Patience is a virtue....

that I definitely do NOT possess.  Is being stubborn a virtue?  I have that in spades!

Foot surgery Dec 6th, half marathon January 26th...does that sound like a good idea to ANYONE?!?!  I went to the podiatrist on the 23rd for  my last post op check up and I said, "soooo can I run a race this weekend?"  My doctor who is on to my sneaky ways said, "How far is it?"  We played a little cat and mouse briefly until I finally muttered under my breath, "a half marathon" and he looked at me as though I had 4 heads.  After a lecture about scar tissue, not pushing too hard and patience I was told under no circumstances was I to run the race.

I was pretty devastated.  Not being able to run has not only been frustrating for me but also depressing.  Running is my release, it channels all my frustrations, stresses and helps me think through problems.  I'm addicted, I need it and when I don't have it I just feel off balance.  I guess if I was going to be addicted to something it is a good thing, but still really an addiction and this forced break has been very difficult for me.  I was crushed at the prospect of not running that race because I felt I NEEDED it.  I am doing the 9 plus 1, for those not in NYC that means run 9 New York Road Runner Races and volunteer once to qualify for the NYC 2015 marathon.  So I needed the race for my 9, I also had signed up with the intention of getting redemption from last year.

Saturday before I met up with J and after our sushi dinner we had some drinks, I had red wine and I must say all my great ideas come over a couple glasses of Pinot Noir these days.  We did the math and figured out exactly how fast I needed to walk to finish the race by the cut off and I can not even explain the high I got from deciding to do the race.  It was going to be freezing cold and I had the perfect excuse to sit home in my nice warm bed and here I was scheming ways to get out there and do 13.1 miles in 18 degree weather.  Who am I?  I'm not sure most people I grew up with would recognize me these days, I definitely do not look much different but athlete was never a word to describe me, more like scrawny :)  I think I may have even impressed my own little brother which let me tell you means more to me than most of my race medals (not the marathon medal I mean let's be real here!).

Sunday morning I got up, gave my foot a pep talk and then put on compression socks covered by wool socks and my running shoes.  I feel calm just putting on the shoes, relief washes over me and I feel as though I can conquer the world.  Several layers of under armour later I bounced out the door to Central Park.  It was cold but I swear I didn't even feel it at first I was just too excited and happy to be out there, adrenaline is a beautiful thing when used properly!  I gave J a fist bump and told her to kill it and then set out to "run" my race.  I lightly jogged the first mile, walked the second and kept that pattern for the first 8 miles.  This was an exercise in self discipline, keeping to a plan and not running myself into the ground.  I did not take any pain medicine pre-run because I wanted to feel the foot and know if I should stop.  About 8.5 miles in I ran into a woman who was limping and after talking to her it turned out she had hurt her IT band during the race.  We walked and talked, she called me an angel and said she was debating just quitting until she saw me.  In reality she was likely MY angel because I needed someone to slow me down a little and bring me back to my situation.   We ran across that finish line at 3 hours and 5 minutes.  Definitely not my best time, not my goal for that race at all but a powerful learning lesson, I felt so proud of myself and instantly more centered.  My foot was not impressed and required icing and elevation the rest of the day but I still didn't take any pain medicine so a win in my book!


Running: 20 miles
Biking:  2 hours
Swimming: 2400 m
Strength Training: 6 sessions

Turkey done? A Thanksgiving Turkey Trot Recap

My last race of the year was a five mile Turkey Trot in Brooklyn's prospect Park on November 28th.   JM and I did it together with a bunch of the BGR ladies and it was COLD, colder than FREEZING actually.

 All bundled up!

I didn't really have a goal for this race as it was less than 2 weeks post marathon and I hadn't done much running in this days.  I knew I should be able to do it in under 50 minutes based off my short distance pace so I thought ok let's try for that.  I knew that Prospect Park hill would be hard but I wasn't expecting a short 5 mile race to be an uphill battle the whole time.  As I said it was cold, I don't think I felt my toes until mile 2 and that did not help with my foot strike at all.  My legs felt like lead and my feet solid blocks of ice, I just felt heavy.   I ended up walking a lot, my foot was killing me, my IT band hurt and I felt like a complete frustrated failure.   After a stern talking to, if you haven't noticed I talk to my self A LOT while running I pulled it together and did some controlled walking.  

I actually did manage to finish in under 50 minutes because when I realized I was close enough to sprint and I had a chance I kicked in those after burners and sprinted like the wind.  I'm actually getting better at sprinting!

the very first race where my GPS watch didn't say I ran further than the race distance!

Turkey BLING!

A Marathon? No way! Never! A January 2013 Race Review

In October 2012 those were the exact words out of my mouth to my good friend Chris from work.  I had just run my first half marathon and gotten bitten by the running bug or that so called runner's high.   I ended up signing up for a half marathon in Central Park, in JANUARY and of course I dragged along Jamie because she is always a willing participant in my crazy schemes as I am in hers.

January 2013 Half Marathon- Central Park
It was 19 degrees out and we set out in MANY layers to do two loops of central park with our ever loyal Sherpa Mike carrying extra layers.  It was FREEZING cold yet that didn't phase some of the people running with no shirts on or in only sports bras.  I am pretty sure that I couldn't feel my toes until mile 3.  I was running in a pair of Nikes that were the same style as my first half marathon but not the same shoes.  About mile 8 I started getting pain in my left IT band.  Coming up to mile nine was HARLEM hill, the devil.  I was struggling but I looked to the side and saw a person out in the freezing cold cheering for us.  It turned out to be my friend Shawna who even ran up Harlem  hill with us in her uggs while holding coffee, have I mentioned how awesome she is. 

I had just started actual strength training instead of just running training and it felt pretty obvious to me in my recovery post race if it was not shown in my time.  Our times were not great due to a bathroom break in the middle.  I learned the importance of foam rolling and then graduated to some sweet Asics for running.

We will be doing this race again in 2014 to beat our times.