And we’re back…?

September 20, 2013September 20, 2013 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

First post-baby run, in numbers:

Miles: 3
Time: ~30 min
Distance I got before I stopped in pain, turned around, and went back home to put on a second sports bra: 1 driveway
Turds taken by Spike: 2
Turds I kept willing Spike to take during the run so I would have an excuse to stop: 15
Gallons of sweat I had to wash off my body when I was done: 8 (aprox)
Leg cramps: 4
Times I considered stopping and walking: one million
Level of wanting to die due to both physical and psychological distress, on a scale of 1-10: 12

In my defense, it was really humid out.

Weekend Run

April 25, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

I rail on Kentucky a lot. Because it is very weird in a lot of ways. But sometimes, it can be so perfect.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

April 15, 2013April 15, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Keeneland yesterday was awesome.

Also, happy Boston Marathon day! Good luck to everyone running.

To get in the spirit, nice interview here with Shalane Flanagan (of whom I am a big fan) from this weekend. Really interesting commentary on the physical and emotional toll of having a bad race, and kind of impressive that she’s able to talk like this a few days out of her first big race back. Cheering her on from my desk.

Okie dokie artichokie

April 9, 2013April 9, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Someone else is happy that the sun is out.

In addition to the garden and general happiness, this time of year is usually when training starts ramping up for the season. Obviously, not this year.

So apparently now the baby is the size of an artichoke.

This explains why my training has been super limited the past 4+ months. And why there have been no posts about beer. And why, with my last half marathon, I had to stop to pee 5x. And why Vanessa and Emily were kind enough to join me for the second half of NYC.

And this:

I was preg during the Smokey Mountain half and didn’t know it. I’m blaming the baby for that sufferfest.

So what’s the plan? Whelp, no more Ironman races for me this summer. Or triathlons. Or half marathons (my abs after NYC were sore for like a week).

Aside from lifting the ice cream spoon to my mouth, I’m going to keep wogging (walk/jogging) as long as I can. And I cannot wait for the outdoor pools to open next month. That is where I plan on spending most of the summer.

Oh, and I have been booted from my yoga class, per the instructor’s request, until August. So long, peacock. We had a good run, I’m sure we’ll be back at square one when I return.

Neew Yooooooork

March 22, 2013July 29, 2021 ~ meh ~ 4 Comments

Last weekend I headed to the big city for the the NYC Road Runners Half Marathon.

The reason I signed up for this race was first and foremost to run with Emily…who, incidentally, did not get a spot in the lottery. Crap. Secondary reason for running it: to stay on a training schedule through the sad, cold, depressing months of late winter (which, up until about 3 weeks ago, I did). And because it’s freaking in New York City. And when you live in Kentucky, you grab onto any chance you get to go see your friends in NY.

Margaret! One of my New York friends, who was there for my last half in New York 2 years ago (when I wasn’t 5+ months pregnant).

This year was extra awesome because people who do not live in NY, including my sister and Joe, came out to play. It was a mini reunion. Which made the weekend so, so great.

269295_10151356636067196_1300496509_n An NYC weekend visitor all the way from LA, dealing with the cold and wearing one glove

But aside from me, most people probably don’t want to hear any more about how great my friends are.

Race Prep:

The night before the race we went to Buttermilk Channel in Brooklyn (fun fact: Buttermilk Channel is an actual place in NY Bay, sounds delicious), and my god it was good. And we may or may not have sat at a table next to Seth Green, results were inconclusive.

That night I stayed with Emily, who lives on the upper west side, about 3 blocks from the starting line. Clutch.

The race info said that the starting corrals would be closing at 7, with a start time of 7:30. That is a long time to be standing around in the corral in your running gear. Plus we didn’t get to bed that night till 11:30ish. So I decided I was going to chance it, sleep a little longer, and get to the starting line a few minutes late. 20 minutes of standing around in the cold sounded like enough for me.

The Race:

St. Paddy’s Day!! Alarm went of at 6, got up, drank a little coffee, ate some oatmeal, took care of business, and was out the door by 7. I was at the start by 7:05.

…and cold it was. 23 degrees. When I arrived the sun was just starting to come up and the corrals were totally packed with people wearing green (I wore black and pink, oops). And everyone was absolutely. freezing.

They let me into the corral, even though I was a little late. Plenty of people were still showing up.

Race went off at 7:30. I crossed the starting line at 7:40 (and I was in the front half of the crowd.) The course was one lap around the park, spitting us out around 64th Street and into downtown, through Times Square, all the way down to the tip of the island, cutting east, and finishing on Wall Street (I can’t find the map online, too lazy to keep looking).

the starting line

The first 6 miles through the park was mostly spent defrosting. Cups of water at the aid stations were frozen over with a layer of ice, and spilled water and gatorade on the ground around the aid stations was also turning to ice. Cuidado.

My toes were numb the first four miles, and my fingers didn’t fully get feeling back until mile 8. Fortunately, Superman was there to save the day.

As we left the park I came across the best gift I’ve ever received mid-race (even better than the DJ blasting Pitbull at mile 8 of the run in Hawaii): Emily and Vanessa waiting to join me for a few miles.

I was so, so happy (if you can’t tell from the above picture). Needed the moral support. We ran out of the park and straight into what was probably my favorite part of the run: Times Square.

Very Vanilla Sky. And yes, 29 degrees over an hour into the race.

Once we got out of the park, the course flattened out which, for someone who hasn’t been training in over a week (me), was awweeeesome. Emily and Vanessa stuck it out along the south part of Manhattan, then hopped out as we approached the Financial District.

IMG_20130321_083740 the chute

And then it was over. The finish line was a madhouse.

Those are just runners. It was also windy and really, really freaking cold.

I’ve never been so happy to be hit in the face with the hot, piss-flavored subway air than I was when we entered the Wall Street station. The rest of the afternoon was spent in sweats and compression socks, in the heat of Emily’s apartment, eating baked goods from Levain Bakery and watching Bravo.

I flew out that evening. Sad.

Thank you to everyone who housed me and/or came and supported me on the run. It was such a wonderful trip, these runs are always such a good time. Can’t wait for the next one.

Sights from a run

March 6, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go? I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.
~h.c.

February Failure

March 5, 2013March 5, 2013 ~ meh ~ 3 Comments

February Fitness was largely spent doing the above. That’s really all there is to it. But here are my monthly totals anyway:

Yoga: 4 hours + two semi-successful peacocks (I am temporarily suspended from attending my normal yoga class and have been trying to find a reasonable alternative, but that’s another story for another time)

Swim: 17,500 yards / 5hrs 30min

Run: 60.5 miles / 9hrs 15min

Geesh. Not really a ramp up from what I normally do, but…whatevs.

I cut 2 of my longer runs short this month due to feeling less than stellar. Even so, not too worried about the half marathon. But I did walk to work a whole bunch of times (4 miles round trip), which maybe might count for something sort of.

BUT!! To counter all of this, one of my masters swimmers broke 100K yards of swimming this month, so I will take that as a personal victory (this guy would literally come to the pool 6 days a week and swim up to 7K BY HIMSELF. what.)

There’s always next year.

Winter Woes

February 3, 2013February 3, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

I have spent this past week daydreaming about the day that the outdoor pools open. I can’t help it.

We actually had some warm weather this week. 70 degrees on Tuesday…70!…which meant a nice after work run with Paul in SHORT SLEEVES…followed by this:

Of course. Complete with tornado warnings and severe weather sirens. Thursday was back in the single digits, and Friday we woke up to a light dusting of snow, and 8 degrees outside with a wind chill at -4. Hurrah.

Saturday morning we woke up to some pow-pow. First real snow of the season. Some were HAAAAPPPYYYYYYYYY.

Others were not.Did not want to come out of the coop…and pretty much didn’t all weekend. (I didn’t know this, but in the winter time a lot of chickens can actually get cabin fever from never wanting to come out of the coop. They do not like snow.)

I was scheduled to do my long(er) run of the week Saturday morning. Woke up to way too much snow and ice on the sidewalks. Which meant this.

9 miles on the treadmill at the Y. Baaaaaaaaaaarf.

I usually limit my runs on the treadmill to an hour/7ish miles. Max.

But with snow predicted all weekend and limited options, I sucked it up and JMFDIGDI. Broke the run up into: 2 mile warm up, followed by 2 x 3-mile efforts at a faster pace with a half mile jog in between the efforts and again at the end as a sort of warm down. So much easier to digest mentally.

And 1.5 episodes of Real Housewives of Atlanta later, I was done.

The rest of the weekend was hijacked by Gone Girl, which I started reading on Thursday and just finished this afternoon. So now I have my life back.

I won’t lie, I’m not too sad to see January gone. If it hasn’t been obvious, things here have been very slow. And cold. I’m ready for sun and gardens and thunderstorms and spring. One step closer.

Safety Dance

January 21, 2013 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

This is what happens when it’s icy and dark until 8am and the sun doesn’t shine for 3 weeks (literally). Fuzzy Xmas socks that I normally sleep in, worn to work with my narsty old flats because my feet are too cold without them. Awful. On so many levels.

Despite the nastiness outside, I have refused to go back to running on the treadmill. Partially because every time I run on the treadmill my headphones shock me, so the whole time I am on there I’m in a state of perpetual anxiety. But mostly because the treadmill is boring. And inside.

So what does that mean? It means I’ve been breaking my hard rule and about running alone in the dark. And I justify it by bringing Spike.

I’m not sure how I convince myself that he will protect me, or at the very least deter someone from attacking me. Because a 15 lb mutt in a tiny jacket with a blinking light on his back is probably about as useful as a butter knife.

I do have mace, but I’ve been hesitant to bring it because I would guess, with relative certainty, that given enough time I’ll end up spraying myself or the dog or some innocent child walking to school in the early morning. I do, however, always wear my Road ID, so when someone finds my body at the very least they’ll know what allergies I have and who to call.

It’s time for me to re-evaluate my safety system. And for the days to get a little longer.

I’m ready for summer.

The Lull

January 10, 2013January 10, 2013 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

The post-holiday hangover. Dead Christmas trees littering the sidewalks. Holiday lights and ornaments still hanging in windows seem like desperate hangers-on. And on my run Saturday morning (first real run of the new year…whattup!)…

Snowman carnage. Misshappen, anorexic-looking snowman families with missing limbs. Everywhere.

Fortunately, I had my new running shoes to keep things bright (another pair of Mizuno Wave Riders). 6 miles, no music, no podcasts, no buddies, in the cold. And it was nice.

So, a new year. New races?

So far this year I am signed up for one race: the NYC Half Marathon.

I signed up to run with a friend, who wanted someone to pace her to break 2 hours. It was a lottery. I got in, she didn’t. I mainly signed up for the trip to NYC, so I’m still going. We’re still figuring out who will actually use my number.

But in terms of BIG races, nothing on the docket yet. I was a little burned out after Hawaii, and to be honest don’t really have the $$ to do another race of that magnitude. But I’m giving myself until March to make a decision about another 70.3.

I would really like to improve my running speed, finally do a real half marathon PR, and maybe sign up for a few fun open water races (that, hopefully, I would actually get to race.)

Other than that, work is busy, just putting my head down and hibernating until spring arrives.

Hello, 2013.