That’s how old I am today! =)

I hit the gym on my lunch break today to run 4 miles.

i have a twin! Nah! It’s just smoke and mirrors

I JUST discovered that you can select virtual workout destinations! I chose the Grand Canyon. I made a little video that I posted to Instagram.

While I was running I got a text from my friend telling me what her 2 1/2 year old daughter said.

I’m all fuh-klempt! The feeling’s mutual sweet Nicolette!

Today was supposed to be 6 miles according to god my training schedule but I knew that I just wouldn’t have the time since I was on my lunch break so 4 miles was the compromise.

After a quick shower I returned to work and whipped out my lunch. The first time in my life that the pit in my avocado broke in half. First I discovered the virtual workout destination option on the treadmill and now that the pit of an avocado can be broken in half.

the more you know

And while we’re on the topic of new discoveries…My boss has been keeping a secret. All these years I never knew he wore wild socks.

Checker socks: Check!

I stopped at the mechanic tonight to pick up my Jeep. Yep, this time it was the catalytic converter work. The repairs are really adding up and exhausting me to no end (pun intended…get it? the catalytic converter is part of the exhaust system). But I’m optimistic that this jeep will be around for many more miles. I had them change the oil too. And they placed a sticker on my windshield to remind me when my next oil change is…..

Can you believe it???!!! I’m so close to hitting 100,000 miles!

It was still relatively early (5:30pm) so I went home to grab the doodle and we drove to the park for a nice walk. We covered 1,354,321 things to sniff 1.5 miles in 30 minutes.

Running is my therapy (as I overuse in hashtag world) but lately I’ve been noticing that my anxiety seems to be getting the better of me. First it was some binge eating and frankly, just stuffing my face to suppress emotions. Today I noticed my mind was obsessed with time. I left work at 4pm on the dot. I had to walk 7 blocks to catch the bus. I had given myself 12 minutes to get to the bus stop which is plenty of time. I would walk one block and then count in my head how many more blocks to go and how many minutes left it’d take me. Seriously?! We’re talking 7 blocks….not 20! Sheesh! I just didn’t want to miss the bus and subsequently arrive at the mechanic after they closed. Needless to say all worked out well but these are some hefty red flags. I’ve got to add some other outlets…I’d run more but I don’t want to injure myself physically just to feel better emotionally =)

And so I might just cue up one of those yoga programs that I DVR’ed and try and calm that brain of mine.

Question: How do you manage anxiety? Anyone meditate? Do you reach for food when your stressed? Anyone wear wild socks? If you have a car, how many miles are you up to?

Yep, I had to start yet one more post about my gripe with the wind (I don’t beat dead horses and I don’t beat living horses because I’m humane).

OK so a little recap about how today went.

IT WAS WINDY!

And now I’ll delve a little deeper…

At 4:30am the alarm went off. I got up but this guy didn’t budge.

I got dressed, took a selfie in my messy kitchen and was on the road by 5:30am.

when your number is 20725 you know it’s gonna be a big race (over 20,000 runners big!)

I parked the car midway between the start and the finish of the NYC Half and was up and running by 6:25am. Caught this shot of the Empire State Building decked out in Green for St. Patricks Day.

Empire State Building as seen from 22nd and 7th

The plan was to run 2.5 miles before meeting my friends near the start. Well, the Garmin lost satelite because of some scaffolding so I wasn’t sure until I got home how far I actually went. I mapped it out on Runkeeper and it turns out I covered exactly 2.5! I’m guessing my pace was around 10:30-11 minute miles).

Joined my peeps (although we missed Cindy!) at 58th and 6th…JD, Lisa, Gary and Roger

Once the group met up we entered Central Park and headed to our corals. It was actually a full 1/2 mile (10 city blocks) to get to the corals! It was really crowded and we had to go through some metal detectors which I have to say was not my favorite part of the day. But it’s just part of the new normal.

Roger had his customary Sausage McMuffin and a Mountain Dew for his pre-race fuel! Gotta love it!

One last photo op before we all parted ways.

My goal for the race was to stay as close to 10:40 min miles as possible. Somehow I managed to finish in 2:15:25 which meant I ran 10:20 miles. Sweet!

But it was rough. I was cold the entire time, Central Park hills never get any easier and the wind was insane! (I think I might have touched on that already) I almost lost my hat on 3 occasions.

The race gave me a good feel though for how I want to attack my marathon next month. I walked through water stops (I think I hit 5 or 6 stops) and still maintained that 10:20 pace. My entire left side is a mess. I’m sure it’s all connected so i really nead to focus on my form and stretching and foam rolling. I felt tighness in my left glute, hamstring, and ankle. Oh, and my neck started to spasm a bit. It was definitely a combination of being cold and tense. Also, the visor on my baseball cap came down so low that I think I tilted my head back a little just to see.

I really wanted to zone out, listen to my music and just enjoy the miles but that just didn’t happen. There were glimmers here and there when I got in a groove and had a smile on my face. But even as I ran through Times Square I was just not feeling it.

Some fun sights:

• Back of a guy’s shirt that simply said “Always look on the bright side of life”. I needed to see that. Our lives are not one sided. We might have one side that isn’t so bright at the moment but we should focus on the brighter side.
• Seeing separate spectators dressed as a gorilla and a banana. I wanted to tell the gorilla that the banana was only 3 blocks away. I wish I took pictures! I also spotted Waldo (with a sign that said “you found me”)

When I crossed the finish line I knew I had only covered 15.5 miles and needed to continue running to 18.

yay done! Sort of….

But they made us walk for a long time out of the finisher’s area and by the time I got my medal and my “recovery bag” with apple, pretzels, water etc I was cranky and sore and not in the mood to run. I thought I’d start walking back uptown to my car and if I felt better i’d run. Well, I never did run. I walked for 2.5 miles, stopped at Starbucks for breakfast (I was SO hungry. Only ate one bag of sport beans and had a few sips of gatorade during the race) and to defrost.

I waited forever for this caramel macchiatto. The barista said “thank you for your patience”. I was not patient in my inside voices but i held it together

It was so cold and windy and my heat sheet wasn’t staying put:( After breakfast I continued to walk one additional mile until I FINALLY reached my car. So I did cover close to 20 miles but I only ran 15 1/2 ish….Frankly I’m ok with that. I had a great 16 miler 2 weeks ago and I still have a 20 miler to bang out in 2 weeks.

Lesson learned: ALWAYS do extra mileage BEFORE the race.

My splurge for the day. BBQ.

ribs and garlic bread! yes please!

It looks like I’ll actually be able to keep my midweek training on schedule with a 5 mile hill workout on Tuesday. Next race is the Love Run (1/2 marathon) in Philadelphia 2 weeks from today.

Question: Do you prefer big races or small? Or are you equal opportunity? I like both but I think smaller races are just easier logistically. Bigger races build excitement more though.

The doodle got a haircut:

funny that i happened to be wearing green today and then they gave him a st. paddy’s day scarf. We’re really both ready for our Leprechaun and pots of gold!

even the leash is green! He’s waiting for the possum to appear again.

These quotes struck my fancy:

RunEatRepeat posted this one today! I loved it!

take from Distant Runner’s Facebook page

Taken from Runner’s World Facebook page

take from I <3 to Run’s Facebook page

My Jeep is STILL not completely repaired. I won’t go in to the details but long story short there was a whole lot of not ordering the right part and lots of futile attempts but hopefully Saturday it’ll be good as new. I’ll have to wait while they repair it but since they said it’ll be 2-3 hours I figured I’d multitask and get in my 10 miler instead of picking at my fingernails in the waiting room.

Of course last night when I got home after picking up said unfixed Jeep I drowned my sorrows in this for dinner:

always a winning combination

yes please!

And while we’re on the subject of random dinner choices, I celebrated National Pancake Day on Tuesday with these lovely gems for dinner…

pancakes for dinner? why of course!

Meanwhile, I think I might have mentioned that I haven’t been keeping the Jeep clean lately.

the floor on the passenger side…a.k.a. the shotgun shit pile

It’s become a dumping ground for empty water bottles, and now add to that a few check-in tickets from the mechanic. Oh and one of the 3 broken umbrellas that I had been collecting still remains. I hate to let go thinking i can revive them. But my mom just told me she’s got a brand new Totes for me so i’m ready to finally say goodbye to this one. We’re supposed to have some great springlike weather this weekend and I’d give the Jeep a good cleaning both inside and out….but I have exciting plans! My “wolf pack” is headed out for a girl’s weekend in Atlantic City. We’re celebrating Lisa’s belated birthday, but more importantly it’s her IDBAC (I’m done being a cripple) extravaganza….you see she broke a bone in her foot last summer but by the time they realized it wasn’t healing on its own 3 months had gone by. And then they finally had to do surgery. She’s only now able to start wearing shoes other than sneakers. She spent months on crutches and/or in a boot. It was rough.

Here’s a pic of us last time we went to Atlantic City. It was the night Whitney Houston died. Let’s just say it was a memorable night =)

Wolfffff Packkkkkk!!!!!!

My O’hammy is feeling much better today and so I made the last minute decision to run a few miles…

The sun set and then I caught a glimpse of the moon. Life is good. And now it’s time to have a li’l dinner and then watch TV. I’m disappointed in American Idol this season. I watched last night’s performances today (love DVR) and fast forwarded through most of them. Oh well. Maybe Hoarders will be on or House Hunters.

Question: What TV shows do you watch during the week? Catch any lovely sunrises or sunsets lately? 

I’ve had on and off mild nagging hamstring soreness since last November after my PR in the Trenton half marathon just 6 days after finishing the NYC Marathon. It tends to appear after runs longer than 10 miles. And it lasts a few days. Ironically my groin pain never appears at the same time. They graciously alternate flare ups =)

I worked from home today and stayed off my feet as much as possible, iced and elevated the leg and wore compression shorts under my jeans. I’m definitely skipping tomorrow’s run and i’ll see if i’m feeling ok on Thursday.

The NYC Half marathon is in less than 2 weeks, the day before St. Patrick’s day and I’m actually running an extra 5 miles to make it an 18 mile training run so I have to get the O’Hammy healed in time, or else I’ll be crying in my green beer.

wishing on a pot-o-gold for fast healing!

no tears in the beer!

Duncan’s excited for green beer biscuits too

green biscuit please!

OK, now on to some big props to a girl I met last February. Her name is Leah and she’s an amazing marathoner. We both were part of a Dicks Sporting Goods photo shoot for National Runner’s Month.

I didn’t know much about her when we first met other than she lived in Little Rock and worked at a running store. We got to talking because I was running the Little Rock half marathon a few weeks later and she was telling me all about the marathon/half marathon course and the crazy big medals they give out. A week later I received my handbook in the mail and there on page 4 was a list of previous winners. Ahem, miss Leah held the title of top female for 4 years and I saw she’d be running it again. So after finishing my half I went to the finish line to hopefully catch her finish but as time went on I knew something seemed wrong. Unfortunately she tore a hamstring and had to drop back to the half and not complete the full. She then went on to have surgery to repair the leg. I followed her recovery through Facebook. Always with the most amazing sense of humor and optimism. She posted photos of her tricked out crutches and how she managed to get around in those first few weeks via her “wheels”. Well just yesterday I’m happy to say she came back to claim her title and finished top female at the Little Rock Marathon for the 5th time. It was 30 degrees and freezing rain and she still pulled out a 2:42 (she set a course PR of of 2:37 in 2012). And today she announced she was asked to run with the elite women at the Boston Marathon. I am so grateful to have met her and will always be in awe of her great, fun personality and her amazing athletic talent. Oh, and instead of her name printed on her bib she had them put Frankenbooty (I’m guessing that’s because she’s got scars from her surgery).

Go Leah! (photo: Little Rock Marathon Facebook)

So now I’m going to watch some mindless T.V. and ice the hamstring a bit.

Happy Monday!

Question: Any plans for St. Patricks Day? Does anyone know where I can get myself a Pot-O-Gold? Any suggestions for healing a hamstring strain?