November 25, 2010

Three Things Thursday

1. Post-Marathon Recovery is going pretty well! I got a massage on Tuesday night which was great, although, I probably should have gone for 90 minutes, rather than 60! I went on my first post-race run today and was pretty sore, but I'm feeling pretty good afterward! I'm still basking in the post-marathon glow but trying not to get too ahead of myself by planning for a second race just yet!

2. Thanksgiving! While, I myself don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope everyone has a wonderful day with their families and eats lots of turkey! I'm having a low key day at home with Mom and I think my grandparents are coming over later. Aside from that, I'll be writing a paper, watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Elf and anxiously awaiting the Jets game to come on!


3. Only 3 more weeks of school and then I'm off for 6 weeks! So far, I'm a little bit ahead of myself with school work which is fantastic! I was super stressed out before the race with everything, but I'm feeling good now! I've just gotta get through these 3 weeks of paper writing and 1 final and then before I know it, it'll be Christmas and then I'll be off to Florida for a month!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

November 22, 2010

#1 Run a Marathon

I did it! I ran my first marathon!

Let's start with the weekend! I had gone out to my mom's house in NJ on Friday night and stayed there, so Saturday morning I woke up and picked up The Pilot who had flown in the night before and we headed down to Philly with my mom. We checked into our hotel and went straight to the Expo.


The Expo was...disappointing. I was expecting a lot more companies sampling new products and such and it seemed like everyone was just selling clothes and shoes. I do have to say though, I tried to stop by the KT Tape table because I had a question about it and I was extremely disappointed with the people there. Not only were they rude and unresponsive, but I was completely ignored for almost 10 minutes waiting to have my questions answered. I'm not sure that I want to continue spending $15 on a role of tape from a company with such poor customer service.

Anyway, highlight of the Expo? Meeting Bart Yasso!



After a fantastic Indian lunch in Philly, Mom, Pilot and I met up with his sister and her boyfriend who were running the Half and we all went and saw Harry Potter together! After the movie, we headed back to the hotel, ordered Room Service for dinner and went to bed.

Sunday Morning: I wasn't quite as nervous as I thought I would be but I was definitely stressed and it was cold outside! I got to the Starting Line, used the Porter Potties and went to my Race Corral to warm up. I met up with The Pilot's sister and her boyfriend and the race started! I lost them right away but headed off. The course definitely was fast and I hit the 10k in no time. Unfortunately, I had some problems with my iPod 2 days before the race and lost all of my music and my Nike+ workouts. I was able to get all of my music again, but I had to download the new Nike+ and was worried about using it and it being off, so I was running without any sense of my pace. Worried about starting off too fast, I think I went a little bit slower than I hoped, but I came in the 10k at 1:00:43.

 At the start! I'm kind of tucked away behind the lady in the white hat.


Everyone always talks about hitting the wall at Mile 20 and I was so afraid of this that I changed my race mentality to say that I needed to get through the first 10k and that would be when the race started. So, I took the first 10k nice and easy! I saw the BF at the 10k and stole a kiss and "Let's Get it Started" by the Black Eyed Peas came on right and I started the race. The weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, I was dressed perfectly and was very comfortable throughout the whole race. I was feeling good from Miles 6.2-9 and then I hit some hills. Nothing too serious, but still challenging. I made a pit stop at Mile 10 and hit the Half at 2:07:03. I was feeling fantastic at this point, so I picked up and used what I had gained from my Tempo Runs and maintained a strong, fast pace through to Mile 17. Around Mile 18, I started cramping up a little bit and getting a little bit tired, so I took a GU, had some Gatorade and stopped to stretch for a minute.

At Mile 20, I ran past a liquor store that was handing out shot glasses full of beer! I didn't take one, but I still thought it was pretty awesome! Around Mile 23, I just started getting antsy. I was feeling fine, but I was so close I could taste it and I just wanted to be done! I saw my mom holding up a sign for me at Mile 25 and that's when I started to really sprint. The Pilot jumped in with me just before the 26 mile marker and ran with me for a little bit and jumped out around Mile 26.1 and then I crossed the line in 4:08:39. It felt amazing. I wanted to cry, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to throw up, I just felt so many things.


I decided I wanted to do this 9 months ago, right around the time I started this blog. And here I am, 9 months, 100 posts and 200 loyal followers later, I can finally call myself a Marathon Runner and that feels amazing. I don't think I could have asked for a better race. I felt amazing for all but about 1 mile of it! I was so blessed! Will I do it again? You better believe it. But for now, I'm going to give myself the time I need to really recover. And now, for your viewing enjoyment, some race day photos:
   
 My mom has always been my #1 fan!

 He flew all the way from FL to stand in the cold and watch me run. If that's not love, I don't know what is ;)

A little present from The Pilot!

3 down on The List, 22 to go!



November 15, 2010

Marathon Monday!

I am 6 days out from running my first marathon.

How do I feel about this? Well, it depends when you ask me. Right now, terrified. Last night, on top of the world. I think it's a good thing that I'm feeling this way but, my goodness when I get nervous, I get nervous. 

Right now, the weather forecast is looking good. Cold, but sunny. I'm trying my best to eat right and get the right amount of sleep and not worry too much about things this week. I cancelled my 12 mile run planned for yesterday in favor of a 10k run at the advice of my professor/advisor who ran his 10th NYC Marathon last weekend. So, I'm feeling pretty good.

5 mile tempo run tomorrow. Rest Wednesday. 5 miles easy on Thursday. 3 miles easy on Friday. 26.2 on Sunday. 

The thing is, I know I can do this. I know I won't go out to early and I know that I NEED to drink Gatorade from the 10k point on so that I don't cramp up. I'm anticipating a time close to 4 hours. I have a race strategy in my mind, but I have plenty of time to think it through while racing. I just need to remember to have fun with, right?

Thoughts, feelings, tips, advice, and encouraging e-mails are much appreciated this week =)

Happy Monday! 

November 8, 2010

Marathon Monday!

Good morning everyone! Happy Monday! I'm really excited about this morning's post for a number of reasons! I'm 2 weeks away from the Philadelphia Marathon and could not be more excited! I still get really nervous sometimes, but lately I'm starting to be much more excited than I am nervous especially after volunteering at the ING New York City Marathon yesterday.

It was awesome. I was volunteering at Aid Station 24 handing out Gatorade to the runners. I had a great time volunteering and met some people who are racing Philly in 2 weeks and 2 girls who ran the Philly Half last year and gave me some great tips about the course.

New York was the first marathon I've ever spectated. I should have been at Boston this year when everyone in the city has off, but my awful job kept me at the office and away from the race. Anyway, it was amazing. Watching the Elite runners go by was unbelievable, but my favorite part was watching the regular, average, my pace kind-of people go by. I saw a lot of things that were inspiring and a lot of things that scared me a little bit, but what I saw the most of was runners having fun. And that made me realize that, you know what? Sure, I want to run the best race I possibly can, but you know what? I'd rather have fun running the best race I can then stress myself out pushing myself and killing myself to come in sub-4. And I think that that's a really important lesson that I learned.

Best Parts about NYC:
-Yelling to the runners Water! or Gatorade! And having a a runner come by and say Beer?
-Asking a guy who looked like he was about to die if he was ok and having him look up at me and say, I will be when I cross the f***ing line and then bolting off and sprinting to the finish.
-A man dressed like Minnie Mouse running the race.
-Spongebob running the race.
-Calling out people's names (I'm definitely wearing my name on my shirt!) and seeing their reaction at hearing their name. You can tell that it made a huge difference in how they felt at that moment.

It was amazing. I encourage everyone, runners and non-runners alike, to volunteer at a Marathon sometime. I warn you though, it will give you a burning desire to run your own race, so I guess it's good that mine is in 2 weeks!

So, where am I at in training? I'm 2 weeks out and I'm tapering. I had a not-so good training week last week. Only got in 23 miles, 20 miles less than what I should have run, but there were just some circumstances that I couldn't control (like rain at night and a 25 minute time limit on the treadmills at the gym). But, I had an incredible 13 mile run yesterday and I'm feeling damn good and I have marathon fever and I cannot wait to cross my own finish line.

This week, it's nice and easy:
Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: 5 mile tempo run
Thursday: Rest Day
Friday: 5 miles easy
Saturday: 5 miles easy
Sunday: 12 miles

I'm on a strict diet, by diet, I mean high carb and protein intake and making sure I'm actually eating the right amount of calories per day and I'm getting in 8-9 hours of sleep per night because I am going to run a marathon and I am going to have fun doing it and I am going to run the best race that I am capable of and I can't wait. 

If you're going to be in Philly, let me know, I'd love to see ya!

Happy Monday everyone!

November 3, 2010

October Recap!

Hello friends in Bloggyland and Happy November! I'm back from the clear blue sunny skies of Florida and in the cold, frosty New York City smog! The only good thing about my return to New York was that Starbucks was giving away free samples of Peppermint Mocha yesterday! (That free sample soon turned into a grande soy Pepperming Mocha) So yes, winter has come to NY and a new month is upon us and that means it's time to recap the month of October! So, in the month of October, I:
  • Finished my marathon training with my last 20 mile run and am officially tapering for my first marathon!!!
  • Have kept up with my blog despite the craziness of work and school. I was at 9 posts this month (up from 5 in September) but down from an average of 15 over the last few months, so I've gotta get on it!
  • Survived my first round of midterms and wrote my first paper for grad school!
  • Finished up baseball season having visited 11 ballparks! (19 to go!)
  • Finished watching every episode of The Office and crossed my first thing off my list!
  • Read Mrs. Dalloway off The Book List (which I hated).
  • Watched 3 movies off The Movie List.
  • Cooked 3 more recipes out of one of my cookbooks!
Not a bad month at all! I've got big plans for this winter though, so keep posted because I'm about to start knocking things off this list like crazy!

Hope everyone is having a great week! Pics from Harry Potter World are forthcoming! 
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