expo chronicles, part 2...and more!

so much for relaxing today!! renovations on my building had to start today meaning lotsa drilling right outside my window. why does this always happen to me? :-p needless to say, relaxing meant leaving my apartment for awhile...which meant back to the expo!!


That was sorta planned-as I know Ritz, Ryan Hall and Brian Sell would be at the NYRR booth doing a Q & A and signing autographs. They had the Q & A for a little over a half-hour and then signed autographs-didn't get much of a chance to say anything except that I watched them in the Trials last year while volunteering and found the race very inspiring-but they were nice enough to post for a photo op :)


All you Amazing Race fans will recognize who is in the picture with me ;-) He's obviously running a different "amazing race" this coming Sunday and wanted to meet the Olympians too!!

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Flyers pasta party last nite at annual fave Sambuca!! Food was great and plentiful (and there was some left over-I have dinner for tonite too!! :) And there were actually a couple who came in costume...including one trying to be "Joe the Plumber" :-p funny thing-i think there were as many runners drinking as non-runners (1 glass of red wine was the drink of choice for the marathoners...) and i'm sure you can guess who started it ;-)


Flyers MF, TB, Runner26 and me posing at the pasta party. The 2006 NYCM pregaming crew reunited (and discussing plans for this year too!)

and now i'm happily spending Halloween eve carbo-loading, hydrating, and relaxing :)
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Finally, I wanted to post something that a Flyers ex-president had written in our weekly newsletters-I found it to be one of the best NYCM course descriptions I've read and when first reading it 2 years ago, really got me pumped up for the big day!!

For you first timers, have a great time, enjoy the city. It is an absolutely amazing first time experience. When you are on the Bridge for the start - look over to the left if you can - the fireboats will be spraying plumes of red, white and blue water. Look at the skyline of Manhattan - it will bring tears to your eyes. When you get to Brooklyn - look at all those people on 4th Avenue - they are there for you. When you make the right turn at the Williamsburg Bank building (that tall building that has been taunting you for eight miles)and run down that street - listen for a band that plays on the stoop of a building on the right - they will either be playing "Start Me Up" by the Rolling Stones, or "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivior (ok so they're dating themselves, but who cares!). When you hit the Pulaski Bridge, the gateway to Queens, look left - there is your goal - Manhattan. Try not to look to far in front as you'll see the dreaded Queensboro Bridge.

Yeah - that bridge. You've heard the horror stories. Don't think about it - think about doing a hill in Central Park - think about starting at the 102nd Street transverse on the westside and running the north end of the park - think about anything but that darn bridge. Once you hit the crest, start listening - not to the sound of your breathing (that's boring) - listen for a roar that will get louder and louder. When you start heading downhill and around the left hand bend, stay to the right - there are usually official photographers there. Back to the noise - it will hit you like a wall of water - I'm not kidding - you will tear up - this is your city - this is your race - these people are here to see you. Enjoy the next several miles. Don't get over excited - you've still got those last 10 (remember from last Sunday how easy it felt?)

At mile 18 - look for us - look for Powergel - we are your teammates and we will get you that double tangerine or whatever you want. When you leave us, just think, eight more and then I get a bath! Next up is East Harlem - gets a smaller crowd, but still cool. Then it's that other bridge - Willis Avenue, which if you drive over has potholes that swallow elephants (they put a rug over then for you).

The Bronx - its short and sweet, but they are out there. Back to Manhattan - that little twist and turn onto Upper Fifth Avenue. Past the gospel choirs by Mount Morris Park, to Fifth Avenue. Now you can count down the blocks. Five blocks is a quarter mile, thirty two blocks to home - the Park. It's a an uphill that didn't seem so long last Sunday, but its there. The Park - so tantilizing on the right. For you old timers, there's that turn at 103rd Street (still think they should have kept it?).

Now you're at 90th Street. The noise comes at you again as you turn in. You know this road - this is really home. How many races have you run here, how many loops? Where's that pothole, where's that lamppost. You have your own mental markers here. There's 72nd Street, the start of the Saturday am run. Wait, now here's the tease, you are heading out of the park to Central Park South - it becomes the world's longest 3 avenues. Where are all the horses? Did they get all the manure up? Turn back into the Park, there's the drive, where's the finish? There it is - its that darn uphill again - who thought of that cruel trick, but you can sprint it and finish it looking like a true winner.

As you cross the finish - don't look down and stop your watch right away (one second won't matter) - put your arms in the air and get that official photo of you crossing - it will make the memory so much more real.

expo chronicles, part 1

The bib that just screams "wave 2, blue start" :) And I can't remember the last time I have been a "B"...fill in the blank. hehe!!


Me hugging a coupla of official, Asics-branded NYC Marathon teddy bears :) Cute.


Me and a Flyer friend getting our pic taken with Meb Keflezighi!!

can someone please end this week?

seriously, if there is any way I can skip over to Saturday night, that would be fabulous. thanks in advance.

i swear, it's been a quiet year work-wise, why does all hell need to break loose around the most important day of the year for me? trying to wrap up loose ends, making sure all bases are covered since i plan on taking off thursday & friday to de-stress...yet I have been told that i may need to be reachable if a question comes up on a certain project...arrrgghhh... (even though apparently that is an absolute last resort...)

all this damn stress is not good for me right now...not good...and knowing how stress affects my running, i'm seriously afraid that it is gonna affect my performance on sunday...that i'm just gonna have to take it as a "fun run." we'll see...

did i also mention that it's raining like crazy and i left my umbrella at home?

sigh.

and in other news-is it possible that we may be seeing november baseball once again? though for the sake of certain people (yes, all you Phillies fans ;-) ) i hope that is not the case!

no kickoff for me

For the first time since I started doing NYRR races, I shied away from the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5-Miler that kicks off "race week." Either I've been a race participant (2004, 2005, 2007) or a spectator (2006, during our "last 10 miles run.") I had 6 miles on the schedule today, and preliminary plan was to do 3 miles, then meet up with the Flyers with 3 miles to go of their last 10 miles run, so I could also cheer on the runners. However, I decided sleep was much more important...so staying in bed and watching 90210 reruns seemed a lot more appealing :)

I'll do it later, I thought. And indeed I did, around 3 pm, the full Central Park loop. And apparently I didn't need to attend this morning's ridiculously crowded race (6500 finishers???) to get a taste of the marathon mania, there were signs all around. In addition to the bleachers that I also saw on Thursday nite, I also saw the orange medal stands, currently empty, soon to be filled with a helluva lot of medals. The marathon route banners all over the park! My 6-miler was a little quicker than I would have liked for one week out, but once again, my heart rate was in the easy zone the entire time, so maybe the tapering is working...

So my mission for this week-just remain stress-free. Which means just getting through to the end of business on Wednesday. The rest is a cakewalk. Carbo-loading, hydrating, a little running, pasta-party going, expo-visiting (which means lotsa money-dropping), sleeping, dreaming...dreaming of a certain marathon time? Perhaps...

single digits

nope, not the temperature-but the countdown til game day...9 days. 9 days til it's me against the marathon, me against the city, me against me.

And I saw the finish line bleachers being put up during my run last nite...very cool!! Last nite was supposed to be my last "medium-long" run til race day...planned 8 miles, was so tired during the day yesterday that I was tempted to cut it down to 6...split the difference and did 7-it's my taper, I can do whatever I want. :-P And for fun, threw in 4 half-mile pickups/half-mile easy...the pickups being 4:02, 3:45, 4:07, 4:03-that last one included the uphill by Tavern! And the average heart rate for all 4 of those were still in the easy zone-pretty cool!! (I don't know what was up with the 3:45-I'm assuming signal malfunction because I definitely didn't feel like I was running 7:30 pace!) From now til the end, nothing but short, easy stuff...the hard stuff is done!!

And I didn't last long being on the wagon this week, shocker of shockers...after having the afternoon from hell at work on Wednesday, I downed 2 glasses of red wine at the Flyers meeting that evening. You know what-I didn't go on the wagon before Broad Street or the Philly Distance Run (and I even had a glass of merlot the night before!)...didn't seem to hurt my performance now...did it? So yeah-everything in moderation. Still swearing by no appletinis or the like...(those things are pure evil!)

you won!! no you didn't!!

taking a break from taper madness to comment on some of the latest controversy in the running world...

So, the winner of this past weekend's Nike Women's Marathon...well, really wasn't. Why, you ask? Even though she ran the fastest time of all the women, the race organizers couldn't count her as the winner as she did not start with the "elite runners" who had the 20-minute head start. And yeah, people were outraged to hear of this-LetsRun.com even said they "got more emails on this article yesterday than any article we can remember." And this comes on the heels of the man who ran the 4th fastest time in Chicago not being counted as such, or receiving 4th-place prize money because-surprise-he didn't start with the elites. (Apparently the organizers turned down his request to be in the elite start? Not entirely sure. But apparently, the organizers did pay him prize money after the fact...)

Happens once, it's a coincidence. Happens twice in 2 weeks, well maybe they oughta rethink these "elite starts"-or at the very least the reasoning for them. For marathons like Boston and NYC-I believe they gave the elite women a head start to spotlight them more, make sure their race doesn't get lost among the men...though yes, it is possible that a fast female who starts with the main pack could finish pretty highly and yes, even beat most of those women (doubt one would steal the victory, but hey stranger things have happened...) But seriously, what was the reasoning for it in Chicago? And for the SF Nike marathon? Couldn't they just start them up front without the head start...let the masses have a chance to "race" the elites...when it comes down to it, it really should be one race.

So, this article also sparked some lively discussion regarding clock vs. net times...as quite a few races have gone to net times being the "official time," as races get more and more crowded and the start time differential gets larger and larger...there's ways to keep people who shouldn't be lined up in front from doing so and using net time is one of them. (Like in the NYRR races, all age group awards used to be based on clock time, points race scoring used to be calculated by finishing place by clock time.) And I know there are those that say going by net time really takes the "racing" out of a race and turns it into an individual time trial.

My thoughts? Trying to see it through a front-runner's eyes-I do understand that reasoning. You want to know who exactly you are racing, and if you knew that the runner who finished 10 seconds behind you on the clock but just ahead of you on net time, that could have pushed you to work a little harder. And what if the actual person who breaks the tape isn't the one with the fastest time? (I do think that has happened before, FWIW.)

However-changing the view, looking at it through my eyes, a mid-packer...I'm realistic, I will never be a 70+% AGer, I will never be in contention to win a race-for me, the competition is me against the clock. When going for a personal best time, sometimes the net time does make a difference, every second, even minute, counts. Take the Philly Distance Run for example, I was lined up appropriately and it took me over a minute to cross-had that counted instead of my net time, I would have missed out on a PR. Yeah, I know, I can take a net time with my watch. But if that were the case, what would my true time for that race have been? Why should I be penalized because I'm slower and I did the right thing and not gotten in the way of runners who rightfully deserved to line up in front of me? And how about what's going on now with the wave starts for NYC? Do we really want everyone pushing to get into wave 1, even if they don't belong there? We're very lucky to have the chip technology now...use it to the fullest extent, I say!!

So I guess for this latter issue, there really isn't one right answer. But what I think does need to be remembered is that racing-and pushing for a personal best time-happens at ALL levels, not just the 70+% AG group. Just because we ain't in contention for a win, doesn't mean it's just a "fun run" for us...

welcome to my taper madness world

gotta keep checking accuweather, the 15-day forecast is out...ok, yesterday it said cold with snow and rain for 11/2...now today no more snow, but warmer and rain...how many more times is it going to change?

freaking out about my start. are the monkeys really gonna police the corrals, or are all those assigned the green start gonna try and crowd the orange and blue starts? am i going to have to get to my corral mad early?

carbo-loading time...yay! but i'm running less now thanks to the taper...gawd, hope i don't get fat in the next 2 weeks!!

powergel...need more powergel for the big day. why is it nowhere seems to have the plain energy flavor?

4 miles last nite...legs felt fine, but still pretty slow. how am i gonna keep a faster pace during the marathon?

sooo tired last nite...plan was to go home, run, eat, watch "the hills" and then crash...couldn't even stay awake for the hills. pathetic. thank god for dvr...

flyers happy hour on friday. dammit, i don't think i can go, i'm on the wagon til the big day...

oh god, everyone in the office is getting sick. i need to wear a surgical mask at the office or something. i'm already drinking emergen-c like it's water...just need to make it through next wednesday...

And there you have it. Everyone, be glad you are not me right now. These next 12 days cannot go by fast enough...

1st ave has grown some hills

and today was the final dress rehearsal for the big day!! the "last 10 miler" with the Flyers (and some very cool non-Flyer pals too-JS, PM and DN :) ) Unlike 2 years ago when we had it the week before the marathon, I was preferring to run it 2 weeks before, as it was advised that running it the week before is not the best way to get a best performance on the big day. And apparently quite a few agreed with me-so Flyers assistant Coach J was nice enough to organize the "lite" version of the Last 10 Miler-meaning no baggage car, no water stop-or as I called it, "the badass version" :) (Seriously-I did an 18-miler through 3 boroughs without needing a baggage car and a water stop!)

So anyway, this morning getting up thankfully wasn't too painful after not getting home til 1 am last nite after a post-Chicago Marathon celebration party (and I was good-cut myself off at 2 glasses of wine!! That's it til after the marathon!) Did decide to cab it to 59th and 1st, as public transportation to that corner was not kind to the UWS'ers. I met everyone under the 59th Street Bridge, ready to go...

And off we went. Even though I intended to take it easy, our first mile was a little fast-probably due to the 8-8:30 types pulling us along, so we just had to let those guys go. Much better!! Was fun re-living 1st avenue from 2 years ago...though there was something that I forgot. I must have been high on something during the marathon-cuz dear god, I did not remember 1st Ave being that hilly (and that included the Willis Ave Bridge!!)

I think some of us forgot how to maneuver the Bronx, thank god Coach J was there after we stepped down from the Willis Ave Bridge to re-iterate the directions. Once we had that, it was easy to get from there to the Madison Ave Bridge (yay for Yankee Stadium view)...then 5th...then just a countdown to the park...then the last 2.2 miles of the route!! And me and a coupla others felt good enough to pick it up to 8:30ish for the last mile. As we entered the park, I was trying to "coach" my Flyer friend DM a little bit..."come on, you're chasing down 4 hours!! you've got it-just get up that hill!" :) And finally, we saw Coach J, acting as the "finish line" :-p We waited for the last 2 runners to get in, then went home (I think everyone just wanted to get out of the cold-it was perfect running weather, but not perfect weather to be standing around in wet clothes!)

So, averaged 9-flat pace for this run and felt pretty good-my legs didnt really like all the stopping and starting, but then again that will not be happening on marathon day :-) But was sooo glad to have had this refresher course, otherwise 1st Avenue may have taken me by surprise on race day-just in case whatever got slipped into my Gatorade 2 years ago doesnt get slipped in there again :-p

2 weeks!! I can't believe it...of course that means the 15-day forecast is up...predicting rain for now :( but I'm not putting too much confidence in that, I know how often it will change...

And in non-marathon/running news, Shake Shack has finally opened on the UWS!! This could be dangerous...must...resist....til after the marathon...

i still got it

nice run tonite...an 8-miler on the schedule, with a coupla MP miles to make it interesting. (no formal speedwork for now, nothing harder than marathon pace til the big day) A few easy miles (to get myself out of the hills), pick it up around the lower loop, run home.



And when I reviewed my splits afterwards...I had to laugh. Did I really pace the MP miles perfectly? Guess so :) My reward for this will be a rest day and a glass or 2 of wine tomorrow.

Next on the agenda? A few easy miles Saturday, then the Last 10 Miles on Sunday!!

And my registration card came in the mail today!! Little more anticlimactic this time around though, as unlike 2006, I had all the info about my start color and bib # already!

finally, i get my blue bib!!

yeah, i know in the past i've mentioned wanting a coveted blue bib for a NYRR race...meaning i'd be in the first corral (and joking that i'd even frame it too...LOL)

Well, I will be getting a blue bib, but of a different kind...

Bib numbers for NYCM are up (well only if you log into your profile)...and what did it mean for me??

2nd corral of the blue start!! (in wave 2)

And honestly, I couldn't ask for a better starting position. Top level of the bridge, close to the front but not too close that I'd be tempted to go out too fast. Now all I need is for the monkeys to actually police the corrals this year...

(and oh yeah-I'm sure there will be lots in wave 1 that shouldn't be there...and I'll have fun passing them. hehe :-p )

the countdown is now in the teens...19 days!! just a few more days til the weather obsessions start...

poll time again-you knew this was coming!!

What better way to kick off taper madness than to play "guess my marathon time"? I have the poll in the sidebar this time...this will stay open til marathon morning!!

Again-realistic guesses please! :) To help, here are the stats...

• First (and only) marathon-NYC 2006 in 3:58:26 (splits of 1:58:02/2:00:24.) Picture-perfect weather. Highest mileage week in training was 41, with 3 20-mile runs. Best shorter races that time were the Club Champs 5M (39:03) and the NYC Half (1:47:51).


• This time, topped out at a 47 mile week, with 6 weeks where my mileage was at least 40, and again, 3 20-milers. Races-this time around my best 5M time was 38:11 and best half time was 1:42:20, and ran a half (1:52:37) at hopeful MP.


• In terms of predictors for now...my Philly Distance Run time predicts 3:35:49-a bit ambitious considering how flat that half-marathon course was...


• My Club Champs 5M time predicts 3:44:37 (that race being hilly, hot and humid!)


• Again, one of the choices I feel is very unrealistic, but I felt I had to put it in anyway.


• Right now, the goal is loosely between 3:45 and 3:50

Vote early. But do not vote often-I once again fixed it so certain people won't try and stuff the ballot box...you know who you are ;-)

Thanks for playing!

a win-win situation

Hooray for my only 20-miler of this training cycle that did not consist of multiple loops of Central Park!! :)

Early this AM, the Flyers teamed up with Urban Athletics for a bridgey 20-mile run. 3 bridges, 3 boroughs. Nice little setup, complete with pace groups and water stations. And guess who led the 9:30 group...surprise, surprise, yours truly. But the added bonus was that the group leaders would be rewarded with either free shoes or a gift certificate. Let's see...supported 20-mile run outside the park, I get to control the pace *and* I get free stuff. I would have done it even if there was no incentive (really!) but this truly was a win-win situation for me!!

So, this was the final dress rehearsal in a way. Got to try out marathon-day attire (no wardrobe malfunctions this time!! yay!!), broke in the shoes that I will be wearing on marathon day and got to run on part of the course-the Pulaski and Queensboro Bridges. We had a really good group going...around 8-10 of us stuck together and chatted, all taking it easy and having fun. We weren't total sticklers about the pace-especially since all the Garmins in our group would freak out downtown and on the bridges. When we hit Manhattan after coming off the bridge, part of the 10 minute group caught up with us so everyone got a little scattered. We hit Central Park at the spot that we exit it on marathon day...so you can say we were running part of that last coupla miles in reverse...and all I could think was "I will be so glad to be doing this downhill on marathon day!!" Finally, made it to the start/finish point (the uptown UA store)...tired, but glad to be done!! The usual hi-fives and "good jobs!" and chitchat (not to mention me checking my Treo as soon as I retrieved my bag to see how the Chicago runners were doing!) and it was time to head west and head home.

And boy oh boy...I am soooo glad to be starting my taper!! NYCM...bring it on!!!

waiting...and waiting...

yeah, i figured i had a few miles to get in today, perfect time would be while my super is working on something in my apartment, so i didn't have to be there :) only thing is, instead of the original 10-10:30ish, he wasn't gonna make it til the afternoon...so it was a waiting game for me. all good-got to sleep later, lounge around and watch old 90210 episodes, catch up on a coupla things...

plus, once i did leave, I ran into a coupla Flyers on the way to the park, so chatted and caught up a bit...before hitting the bridle path for 5.5 miles...beautiful day!! (and spent a good part of my run going over my possible marathon strategy in my head...)

Just a bridgey 20 miles tomorrow morning lie between me and the taper now...and strangely enough, i'm actually looking forward to it-the taper and the 20-miler :)

And a few shout-outs...congrats to Crazy Bandanahead on another great marathon in Hartford, congrats to Laura who also ran Hartford...and good luck to Uptown Girl and everyone else who is taking on Chi-Town tomorrow!! Can't wait to read all the reports :)

training stops for no one

well, I guess it was a good thing that Yom Kippur didn't fall on a weekend right before a long run this year!! Wouldn't have wanted a repeat of last year's Queens Half :) But still, this being my heaviest mileage week, 2 days off just was not on the agenda.

So compromise-today is a complete rest day as long as I can get something in yesterday and tomorrow...so far so good. Had left work early, so luckily I was able to fit in 6 miles with enough time for a last meal before sundown. And tomorrow, just a short run...3 miles at the most, should be doable :)

As for today? Honestly, I didn't feel the lack of food as much as the lack of caffeine. (sleeping til about noon helped with that...) I honestly wasn't that hungry, but had the worst headache all day and knew immediately what it was. Sundown could not come fast enough, I went right for the coffee. between that and a coupla Advil, headache was gone. Though don't worry-I did remember to eat too :)-broke the fast with challah french toast from EJ's-good but not as good as my mom's. But just wanted to break the fast with something sorta traditional, since i wasn't gonna be trekking out to NJ. til next year...

would help to test these running getups sometimes

Ummm...apologies to those running behind me-yes, I know this was not the Underwear Run. :-P (funny thing is, those aren't the infamous "naked shorts!")




A little nicer...(and less revealing...)

More pictures from Grete's here

46 miles lie between...

...me and taper time!! Don't get me wrong, the work won't be completely done, but at least it can ease up a little bit...

today was a recovery 4.8 miles on the bridle path...or that was what was planned, as I averaged closer to 9-minute pace than 9:30s. Yeah, don't understand it either, I thought my legs would have been dead after yesterday. And especially after the fact that in the 7-day period betwen last Sunday and yesterday, I ran 58 miles. How the heck did that happen? Or actually...when did that happen? (Guess I need to thank the wonders of scheduling that made last week's long run on Sunday and this week's on Saturday.) So yeah, gotta be super-careful this week, want to make it through this heaviest mileage week, including my last 20-miler, unscathed...

Decided to play around with a new playlist website...below is the playlist that I listened to during the half-marathon yesterday. All the songs may not be your type but hey, they worked for me :)

don't rain on my gallop

Looking back on Runner26's comment to me..."And there's no rain in the forecast (remember that!)"-I seriously have to laugh. She was right, there was no rain anywhere in the forecast!! And yet-it was raining (lightly, but still it was rain!) from around mile 10 to the end for me. I swear, whenever I run Grete's Great Gallop, it rains!! Luckily, this was a better experience than 2 years ago (where we all "enjoyed" the downpours!)

So, I really wasn't planning on racing this thing. I slapped a cool playlist on the iPod, put on the regular trainers, frontloaded with a couple of miles...all signs that I wasn't taking this super-seriously. Yeah, ran 2 miles from home, down around the bottom of the park to the race start (which also meant I could cheer for those runners doing the Norway Run!)...perfect!! Was definitely enough time to get it done, but man...the baggage area was a distaster area-too damn crowded, then we heard warning announcements to get to the corrals (and it was only 20 minutes to the race start!) I headed over to my corral (yellow this time) and found a few other Flyers and chitchatted til it was time to start...we were lined up in an unfortunate spot, as we were near a speaker and it just made Mary Wittenberg's voice sound all the louder and more piercing. Thank god for headphones to cut that out a little. 9:00 finally came and the starting horn sounded.

So I really, really tried to hold back. There were quite a few teammates who were passing me and I just let them go and do my own thing. I made sure to have slower-tempo (but still upbeat) songs on the playlist for the first few miles (save the fast stuff for the end.) Just tried to stay relaxed. Still was surprised to see 8:37 for the first mile...net downhill or no net downhill, still too fast. Mile 2, up that gradual west side uphill...8:42. Hmmm...guess this is gonna wind up being an MP effort. Either that, or I completely underestimated what effect the fabulous weather (49 degrees!) would have on me. Whatever-honestly, I just kept running pretty steadily and I was really having a great time...enjoying my music, saying hi to people I knew, thanking those cheering, chitchatting every now and then, smiling for the camera-whether it be Brightroom or Flyer BC...yep, this was what a "fun run" should really be!! :-p

The aforementioned rain? Started around mile 10 for me. Like I said before-it really wasn't that bad but I had to laugh that it happened when rain wasn't even on the agenda. Was still feeling good, but by the mile 11 marker, I was ready to be done and out of the rain. So I decided to crank it up for the last 2.1 miles...also visualizing the marathon finish. Like in 2006, when once I hit the park, to go for it. And it felt pretty good to be passing people at the end, instead of the other way around :) Resulted in a strong mile 12, a smokin' mile 13, and a last push up the hill to the finish line. Finished in 1:52:37 (8:35 pace) (according to the NYRR results.)

Doing the splits...



And don't worry...I don't think the course was really 13.3 miles...hehe.

The hard work is done, time to relax. Flyer JW thanked me for being his rabbit-we were kinda trading places back and forth throughout...I stayed ahead for a few miles, he finally passed me for good around mile 11. I feel so used :-p Flyer DM and I braved the long-ass line for waffles (as I missed getting them 2 years ago because of the rain!) but was fine as we chitchatted the whole time so it went by pretty quick. And it was worth it :) Also raided the bagels with salmon...and then chitchatted some more with my teammates (and also a closet blog reader of mine!) Finally around noon, we all headed our separate ways...to either nap, or to warm up (I had my long-sleeve shirt and a jacket on, but it was still chilly!)

Seemed like there were a lot of good times today...I looked at some of my teammates' PRs wistfully and wonder what I would have been able to do if I had raced this. But-on the other hand-I had my good half marathon race 2 weeks ago and more recovery time from that before the big one. Besides, I felt this was more beneficial to work on executing the race plan on the big day...I think as long as the weather cooperates-some good things just may come out of November 2nd...

some things never change

ya know, i haven't had a jdate post in awhile...

so I have this picture on my profile. and yesterday, I was a recipient of a one-sentence email which said:

"what's a nice jewish girl doing on santa's lap? :)"

not even worth the effort to reply and say that said santa is actually jewish.

and while i am at it, why is it the only guys who either view my profile or contact me are either under 30, or in their late 40s or older, and/or do not live in the NYC area?

I swear, what part of "i am looking for a guy between x age and y age?" and "i am not willing to relocate" do these people NOT understand???

I viewed a guy's profile yesterday that started with "OK - I put the age requirement in - but either it is disregarded or unread, so putting it as the first line in my profile." Maybe he's got the right idea...

man, i hate dating.

a different playground

With one and a half weeks to go til the taper, I'm just using speedwork as an excuse to make things interesting...break up the monotony of miles and miles and loop after loop. Yep-I'm at *that* point in my training. Where I actually look forward to the long runs, and the greater challenge is fitting in the weekday mileage (especially with the jewish holidays throwing a wrench in the works!) Anyway, getting off the subject...

so yeah, speedwork. the workout was intended to have MP work in there, which was honestly perfect for me. I did a few miles beforehand to frontload (as I had 8 on the schedule)...then the workout location was changed from the rez, due to the rain possibly turning a reservoir workout into a game of "dodge the puddles." So to Riverside Park we went, and found a nice flat stretch to do repeats on. I am always glad to discover any new running venue (or "playground"...hehe), especially on the UWS, especially one that is flat!! Anyway, here is how the workout went for me...



A little bit all over the place, but still felt good, didn't feel like I was pushing hard at all. Which was encouraging, considering that I had almost 5 miles on my legs before starting the hard stuff, and especially since 2 days earlier, I could barely force my legs to do anything faster than 10 minute miles. Looking forward to seeing what the taper will do :)

Long run this weekend? Grete's Great Gallop, with 2 warm-up miles beforehand to make a cool 15. Not racing it-just using it as a training run...will have the iPod with me and everything :-p Now the real question-will the weather cooperate? If you remember, 2 years ago was a washout, last year was ridiculously hot...was the same weekend as Chicago (I didn't run Grete's last year, but I heard stories from those who did run who said the conditions were ridiculous-some even called it a day after the first loop!) So far the weather report looks good...

And this just in-the wave assignments for NYC are up...I'm in wave 2. I figured I'd either be at the back of wave 1 or the front of wave 2. Definitely pros (cleaner start) and cons (might go out too fast) to that...