a missed opportunity

so I had an opportunity to race a 5K in NJ today. a non-Central Park 5K, smaller race so possibility of age-group hardware, opportunity to maybe do way-overdue damage to the 5K PR...sounds great!!

unfortunately, i couldn't take advantage of the opportunity, as I had to to the family thing in the afternoon and didn't want to cut it close. dinner with the family to celebrate grandma's 92nd b-day...no contest (plus considering other family members need us...me right now.) I heard reports that the 5K course was long, so even if I ran a PR it wouldn't have counted. And I was able to get in a 10-mile run to prep for Cherry Blossom. (which i got my bib # for this week...number in the 3000s, not sure if thats good or not?)

oh but wait a minute!! my brother was absent from the festivities. why, you ask? well-he thought that a friend's engagement party was yesterday. until he actually looked at the invitation yesterday-and saw the party was actually today. (OK, I don't expect everyone to be like me and put all events in their Treo/Blackberry calendar ASAP. But come on...) so...if he had gotten his dates straight from the beginning, we would have done the family celebration yesterday, leaving today free for me to do whatever. and when i saw the age group results and seen that long course or no long course, i would most likely have placed in my age group (3rd in my age group was 25 minutes and change)...grrr.

yeah, i know. in the grand scheme of things, it could have been a lot worse. and it was really good to see la familia.

well i can only hope that forgoing the race for a long run today may lead to some good karma for me at Cherry Blossom (and if i post a good time there, won't get buried in all the Boston/spring marathon mania!)

In other news-word on the street is that JackRabbit's Upper East Side store will be opening THIS WEEK!! yay!! i only have to cross the park to visit my favorite running store ever!!

more highs and lows

I just updated my Facebook status-that I will be happy if this upcoming week is an uneventful one. And I mean that.

Needless to say, the rollercoaster continued last week. The high point being last Tuesday when I found out that I won the election for Flyers Vice President. But something else would happen to make that seem so meaningless in comparison.

Don't you feel that if there is a certain time of day that you get a phone call, that it is not good news? My landline rings at 7 am on Wednesday. As I don't have caller ID on that line and I am praying that all it was is a telemarketer, I let it ring. But then my cell phone rings and it's my parents. And I know what it the call is about, even before I answer. The last time my parents called me at that time of the day was 5 or so years ago when my grandfather passed away. And unfortunately, it was similar news here.

My uncle had unfortunately lost his fight in his battle since last summer with a blood disorder. We all thought he would beat it, he was doing so well for awhile, but suffered a setback in the last couple of weeks that he just could not bounce back from. Some of you may remember from these two posts, that he was the relative that I was running NYCM "for". But there was only so much I could do.

Even now, a few days later, it does not seem real. Like I am still in some sort of bad dream. Not surprisingly, there was lot of emotion, lots of tears shed. He was an amazing, kind man, who lived his life to the fullest and will be missed by so many...it was just way too soon for him. My reaction-not as much tears shed, but believe me I was sick to my stomach when I heard the news...I heard my dad's words played over and over again in my head...but I didn't want to cry, I felt I had to be strong, keep it together for the rest of my family. I know they needed and appreciated it. I know that's what my uncle would have wanted. I-and many others-have never seen him be anything but happy. But I know when it really is going to hit me. The holidays that we spent together. Baseball season. Random emails and instant messages. All the other little things, the inside jokes.

Things will never be the same for my family-there will always be something missing. But somehow, we will survive. My aunt and cousins have a great support system, which we witnessed over the last few days. And as I have discovered-so have I. You all know who you are-and thank you.

And if this upcoming week is a boring, uneventful, status quo week...well that will just be fine with me.

a different kind of fantasy league

I'm amused by this celebrity fantasy league that my brother is doing with his colleagues (for the 2nd year running)...this idea apparently inspired by ESPN.com's Sports Guy-what they do is draft a team of 10 celebs...and they score points as follows (time period between Memorial Day and Labor Day):

If your celebrity pick is on the cover of US Weekly-
Give yourself 5 POINTS (each, if applicable)
If your celebrity pick is on the cover inset of US Weekly-
Give yourself 3 POINTS (each, if applicable)
If your celebrity pick is on the inside pages of HOT PICS (and HOT PICS Extra)- Give yourself 1 POINT (each, if applicable)
If your celebrity pick is on the inside pages of FASHION POLICE(and FP Extra)- Deduct yourself 1 POINT (each, if applicable)
If your celebrity pick is on the inside pages of FASHION POLICE(and FP Extra)
but is being recognized/praised for being sooo ridiculously good looking-
Give yourself 2 POINTS (each, if applicable)

So this is the team that my brother drafted this year:
Brad Pitt
Vanessa Minillo
Ashlee Simpson
Jessica Alba
Beyonce
Sarah Jessica Parker
Madonna
Heidi Montag
Adrian Grenier
Pamela Anderson

And after 4 weeks, he is in the lead...I think he chose wisely!! :)

i'm a magnet for unavailable men

yes, as J.Lo's character said in "The Wedding Planner"
"I'm a magnet for unavailable men. And I'm sick of it."

Besides some other things that I do not want to go into detail here...well, another occurance Friday night. It was my colleague EB's birthday bash that started with margaritas and sangria at a bar near the office, and after a coupla hours, moved to the main event at a nice bar/loungey place in the east village. And I see a cute guy sitting by himself at the bar and feeling daring, I go up and talk to him. So we chat for a few minutes and I ask if he's waiting for someone. Silence. "friends...girlfriend?" Neither, apparently a first date. And wouldn't you know it, she shows up a coupla minutes later.

Just. my. luck.

Well, do have to respect the honesty. Still didn't mean I like the circumstances. (Why do they always have to be on a date/taken/married/etc...) So in an effort to make myself feel better, I pound one after another of Stoli Blueberi and tonic. But it just gave me a killer hangover during the night and the morning after. After sleeping in, I did try the Skylight method of hangover relief-a 9-mile run to sweat out any leftover alcohol in the system. And I guess it worked...

Before I had to go do it all over again at a b-day party in Brooklyn (who knew it was so easy to get to Williamsburg?) and at mother's day festivities on Sunday (complete with pretty strong appletinis made by one of my mom's friends. Good though, made with Absolut Pear vodka-gave them a kick.) Well at least Sunday was a good time. Some family issues going on, my dad has had a very stressful month, I think it was good for him to have friends and (normal) family members around.

And it's no wonder that even after taking today off, I'm still wiped...

happy turkey day

happy turkey day
Originally uploaded by nyflygirl76.

With la familia right now...happy thanksgiving to everyone!

five stages

Found this one on the Reservoir Dogs' message board-I was amused by it so I'm mentioning it here...

Quoted from one of their members:

Tapering for a marathon can be extremely stressful. I always seem to go through 5 distinct stages:

1 - Relief - "Woohoo, no more long runs!"
2 - Boredom - "Where's the remote control?"
3 - Neurosis - "What was that crack?" "My shin/knee/hamsting/ankle/butt hurts."
4 - Hysteria - "Aaaahh!!" "Why did I skip that 16/18/20 miler? I'll never be able to run 26.2 miles".
5 - Elation - "I did it!"

Hmmm....and for me...

1. Check!

2. Not so much. I've got plenty keeping me occupied.

3. mmm-hmmm. I've been guzzling Emergen-C like it's water and popping Halls' Vitamin C drops like they're candy.

4. Not really. I'm actually pretty content with how I trained for this one.

5. We shall see on Sunday!!

In other news, got an email from my great-uncle today...did I ever mention he was a marathon runner too? If I haven't, well yes, he has run NYC 26 times. But has since hung up his marathon shoes-his last was in '04 at age 80...this time will be participating from the sidelines (volunteering.) In that email chain was one from my dad to him talking about their viewing plans for the day...where my dad mentioned "...she sent us her projected schedule, which i'm sure will be too optimistic for a first time marathoner..." um...yeah. good to know you have such confidence in me. (there were quite a variety of times on there, FYI...some yes, slower than 4 hours.) guess he didn't mean for me to see that email...

At least the weather is still looking good...perfect, in fact.

my family is insane

I think these pictures say it all. Rosh Hashanah dinner at the parentals' last nite, we had a Yanks centerpiece on the table once again. (and my mom was nice enough to buy a Mets one for my uncle.) And the aunt, uncle and cousins bring their doggie as usual, this time dressed in a Mutts jersey. And there was quite the heated discussion during dinner, complete with these words being uttered many times by my cousin: "I hate the Yankees."

Off to Long Island in a bit for round 2....and L'Shanah Tovah to anyone else celebrating!!

rearranged

2 things got rearranged today (albeit sorta planned)-my cubicle at work and my running week.

i was supposed to move my cube later this week, instead the office manager was barking that they wanted it done today (good thing i had already started friday...) was relatively painless. so my new location has it's pros and cons:

Pros:

• away from Dr. Insensitive-i love him and all, but he is damn loud. even my clients heard him from the other end of the phone line
• actually it's more quiet in general. easier to focus.
• CSG who works for the sister company sitting a coupla cubes away (OK, not sure about the S, but definitely C.) but yeah-NOT going there. but never hurts to have some new faces around.
• faster, lower traffic elevator on this side of the office. no need to have to allocate 15 minutes per elevator trip.

Cons:

• further away from the good coffee on the other side of the office. you know i need my coffee.

(actually, that's the only thing I can think of for now.)

and in an attempt to "taper" for this Saturday's 5-miler (and gotta love NYRR's description for this one-"We've circled the day in red on our calendar. Saturday, August 19, the city's top running squads vie for bragging rights in the NYRR Team Championships 5M") i've shifted around my running week a little...usually i have Mondays off, but I snuck in 5 miles today, and I think my other 2 running weekdays will be tomorrow, and Thursday early AM (that way i do sorta get 2 rest days-or 48 hours, whatever you call it.) My legs are just feeling dead from coming off a 34-mile week, the highest I've done in a long time, so I think I am going to skip speedwork tomorrow in favor of an easy run. Missing one week won't hurt, if it means helping to get the legs back...

and my baby brother turns 27 today. wow-damn i feel old :-p

is monogamy catching?

and why hasn't it seem to have caught me yet?

during the course of the day Saturday...after the race, and later that nite at a b-day party i attended, i heard the news that 3 more Flyer couples (well at least, 3 couples that each have at least one Flyer in them) got engaged. crazy!! where are these commitment-minded males? i can't find them anywhere. it seems to me that these days, dating to males is a reality show to them-it's like The Bachelor to them, how many girls can they kiss, and even if they pick one they don't feel obligated to stay with the girl.

anyway. my dating rant of the day. yeah, it's been awhile. you're welcome.

so, changing the subject, said b-day party saturday nite was a surprise 40th b-day party for a very cool teammate of mine (though i do have to say, she doesn't look anywhere close to 40!) anyway, it was a lot of fun and she looked surprised :) The actual party took place at Cascina, a nice Italian place in Hell's Kitchen-our crew took over the party room upstairs. we got kicked out at midnight, so the party moved next door to Zanzibar, where the party went into the wee hours. i remember quite a bit of dancing-on the floor and on the table (the latter not done by me ;-),) trying to "crash" a bachelor party, and screaming along to "Hollaback Girl" (c'mon, you know this sh*t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!) what a day/night. i was wiped out on Sunday.

speaking of wiped out, that's how i feel right now. while this speedwork was more tolerable than last week, and i didn't have to cut it short, was still quite tough. the west side hills from 93rd to 86th...4 round trips (8 repeats total), then another mile on the bridle path. man, no wonder those hills kick my a$$ in races. Derek attended his first Flyer speedwork tonite and seemed to enjoy himself very much. :-p

Finally, i leave you with this cryptic note: keep your fingers crossed for me. I can't quite say why on the blog just yet (though some of you who know me "off the blog" may already know.) if all goes well, i hope to have something good to tell soon...

drive-by posting

yep, you know i've been under if i've abstained from blogging for a week. i'll spare all the details, but some of the occurances and observations in the past week:

• the whole debate of "is the Great Lawn oval really .55 miles" that was discussed here was sorta put to rest-apparently I wasn't the only curious Flyer after that workout, as the oval got measured by a wheel afterwards-apparently it's between .51 and .52 miles...putting my pace for that workout at 7:50ish which sounds much more accurate. (i don't think anyone really believed the .55 measurement...we would have all run 5K PRs, or close to it, if that were the case!)
• had a first date...the first one in a very long time where i did not want to slap the guy silly by the end of it. i'm taking it as a good sign....for now. i'm just waiting to be disappointed somehow. guys always seem to know how to do that.
• karaoke is addictive. though a few of us said were only gonna partake for an hour on friday nite, before we knew it, it was around 2:30 in the morning.
• and my lack of sleep sure came in handy on saturday-not. the flyers had a volunteer event in central park where we had 2 jobs-pulling up tulips and planting ivy. not surprisingly, we were better at the former...guess we're better at destroying things :)
• and glad i bailed on doing the mother's day 5k...an 8am race start just was not happening for me that morning. since i promised to take pictures, i did so, albeit late...i just barely made it in time to get pictures of our ladies passing by mile 13.
• mother's day dinner with la familia. my mom loved her gifts from me and my brother. and had to listen once again to who the latest people younger than me that are getting engaged/married/pregnant. i debated on whether or not to say that i am looking for a sperm donor instead of a husband. just for kicks, just to get a reaction.
• dinner Sunday night was at a good Chinese restaurant in Queens (yeah, i had chinese twice in one week.) another amusing fortune cookie-this one saying "a distant relative will contact you soon." my money is on the relative mentioned in this post...he'll probably be calling to get back in our good graces.
• i've been pretty quiet about this season of Survivor, i know. Out of the final 4, I wanted Cirie to win it, but if she couldn't, i was satisfied with Aras winning...hey, i'll never complain about a young, cute guy taking the prize :) Just glad it wasn't Danielle (aka Jenna M redux) and that the Terry show was over-gawd, he reminded me of the male Steph (except Steph never won a thing!) Courtney and Shane weren't quite bitter enough in their jury speeches.
• I had my a$$ handed to me on the 91st street hill this evening. the workout was continuously going up and down the hill for 20 minutes, then rest for 5, then go up and down for another 20 (but try and do more laps than the previous 20.) I called it quits after the first 20 minutes as my calf was giving me problems. no need causing more damage than absolutely necessary...

so that's it for now. hopefully it wont take me another week to post again. maybe i'll post a report after the Healthy Kidney 10K. or not. :)

now playing: "feel" ~ robbie williams

more more more

yep, today was the day of the masters woman.

so today was the annual More Marathon and Half-Marathon in Central Park. every year, the Flyers run an aid station there...the last 2 years they had us on the 102nd street transverse, giving out water and bananas to the full marathoners...this year we were "upgraded" to a location that served both the half and the full marathoners-across the park drive from the Met, around 84th street.

so, the morning dawned on the chilly side-good for the runners, less than ideal for the volunteers! thats ok though. i was put right to work getting cups of gatorade ready to hand out to the runners and handing them out too-and cheering everyone on in the process :) a bunch of our ladies acted as pace leaders for the full marathon and the buzz is that they did a great job! our veteran superstar won her age group and ran a fabulous race in the full marathon. (actually-i give all the marathoners credit-i'd go loopy after 5 loops in Central Park. granted, they were 5 clockwise lower 5's...so no Harlem Hill or Cat Hill!) But, it was a great experience helping out, and all the ladies were very appreciative...lots of thank yous from them, and we gave thank you's back to them...was nice tobe even a little part of helping these ladies achieve their goal...be it a first marathon or half-marathon, or bettering their time, or whatever else.

later, i met up with la familia for a b-day dinner for my grandmother-she just hit the big 8-9. i guess it was fun, except...i dunno, i always feel when my family gets together...for one thing, when they talk about who's getting married or engaged i'm always afraid of hearing the dreaded question that I always have to answer "no" to-"so, are you seeing anybody?" not to mention feeling like i pale in comparision to my good-looking, popular, successful cousins. sometimes i really wonder if i was adopted. i used to have running as the one thing i sorta excelled at, but that's gone now. i'm just praying what i have going on will work out...sooner rather than later...i'd love to have some good news to tell about myself for a change...ok, rant over.

in NCAA news, though my final 4 are kaput (but how about that UConn/George Mason game? wow-now that was great basketball watching!) but i think i'm tied for 2nd in my work pool-now hoping that everyone else's final 4's are done for too!!

running in circles

So ironic. Friday, the first nice, springlike day of '06...I'm scheduled to run inside!!

In a change of pace, Friday night, the Flyers took on Chelsea Piers for a fun, informal track meet with their running club. Basically, it was a chance for the track fans to try out a different location, those who have never tried track to get their feet wet, and those inbetween to just have a good time.

I'll be honest-I'm not a sprinter. I ran the 5th Avenue Mile in '04 just to get a mile time on the books, and while very pleased with my time, it definitely hurt. I appreciated 10K's and half-marathons much more afterwards-gotta love pacing yourself. So, I was more there to support the team and did just the 400m race and a 200m leg of a relay and even then didn't go all out. (my reasoning for the shorter intervals-wanted to lessen the duration of the agony!) Our assistant coach was quite brave-he raced the mile, the 800m, the 400m and a relay leg!!

So the meet moved and ended pretty quick, so a bunch of us just looked around the place (gorgeous gym/sports complex, but very very pricey!!) until it was time to head to Chelsea Brewing Company for a pint (or 2, or 3...) Not surprisingly, the post-meet drinks lasted longer than the actual meet did. :)

cutback

yeah, this is a cutback week for me. sadly, not by choice. work has been kicking my a$$ so much this week, that it looks like last nite was the only nite i was able to escape in time to make it out for a group run. and lately, AM runs have been out of the question, it's been a chore just to get out of bed by 7:30 am at the latest. is it me, or am i the only person in NYC that can't seem to survive on only 5-6 hours sleep per night? i'm sorry, but it's just not feasible for me to be in bed by 9-10 pm each night...how am i supposed to get everything that i need to get done, done? or maybe i really am getting old.

so between my workload and the predicted snow this weekend, looks like my total for the week will be 5.5 miles (yesterday's run.) blah.

sorry if i'm venting, but to quote what i've said elsewhere, if every single blog was filled with nothing but happy cute fluffy bunny posts, it'd be pretty boring, right? (and anyone that deliriously happy all the time is either lying, or on something.) But if happy cute fluffy bunny posts are what you want to see, check out CuteOverload.com (thanks to jbl for the link!)

well, at least there was one highlight this week...which was tuesday nite's "Chinese New Year" dinner that the Flyers have every year at Lili's. (got out of work too late to do speedwork, but an 8pm dinner was feasible...) Food was good (as usual,) company was good (as usual,) the amusing part was that a bunch of us were trying to re-create our table from last year-right down to the exact seats we sat in :) and our host was very generous with giving out shots of sake. it's like he knew i needed 'em or something.

2 other things i managed to get done this week-i changed my profile pic (how's this one compared to the old one-yay or nay?) and canceled my premium JDate membership. was getting nowhere with that one. maybe i'll try match.com next. certainly a little cheaper than JDate...

now playing: "lola's theme (extended vocal mix)" ~ shape:uk

it's oh so quiet

typical for the week between xmas and new year's right? the office is a ghost town. so...what better way to take advantage of it with a 2-hour lunch? even better when the waiters know us and they slip us a complimentary glass of port. even better when it's expensed too :)

so right now, i'm utlizing my hanukkah present, which is in the piccy to the right...how cute is this thing? :-D i am actually wearing the white headphones right now...not overly comfortable though. got a pretty cool case to go with it...will come in very handy when running.

saw la familia on sunday and yesterday..."celebrated" hanukkah with both homemade latkes and chinese food...and everyone was very happy with their presents...

was not too happy to come back to my place last nite and see part of the wall torn out...yeah, there's work being done in my apartment and the place is a disaster area (but still somewhat liveable) but hopefully when all is said and done, i won't have the same issue with lack of heat that i've had the last 2 winters, and my ConEd bills will go back to normal (you know there's a problem when i'm paying twice as much during heating season than during A/C season-especially with this summer's record heat! heat is supposed to be included in my lease.)

i need to get back to some sort of routine...ever since last week, i have not been able to fall asleep til after 2 am (damn transit strike coverage,) and waking up around noon (or if i'm getting up early for work or something, it ain't a pretty sight!) don't think any morning runs will be happening any time soon...at least not til after the new year...

now playing: "long way down" ~ goo goo dolls

surprise, surprise

so, my dad only gets one 60th birthday. and for some reason beyond all logical comprehension, my mom decides to throw him a nice surprise party at a nearby restaurant with dj, dancing, good food and open bar. but you understand, it's almost impossible to get *anything* past him. we were all sure he'd find out. but as it turned out, surprised he was last nite to walk into the party room of the restaurant and see about 30 friends, family and loved ones. he expected that something was up, but not something that big!! so it was a good time. i was more sober than my mom was (she is never allowed to lecture me about drinking again, now she knows where i get it from!) my brother and i were not embarassed to be dancing with the other "adults" like we were at our bat/bar mitzvahs (as now we understand that they were all buzzed while dancing way back when.) we kept teasing my cousin about his 15 minutes of fame...it's just the story that keeps on giving. my dad got appropriately toasted and roasted and showered with gifts. all in all, the evening was a success. (and my family is 2 for 2 in surprise parties this year-my brother and i threw a nice surprise dinner for the parentals' 35th anniversary.) love ya dad!! here's to many more!!


And as if Hershey's mint kisses weren't enough chocolate temptation (and i noticed there is a petition to try and get them made permanent, cool) I discovered something even better-Hershey's mint miniatures. mint milk chocolate, mint dark chocolate and-the absolute kicker-white chocolate with mint candy bits-i mean, how can you get much better than that last one?? man oh man...please someone remind me i have a dress i still need to fit into next month for the Flyers' awards party...


now playing: "rie y llora" ~ celia cruz

baby i'm back

well i never really "went away." :-p but was visiting the parentals in NJ the last few days and decided to give the blog a rest during that time. now back in the city...but not feeling ready just yet to tackle another week...wouldn't mind another day or 2 off...

well first off, the trip out to NJ on Thursday was unreal. Penn Station was a major zoo, shocker of shockers. Not sure if it would have been any better on Wednesday...but that was the chance I decided to take. At least I got my ticket on Wednesday...the lines for the ticket machines were mad long. And even though I decided to a train that left Penn a few minutes earlier than planned, overcrowding delayed the train leaving, meaning I barely made my connecting train...but that one was delayed for a few minutes as well!! ugh. well i finally made it home.

and it was a (sorta) full house with my parentals and brother and some relatives...but the much-anticipated "guest of honor" wasn't there. ok that one needs a little explaining...i'm sure this story is old news by now...but what isn't old news was that said text-messaging troublemaker is my cousin. crazy stuff, huh? anyway, i think we were all ready to give him a hard time but he spent the day with his girlfriend instead.

but that aside...food was great...there was so much, between the appetizers, main course, and dessert...my mom is definitely a great cook (one trait that sadly, i don't seem to have inherited!! or if i have i haven't had much chance to use it...when you're cooking for 1, not much motivation to go all out!) pretty much the rest of the weekend was relaxing and shopping (gotta take advantage of the NJ tax break!! And while at it, managed to score a coupla pairs of Asics GT-2100s on sale...yay. that oughta hold me over til I need to break down and try the upgrades-the 2110s.)

And just got back today and the first thing I did was hit the park for 6 miles...and yay for shorts weather, as fleeting as it might be. i'm gonna have my work cut out for me this month...as per usual, i will be surrounded by lots of food and other goodies and i have dresses and other clothes i still need to fit into when all is said and done... (i know that sounds incredibly vain, but sadly it's the truth.)

so yeah, i guess i did "live to tell the tale." cuz, thankfully no one asked me if i was seeing anyone, when i was getting married, and all that jazz...though it did come close when my mom asked if she thought if my cousin and his girlfriend would get engaged. and of course i am the poster girl for "just because 2 people are together for 2+ years does not equal=engagement ring." so i just kinda shrugged it off.

time to try and face another week...and i don't wanna...i feel something is gonna go down this week at work. something not good...

to close, 2 media-related notes...

• did anyone see the "Rent" movie? i saw the play a few years back and loved it, but before i spend $10 to see the movie, does it live up to the hype?
• to any "Survivor" watchers-without spoiling Thursday's episode I just want to say that I want anyone to win...except Stephenie.

now playing: "i will go with you (con te partiro)" ~ donna summer