20 miles, done and done!

This was our route for yesterday's 20 miler, courtesy of our weekly email from De:

Directions:

-Start at 16th street & Union Square west
-Run south on Union Square west to 14th St.
-Run West on 14th st. to WSH
-Run WSH to end (Battery Place)
-Run across Battery Place to Broadway & go north past the Charging Bull
-Run past Charging Bull to Park Place, which is where you enter the footpath to the Brooklyn Bridge
-run the Brooklyn Bridge to end
-make a right on Tillary street
-make a left Cadman Plaza (you will pass Borough Hall)
-take Cadman Plaza to Court Street (there is a Starbucks on your left)
-take Court Street & turn left on Union St.
-take straight to Union St. to Prospect Park
AID STOP
-One loop of Prospect Park
AID STOP
-Prospect park to Union St.
-Make a right on Court St.
-make a slight left to Cadman Plaza
-take Cadman Plaza to Tillary St.
-make a left on Tillary st. to the Brooklyn Bridge
-run across the Brooklyn Bridge
-make right on Park Row
-make a left at the top of city hall which is Chambers st.
-Run all the way across Chambers to WSH
-WSH to 14th st
-14th st. to the Start - the 16th street & Union Square west

I did almost nothing last week to prepare for the run, other than rest (and go to yoga with Laura and Jenna Bush. Really). I was on vacation, after all. Maybe that was preparation in itself, but I'm sure that was why I felt sluggish through most of the run. Surprisingly, I wasn't really dealing with pain, which was great. I think I ate my Lara bar too early in the run and my stomach was acting up. By the time we got to Brooklyn, I wanted to stop and go home. It didn't help that I live right by the park and could see my apartment. I had some potato chips at the second aid stop and those made a huge difference. It had to be the salt. Who knew that chips could be such a super food?!

Nearly 6 hours later, we arrived back in Union Square, 20 miles done. What a great feeling, to see the green market ahead of us at 16th street, knowing we were at the finish! Bev the psychiatrist's "medication" (tic-tacs in a medicine bottle) kept us laughing the entire time. After it was over, we trekked to Whole Foods to pick up some provisions. Chocolate milk tastes really delicious after a long run, I realized. When I got home, I took a fabulous 3 hour nap. It's back to a normal routine tomorrow, but I still have one day of vacation left!

Vacation!

I breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday as I left work. I haven't had a vacation to speak of since May 2009. That can't happen again. Very excited to head up to Maine for a few days of rest and family.

This morning, I woke up crazy early as per usual. We were meeting at 6:30 for a 6-8 mile run. My group decided to do 7 miles at 2/1 intervals. We did a lower loop of the park then headed east over the Queensborough Bridge. That's mile 15 of the marathon, and one of the toughest parts of the whole course. First of all, it's a huge hill, and there are no spectators, only a dark tunnel full of tired runners. All you can hear on marathon Sunday is the sound of feet leading up to the mayhem of First Ave. Today we ran on the pedestrian path from Manhattan over to Queens and back. It was wall of noise; cars on one side, subways on the other. I felt pretty good for most of the run, but that bridge DOES feel really long, even after 5 miles! I led the group back to Manhattan, mostly because Nick didn't have a watch, and it was pretty weird to be at the head of a single-file line with the whole bridge in front of me. We were back in Central Park shortly. Overall, it was a beautiful day and a great run. Definitely good practice for the marathon.

...and now vacation starts for real!

Another awesome medal thanks to Michael C.

We all deserved a medal after our 18 miler Saturday. Here is what Michael came up with this week!

Any idea what my dream means?

The alarm woke me this morning from a terrible dream I was having about being late and unprepared for the NYC marathon. For some reason, my dad was with me in the dream and we were racing (ha) to get to the starting line in the last bus allowed across the bridge. In my dream, I didn't have my number or my watch and I was panicking because, as far as I know, it is not possible to do intervals without a watch. Then I woke up. I don't know if we made it to the start or not.

Dreams about being late and unprepared are supposed to mean something, but I don't know what. Add the marathon in there and I'm just confused. I don't usually remember my dreams, but this one stuck.

The choices we make for the things we love

Running, like most things in life, is about choices for me. It often causes me pain and a lot of people have told me that I should consider not doing it. But it's important to me. I can't really explain why, and a lot of people don't get it. I'm lucky that my physical therapist understands and hasn't told me to stop flat out. However, she has mentioned the dilemma a few times. We've talked quite a bit about the anti-inflammatories, one of many tools in my 'toolbox'. The thing is, I don't want to be on medication forever. There's no particular reason other than I don't like medication. But it does make a huge difference. So much so, in fact, that I decided to go back up to 2 doses a day. I've been really uncomfortable for the past few weeks since tapering down to once a day, so I consulted with the doctor and with my dad, and I had to make a choice: do the activity I love with the help of medication, or stop doing the activity that I love.

It seems like an easy decision when I write it that way, but it wasn't. Anyway, I decided to go back up to 2x a day, but I was still concerned about tackling 18 miles yesterday. I've been feeling really achy, plus tired and stressed from work, which didn't help. (I do have a vacation coming up, which I am confident will do wonders). The renegade group ran Friday morning, but I was too busy planning a farewell for a dear co-worker to join them. So I went to bed at 8:30pm and got up at 4am for a 6:15am meeting time on Saturday morning. I felt better after a good night's sleep, but I really had to fight to shake off the nerves I felt.

We started with a 5 mile loop in CP, then exited the park at 72nd street and ran to Park Avenue, which was closed to traffic as part of Summer Streets. It was so awesome to see all of Park stretching out ahead of us, full of runners and bikers and all kinds of cool booths alongside us. I love seeing the city from another angle. We ran past the doorman buildings, through midtown (through the tunnel at GCT), down to Union Square to 4th Avenue to Lafayette Street, all closed to cars. I almost felt like I was running down First Ave on marathon Sunday, minus the gazillion spectators. We ran past the Brooklyn Bridge to Park Row, to Broadway, past the bull statue by Bowling Green, where De was parked with a car stocked full of Gatorade and snacks. I made a beeline for the fig newtons before we took off back up the West Side Highway. We took a few extra walk breaks towards the end, but eventually we ended up back at 72nd Street. It took us 5 hours of 1/1 intervals, but we did the 18! The end on the West Side felt particularly long because we could see every block as we passed, but we made it. I am a true believer in the power of anti-inflammatories. My knee hurt a little by the end, but all in all, I felt much better than I thought I would. I took an ice bath and a nap when I got home, but I've been up and about today and was able to go to yoga in the park this morning, which felt fabulous.

Here are a few other cool/random things that we saw yesterday:
1) Al Roker riding his bike on the WSH.
2) A girl in a sparkly ensemble hula-hooping alongside the foot path.
3) Two Asian gentlemen in full business attire out for a jog along Park Avenue.
4) A water station in SoHo providing NYC tap water (supposedly the best in the world) to runners passing by. There was even a little dog dish underneath.

I hope I made the right decision, increasing the medication. Every day is different. Next week is a shorter week, and then we're up to 20 miles in two Saturdays. We'll see. The marathon is getting closer and closer!

Sometimes you just have to sleep in

Today was one of those days. It was a long week, and when De's email came on Wednesday with the details of this morning's run, the idea of hauling it uptown for a 6:45am 6-8 miler was just not appealing. I figured I could handle the distance on my own and that I would sleep in a little. This morning I rolled out of bed at 8:30 and headed out to Prospect Park. It was gorgeous out. Not too hot, much drier than the past few days. I took it easy: two loops of the park for a total of 7 miles in 1/1 intervals. Still haven't been feeling 100%, but my visits to PT last week helped a lot. To cap off my run, I visited the farmers' market and picked up some local peaches. Yum! All in all, it was a good morning.

In other news, I signed up for the Hartford marathon on 10/9/10. We're scheduled to run 26 miles that day. The Galloway folks like to say that if we're running 26 miles, we'd better get a medal for it. The course time limit is 6 hours. I'll use all that time and just get the mileage in before I start tapering for NYC on 11/7/10.

Next week: 18 miles. Yikes.

Another medal, courtesy of Michael C.

16 Miler (aka The Run That Would Not End)

Yesterday was our 16 miler. It was an absolutely gorgeous day: cool with a breeze. We met on the UWS. I decided to do 1/1 with Mary, George and some other folks. I figured it was better to take it easy. I haven't been feeling well the past few days, and I've been a little achy since tapering the medication. I stayed home Friday night to ice my knees in anticipation of Saturday morning, but I was still a little concerned about how it would go.

Anyway, we did five miles in the park before heading up the West Side. I never knew about the greenway when I lived in that neighborhood. Only now do I realize what I was missing! A great path, beautiful views of the water and the bridge. Just gorgeous. Right around mile 7, we started to get a little antsy for the aid stop at the halfway point (the Fairway parking lot). I was very happy to see our volunteers with a van fully stocked with water, Gatorade, fig newtons, and other goodies. We took a quick bathroom break at Fairway. The weird looks we got were pretty funny. Was it our beeping watches or our fuel belts, I wonder?

We set off after Fairway up the greenway to the Little Red Lighthouse by the GWB. This is where the run started to feel really long. According to our route, the lighthouse was 3 miles past the Fairway stop, but it felt like 10 miles. Mary and I said that the lighthouse fairies were moving it. My hip and knee were really starting to ache. We finally arrived at the lighthouse at mile 11 and turned around. Our next landmark was Fairway (again), where we stopped briefly for water and Gatorade. After that, we kept going downtown along the water. This time, the breeze was at our backs. It was pretty crowded with cyclists and we were looking at every turnoff wondering if it was ours. By the time we arrived at 88th street, we were psychologically spent. We passed the group ahead of us at 86th street and Riverside Drive, heading west, back to our stopping point at the park. According to Mary's GPS, the run was more like 17 or 17.5 miles. I can't tell if it felt longer because the mileage was off or because my legs hurt and my mind was elsewhere.

I grabbed a sandwich and a banana before getting on the train back to Brooklyn. By then, I was in no mood for the ride back. Crowded, hot subway, 25 minute wait for the 2 train at Times Square, screaming children. I finally got home and laid around like a slug all afternoon. It was awesome, except for the knee pain. Is it possible to wrap up completely in ice packs?

I'm so glad 16 is over. Only 14 more weeks left to go until 11/7. I can't believe it. We drop down to 6-8 miles next week and then tackle 18 after that. I hope it goes more smoothly than yesterday did.