had Hint Water and GRAWnola, both delicious!

Friday 10/26:  Rest

Saturday 10/27: I had plans to go into the city on Sunday morning to run my last long(er) run! I was going to run 5 or 6 miles and then the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff (5 miles) with Dori! Late on Friday night I saw that Lora and Jess were planning on running the last 10 miles of the marathon course on Saturday morning so I decided to jump in with them as it would be more beneficial to me! The run was hosted by Mike Keohane (MK Coaching) and it was really great! He provided a bag check, fuel, water, and post-run bagels, coffee and candy!

I ended up running with 5 awesome (fast) women, Jess, Jocelyn, Gia, and Meggie. They were amazing company and great conversation and laughs helped me get through running a bit faster than I had originally planned! I am happy I ran the miles and now know what to expect. I’m hoping the crowds will push me through that mile climb up 5th (110 to 90) before entering the park.

Top: Gia, Meggie, Jocelyn
Bottom: Jess, Lora, Me

Crossing the (would be) finish line of the NYCM with Meggie!
Photo courtesy of Gia!

I forgot my Garmin but the stats were as follows (based on Lora’s Garmin):

(1) 8:32; (2) 8:11; (3) 7:54; (4) 8:02; (5) 8:03; (6) 8:03; (7) 7:58; (8) 7:57; (9) 7:50; (10) 8:07

Total time: 10 mi – 1:21 – 8:06 avg pace

Sunday 10/28: NYRR Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5 Mile Run! After the 10 miles (that I probably/definitely ran too fast) I knew I wanted to run this race slowly and comfortably. I ran with Jess and Dori and the miles flew by! Bonus: Erica and Leticia were cheering for us at the end of the race! I love it!!

Photo Courtesy of Erica Sara!

Official Results:

Total Weekly Mileage: 28

6 days. shit!

Don’t forget to ORANGE-UP for the ING NYC Marathon this week (well, if you live on the east coast, do it inside Monday-Wednesday)!!!

NYCM Training – Week 15 Recap

Last week I said this week would be my “peak week.” Welp, that turned out to be a bunch of BS, mostly because I was a lazy POS and wanted to watch Revenge on Netflix instead of going for my last (scheduled) long run.

Week 15 (10/15 – 10/21)

Monday 10/15: Refine Method – 1 hour. Dori was kind enough to set up an event at the new Refine Studio on the UWS (117 W 72 St btw Columbus and Amsterdam). Class was REALLY hard for me. My legs were still SO sore from the Half Marathon on Saturday. We did a lot of leg work (of course) and sprints in place. The instructor was amazing though! So motivating!

I also ran to and from my office to the studio – 3 miles total.

Tuesday 10/16: Rest

Wednesday 10/17: Central park run with a friend – 5.96 mi (9:05 pace)

Thursday 10/18: Refine Method – 1 hour. I took a 6:30 am class with Dori, Erin and Katherine. Once again, it was a tough class (still sore, mostly from Refine class on Monday now) but it was a great way to start my day!

Erin and I ran from her apartment to class – 2.3 miles total.

Friday 10/19:  I took off of work because I was leaving in the early afternoon for a wedding in Long Island. I figured I could get my last long run in before I went. It was pouring all morning and I started watching Revenge on Netflix (best show ever). I kept waiting for the rain to stop and it never did. By the time I dragged my lazy ass out the door, I had no time to run. I suck. I ran 2.2 mi in the rain (which I actually enjoyed, should have run more).

Saturday 10/20: WEDDING FUN!

BRIDESMAIDS!

Sunday 10/21: Absolutely nothing.

Total Weekly Mileage: 13 (not enough, SHIT!)

I now have less than 2 weeks until the NYC Marathon. So I will try to do one more semi-long run this week and then taper (even though I’ve basically been tapering for a month). I am going to work on maintaining some speed by doing speed work outs and do some tempo runs as well. Things don’t always go as planned. I can only hope my training (if that’s hat you want to call it) is adequate enough to get me through 26 miles.

NYCM Training – Week 14 Recap

I am 3 weeks out from the NYC Marathon. This past week was supposed to be “peak week.” I suppose it would be peak week for me if I were still following a training plan.

SO going with unconventional training, this week was actually the lowest mileage I ran since coming back from being injured (I think anyway).

Week 14 (10/8 – 10/14)

Monday 10/8: Rest

Tuesday 10/9: Bike – 10 mi, NTC – Arm Definer 15 min

Wednesday 10/10: Rest

Thursday 10/11: I wanted to get a few miles done at my half marathon goal pace (for the ING Hartford Half on Saturday)!

5 Treadmill Miles – 1 mi Warm up @ 9:22, 3 x 1 mi @ 8:00, 1 mi cool down @ 9:22

Friday 10/12: I should have rested before my half marathon. Instead I ran in Central Park at lunch with my friend Chris, in this outfit (with a regular bra, because why wouldn’t I forget a sports bra for a run i shouldn’t be running):

Chris clearly thought I looked awesome (NOT embarrassing). Why else would he take a picture?

Chris is doing the NJ Tough Mudder on Oct 20. He wanted to run a fast 6 miles. I stopped short at 4.62 miles and kept the pace at 9:05ish. I’m a good person.

Saturday 10/13: ING Hartford Half Marathon. Big fucking PR! I couldn’t be happier!

Official Stats:

13.1 mi – 1:45:38 (8:03 avg pace)

Overall Place: 888 of 5,946

Gender Place: 237 of 3,320

Age Group Place (25-29): 45 of 555

Sunday 10/14: Rest day/Eat EVERYTHING in sight. And then 3 huge tacos for dinner.

Total Weekly Mileage: 23

NYCM Training – Weeks 12 & 13 Recap

Week 12 (9/24 – 9/30)

A majority of Week 12 of training consisted solely of me freaking out about Ragnar. I decided to “taper” in the 4 days leading up to the relay by not doing anything at all (except drink wine and eat tortilla chips).

Then Ragnar happened. Check out the recaps of my runs: Leg 1, Leg 2 and Leg 3!

Total Weekly Mileage: 32.8

Week 13 (10/1 – 10/7)

Monday 10/1: Rest

Tuesday 10/2: 8.48mi – 1:14 (8:42 avg pace) – I went for an early morning run in Central Park with a coworker and we met Abby a bit into the run. We ran the big loop once and the small loop before heading back.

I was beyond thrilled that my legs were cooperating with just 3 days recovery from the Ragnar miles. Definitely a nice start to the work day!

Wednesday 10/2: Rest

Thursday 10/3: 9.8mi – 1:28 (9:01 avg pace) – I met Sky very early before work and we ran at a comfortable pace up and down the Westside Highway. I was very tired around mile 7 and definitely had to take some quick walk breaks but ended up finishing strong. Another solid run for the week!

Friday 10/4: Rest/Sleepover with Abby while we both dreaded our 8am wakeup call to run 20 miles.

Saturday 10/5: 20.2mi – 3:03 (9:04 avg pace) – I saw Lora’s blog post about the NY Flyers 3 Bridges Run and decided it was a perfect route for a long run. We both needed new scenery and I knew it would be great for me to run the bridges that I will be running in the NYC Marathon.

Route: Down Westside Highway (from Abby’s apartment on the UWS) and across Manhattan through City Hall Park. We cross the Brooklyn Bridge and exited at Prospect Street and when we ended up in the projects we needed to stop and double (and triple) check that we were still headed in the right direction (we were). We moved through the Navy Yard, Williamsburg and Greenpoint before crossing the Pulaski Bridge into Queens. We were in Long Island City for a few miles before crossing the Queensboro back into Manhattan and we ended the run with a lap of the reservoir.

The run was rough at times. I fueled exactly opposite than I have been in prior months. I used Gu and Sports Beans and I ended up with a stomach ache from miles 13-20. I am comfortable fueling with actual food (raisins, dried fruit) and I should have (NEED TO) remember to bring it with me when I have runs planned.

Besides the shooting stomach pains, the run was a success! We made an impromptu Vega protein shake (unflavored) with rice milk, plain Chobani and frozen fruit and it was actually disgusting. We need to work on our recipes 🙂

After the Protein shake (and Dunkin Donuts) we went to Equinox for “Yoga for Runners” hosted by Ashley. The class was instructed by the absolutely amazing (and super sweet) Kristin McGee and she was so helpful with the poses, demonstrating them as well as explaining why the poses were helpful for runners. She even let us know which poses were good for before long runs and after long runs – SO important! Unfortunately, because we had just ran 20 miles, Abby and I sat in child’s pose for 40% of the class. It was a lovely class and I was happy to be included! I will definitely be investing in Kristin’s DVDs and hopefully participating in some of her classes in the city. After the class we were able to chat with other bloggers and I was able to try Svelte protein shakes (dairy and gluten-free)! I tried the chocolate shake and it was delicious! I want more.

I think the combination of the protein shake(s) and the yoga class helped me recover from the long run. I am nowhere near as sore as I usually would have been.

I am also participating in Lindsay’s October photo-a-day challenge. Saturday’s challenge was to complete a Tabata workout. I had heard of this workout but wasn’t exactly sure what is was so I googled it and make up my own!

I did the 4 minute workout and ended my day completely fucking exhausted (and with a vodka/soda).

Sunday 10/6: Besides 30 pushups and a plank, nothing.

Total Weekly Mileage: 38.5, a high for me this marathon cycle!

I am happy with my running this week, but am unhappy I haven’t done any strength or cross-training workouts. I need to work out my time management, and by that I mean I have to stop being lazy and get to the gym to lift a weight. I also need to buy a helmet (and probably knee and elbow pads) so I can finally ride my new bike!