pre (training) season is over!

And a muggy, humid 3.3 miles on the bridle path a few hours ago ended my NYC Marathon training "pre-season" (Hey, other athletes have a pre-season to gear up for their main season...so I think I should too!) Pre-season also ended with a 10-and-change mile long run on the west side highway yesterday afternoon, smartly done in the afternoon (hey I needed to sleep!! and apparently I need to acclimate too), thankfully right before the skies opened up yet again over NYC. Oh-and I actually saw the Garmin distance go backwards for a sec...weird!! And I wore my trusty Cumulus 9's...compared to the 10s, felt like night and day. Yes, the 10's will be going back to the store.

So. Tomorrow begins the quest for marathon #2. Planning to peak this time at 45 mpw, long runs no longer than 20 miles, and gonna try to fit in 2 cross-training days a week as long as I can (may have to "double" up on a day where I have a short run...) Goals? Well-honestly, I really do want to at the very least, get under 4 hours again so I can prove that 2006 was not a fluke. However a certain someone told me that is the lamest goal ever :-p What can I say-the last coupla years did shake my confidence a bit. Even though the spring was decent, I'm still not convinced that it would translate to a better marathon time. I guess the thing is-I really don't have a recent race time to use as a predictor. The 4-milers are probably a bit of a stretch, I haven't run a decent 10K yet this year, and while I was happy with Broad Street, I can't really use that to predict a time for a hillier course like NYC.

So...tomorrow begins 18 weeks of hard work!! Wish me luck :-p

And on other running notes, I'm really getting into following the track and field OTs the last few days. I am kicking myself for crashing during the womens 10,000m on Friday nite (or Saturday morning, depending on how you look at it...) as I missed what was definitely a fabulous ending to that race. Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher ran expected fabulous races, but Amy Begley ran the race of her life-especially the 2nd 5K!-to get the A standard, to make sure her third-place finish wasn't for nothing. (If anyone can find the video of this race on the web anywhere, please let me know!!) Exciting races in the sprints too (like the 100m that just happened!!) Who says that you have to be a marathoner to be a runner? While I am looking forward to watching the Olympic marathon on TV next month-moreso for the personal connection...I mean, those US guys qualified in my own backyard!-I think the track events are gonna be very exciting to watch as well.

(update-found it!! at least, the last minute or so of the 10K, thanks to nbcolympics.com)

And is anyone else sick of the constant Brightoom emails that clog up the inbox as I am??? Dammit...where is that "unsubscribe" option...?

white sheets, flashing lights

Ah yes, a few months have gone by, I guess I was due to hit up another Jewish singles event. And there was one last nite, put on by the same people who put on this last one in March. This one had a swanky "White Party" theme...think Hamptons meets JDate :-p Seriously, I have never seen so much white clothing all in one place. And to keep with that, was held at a pretty swank locale too...Duvet-infamous for the seating being actual beds (and in a SATC episode too-anyone remember this episode when Carrie got broken up with on a Post-It? On a POST-IT?!?!?)

So yeah, me and NC had on cute little all-white dresses and were both hoping for the best. Though it was a cool scene...and the music was great, I had a lot of fun dancing quite a bit...unfortunately, no male prospects. (the ones that did talk to me...no potential. my favorite was the one who showed me that he has a NJ drivers license even though he's never lived in NJ-and has it to cheat on his taxes. I mean...who tells someone this when they're trying to make a first impression???)

I swear, am I a glutton for punishment or something? Like why do I still go to these things if I know that it's tough to meet guys there? (meaning relationship-minded guys...no playas, no hook-up artists.) Don't get me wrong, I don't regret going, I did have fun...it's just these events that are meant for one thing usually seem to have the opposite effect!!

Well...thank god for one thing...no sleazy guys were trying to get me to go to bed with them :-p
(ok i know that was bad!!)

the never-ending shoe saga

oy vey...here we go again.

So I decided to take the brand-spankin new Cumulus 10s for a 5-mile test run this morning. I really wanted to love these shoes. Would make (running) life so much easier, right?

But no...didn't fall in love with them like I did with the 9's. Didn't really feel as responsive, felt a little heavier. But then again, that could have been my legs...even though I took yesterday off, it's possible my legs still felt some tiredness from Tuesday's workout...or maybe I was tired from all my wine consumption last nite :)

So, I wonder...do I give these one more chance? Or take them back to the store and start stockpiling the 9's? Sorta leaning towards the latter...but man, I hate being dependent on a discontinued shoe!!

(And obviously the person at JackRabbit who helped me was new and I guess misinformed...according to her, nothing really changes with shoe model numbers and if one felt good, the upgrade should too. Um...yeah. What you said.)

what i wouldn't do for wine

Well, the anticipation of wine consumption tonite meant I had to rejigger my running week and fit in a speed workout a day early. And it was a fun one...not!!! Jog from the east to the west side of the 102nd street transverse. Run hard the other way. Jog to the center of the transverse. Run hard back. And keep repeating for about 40 minutes in total. This was how it turned out for me...



Obviously I started out too fast, obviously my legs were not too happy about that as they struggled to hold on (even though the heart was definitely working hard!)

By the end, the only thing I was looking forward to a nice cold beverage...alcoholic or not. Runner26 and myself celebrated the hard effort with a coupla margaritas, chased with some ice-cold water.

While I guess I was satisfied with the effort, I really don't like this type of workout (keep doing repeats for X amount of minutes)-guess i respond better to limits on number of hard intervals-knowing how many I will need to do...I feel I can pace myself much better that way.

But at least it leaves me happily free to drink wine this evening :)

the battle for central park "ownership"

As the season is fast approaching that you will surely begin to hear my rants on how crowded Central Park is, I came across this article courtesy of one of my teammates...actually a good read!! (despite the fact that it is written by the same guy who wrote this infamous article 2 years ago...)

So how many of you are reading this article and noticing that it is describing a typical Central Park run for you-morning or evening, weekday or weekend?

*raises hand*

bridges and arches-and celeb sightings too!!

This past Saturday, I participated in a annual Flyers tradtion-the "Bridges and Arches run"-an 8 mile jaunt over bridges, under arches, and discovering many hills that should probably stay undiscovered :) I was tapped to be one of the "shephards"-cute name for one of the run leaders :) I had done that 2 years ago and was glad to do it again! This is definitely one of my favorite runs and I was a little disappointed to have missed it last year when I was in San Francisco. And if the run wasn't exciting enough, while at brunch we had a celeb sighting!! Check it out in the picture below :)

So...this run was the longest run of a 28-mile week (which also included 2 yoga classes and a spin class.) I will say though...the legs did feel tired by today!! Hope that is not a taste of things to come as marathon training begins one week from tomorrow!! In prep for that, I got new shoes...figured this week is as good as any to road-test the Asics Cumulus 10s...see if they feel as good on the roads as they did during the treadmill test run-or if I will need to stockpile several pairs of the 9's. Better to know before training starts, right?

Non-running stuff in the last few days included...

• happy hour with the coworkers at Red Sky Friday nite to welcome the summer interns-oh, and an excuse for an open bar too...
• saw Altar Boyz today-absolutely hysterical. Go see it if you already haven't. If you like boy bands-and/or mocking boy bands-you'll like this :)
• Jury duty is over with, done with, won't be buggering me for 6 years!! Came thisclose to getting picked for a case though...guess I said the right thing to not get picked! :)

One more week to go before it's time to get to work...man, it's so so close!! Though can the weather gods please spare NYC of the constant thunderstorms? :)

workout. wednesday. wet.

(hehe certain person...i told ya about the title!!)

This post came later than I would have liked, but unfortunately the jury duty assembly room where I spent a good part of today-even though it had free wifi-wouldn't allow access to secured sites-therefore no blogging. damn. (though compared to the last time I had jury duty in 2003-having free wifi is a blessing!!)

so yeah. wednesday's workout. the plan was to hit the reservoir and/or the bridle path to avoid the mass of humanity known as the Corporate Challenge. How crowded was it in the park? Well, I had to cross the park drive just to get to the bridle path and even that was work. I actually had to mock-run with the masses for a tiny bit just to get across. yeesh. and it was raining, pouring!! ahhh...in true Corporate Challenge tradition (in the 4 years I did it with my company-either it was raining, or crazy hot.) And yet, I was crazy enough to do speedwork. Go figure. (I guess it was better than the other evil...at least it wasn't 100 degrees.) So...it was a long-ass workout-a mile on the rez, then a bunch of pickups on the bridle path. The damage is below:



Guess starting off the workout with the fastest mile split I have ever done in a workout was not the best idea!! (OK, beat it by only 1 second. But still.) What happened was that I was in a pack with faster peeps than myself, and they sorta pulled me along (splits for that mile were 3:35/3:42...you get the idea.) I did feel like I was working hard for the rest of the workout (and the heart was definitely working hard), though the splits didn't show it...though the consensus was that the GPS signal is weaker on the bridle path and I could possibly add .01 mile to those pickups (cuz as we know, that can make a difference when it comes to pace...)

But all in all, I guess not too shabby. And wouldn't you know it, the minute we got over to the west side, it stopped raining...hmmm, maybe that's a sign or something!! Though the bridle path was a mess...boy did I get dirty :-p

And funny moment of the night...we saw lots of Corporate Challenge people cutting the course, on the bridle path, on the reservoir, whatever....i jokingly yelled at one of those times "somebody get their bib number and DQ them!!" yeah right...like it's possible for anyone to get DQed in that race...no chip timing, seemingly no rules as well!!

does marathoning a runner make?

This post on Laura's blog sorta brought up a topic that I know has been discussed to death on this blog, but felt like I had to bring it up again...

Seems like lately in the blogosphere, there are people who don't define themselves as runners until they have done a marathon, or run a certain amount of miles in a training run.

As you all know, I strongly disagree with that-and I do believe in the whole "running is not marathoning" thing (thanks jbl!) Hell, I defined myself as a runner long before I even toed the line of my first half-marathon. While it was an eventual goal to run a marathon, I had plenty of time to get there and you know what? Racing shorter distances is actually fun! It doesn't always have to be about the 26.2, though I do respect those who do prefer that.

But outside the blogosphere...I too, have seen the bias towards longer distances. The weekend I did Broad Street, was also the weekend of the Brooklyn Half and several other marathons. You can guess which runners got the most kudos and congrats-yep, the marathoners, followed by the half-marathon runners. Never mind that I ran probably my best race ever to date, still felt like pulling teeth to get any congrats. Not that I was actively seeking them out. But why is it that I have to remind people that racing and personal achievement happens at all distances, long and short-and deserves to be noticed? And an explanation I was given was that "the marathon is the ultimate distance that people achieve to run, that deserves congrats." Does that mean that those who want to focus on shorter races are considered "slackers" or "wusses" and don't deserve the kudos? Would I have gotten more recognition for running a mediocre half-marathon instead of a kick-ass 10-miler, just because it was 3.1 miles longer and had the word "marathon" in it?

As one of the Flyer captains, I do try as hard as possible to be sensitive to that...yep, there are times that when I email my team, I am forced to mention certain marathon-related announcements. But I really try to make notice that I am paying attention to our team's achievements in other distances (e.g., the mile, 5K, cross-country races) Or I'll tell them so in person. I really don't want those who focus on shorter distances to feel like their achievements go unnoticed and just "buried" in all the marathon mania.

So where am I going with this? Well-as someone who will be running her 2nd marathon this year-I will say, I do respect the distance, I respect the time and energy needed to train for it, I respect those who finish, I respect those who's favorite distance is the marathon and like to run them frequently. But guys-please respect the shorter distances too. Just because runners like em short and hard (the mileage and effort...what were you thinking? :-p )-that does not make them slackers or wusses-or "non-runners."

Those are my thoughts on the topic-flame away!! :-)

vanity miles

OK...upon hearing the initial forecast yesterday, at first it was gonna be solely a cross-training day. But the yoga class I was gonna take wasn't til 8:15...I should probably try and sneak in some time on the dreadmill while I'm at the gym.

But I left work and saw that the sky really didn't look all that threatening and thought "hmmm, maybe i can sneak in a lap or 2 of the bridle path before yoga instead of running on the dreadmill."


And I was gonna do that. Had the running shoes on, the Garmin on, the whole nine yards...but I had barely gotten to the park when I saw the lightning and heard the thunder and turned around...really didn't want to chance it. And once I got home...I was debating whether I wanted/needed to sneak in any extra dreadmill time. But vanity won out...I thought about jogbra season, the upcoming Underwear Run, and that forced me out the door and through the torrential downpour (SO glad I bailed on running outside!) to the gym and got in 2.3 vanity miles (all I had time to fit in!)-all I had time to fit in (rush hour at NYSC, gotta wait for a treadmill!) but better than nothing...right?


Yep, I guess just like 10 years ago, vanity was the motivator once again...boy do I need help!! :)

no t-shirt this year

The past few years, i've picked up a t-shirt from the Father's Day 5-mile race and given it to my dad as part of his Father's Day gift (figured he can always use a new t-shirt for the "rotation"! :-p ) However, he was a tiny bit disappointed this year when I showed up with no t-shirt in hand. (Though I think that disappointment was short-lived when he got his gift of a new Mickey Mantle shirt.)

Yeah-for the first time since I've been running NYRR races, I decided to bail on signing up for this year's Father's Day race. Even though it's on the friendlier of the Central Park 5-mile courses (clockwise lower 5), the race has been plagued by hot weather the last coupla years and I was not up for a repeat of last weekend. Instead, I figured I'd just get an easy run in and cheer on the guys...might as well, as they were nice enough to cheer for me last weekend :) Turned out to be the right decision, it was humid as hell out and just an easy-paced run felt tough. However, the Flyer guys done good for this race.

Plus also, I was able to get a longer run in on Saturday...if I were racing, I probably wouldn't have done that...but with marathon training starting in 2 weeks (eek!!) I really have to get comfortable with double-digit mileage runs. Did about 11 and a half miles...down the west side, around the bottom tip of Manhattan, up the East Side a little bit. Was raining the last few miles of my run and it felt great. However, saw lightning near the end and wasted no time in trying to find a subway. And once I got out of the subway on the UWS, it was a torrential downpour...the first of many that evening.

Yeah, I shouldn't have procrastinated-but I was knocking back a few Boat Basin margaritas at the Flyers' TGIFF happy hour (good lord, I keep forgetting how strong those strawberry ones are) and my body desperately needed an extra coupla hours of sleep. Was fun...big turnout this time, I think partially because the 40+ peeps missed hanging out with us under 40s so much 2 weeks ago :-p

tagged again, after so long...

Thanks sooo much, Laminator!! :-p I haven't answered one of these things in so long...maybe a coupla years? actually I think I was tagged once last year and wussed out...so I'll play this time...

Here are the rules:
Each player answers the 5 questions on their own blog. At the end of your post you tag 5 other people and post their names. Go to their blogs and leave a comment on their blogs telling them they've been tagged and to look at your blog for details. When they've answered the questions on their own blog, they come back to yours to tell you.

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

Thinking back to the spring/summer of 1998...any running I did was strictly for vanity. I remember my last semester of college (spring 1998)...I had just broken up with my boyfriend, and being newly single and I guess sorta "on the prowl"...I had a lot of body image issues (like, how can I compete with those skinny, perfect sorority girls?) So I forced myself to run at least 2-3 times a week for about an hour on our school's inside "track" (which wasn't really a track...just something for people to run laps on since upstate NY winters are too damn cold!) Honestly, looking back on it...considering I was not eating very much either, I don't know how I ever had the energy to do that. The summer and beyond, just used the treadmill at the gym.

2. What is your best and worst race experience?

Best-that's a tossup between the 2006 NYC Marathon and the 2008 Broad Street Run. The former-due to achieving a long-time goal and doing it quite well!! The latter-performance-wise was my best race ever to date, but it was just one of those days where everything clicked, the stars were aligned, etc...

Worst-tossup between the 2007 Queens Half and the Mini 10K this past weekend!! I don't think I need to explain why. Those race reports say it all :)

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

Best-keep hard runs hard, and easy runs easy.
Worst-in 2005, just as I was starting to run again after being sidelined for a month due to plantar fasciitis...I had asked someone (who was supposedly quite knowledgable!) if I had any hope of salvaging NYCM that year and that person suggested to me to try and run the 18-mile tuneup that weekend. Ummm...wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

4. Why do you run?

I guess I still run for vanity in a way...but honestly, moreso for the social aspect. I have met so many people through this sport...it's really made a big city a smaller world for me. And oh yeah...I guess it satisfies that tiniest bit of a competitive edge I have :)

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

This one is tough! (I guess I feel like I've been such an open book via this blog!)
Well-I did have a post up on this once that I have since deleted...about 7 years ago, I had a "thing" going on with one of the senior VP's at my then-company. We dated on the sly for around 2 1/2 months and it was quite intense-boy did I fall hard. (And I was still living at home at the time...keeping that secret was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.) Long story short-he ended things, I was OK with it, was too hard keeping up this charade-then a few weeks later I found out he was dating another girl in the company and there was a couple weeks overlap in there. What a prick. And have I learned my lesson about dipping my pen in company ink? I'll let you all speculate about that one :)

Whew...that's over. Now time for me to tag 5 more...
Hmm...I'll tag my other Team Black teammates...Johnny and jb24.
And you too, Runner26.
And you're it, Bandana-brain...can't wait to see what kind of pic you post this time :)
And Uptown Girl...if you want a break from marathon training...here ya go!!

Thanks and apologies in advance :)

ten degrees can make all the difference

Compared to the inferno of this past Saturday through Tuesday, last nite's weather at speedwork felt downright chilly. But make no mistake-it was still hot, so I expected to still feel a little "off" because of that (the legs I felt were fine, as neither effort this weekend was really a "race" effort.) Had another workout at the East 6th Street track, a location that I'm beginning to like a lot-not as crowded as Riverbank, better surface, right by the river, giving us that little bit of a cooling breeze. On the program tonite were a bunch of 800s sandwiched inbetween some 200m repeat. The report, courtesy of Mr. Garmin:



or-going by the actual meter measurements and not the Garmin...
200m = 0:49.68 (6:39.76/mi)
200m = 0:50.62 (6:47.32/mi)
200m = 0:50.48 (6:46.20/mi)
800m = 3:38.55 (7:19.65/mi)
800m = 3:34.92 (7:12.35/mi)
800m = 3:37.03 (7:16.59/mi)
200m = 0:47.54 (6:22.54/mi)
200m = 0:50.38 (6:45.39/mi)
200m = 0:46.32 (6:12.72/mi)

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised with this workout. I was supposed to run the 200s fast, and aim for 3:40-3:45 for the 800s. But the way I ran those was pace for the first 400, maintain for the next 200, pick it up for the last 200...which led to all 3 of em being under 3:40...not too shabby!! And that last 200, I just went all out on...and had a great kick at the end. :) Definitely earned those Blue Moons afterwards!!

But it's like damn...if only the weather had cooperated last weekend. I was ready to have a good race at the Mini, I know I was. Guess all I can do in the meantime is acclimate and look towards Club Champs in August!!

the need for speed relay...i mean "fun run", report

yeah, there is meaning to that title. you'll see later.

Third time doing the Need for Speed Relay, second time with Flyer Team Black!! Yeah, we all liked each other so much we actually wanted to spend another day in a van together. :) Unfortunately, DM had to drop at the last minute due to other commitments...but we gained 2 new members, including the Laminator!! (actually...this team was almost half bloggers!! as you will see...)

I was nervous about the weather forecast, especially considering my choke job at the Mini the day before. All I could do was prep-hydrate, consume as many salty foods/snacks/drinks as possible...and just plan to take things easy and conservative. Actually-as I had the last leg, I was most nervous that there wouldn't be any water left by the end...so I planned to carry a sports bottle of Gatorade with me.

So, as our team's start time was in the last heat-8:45 am-didn't mean as early a wake-up call than in the past and we hit the road around 7:15 am...making it up to Bear Mountain in plenty of time. We then met up with the Flyer Red team, who had the same start time as us (the Flyer White team and the Flyer Diamonds team had earlier start times) and just chatted, took pics, pre-gamed. Soon, it was getting close to 8:45 and time for our runners to be at the start-DG for us, PD for Flyer Red. They made several last announcements...including possible course evacuation plans in case of severe weather conditions (remember this...comes into play later.) All vans had to be out of the area before the runners were off, but RB (aka Dr. Evil) decided that he couldn't wait til the next exchange area for a bathroom break. The announcer decided to take advantage of that and embarass him :-p

This time...I'll give a leg-by-leg description of the day of Team Black...

Leg 1-While DG was running, our plan was to stop near the midway point of the leg to cheer and offer water if he needed it. Saw PD, who looked like he was working hard. A vehicle came by and said there was only one other runner on the course...it was DG, who looked like he wasn't doing well-he was walking, and followed by the sweep ambulance. We gave him water, sprayed him with a water spray bottle that we had, and told him to just take it easy. It was a little unsettling, seeing DG followed by the ambulance, but on the other hand...at least he's being watched. We then drove to the exchange area and walked to the hand-off point...on the way, we saw the Red team, and PD said he had to walk a few times...man, the heat was knocking the strong down, and it was still early!! We waited for DG to come in...saw the girl who was just ahead of him on the course, saw the sweeper ambulance...and boy, was I worried-thankfully a race official said DG was fine, was just walking and needed some Gatorade and shortly we saw him, running into the transition area and handing off to RB. He said it was a tough time, but also admitted to going out too fast in the beginning...well that just solidified my plan to be conservative!!

Leg 2-on the way to this leg, I texted Runner26, who ran this leg for the Diamonds team, to make sure she was OK, and she replied back that it was tough, hot but she felt fine. Her team was leaving the exchange area just as we got there, and we saw the Red team waiting for their runner. However-we found out some not-so-good news...as apparently there were route marker arrows on the trail switched and/or moved and so people were getting lost. The Hellgate team, who had been leading after leg 1, had their leg 2 runner get so lost that they had race volunteers looking for him...that's how bad it had gotten. We were looking up into the woods for RB to come down the hill to the finish...but RB ran to the finish from the other direction-apparently he made a wrong turn near the end! He handed off to the Laminator, who then was running the longest leg of the relay-9.3 miles!

Leg 3-we picked up another passenger on the way to the next exchange area!! We offered to give a ride to Matt from Hellgate since the remainder of his teammates were staying behind to make sure their leg 2 runner made it OK. All 4 Flyer teams were at the next exchange area waiting for their leg 3 runners, so we all gabbed and tried to stay out of the sun. But we were hearing runners were getting lost on this leg too...man, does it ever end??? We saw JM and JS come in for the White and Diamonds teams, respectively. However-this caused concern as team Red's runner, SS, had passed them both during the leg and he had not come in yet. And considering he's a very fast runner...even if he was taking it easy and just going at training pace, it was still too long a time for him to be running 9.3 miles-and we let the officials know of the concerns. And then we saw a Flyer singlet and a red bandana...it was Crazy Ban...oops, sorry, it was our Laminator!! :-p He had gotten lost too-added approximately a mile, but was glad to have made it in one piece. A few minutes later, SS did make it in...he was thankfully OK, but did get lost and added a sh*tload of miles on because of that.

Leg 4-this was actually a pretty drama-free leg. jb24 did a great job running the 2.9 miles and then handed off to GW.

Leg 5-we passed all 4 Flyer runners on the way to the next exchange area and honked and cheered for them...unfortunately we had to do a U-turn as we missed the turnoff onto the Saw Mill River Parkway!! When we got to the exchange area, we saw Matt from Hellgate again-we offered to give him another ride as his teammates were MIA (as it turned out, they were tending to a fallen runner!) GW made it in and described feeling chilled-like I did during the Mini...and that he would not have made it if another Flyer hadn't offered him some of her water. Man...the conditions were no joke today.

Leg 6-another low-drama leg for the most part...no getting lost getting to the next exchange area, and TH did well running this leg, with little complaint except the usual "it was HOT!"

Leg 7-this was my leg the last 2 years, but this time I decided to let someone else have a chance at it, this year it would be our Cap'n SW. 2 legs to go til I'm up. I started to prep...stretching, dousing myself with water...I was actually a little nervous not just because of the heat, but we were the 2nd Flyer team-and I know Team White's runner who was running leg 9 is much faster than me and I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it if she passed me. But I had to do what I had to do...and finish upright. Anyway, SW finished and handed off to Johnny (and I think SW was very happy that i did give her this leg!)

Leg 8 to the end...the real drama:

I was psyched, but quite nervous to run my leg. I was excited to cross the finish line for my team, but apprehensive about the heat, knowing I don't handle it too well! Fortunately, there was a bit of cloud cover and it had cooled a tiny bit (probably only 90 as opposed to 92 degrees.) Being that Johnny was gonna kick butt on his short leg, we knew I wouldn't have much time to prep-so my teammates dropped me off by the exchange area and then went to park the van. After a couple of minutes-I heard something that in the back of my mind, I thought could happen (think back to before the start!) but hoping wouldn't...
"Attention-due to severe thunderstorms coming into the area-we have to shut the course down and stop the relay!"
Meaning-those who were already on leg 9 could finish, but for every other team-they had to finish the leg they were on and call it a day. Unfortunately, this meant Team Black's day was over after leg 8 and I would not get to run my leg. I was PISSED!! After all this, I don't even get to run? (plus...a good friend of mine was supposed to run this leg 2 years ago but due to circumstances beyond his control, couldn't...so I wanted to run this leg "for" him :) ) A lot of others were none too happy either-"They let us run around in 95 degree heat all day, and now they're shutting things down because of a little rain?" I've run 2 half-marathons in the rain!! Hell-I'd WELCOME rain at this point to cool things down!! Thank god-my teammates were very supportive. GW gave me a consoling hug-he just knew how upset I was and that was honestly what I needed at that moment. My team did ask me if I still wanted to run my leg "unofficially", but knowing that the Flyer Red team was going to be the only Flyer team to finish-I did want to support them at the finish line. So to the finish we went...and we were passing runners...some still "officially" running, some not...so my teammates encouraged me to at least run part of my leg and still cross the finish line. So run it I did-ran what turned out to be the last 3 miles of the 5.7 mile final leg. Make no mistake-it was hot-but i just took it easy and played it smart. By that time, I was just wearing a sports bra and my running skirt w/ no singlet but it was not making much of a difference, temp-wise. But it actually wasn't so bad, i was thinking "I'm sure i could have done the whole 5.7 if need be!" I still couldn't believe we missed the cutoff by a matter of minutes...yeah, i guess you can say i was running on pissed-off energy. The finish line did come, sooner than I thought...turned the final corner, heard music, applause, my great teammates cheering as I crossed the finish line with a smile. Yes-I crossed the finish line of the first annual "Need For Speed Fun Run!" :) I kinda felt like those who crossed the finish line at Chicago '07 after it was made into a "fun run"...hey, we wouldn't be Team Black without bending the rules at least once!! :) And didn't do half-bad, time-wise...Mr. Garmin said about 3 miles in 27:19.

At the after-party, I just went straight for the beer....didn't even feel like eating. We were allowed 2 large cups of beer and i downed em both. And the announcement was made that the real reason why the race was shut down was heat-related...too many people going to the hospital due to severe dehydration....apparently local authorities told the race organizers to shut things down. Just like Chicago i guess...and honestly, why didn't they say that from the beginning? i would have completely understood-it's nice to try your hardest for the team, but at the end of the day-you just want everyone safe and sound, and thankfully all 4 Flyer teams were...which was the most important thing. After the first coupla legs, i think the only thing on anyone's mind was finishing in one piece.

So-after all is said and done, it was still a very memorable day...one that really showed the true definition of teamwork-within the team and outside of it. And it was a fun day with the team...including some "team Black moments." And I was able to "liveblog" the race from my Treo!! I posted periodic updates on the Flyers' message board...gotta love technology!! As for the race organization...I don't blame them for their decision to stop the relay early, as it probably saved lives in the end...however, being that we missed the cutoff by a matter of minutes...if only the trails were better marked and less people getting lost...if only they decided with the conditions being treacherous, to make the start earlier...we could have made it in time for me to run the last leg, to cross the finish line officially for my team. Or that could have prevented other complications from happening (such as the one that needed medical assistance in leg 5.)

But-as I said before-most important thing was that everyone was OK in the end. And would I do this relay again? I think I would-I think this year was an anomaly with the weather and hopefully this is a learning experience!!

need for speed relay 2008-the cliffs notes version

oh boy...this year's edition of Need For Speed was a doozy.

Mother Nature was, well a mother f*cker today. It was hot as hell from the beginning. Everyone was struggling. Some were getting lost on the trails. But all Flyers were putting up a great fight.

However-out of 4 Flyer teams entered-only one was allowed to officially finish-and that was not the one I was on.

As we arrived at the exchange area for leg 8 to leg 9 (the final leg!)-we were told that due to "severe weather coming into the area", that the relay had to be shut down, that anyone who started on leg 9 can continue to the finish...but for everyone else, they had to finish the leg they were on and call it a day.

So guess who on our team was supposed to run leg 9? Yep, me. Boy, was I not a happy camper.

At first, I just wanted to go to the end to support the one Flyer team that can finish-but halfway there, my teammates saw others still running and encouraged me to...so I did the last 3 miles of that leg. Nice and easy...it was hot, but I had Gatorade with me, ran conservative and felt fine. And was able to cross the finish line-albeit unofficially. (And I knew I could have done the full 5.7 if I was able to....)

At the "awards ceremony" (lord only knows how the placings were determined...)-they mentioned the real reason for stopping the race-it was the heat, there were way too many reports of dehydration. (which honestly-if they had just said so from the beginning, I would have understood...)

But thankfully-everyone-at least in the Flyer camp-was OK. That was the most important part...

Anyway, full report to come in the next day or 2. Need to rest now...

mini 10k 1, me 0

oh. my. god. this is one race you definitely do not f*ck with.

Well, the Mini 10K actually didn't start off so bad. Though the weather predictions were frightening, I was really just planning to play it by ear. Even though it was hot when jogging to the start area, I was still kinda sorta hopeful...

So I met up with some other Flyers (including Runner26) and we headed over to the start line...and after all the fuss about the bib color yesterday, actually quite a few of us had red bibs. And honestly, once the barrier between the red and blue corral was taken away, we were able to move up and actually had a pretty good starting position. Now all we had to do was wait for the starting horn...

Mile 1 (7:38)-I knew this was gonna be a fast mile, but I really did try to hold back some effort here. Crowd support was great along this stretch, saw Crazy Bandana-head taking pics :) Saw my mile split and was surprised.
Mile 2 (7:56)-into the park and saw Flyers EF and SK cheering (as well as PD right before I entered the park.) Again, tried to maintain a comfortably hard effort...hmm, maybe the weather isn't gonna defeat me this time.
Mile 3 (8:10)-first of the killer hills!! When I got done with that, really tried to use the downhill as much as I could to my advantage...saw the Flyers' Mr. President cheering. Slowed for water in this mile-I knew I would regret it if I didn't, as I didn't take in mile 1 and felt like I needed it.
The 5K point...hit that in 24:43 and thought, hmmmm, not bad!! Still under 8's. Maybe I actually am holding it together.
Mile 4 (8:47)-Or so I thought. Things started to go wrong here. Even though my legs were fine, breathing wasn't too hard, my body was giving signs that it was not responding too well to the heat-actually felt a little clammy and chilled-so I had to back off the effort for a good part of the mile. Saw Flyer JB running in the other direction and cheering...and Flyers GW and LH at Engineer's Gate...and just like last year, GW yelled at me to save some effort for Need For Speed tomorrow. Was so tempted to yell back "f*ck you" but didn't :-p
Mile 5 (8:35)-Thank god for two cheering contingents in this mile, otherwise it would have been much worse...still wasn't feeling great. First, at 84th Street, Uptown Girl and a bunch of her TRD teammates were cheering. As I passed I yelled out to Uptown Girl something like "You were so smart to not sign up for this!!" Their guys were cheering hard and trying to encourage me-thanks guys, I really did need it around this time!! :) I did see both Gatorade and water tables in this mile and did slow down to a walk instead of drinking on the run-I really needed the Gatorade then. Too bad it was so watered down!! I told myself then, "less than a half-mile til the Flyer guys." Down the hill and yep, Bandana-head and the rest of the NYF cheering contingent was there and so was the mile 5 marker.
Mile 6 (8:58)-this felt like a death march...I did the one thing I did not want to do and had to walk. Flyer JS passed by and asked if I was OK...I told her I was, but she did look back a couple times-thanks, JS. :) Now....it was just about survival...I just wanted it to be over. Saw PD again cheering...I kinda signaled that I wasn't doing too well. Once again...was so glad to see the "800m to go" sign.
last .2 (1:46)-meh...no finishing kick here. was totally spent, and the hill to the finish did damage again.

Wound up with 51:50-8:21 pace (wanna hear something funny? last year's time was 50:51, 8:12 pace. Talk about a reversal!!) 5K splits of 24:43/27:07...damn.

Afterwards, first thing I got was Gatorade and water (smart move to have those tables first this year!!) and downed 'em faster than a shot. Then got the finisher's medal and rose...sorry, I meant pink carnation. Then found my teammates and other friends and shared the usual "OMG, this sucked" stories :) I did stick around for the awards ceremony, and the raffle drawing (hey, I hoped one good thing would have come out of the morning!)...just looking at the top finish times, looked like the elites were affected too!!

As for me? Did I make some race-day errors? I honestly think even if my first 5K were a minute slower, that the heat would have still gotten to me. Unfortunately the only way to deal with it is being acclimated, and obviously I wasn't (unlike, say, Club Champs in August.) I know I should be happy to have just made it though, and believe me I am. Just sucks when Mother Nature messes with goal, or even semi-goal races. (and dammit, will I ever run a sub-50 10K again?) Was thinking of doing next weekend's 5-miler as a chance at some sort of redemption, but the weather forecast doesn't look too great for that either...so wait it out til Club Champs, I guess.

And tomorrow? It's gonna be an easy (pace, not effort) run-definitely not by choice!!

angry reds

Well, with the implementation of the seeded pace corrals this year...it took away one thing that was a sorta tradition at the Mini-the local elite start-meaning those who run sub-8 pace for 10K. I guess it was done to ensure that the local club runners get a clean start, as in previous years (except 2007), the club scoring was done on clock time...and not all female points scorers have achieved the appropriate AG%.

Well now, we have the pretty colored corrals, people actually line up by pace...guess it made that criteria obsolete. And with no men in the field, I should get a color that was an improvement over my previous yellow bib...right? Was hoping for blue (first corral)...instead, got red.

I don't know why I care about that so much!! I think what it really is, is that the previous start was a tradition I think a lot of us enjoyed...not even because of the starting position, but it was like a cool experience, all the local club runners "in this together"...starting behind the elites...and that ain't gonna be the same in the 2nd corral.

However, when all is said and done it really isn't so bad. At the very least, the start will be decent and I won't get sucked out too fast with the uber-fast runners. And honestly, I think all plans for racing may be called off, as the weather looks to be red-hot tomorrow at 9 am...76 degrees, feels like 79, 74% humidity, sunny. Worst case scenario for race conditions, right?

feel that beat

So last nite, I actually wore my Garmin to a spinning class...nope, I didn't want to know how many "miles" i covered on the spinning bike :) I actually only wore it for the HRM...I was curious to see what the heart rate gets up to in spinning class (and the instructor does make HRM references sometimes.)

The results were very surprising!! I honestly found it very hard to get my heart rate up...both the "easy" and "hard" parts were approximately 30 bpm lower than "easy" and "hard" running. Not quite sure what to make of that...is it generally harder to get the heart rate up when cycling/spinning? Is my heart stronger than my legs are? Or am I doing my runs too fast?

Speaking of getting the heart rate up, I haven't lost hope yet for the Mini on Saturday...current weather report for 9 am Saturday says 74 degrees...and I checked back at the 2004 results, and sure enough, it reports 74 degrees-low humidity though. So maybe if the humdity stays low, it may not be so bad...I'm actually a little more concerned for Need For Speed on Sunday, the high being 90 degrees and me running my leg during the hottest part of the day. I've already warned my team that it may have to be an easier effort than we'd like...

better than SATC

Original plan for Monday after work was as follows...go see the Sex and the City movie. Then meet up with the Monday night downtown crew at Shake Shack. But those plans got changed when I got an email from a friend asking if I wanted to go to a special screening of Run For Your Life-the documentary about Fred Lebow and the NYC Marathon. As I missed the movie when it was playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I had heard nothing but rave reviews about it, I jumped at the chance. And it was worth it!!

First off...as this was a special screening in honor of NYRR's 50th Anniversary and "Running Week"...there were actual running celebrities in the audience too...including Grete Waitz, Bill Rodgers, Kathrine Switzer (and a couple even participated in a little Q and A afterwards!!) I kinda felt like I was at a star-studded movie premiere or something :-p

As this movie has had many reviews...instead of writing up a full review, I figured I'd mention the points that stood out most in my mind.

• How "back to basics" everything was. No CoolMax, no PowerGel, no chip mats, no 5K splits, tearing the tag off the bib, how small the original finish line was, the retro running clothes...it is amazing how far things have come.
• Fred tossing the "clown" out of the way at the start line in Staten Island. He obviously had no tolerance for those who didn't take his race seriously!! (Wonder if he would have done the same to "Mr. Testicles" :-p )
• How I recognized so many things in Central Park...the bridges, the drives...and they really did not look much different than they do 30 years later. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same :)
• Fred's "ladies man" reputation...kind of an "Austin Powers"-esque quality :-p
• All the different neighborhoods in the five boroughs, coming together as they do now on Marathon Sunday.
• Not seeing ING's name plastered on anything!!
• Fred's extreme dedication to his vision, his race...just like a marathon runner.
• Fred running his race for the first (and last) time with Grete Waitz by his side, breaking his own finish line tape...I felt that moment was the most emotional.

After seeing this movie, it's gotten me more pumped up to run the NYC Marathon this year...and very appreciative of the efforts of so many people-Fred Lebow especially-to give me the privilege to run the 5 boroughs in November.

So yes-this was definitely worth passing up seeing SATC...I have plenty of time to see that (though PLEASE do not give me any spoilers-thanks in advance), but I didn't know if I would have another chance to see this great movie, about this important piece of NYC running history. (And as it turned out, the Monday nite crew didn't even stick around at Shake Shack since it was too crowded and wound up going elsewhere!)

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Another race that was mentioned in the movie was the Mini 10K...spoke a bit about the history of that race and how they tried to draw attention to women's running...can you believe they actually used Playboy bunnies to promote the event in the beginning? :)

So yeah...that race is coming up on Saturday, and the weather is not looking too good...looking to be a scorcher similar to 2005 and 2007. If the weather had cooperated, I was hoping for at least a course PR (48:59)...but I have a feeling all goals are gonna have to be thrown out the window, and just have to settle for trying to run an even race (more like 2007 than 2005), whatever that may be...I'm sure I'll know at mile 1 what kind of day it's gonna be...

one weekend down

yes, of course in the season that goes by quickest, as does the first weekend of said season. i really hope this is not a trend though!! two highlights of the weekend...

...first one being the first of the Flyers' summer "TGIFF" happy hours. Was the Central Park Boathouse and thankfully, no rain as has been the trend for most of the Boathouse happy hours :) However, there was a sorta conflict this nite-as our team's 40+ runners had their own social event that night, but we all felt the TGIFF party should go on because...seriously, why should the under 40s have to stay at home? But, being the mischief-maker that I am, I made it my duty to let some of our masters men know via text message what they were missing. Or what I made them believe they were missing :-p (c'mon...dancing on tables...that's believable, right?) And eventually, some of those guys did pay us young'uns a visit after their social was over...ah, never can resist the pull of the under-40 crowd :)

Today was another visit to Rockefeller State Park...a different route...little bit longer (around 8.5 miles), a coupla different trails...and one hill that I felt was almost as bad as that one killer kill in the Palisades!! But honestly, I can't say enough about the trail surface, I think as one of my teammates has told me plenty of times in the past, it really does lead to shorter recovery time. Was a fun time...during the run and before/after the run...Harley motorcycles on the highway and on the streets with the drivers fist-butting at every intersection :)...peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes at brunch...yum.

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And got quite a bit of stuff going on, running-race wise this summer!!

• Starting off with the annual favorite Mini 10K...please weather gods, have mercy on us this year!! (In other words, the weather forecast has 6 days to improve...)
• Then for the third year in a row, doing my weekend double...Team Black will be back for the Need for Speed Relay...this year I have a different-but still easy-leg. But I'm really just in it for the hijinks in the Team Black van :-p
• Not exactly a race, but still an organized run...the Underwear Run on NYC Tri weekend. I really hope I do not regret signing up for it...lol
• Thinking of possibly doing a weeknight 5K in Hoboken in July...
• Of course, the Club Team Champs 5-miler in August
• And signed up for the Philly Distance Run in September!! (still officially summer) Have been dying to run a flat half-marathon for awhile...and hey, Philly has shown that it can put on a great race ;-)

And in the midst of all this...damn, can't believe NYC Marathon training starts in 5 weeks. Meaning I have 5 weeks to come up with a training plan. In 2006 I peaked at 42 mpw...but then, I didn't really cross-train. I'm sorta thinking this time around that crazy mileage wouldn't be a good idea-peaking at 45 mpw maybe? 50 tops?-since I would like to fit in more cross-training....the quality over quantity idea. Since surprisingly my race times have gotten better this year while running less miles. Dunno if I'm making sense here... :)

(doublechecked-actually NYCM training would begin on June 30th...meaning 4 weeks to come up with a plan!! eek...)