Wednesday, February 28, 2007

spring is on the way.

thanks to my new bed, in which i sleep much better, i was actually be able to get up this morning for a morning run. we have practice tonight, but i am on bag watch so i basically take attendance and watch everyone's stuff. i am semi-disappointed because this week is cross-training, which i also missed last season because of vacation. i guess it's not meant to be.

anyway, it was nice out, about 36 degress, not windy. i headed out for my typical down to the manhattan bridge and back. when i started i was mildly displeased at the appearance of a few old friends - my shin splints. grrrr. i've learned though that they go away after a while so i tried not to think about it.

my only complaint about the run was the many trucks out on the route this morning. i almost got scrunched by one particularly large one. other than that, the weather was great, the run was great, and i was happy to make it out.

oh - here's the march schedule for the "advanced." 8-10 miles already. ~sigh~ this shouldn't make me nervous but it does. what if i'm the last person in? what if i can't hack it and have to be demoted to intermediate! what if i start getting knee pains again?

enough of that. let's just see what happens on saturday.

today's mileage: 4.5
season mileage to date: 27.5

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

***bone marrow donor drive - this friday***

one of our teammates' father has been fighting leukemia since this past june. after a brief time in remission, last week his family received the unfortunate news that his leukemia has returned.

he needs a bone marrow transplant, and as of right now there is no one that is a match in the registry. please consider being added to the registry! the process of registering is very fast (i did it myself a few months ago). if you have questions, hit me up at girlyoubetterrun@gmail.com


When: Friday, March 2, 2007, 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: NY Press Building, 333 7th Ave (btw 28th and 29th), 14th Floor – Conference Room
What does it take? 5 minutes and less than a teaspoon of blood

Monday, February 26, 2007

off topic: bg's hit the big time

watching the oh-so-long oscars last night...waiting to see if martin would finally get his, a bank of america commercial comes on.

i am half watching when - HOLY CRAP!! that's my friend!! BG!!! i start pointing and yelling gibberish at the tv while my sister jumps on the couch shreeking back at me "what what!!" (she thought there was a bug).

here he is, in his national debut. he's the cute guy in the glasses. congratulation BG!! i am sooooo proud of you!

check it out here!

Sunday, February 25, 2007

sunday runday

side note before we begin - i've posted 185 times! crazy.

anyway, i've really been trying to make it a point to run on sundays, because you never know what's going to happen to you and your running plans over the course of a week. so today i decided to go for an afternoon run. the rookie wanted to come with so i sent him a text and after a little back and forth we settled on a 4:40 run.

we picked a corner and arrived to find that we were practically wearing matching outfits - blue on top, black on the bottom. cute. very cute. we headed out to the east river at a good pace, heading for the manhattan bridge. about five minutes in, there we saw taurus (i need to come up with a new nickname, that one is annoying me) running in the other direction and we waved hello. wow, i really am a runner, and i even know other runners running.

it was the perfect temp, and we headed to the manhattan bridge. it's new running with a boy, because for the most part, i always ran with charlotte. demps & drew were always more speedy than me, and i suspect soon the rookie will be too. i think i was going faster than i would go if i was on my own, its hard to say, but it felt like a good, solid pace that i was happy with.

a few hours later, i'm a little sore but it's good. and i'm continuing to cajole and convince...i think my powers of persuasion are having a good effect. come on rookie, just join already!

today's mileage: 4.0 miles
season mileage to date: 23.0

not just running, but racing

yesterday's practice was to go out and run the al gordon 4-mile in central park. the night before, i didn't exactly behave (as ramon would say). i intended to behave, but as sometimes happens, one whisky to kick the cold turned into a few whisky's and a burger. i'm going to blame the bartender who liked us and wanted to buy a round or two. how can you say no?

but i was still in bed by 10:30 pm which was good because we were leaving at 7:15. the sleep and a few middle of the night chugs of water saved me from a bad hangover, but between that and the cold, i wasn't exactly 100%. the boys' race was at 8, the girls' at 9 so i didn't really have to be there until 8:15 but, one of the mentors has a car and has been spoiling us with rides. i opted to go early and get the ride, which, in retrospect, was dumb because it was soooooo cold, but ah well.

when i got up at 6:45 it sounded cold. the wind was rattling the windows, and i was horrified to find that it was 21 degrees out. ug. i got all bundled like a little kid who gets all puffed up to go play in the snow. and headed out to meet the boys. we had quite a crew. (i'm still working on the nicknames so if you're reading this and you don't like yours, don't panic, they have a way of evolving) taurus (referensing the car, not horoscope) was driving, cap was riding shot gun, and in the back was me, the rookie and his roommate T.

for 7:15 we were all pretty awake. taurus dropped us off at 96th and 5th and we headed into the part to meet the rest of the tnt crew near the bag check. there were probably 10 or 12 guys, which apparently is a bit of a record for the marathon crew. ladies, you can thank me for continuing to try to recruit boys. we found ramon who gave me a hug and asked if i had decided to run with the mens. har har. he and the rookie started chatting in the ole espanol (the rookie is not yet convinced) and from what i could pick out from my rudementary spanish, ramon was combating the rookie's thinking that he wouldn't be ready for june.

the boys headed over to the start about 5 to 8. the object of the game when it's cold is to stay as warm as possible for as long as possible. this is why it is not a good idea to stand outside for oh, about and hour and a half before one's own race, but i'll stop complaining about that now. anyway, we saw the boys off, and i hung out with the coaches until the gals started showing up. poor sk8 went to our usual meeting space by accident and so had to hoof the extra 20+ blocks up to the meeting spot. the boys started trickling back in from their races and finally it was time to line up.

i was so cold. so freaking cold. when we started, i literally could not feel my toes. they were all numb. and the wind was kickin'...i wondered how long i had to be out there to get frostbite on my nose. wah wah wah.



i had gotten in line between the 8 and 9 minute miles. all i was hoping for is to finish around a 10 minute mile, which would be much faster than any other race i had run. i had previously had some good shorter runs last season at about that pace but i didn't know how the month off had treated me. to the relief of my toes we finally started.

mile 1 - moo

the first mile always sucks. it's so crowded. everyone's anxious to get out of the gate. there are people (like me) who start around a faster pace than they really will be running. there are walkers that start at the front that you need to manuver around. people just cut you off without looking. one particularly agressive walking woman actually elbowed me in the ribs. ow. my goal for the first mile is to not get swept up by the crowd, run my own pace, and to not step on nor be stepped on. got to the 1 mile and i was running around a 9:36. holy crap. i decided to try to keep it up.

mile 2 - feeling strong

as far as race strategy this mile and the 4th should have been my fastest. by that point you're warmed up (i started feeling my toes) and the crowd thins out. this is the hilly-ish west side though and so i focused on not expending extra energy up the hills but keeping my effort steady. i was definitely breathing hard, but not uncomfortably so. for the first time, i realized i was not just running or jogging a race, but rather racing it. how about that. we saw a group of tnt coaches and boys, and this of course put the dorkly "i'm-a-runner" smile on my face.

mile 3 - i hate cat hill
as we crossed the 72nd street transverse, my breathing got bad. for the first time ever, i felt like i couldn't catch a deep breath, like someone was sitting on my chest (as sk8 said after - maybe it was jack daniels?) i slowed down a bit, but stubbornnes took over because i really wanted to keep on pace. and then there it was. cat hill. i don't know what it is about this hill, but i really really despise it. it's not very steep, and it's not too long but it pains me. pains me!! i approached it like a good girl, smaller, quicker strides & arm movements and it was over in due course, but then when i got over it...

mile 4 - side stitch?
i had a side stich. now, i've had those cramps before, but usually lower. this one was in my ribs, and it hurt. ~grimmace~ i told myself i only had a mile just and to suck it up. that was probably my slowest and most painful. but at 90th st, i caught a glimps of newbie and t waiting to cheer me on. i waved because i didn't have the breath to shout, and t saw me and elbowed the rookie who hollered "yeaaaah g-rocks!" or something to that effect. only 9 blocks to go. tnt folks on the right...big dorky grin back on my face...wave, smile, cheer, cap yell "finish strong!" there's the finish line! can't help but pick up the pace and holy...the clock says 38! yeaaaaah.

so my official time was 37:47 which is a 9:26 average mile. CRAZY. i was telling coach steve and he's like is that a pr? (pr=personal record) and yes it is. now, i know that's 4 miles and not 26.2 but that gives me a little bit of confidence going in to the season - i really want to break 4:30 for san diego, and if i can keep improving...that looks to be possible!

yesterday's mileage: 4.0
season mileage to date: 19.0


Thursday, February 22, 2007

remedial advanced

ah wednesday practice. oh how i didn't miss you.

wednesday, for all of you that don't remember, is drill night. we have various exercises to improve form, strength, speed, etc. since i missed the v-day practice last night was my first.

a new friend j (i'm working on a better nickname but i'm too lazy right now to be creative), who is potentially going from blog reader to runner, joined us last night for his first taste of tnt. sk8 was there too, and i met face to face a few of the new people that have been emailing me, which was nice.

so the beginners and intermediates were working on upper body, running a certain # of lamp-post lengths with various arm movements. since i have my arms down pat (or at least i like to think i do), i decided to have my first day with the advanced group. our work out was to run hard from 95 - 90th, then recover 90th to 85th, the run hard from 85th to 90th, and recover from 90th to 95th. repeat.

we all warmed up together, and i was running with j and sk8 when i saw the advanced group heading by, lead by our tallest, most runniest mentor. i kept up with them for oh, 30 seconds, when i realized yes, i might be advanced, but i am still not fast. i am officially the founding member of a new training group: the remedial advanced.

we all huffed and puffed along, no end in sight. we run until ramon says stop, and i was definitely getting a work out in (read: i was hurting). and finally...after what i think was about 8 lengths...we were done. ooooowe. j & sk8 both did well, even though they said they hated me during the run, but with each new recruit i'm getting used to the hate. it'll turn to love eventually.

today's mileage: 4.0*
season mileage to date: 15.0


*estimated

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

fundraising clinition

so last night, in a land very far to the east (aka 70th street between york and the FDR) we conducted a fundraising clinic, to spread the fundraising love.

i think it was good - we reviewed how to set up a fundraising page, resources tnt has for its participants, the importance of having a fundraising plan and how to write a letter (both covered by yours truly). we had two breakout sessions, and as far as my area of the presentation goes, i did fine. the 2nd time was definitely better than the second, from a being-at-ease perspective.

once the season gets rolling, i'm really excited to see how successful we are as a season. in my head, we're going to be the most successful season yet...but you know how competitive i can be!

practice tonight, so more later. i'm going to train with the advanced folks, which is still laughable to me, but we'll see.

Monday, February 19, 2007

another day another run

i really need to get back in the habit of running (nearly) every day so yesterday i was determined to go running in the morning. plus it wasn't *that* cold out, so one must take advantage of such winter days.

much to her chagrin, i texted my sis at 9 am to see if she wanted to go running. no. i texted again. still no. one last heckle...and she changed her mind. ha. i win.

i got less bundled than saturday morning - i'm still trying to learn how many layers are right for this weather. i opted for a long-sleeve and then my wind-proof outer-layer since we were going to be on the east river and it can get tres windy over there. left the house, picked up sis who's just a few blocks away and headed eastward.

i guess it takes running with a beginner to realize that i've become, and still am, a stronger runner. i had to hold back a lot to stay on a pace where i wasn't driving k to run faster than she should be. i didn't mind forgoing pace for company, especially since i'll have plenty of runs on my own i'm sure.

we ran to the manhattan and back...towards the bridge it was definitely colder, and i could feel making my cheeks feel tight and my shoulders beginning to creep towards my ears. the instinct to scrunch up for warmth doesn't help running at all since all your energy is supposed to be saved for your legs.

it was a successful run...aside from a nagging knee pain again. i'm not going to lie, it makes me nervous considering 1) both handsome & drew's injuries last season and 2) that i didn't have any knee issues but i'm just going to keep an eye on it and see how it goes.

yesterday's mileage: 4.5
season mileage to date: 11.9

Saturday, February 17, 2007

it's a hard knock life.

okay not really, but i'm in a whiny mood.

the short version of why is that all week we've been working really hard on a major project. i was at work late on wednesday, thursday and last night, last night i was there until 11:30. and to add insult to injury, i had a ticket to the mos def show at BAM. !agony! ~sigh~ etc.

so by the time i got to bed it was midnight. and i had to get up this morning and run. and i had to get up earlier because i didn't wash my hair yesterday and it was that gross. and i was on call to go back to work at 11 to finish up said project. whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiney roxie ensues! and i almost called in sick (yes mentees, even your mentors have days that they just don't feel like running).

but as always, once i was at the park (thanks to another mentor i got a ride - whoo hoo!) and the cold wore off, i was glad i went. running is such a stress relief, especially once you get past getting nervous about it. beginners were running 4, intermediates, 6 and advanced, 8. EIGHT? woah. even though i am technically advanced, my brain still screams beginner. luckily for me and my mood, i could run with the beginners guilt-free because this is still the time in the season where we are not so concerned with our own training as with the newbies.

the run was cake, which is a nice reminder that i am still in shape-ish even though my brain tells me otherwise. ran with some new peeps and then with sk8 for a while. one of the things i like about bringing people to tnt is that when you're running, you actually have qt with your friends twice a week. in a place like nyc, that is so so rare.

after the run, i called into work and disaster. all our work, or like 90% of it, was for nothing because of an error of a third-party company. so concert missed for nothing. work stress all week for nothing. and we get to work on monday. grrrr. good thing i like my job and this is a-typical.

better news was i didn't have to work *today*, so i was able to go to brunch with v & b's mentee groups. met some cool people and then met with the marathon coordinator to go over the stuff for the fundraising clinic that we're holding on tuesday.

i totally deserve a nap.

today's mileage: 4.0
season mileage to date: 7.3

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

gross weather + clients = a good day to miss practice

so today our clients came in and ended up staying a bit late...until 7:30. which obviously meant that i missed practice. normally i would be all sorts of stressed about this, but given the snow/sleet mix, i can't say i was too upset about it.

i've got some running to do for sure. it's been a rough week as far as being busy and i've been fighting off some sort of icky-scratchy-throat thing. but if i get better shortly, no more no-running excuses. just cause i've got one marathon-that-didn't-kill-me under my belt doesn't mean i can afford to slack off!

as far as fundraising captain goes, i sent my first e-mail the other day. hopefully it wasn't too, um, perky? (by the way, hi to any tnt'ers out there!) tomorrow there is a social (anyone that is interested in signing up to run san diego, it's not too late! e-mail me and i'll let you know the details), then practice saturday.

it's all tnt all the time!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

glutton for punishment

oh good lord did i really just apply for the NYC marathon lottery?



yes, yes i did.

TNT what have you done...(she says with a grin on her face!)

Saturday, February 10, 2007

winter running is expensive

so as y'all know, most of my running to date was in the summer, fall and balmy first half of this winter.practice started this morning, so last night i had to make a 11th hour trip to paragon to get basically everything but shoes.

i didn't get there until 7:15 and it closes at 8 and i was worried because i had no females with me to let me know when the spandex pants had gone horribly wrong. turns out, that was fairly obvious.

i've decided that women's running pants are the least flattering item of clothing i've ever encountered. for the most part there are two options.

option 1 - very tight tapered spandex, more like tights than pants. aside from the usual objections to spandex, as a shorter gal, i usually have issues with the taper because it never falls in the right place and i yet to encounter a petite line of running gear.

option 2 - an upside down pear shaped pant, that are somehow baggy-ish on top around the thigh, then tapered at the bottom! why oh why! i've definitely got curves, and these do nothing for them and are even *worse* than the spandex ones...

finally, fate intervened in the form of adidas, with a pair of pants that was baggy and tight in the right places. yeeeesss.

then there was the question of the layering. your first layer is supposed to wick the sweat away. okay, check, had that at home. layer two was supposed to both be warm (trap the heat) and continue to wick. layer three is supposed to provide warmth and be water/wind proof/resistant, but breathable. as you can imagine, you're talking high-tech clothing and that gets pricey.

so i look around and to add to my dilemma, everything is in pastel! (visual of me sticking my finger down my throat) because the store was probably raided by everyone else over the course of the week, basically anything that was not pastel was XXL. argh.

layer two was easy - a lilac/gray warm, wicking fleece thing. on sale. sweet. the third layer was harder. i had two options - something warm, windproof, water resistant and breathable or - not so warm, waterproof, and breathable (more like a shell). i hemmed and hawed and then saw the warm one was on sale, even if it was powder blue. done. 5 minute warning...hat, navy (i am breaking all sorts of matching rules), gloves, socks...check out...

"that'll be $229.00"

my face said it all. poor guy behind the counter said, it's not that bad...and it wasn't. it could have been much worse. but it was still over $200 bucks on "running stuff". pbth.

this morning though, when it was 20 degrees out, i was pretty happy to have all the stuff. coach christine would be proud. i managed to make it up to practice a little early even, and helped hand out name tags. i thought it would be a great way to meet some of the peeps, but of course, i don't really remember anyone's name soooo yeah. we'll see how that goes.

as mentors, the first few weeks are not about us. it's about make sure everyone's happy, safe, comfortable and encouraged to stick with it. so while i could have trained with the advanced group, i opted to stick with the beginner-intermediates. plus it was my first run since the marathon so i figured if i was feeling really fantastic i could always do the extra loop.

so i ended up running two lower loops (1.7 each loop). it was easy-breezy. everyone was in packs so i was even running ahead, coaching-style, stopping to walk or run with different people as we looped around. it went by really fast, and i hope that the people i talked to were more encouraged then annoyed, i confess i was a bit perky/optimistic. my friend sk8 (yes, nickname) did awesome, and was pleasantly surprised that she felt good. actually everyone looked really good and actually happy. it was very funny, i feel like after our first practice people looked much more scraggly. maybe it's because of all the layers and the cold, you don't get red exercise face as much.

then it was brunch with sis, and i'm hoping for warm weather tomorrow. my left knee did hurt a little bit, so i'm going to keep an eye on that, and we'll see how it goes.

i'm glad to be back.

today's mileage: 3.4
this season's mileage to date: 3.4

Thursday, February 08, 2007

the smell of fresh meat

so wednesday night was kick-off. 1st the larger season met - all the triathlons, marathons and bike rides for the larger rah rah rah. one of the honored teammates spoke - it was really inspiring as always, and there were a *ton* of people there.

then we had a smaller break-out, where i met the crew of new marathoners. i'd say about 95% of those who attended will be running their first marathon. you could feel the nerves in the air, and i couldn't help but remember our own kick-off, with charlotte & demps. it's weird that that chapter is over, and yet here i am, starting off again.

i didn't have to say much - was a cameo in a little fundraising skit, and announced the first fundraising competition to the marathon crew, so all else was nostalgia.

i'm really excited about starting to run again - i haven't since the marathon. i am *not* excited about the cold however. i have to get all geared-up - but there'll be another post about that.

Monday, February 05, 2007

new season...

i think i'm officially back from my bloggin' burn out. so hi! how have you been? miss me?

what have i been up to? well, frankly, relaxing and abusing my liver. trying to stay warm. learning the global warming presentation. but now, now it's time to start focusing on running again.

as fundraising captain for summer season, i have a few responsibilities. i need to lead the fundraising clinic, help folks with their fundraising letters, be generally encouraging and supportive, and am the designated "go-to" for all marathon runners that have fundraising questions or need advice.

i'm excited but of course a little nervous. remember how i was so competitive with my own fundraising? (ps, is fundraising two words? it looks funny that way. maybe fund-raising. hmmm. nope one is a.o.k. excellent). well, i'd love to have a really successful season. as much as i kicked ass at my own fundraising, this is an opportunity to make a huge difference by helping over 200 people or so exceed their fundraising goals for the lls. pressure!

by the way, it's also FREEZING. and i still don't have pants, which i better pick up before saturday, which is our first practice. for the first few practices we will run with our mentees. since i am a captain, i don't have specific mentees so i just plan on mom-ing them all.

now, i'm off to come up with a fundraising plan/timetable and some other materials...if you have any ideas go ahead and send them my way, otherwise, see you out there!