cherry bomb

Fun times in Brooklyn today!! The Cherry Tree relay was everything I expected. And then some more. Especially in the hill department. :-P

My team? The Gossip Girls!! My teammates? Uptown Girl and her TRD teammate AU. We all just wanted to have fun and run our best, whatever it was. So definitely my kind of team to be on :) Hell, I even wore one of my running skirts over my tights because I thought it sorta fit with the theme :)

The trip out to Brooklyn was much easier than expected and even kind of scenic, with the Q going over the Manhattan bridge. We then decided what our team order was going to be...considering all 3 of us were pretty evenly matched, it really didn't matter what the order was. But I volunteered to be anchor-for a couple of reasons. First off, I wouldn't have to worry about transitioning at the end of my leg, the finish line calling my name can make me kick it in and finish strong. Second-I figured that since I didn't get to run my anchor leg at Need for Speed last year, I wanted to do it today :)

We got to Prospect Park with enough time to spare and headed across the park to where the start line and the relay area were. Once we got to the relay area, we heard the announcement that the race would be starting in 10 minutes...then all of a sudden they announced it would be starting in 2 minutes!! oops!! AU headed to the start to kick things off for our team...we didn't even hear a starting horn or anything, just an announcement "oh yeah, the race started x minutes ago." Uptown Girl and I ran around a little bit to warm up and then headed back to the relay exchange area to wait. And to cheer-I saw lotsa Flyers who were running the 10-miler. Around 25 minutes into the race, AU handed off the slap bracelet (yep, the relay baton was one of those old-school slap bracelets! i love it!) to Uptown Girl who then ran our second leg. I jogged around a little more to stay warm (it wasnt crazy cold, but there was a very light rain-okay when running, not when standing around) and kept watching the runners. I saw Uptown Girl running strong and approaching the transition area so I got in position-handoff was done and I was off and running!!

As for my run-I think a picture is worth a thousand words.


So of course, I felt good at the beginning. I tried to seek out 10-milers and pick them off :-P Was happy to see a mile 1 split of 7:17...wheeee!!! Of course I didn't even realize how much downhill that mile was. (FYI-I used the autosplits on Mr. Garmin since the mile markers were all for the 10-mile runners and may not be totally accurate for the relay.) Happiness was short-lived with the evil hill in mile 2 (the one that is mile 11 of the Brooklyn Half)...dear god that was like mountain climbing. And my 8:09 split showed it-was a bit disappointed at that, I thought hill or no hill, it should have been under 8. And the hill just kept going in mile 3 for another half-mile...til there was finally some downhill relief. 7:41 for mile 3 was a little better, but just wanted to be done. Finally, I could see the relay area...meaning the turn to the finish line!! I heard some very welcome cheering, and I kicked hard to the finish. Around 25:40 for me, 1:16:48 for our team (12th out of 27 female teams!)

I caught up with some other Flyers, including fellow bloggers jb24 and Laminator, who both had great 10-mile races!! A bunch of us went to brunch at this great place in Park Slope that had a great breakfast buffet...yummy fresh waffles and unlimited Bellinis? Me likey :) A long, leisurely brunch was followed by a subway ride back to Manhattan and a much-needed nap.

I'm definitely up for doing this race next year-and Flyers...if you are reading, I strongly encourage you to consider doing the relay next year-it really is a lot of fun. Besides, I'd rather save my 10-mile attempt for when I don't have to do the evil Prospect Park hill times 3. As for my performance...not my best, not my worst. I wanted to know where I was at, and I found out that I have my work cut out for me if I want to have a decent race at Cherry Blossom.

And dear god-do I need hill training.

welcome to my rollercoaster

Hello there!! Whoops, been some time since an update. But I'm fine-just have had a rollercoaster of a week or so...

The biggest part has been the job-last week was crazy with most of my group packing up our cubicles to move to temporary locations while our cubes were being renovated. I'm sharing an office with someone during this transition period-an office normally meant for one-but it's actually been good so far.

But nothing could have prepared me for when I walked in Tuesday afternoon. Being greeted by the news that there was a round of layoffs. And even though I survived, two others in our group didn't. I didn't know what to say. Of course I felt horrible for them-they were definitely more than just coworkers, they were friends too and will be missed. On the other hand-I felt like I dodged a bullet. Needless to say, it's been a very strange atmosphere at the office this past week. Not surprisingly, the workload has increased a lot as a result. But I'm taking this a lot better than the last time I was in my work hell. I guess I'm really trying to stay calm and cool-getting hysterical is not gonna help the situation. And I am going to make sure I make time for me this time around too. Which means not wussing out on running...

Speaking of running...yeah it has been happening. Around 20-25 miles a week in fact. Nothing impressive, but decent maintenence mileage. And I actually am gonna be participating in the Cherry Tree Relay this weekend!! Didn't get any takers for a Flyers team, but that's ok because I get to "crash" one of the Reservoir Dogs' teams (that includes a fellow blogger-guess who ;-) ) We have a fun team that is named after a popular TV show :) This race is really gonna be fun for me-and a good way to see "where I'm at." A track workout done last week that was supposed to be 5K pace...well, that effort had me more doing closer to 7:30 pace than 7:15 pace (which is what it would have been the end of last year.) So will take advantage of this wonky distance (3.34 miles, I believe?) as a fitness check of sorts. And at least I will have material for a race report! :)

Also speaking of the Flyers...I've got something in the works there and I feel like being cryptic right now. All will be revealed by this time next week. Trust me ;-)

And in other news-anyone else think that the NYCM fee this year is ridiculous? Almost $150 for NYRR members...that's crazy!! I think I will actually need to drop this one from consideration for my fall marathon...

staten island trumps punxsutawney

Sorry, but I'm preferring to believe the more local groundhog this year :) Wishful thinking? Perhaps, considering this winter has been the worst I've experienced in a few years. But after a few cold-snappish days this past week, this weekend turned a corner (as well as the upcoming forecast for this week.) Yesterday, I was overdressed in tights and long sleeves, today I chose shorts and short sleeves for my longish run. Eleven and change miles, down the west side, up the east side, only thing missing being the water fountains that I thought were supposed to be operational all winter on the west side path? Nevertheless, good effort and hopefully I will be ready for Cherry Blossom in a coupla months!!

It was good to get back outside, after several days of fighting a cold this past week. At least 2 dozen Flyers got sick shortly following the awards gala-anywhere from a cold to the flu. Thankfully I didn't get hit as hard as others but still wasn't fun. But it's just crazy how many people got sick from one event...what the heck was in the water?? (or the cosmos?)

In other news, a blast from the past contacted me in the last coupla days. One I never thought I would hear from again-or would want to hear from again. Longtime readers can probably guess who it was ;-) No plans to respond-leaving it alone for now...

spirit fingers

(aka my well-overdue Flyers awards gala recrap. post title is a reference to the movie Bring It On. you'll see why...)

Another year, another Flyers awards gala. Or as some people refer to it, the "Flyer Prom" (I'm not sure how accurate that is-I mean, there's no pressure to find a date for this shindig. Or is there?) Another west midtown loft location, which us UWS'ers did not mind in the least :) Once again, shared a cab w/ Runner26 and her hubby, and arrived around 7:30 to find the party already in full swing...why, oh why, am I not surprised. Everyone dressed to impress, looking fabulous, and lotsa red in the house this year, including myself!! (I think this may have been my favorite awards gala ensemble yet!)

So, a coupla hours of sipping cosmos (it went with the ensemble!), sampling the catered goods, catching up with Flyers old and new, it was time for the actual awards ceremony. It started off with the annual "Year in Pictures," which I had a hand in choosing both the pictures (yes-I actually allowed the underwear run picture to stay in there!) and the music (well just one of the songs, but was still cool to hear!) Then time for the actual awards-and let me say, our MC's did a great job, they were totally themselves, very entertaining. As I co-chaired the awards committee this year, the recipients were not a surprise to me...except one-the "Team Spirit" award.

If possible, we try to spread the awards out so as many people as possible can win, and someone doesn't wind up taking home 2 or 3 awards. So when our original nominee for the Team Spirit award was actually slotted to win something else, was back to the drawing board. A couple of nominees were thrown out-including myself (nominated by someone else-I would never put myself up for an award, I think it's not kosher when I'm heading the committee) and all of a sudden the email chains got quiet, until my co-chair sent an email to me and a couple of others saying we were in contention so we were left out of the discussion-so that was that until the actual awards ceremony. Honestly, knowing who I was up against, I was sure it was going to go to one of them (I felt they did more for the team than I do.)

So, back to the present...time for the "Team Spirit" award...and who will it be? RB starts the couple of lines about the awards recipient...as soon as he said "she" I was thinking "ohmigod...no way." I knew. My name got called. Applause. Go up to the front and accept my award. Pose for the camera. Walk back to my seat to even more applause. Throw an arm up in the air in jubilation. Get back to my seat still smiling. And that all felt so surreal-like I was watching myself through all that. (Is that how the Oscar/Grammy/etc. winners feel, I wonder?)

Watched the rest of the awards winners, capped off by the Flyer of the Year presentation, which went to who I felt was a very deserving winner and was very happy to see her get it-and the outgoing Flyer of the Year presented it beautifully too. For the most part, the awards were great and I was proud of the job that the committee did. One thing did bring it down-one of my good friends had improved a lot last year and it was very close between her and another woman, but the other woman edged her out. Her disappointment kinda brought me down a little-I hate seeing friends upset like that, and I guess I felt partially responsible, even though I thought I did the right thing. (It did blow over by the end of the evening. But still...)

Ahhhh time for dancing!! I don't know what I was more buzzed on-the cosmos or my award, but the dancing was a great time as usual...I swear, this part seems to fly by quicker and quicker each year!! And at around midnight, I went to the DJ booth to request a song and they said "we've only got 2 minutes left" and "Last Dance" started playing and I think a lot of people were wondering..."huh?" as the dancing was supposed to go til 12:30!! If it was a misunderstanding, it got cleared up, and the music played for another half-hour, finishing off with "Sexyback"...a better way to end the evening :) Afterwards, I followed the crowd that went to the nearby bar/lounge Stitch for the after-party...before I knew it, was around 3 am and was time to head home. (And needless to say I was not very productive the next day!! This chick has not stayed out that late in a long time...)

I say this every year, but I felt this year's awards gala was the best one yet!! Do we really have to wait another year for the next one...? :)