Two Week Recap (A DNS and Video Crack)

Monday (3/9/15) - 7.54 miles
Tuesday (3/10/15) - 7.54 miles
Thursday (3/12/15) - 8 miles.  I was finally able to run my regular 8 mile loop because most of the snow melted.
Friday (3/13/15) - 8 miles
Saturday (3/14/15) - 5 miles in 40:56, an 8:11 pace at the gym because it was raining.  I actually was registered to run the Kings Park 15k (Here's last year's Kings Park 15k review) that morning, but was not dedicated enough to do it in the rain.

Weekly Total: 35 miles

Monday (3/16/15) - 8 miles
Wednesday (3/18/15) - 8 miles
Saturday (3/21/15) - 3.9 miles.  I started out feeling great.  It snowed overnight and again during the first couple of miles.  The streets looked beautiful, despite my annoyance and boredom with the snow after this white winter.  Unfortunately, by the third mile, my breathing became so labored I needed to cut short my intended 8 miler.  Thursday night I thought my allergies were acting up, but it turned into a bona fide head/chest cold.

Weekly Total: 19.9 miles (!!??....whatever)

I need to stop watching this.  Must...Look...Away....

Shorts!!!

I can't put into words how excited I am to be wearing shorts again!!!  Let me try: Yay!!

Tuesday (3/3/15) - 7.54 miles
Wednesday (3/4/15) - 7.54 miles
Friday (3/6/15) -7.54 miles
Saturday and Sunday - Got caught up in the kids' activities.  Slacker weekend.
Monday (3/9/15) - 7.54 miles.  While running up Seaman Avenue, a woman in a minivan ran a stop sign as she made a right turn onto Seaman.  I almost literally ran into her car.  I gave her my signature "Are you a fucking fuck for brains?" look, but she was denied the pleasure of receiving it because she was completely clueless.  The woman in the car behind her actually stopped alongside me to tell me she saw what happened and also thought the minivan driver was a fucking fuck for brains (she might have used different words).  I passed another runner on Grand Avenue in Baldwin.  He went to give me a high-5.  I reacted too slowly and instead got my shoulder slapped.  Oops.  Great run overall mainly because of the shorts.

Weekly Total Mileage - 30.16 all outdoors

F*@k You, NYC Marathon! (Just Kidding) (A Little)

Thwarted once again from running the New York City Marathon.  This is my third non-consecutive attempt through their total bullshit (no, I'm not bitter!) lottery system.  Other than wanting to run through the greatest city on Earth, this year the marathon falls on my birthday. What better way to spend a birthday than to have one million spectators cheering for you (wow, that sounds kind of needy and pathetic)?  Well, it wasn't meant to be this year.  Perhaps Mary Wittenberg hates me?  Maybe the last time I was rejected and talked a bunch of smack about the New York Road Runners got back to her.  Maybe I shouldn't keep boasting about Boston being the best marathon ever.  Whatever the inexcusable, spiteful reason (because that's how I choose to look at it) I did not make it, I won't let it deter me.  I will run that Godforsaken race if it's the last thing I do!  As God as my witness!  (I tend to channel Scarlett O'Hara when I'm feeling dramatic.  Right now Tara's Theme is playing in the back of my head as I pump my fist in the air)

Moving on.  The St. George Marathon registration opens April 1.  This is also a lottery, but my chances of getting in are much greater than the aforementioned dumb (uh huh) race.  I actually am excited about running this race.  I camped in Salt Lake City while driving across country with a girlfriend after college and it is one of the most beautiful (and cleanest) places on the planet.  The scenery is magnificent and the course is seriously downhill.  You lose 2,500 feet in altitude from start to finish.  This isn't as easy as it sounds because pounding down hills can shred your quadricep muscles.  But, I'm always game for a challenge.

Giddyup!

The Run-by

I ran 10.6 miles on Saturday at the State University of New York, Old Westbury campus.  One loop on the campus' main ring road is four miles.  If you venture off to the Empire State College campus, you can add another two miles of beautiful horse country.  I like to do the six mile loop, followed by the four.  The campus is a popular venue for cyclists and runners who like to incorporate hills into their training.  There weren't too many others out there at 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon.  I did encounter one cyclist riding in the opposite direction as me (because I was running against traffic and he was riding with it)...four times.  The first time we passed each other, we waved and smiled politely.  The second time it was just a nod and a smile.  The third time, just a smile.  The fourth time was, "Enough already.  I'm sick of you."

Generally, I'm very friendly when I see other runners in my neighborhood, a common occurrence.  There are a lot of runners in my town and it's nice to acknowledge their efforts when we're pounding the pavement together.  Sometimes I know them, sometimes they're familiar faces without names, or other times they're complete strangers.  I don't usually repeat loops, so it is rare that I will see the same runner more than once on a particular run.  Most runners return the wave, but sometimes there are those who are in "the Zone" and don't want to be interrupted by niceties.  Seeing the same person twice is kind of fun.  It's like, "Hey you!  You're doing a long workout!  Cool!  Me too."  Seeing him a third time is like, "Yup, we're still at it."  A fourth time?  "Is this the only street you know or what?!"

How do you handle the "run-by"?  Are you a social moron like myself who sometimes feels awkward in these situations?  Do you wave or do you ignore?

Sunday (2/22/15) - 6 miles

Monday (2/23/15) - 7.54 miles

Wednesday (2/25/15) -7.54 miles

Thursday (2/26/15) - 6.4 miles

Saturday ( 2/28/15) - 10.61 miles

Total Mileage - 38.1 miles (so close to 40....!)

A Bridge Over the River East

The Williamsburg Bridge by night

(NY - pictures.com)

Wednesday (2/18/15) - 7.54 mile loop

Thursday (2/19/15) - 10 miles (8 mile loop, followed by a 2 miler), 24 degrees & windy

Friday (2/20/15) - 3.8 miles in Brooklyn.  Ran with a friend across the Williamsburg Bridge at 7:30pm.  The temperature was between 20-22 degrees.  The sky was clear so we got a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline.  There's a pedestrian/cycling path above the roadway and alongside the subway tracks.  The incline and decline of the bridge were not difficult, just enough to work your different muscles.  Just one other runner out and a couple of walkers (not of the AMC variety).

( bikeablecommunities.og)

(Getty Images)

Saturday (2/21/15) - Went out on the town after the Willy B run the night before and didn't come home until pretty, pretty late.  Intended mileage: 6-8.  Result: 2 unsatisfying naps

Sunday (2/22/15) - We got about 3-5 inches of snow on Saturday night.  The temperature on Sunday was close to 40.  The streets were just a wet, slushy mess.  6 miles at the gym on their treadmill because I still have the membership until early April.  And because it's the gym treadmill.

Monday (2/23/15) - 7.54 mile loop at 3:00pm in 20 degrees.  The sidewalks were very icy because of the previous day's conditions.  The streets were fine.

Total weekly mileage - 34.88 miles

(Sub)Urban Mudder

The latest trend in racing these past few years has been the themed race.  It started with the Tough Mudder, a race with military boot camp-like obstacles.  This attracted me for five minutes because as you might or might not know, I consider myself to be a hardcore poser.  The idea of wall climbing, mud crawling, and burpees is strangely attractive to me.  Electrocution and tractor pulling, not so much.   The popularity of the Tough Mudder races quickly led to the Spartan Races which led to the zombie races to the color runs and so on and so forth.   Who knew there were so many fellow masochists out there?

The older I get, however, the more prone I am to injury.  I could break a hip!  I also seem to be training for a marathon every year so the last thing I want to do is sprain an ankle (or break a hip!) in the months leading up to a big race.  So basically, I am adamantly against racing any of these obstacle events...unless your name is Slim.  And you ask me.  Actually, Slim texted me the other night about doing the Urban Mudder in New York City this July.  I said yes (immediately) because, well it's Slim.  He is one of my best friends in the world who also happens to also be an amazing athlete.  He holds the 800 meter record at our university.  Not a college, but a university.  Meaning a lot of students.  He probably could have gone to the Olympics if he hadn't torn his hamstring in his junior year.  Today he no longer is the long and lean track star he once was in college, instead he is a buff gym rat and former United States Marine.  Essentially, the guy I want on my team.

The Urban Mudder will take place on Randall's Island under the Ed Koch Bridge.  Mr. Freighbor, Pete, and I ran the Nike Human Race there in 2008.  The course was reminiscent of the original Escape From New York.  I expected Kurt Russell to jump out from behind a graffitied pylon wearing an eye patch and snarling.  This seems like it will be the perfect setting for the Mudder race.  A partial urban wasteland, chock full of abandoned cars, broken bottles, and the place where concrete highway dividers go to die.  As long as I don't have to rub city rats all over my body or swim in an ice cold 12 feet deep pool  of mud - with rats, I think it will be blast.  We already have about ten other people wanting to be on our team.  More likely they want to be on Slim's team.  I'm just along for the pain.

Friday (2/13/15) - 5 miles outside

Saturday (2/14/15) - 6.5 miles outside

Monday (2/16/15) - 6.4 miles outside.  What treadmill?

Tread Softly And Carry A Big Box

I pretty much wanted to get a treadmill my entire adult life which is as long as I've been running.  Imagine the convenience!  Rain?  No problem!  I can run on my treadmill!  Snow?  No worries, I have my very own private treadmill.  Baby Girl is home from school?  I can run while she watches Caillou!  I could even run in my pajamas or underwear!  This dream never actually seemed like a reality, however.  The last time I mentioned it to Pete around Christmas, he dismissed the idea because of the expense and suggested I join the gym instead.  But what about all the money we could save on gym memberships?!  I joined the gym.  Fast forward to Pete's North American Tour 2015 (Check Stub Hub to see if he'll be in your city!).  Sanibel showed me a Nordictrack online that was on sale for just one more day.  I explained how her father said no to which she replied, "No, I talked to him.  He said get it."  What?!  Seriously?  Well, let me take a look at that again, child!  I will not ask questions.  I know better.  I'm thinking he was feeling guilty for being away from the children for so long.  Who cares, really?  Finally, I'm getting a treadmill!

Sanibel picked out the Nordictrack C1630.  The tranquil, Zen demo video on the website not only makes it look like the best treadmill ever created by man, but when it was over I contemplated converting to Buddhism.  The two features that grabbed me were the "Decline Option", as well as Incline, and the virtual running via iFit.  iFit is an app that allows you to create routes, compete with other runners, and run virtually in other cities (wink wink).  The only other time I did a virtual treadmill run was at the Disney Vero Beach Property two years ago.  I loved it.  I ran through the woods in Bavaria and didn't worry once about a hungry family of bears or murderers chasing me!  So we purchased the Nordictrack before the weekend sale was over ($1299 down from $2499).

The delivery company called me the following week to schedule the arrival date.  We agreed on Friday.  The man on the phone also let me know that it is curbside delivery.  Oh, and the box weighs about 300 pounds, he said.  Oh nononono, I'm home alone.  There's no way I'll be able to get it into my house.  I briefly thought that it likely wouldn't get stolen, though.  But then, it's winter and there's snow.  And then I stopped thinking about leaving the treadmill at the end of my driveway indefinitely.  Okay, bringing it into the house will be extra, the man said,  then we said goodbye.  I wasn't quite sure how we left it.

Friday morning the delivery guys called.  They said that we would be their second stop.  The first would be Freighbors!  Coincidentally, they too were getting a treadmill on the same day.  They live two houses down from me.  Freighbor texted me that they gave the guys $100 to bring their treadmill down to their basement.  Our plan was to put it in my bedroom.  I did not trust my adorable, but Godzilla-like destructive children in a room alone for any amount of time with the treadmill.  The enormous tractor trailer truck inched down to my house.  The two guys brought the couch/coffin/piano/stretch limousine sized box up the stairs.  Barely.  At one point, I thought the guy on the bottom of the box was going to be crushed and die in front of me.  Thankfully, he survived.  The treadmill, however, was not going to make it into my bedroom.  They could not make the necessary turn in the hallway.  Wait!  How about the basement?  Desperate times called for desperate measures.  Suddenly, getting this monolith out of my upstairs hallway and bringing it anywhere trumped possible Godzilla-like destruction.  I brought Survivor Guy downstairs.  He immediately said it would not be possible to use the incline/decline mechanism because of the low ceiling.  Foiled again!  So in the end, it went in my eight-year old son's bedroom.

When Sanibel came home from school, she was anxious to put it together.  I was not.  We managed to get it out of the box and eventually in the corner where it would make the most sense.  I will spare you the gory details of its construction.  The directions were mostly straightforward and almost all of the screws fit their designated holes.  We experienced one snafu because someone (I won't name names, but it wasn't me) forgot to tighten the screws before putting the console on.  Luckily, my friend's very patient and kind husband fixed this for us later.

So far I ran on it twice.  Sanibel uses it more often than I do.  I had difficulty using the virtual run function because it doesn't exist on our model.  That was an unpleasant discovery.  I also have not found the pace display.  I'll look it up when I get a chance.  How were my two runs?  To be honest, they sucked.  Maybe I shouldn't have run immediately after having a celebratory beer and ice cream sandwich once we finished building it.  The second run was under much more reasonable circumstances.  It still sucked.  I'm hoping the acquisition of a new wall mounted flat screen TV will make running on it more desirable for me.  At least, Sanibel is getting use out of it.  And my son has a new place to hang his clothes on.

Thursday (2/5/15) - 6.4 miles outside
Friday (2/6/15) - 6.4 miles outside
Saturday (2/7/15) - 3 treadmill miles
Monday (2/9/15) - 3.34 treadmill miles
Tuesday (2/10/15) -7.54 miles outside
Wednesday (2/11/15) - 7.54 miles outside

Total Mileage - 34.22

Wet Socks? Get Over It.

Thursday (1/29/15) - 6.4 mile loop in the snow

Saturday (1/31/15) - 4 miles in 28 degrees and windy

Sunday (2/1/15) - 10.2 miles in 35 degrees.  8 mile loop, then 2 mile loop

Tuesday (2/3/15) - 4 miles at the gym in 33:15, an 8:19 pace

Thursday (2/5/15) - 6.4 miles the moment the windy snow died down (10:45am).  I had enough time for a nice, slow run before I had to pick up Baby from pre-school.  No music.  I stepped in a deep puddle with my right foot near my 3 mile mark.  It was as cold and soggy and uncomfortable as you might imagine.  I contemplated cutting my run short to a 4 miler.  I wondered if I would get frostbite if I didn't.  Right where I would turn off, I realized I actually felt terrific.  Maybe my sock froze a little bit because it no longer felt squishy.  I kept going.  No regrets.

Total Mileage - 31

Running In A Winter Wonderland

Wednesday (1/21/15) -  6.4 mile loop in neighborhood untimed.

Thursday (1/22/15) - 6.4 mile loop.

Friday (1/23/15 - 6.4 mile loop.

Saturday (1/24/15) - 4 miles, 31:34, 7:56 pace.  Speed work on the treadmill at the gym.  8 x 400s at 8.4-8.9 speeds with 7 speed recovery runs in between.

Sunday (1/25/15) - 7.09 miles, 59:20, 8:22 pace at SUNY Old Westbury.  Started run at 3:30pm at 39 degrees.  The temperature dropped down to 36 degrees by the end of the run.  I dressed inappropriately, wearing only shorts, a tech turtle neck neck with a long sleeve cotton shirt over it, and a baseball cap.  I was chilly throughout the run, never really warming up completely.  I passed only a couple of other runners on the campus, both covered from head to toe in winter running gear.  Later, one of those runners posted on the Greater Long Island Running Club (GLIRC) Facebook page that he recognized me from earlier, pointing out my shorts.  This morning a different runner reassured me that I had made the right decision because he had worn shorts that day, too.  I like that explanation.

Monday (1/26/15) - Regular day off.

Tuesday (1/27/15) - The "Worst Snow Storm of All Time" (more like "Worst Snow Storm of the Week") hit the east coast overnight.  The Governor and New York City Mayor declared a State of Emergency.  The 24-hour news channels were giddy about the impending doom.   I almost got a little panicky about getting trapped on Long Island during Snow Laughing Matter (My alternative to the overused "Snowmageddon" and "Snowpocalypse").  They were closing mass transit and all bridges and tunnels by 11pm Monday night.  When I awoke Tuesday morning, I expected to see my neighbors, who had turned into zombie yetis while I was sleeping, shuffling to my house looking for an Aimée appetizer and kids meals, literally.  Instead, I found 12 inches of powder.  It was easy enough to shovel with a little help from my freighbor at the end (Good timing on his part?).  Freighbor and I were shoveling snow, by the way, because Pete is conveniently on a road trip odyssey to Utah via Florida (Did I mention he was geographically impaired?  Probably not because I, too, was unaware of his disability until the day he mapped out his itinerary.).  The kids spent the day playing outside.  And my 14-year old dog reverted back to puppyhood, pouncing and burying his nose like he was hunting for wabbits.

I waited until my son's friend went home, then headed out the door at 4:30pm.  I was excited to run in the new snow.  It was 27 degrees and sunny.  I wore long leggings, my Avalanche pullover with a heattech turtleneck underneath, gloves, a wool hat, and my wool Pearl Izumi socks.  I ran confidently on mostly packed down snow because of my Yaktrax.  Not one slip or fall.  I stayed mostly on the sidewalks because there wasn't enough room in the streets and I didn't want to risk a car not being able to stop in case of an emergency.  My biggest hurdles were the snowbanks at the corners and the handful of sidewalks that weren't shoveled.  Other than these, I had a fantastic run.  I chose not to run with music so all I could hear were my footfalls on the crunchy snow and my breathing.  The crisp air felt fresh on my face and in my lungs.  The sky was a beautiful pink at sunset, and then a muted violet.  I felt fantastic for the duration.  Unfortunately, I left my cell phone at home so no photos.  Just imagine a winter wonderland with me running in the middle.  Good, you got it.

Lucky for me, NBCNews4 Chopper captured last night's sunset much better than I ever could. 

 I almost forgot to mention the man driving past me who shouted, "You're my hero!" out his car window.  That was nice.

Total Miles - 37.09

Making Plans

After my unspectacular effort at the Sayville Run to the Brewery, I came to a conclusion.  Despite my twice weekly speed workouts,  I did not really get any faster.  On paper, I PR'd, but in reality my pace was actually slower than the previous ten miler I ran in the spring of 2013.  That race, the Long Beach Mayor's Trophy Race was measured incorrectly.  It wound up being 10.118 miles which may not seem like much of a difference, but my pace was actually slightly faster than this past weekend's race (7:54 vs. 7:57).  I maintained my speed, but I did not improve upon it.  The conclusion I came to was low mileage.  Leading up to the race, I was alternating between up to 30 miles one week and less than 20 for others.  Basically, my miles were halved since pre-Boston.

So what am I going to do about it?  Well, I'm cranking it up, baby.  I will bring my base back up to at least 40 miles per week.  The best way for "Me of So Little Motivation" to do this is to sign up for future races for some incentive.  I am officially signed up for the Runner's Edge 3x2 Relay Race in February, the Kings Park 15k in March, the More Magazine Women's Half Marathon in April and...the New York City Marathon.  Well,  I put my name into the New York City Marathon lottery...again (This is my third attempt after being rejected twice in the past.  The attempts have not been consecutive, however, so I don't qualify for the now defunct Three Strikes and You're In policy).  Applications are being accepted until February 15 and then the lottery will be drawn on March 3, months earlier than in the past.  If I don't get in, I am going to apply to the St. George Marathon in Utah (where I already have hotel reservations...just in case).  I will have a better idea of my plans much sooner in the year than I expected.  Oh, and the NYC marathon happens to fall on my birthday this year.  I'm not holding my breath, but that would make for a pretty cool birthday party.  

Am I gray or grey?

Wednesday - 6.4 miles (untimed)

Thursday - 6.4 miles (untimed)

I will be focusing on adding miles and not speed until my official training begins.  The only way I know how to do this is to run without my watch.  The end.