Hi there,

It’s Thursday. I love Thursdays because it’s my day off.

Last year on this day it was 12.12.12. Today is 12.12.13 and tomorrow is 12.13.13 (Friday the 13th! Are you superstitious?) If there were a 13th month what would we call it? Where did the months of the year get their names anyway? And why am I talking about this?

I had plans to go Christmas shopping with a friend at some outlet stores at 11am so I got up early, put my coffee in a travel mug, bundled up and took the dog out first to the park because I am the best doggie mom (according to the dog anyways).

Then I went out for a brisk 5 mile run. I love cold weather running. It was 21 degrees (RealFeel of 12).

Christmas shopping on a weekday is just so much more civilized. And since the outlets we went to are outdoor (vs a mall) and with the temps in the 20s we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. No lines! There was just one unfortunate aspect of the day…my credit card is bleeding out. It was abused and I feel no remorse (yet).

Confession: This is not the first time I’ve gone outlet shopping during the holidays and spent more money on myself than for the gifts I should have been buying for other people. Yes, I’m afraid this has become an annual tradition and I’m not proud of it. My excuse is that I’m not one to spend a lot on myself during the course of the year (except for running registration fees of course) but come December, I go nuts.

It really started on Cyber Monday when I ordered that trampoline. (Which came yesterday—YAY—except it was missing a leg—BOO!—but I called the company’s customer service and they’re mailing me the missing leg—YAY! I’ll report back on how I like it in a future post.)

Then last night I went to a Touchstone Crystal jewelry party. I fell in love with this pendant necklace so I bought it.

Today’s purchases included a whole bunch of winter gear from Columbia Sportswear because I’ll be doing a lot of running in the winter. Some of the items were originally $130 and marked down to $50. Others were $65 marked down to $20. Have I mentioned how much I love outlets?

The black vest (4th from left above) is a lighter weight with a hood. It’s going to make the perfect extra layer of a long sleeve tech shirt when I’m running in 20 degree weather for sure. And that light blue jacket (2nd from left above) has soft cuffs with thumbholes! I LOVE thumbholes.

Then I bought not one, but 2 pairs of sunglasses.

I scored a pair of Oakley Break Point sunglasses for $45 (original price was $130)  and then I got a pair of Maui Jim Ho’okipa Sport sunglasses for running. They definitely were not a bargain but since the Oakley’s were practically free…..ok I’m rationalizing. =)

Oh and I got Lucky at Lucky Brand Jeans. A sweet leopard print ipad case for $9.97, some cute earings at 50% off and 2 pairs of really awesome “baby” boot cut jeans that were buy one pair get the second 1/2 price. They are soft and stretchy (think a combination of denim and leggings) and the darkest indigo which really flatter my athletic runner’s thighs =) Finding good jeans is as awesome as eating an ice cream sundae for breakfast!

So all in all a great day. The season is quickly spinning into a frenzy of events….I’ve got the 15K tomorrow morning, a holiday party on Sunday, and 2 holiday parties next week back to back. I’m making a pact with myself to remain true to my blog’s title and not sweat the small stuff but rather sweat out the small stuff. I don’t want to lose sight of the spirit of this time of year by being overwhelmed and worried about “fitting it all in”.

My dearest friend Sue who is a writer and an animal lover (she doesn’t run but I love her anyway) has been writing over at Writeawaysue. If you’d like a nice mix of humor, inspiration and some “reality check—life could be worse” go take a read.

Question: What are your weekend plans? Are you behind with your holiday preparations/decorating/shopping? Running any races? Anyone start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions?

Tricked you! I don’t have the BEST way to deal with stress and worry although I tend to think running is up there along with chocolate of any kind….

Seriously though, I just read this article in Fitness magazine and found it interesting for sure. Decision fatigue? I’d never heard of that. But it makes sense. I’ve always been the indecisive type, but didn’t know that even mundane decisions like what to wear or what to eat for lunch could zap my energy leaving me more vulnerable to stress and worry. Then there’s the “toxic thought spiral”. I know that well. I think I was in that spiral for most of 2010 (blame that one on a boy who left out some serious details about his relationship status. I couldn’t stop the obsessive thoughts about why things didn’t work out. I wasn’t pretty enough, or smart enough or whatever enough. A year later I found out and now I look back and laugh at the whole situation but I truly zapped a lot of my energy with all the useless spiraling.) The article suggests doing something that lets you concentrate on your movements like spin or Zumba to break the obsessive thought spiral. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I found running and it’s theraputic effect on me. It’s been 9 days since I last ran and I’m thinking I’ll need a quick “hit” soon.

Over the weekend I learned of some troubling health news—one involving a human and one involving a dog—both very dear to me. It got me spiraling for a bit. Nothing worse than feeling helpless when people (and pooches) you care about are hurting and you can’t fix it. I knew I needed to do something. So even though it was drizzly and foggy I took an hours’ ride to the State Line Lookout area, a section of the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey and went on a short hike with Duncan. It wasn’t the 7 or 8 mile hike I’ve been really wanting to conquer but nonetheless, enough miles to get my mind back to a balanced state. And the weather actually made for some mystical magical looking photos.

It was so quiet. At one point Duncan and I stopped to have a snack and all you could hear was our crunching.

A few more pics…

It was so foggy that you couldn’t see Manhattan’s skyline behind me.

After our hike, Duncan and I drove about 20 minutes north to check on my friend’s mom. She’s 90 years old young and while I was just there to keep her company for a few hours she took great care of me! She made me fresh coffee when I arrived and after chatting and watching some TV she cooked me dinner! It was lovely. Made me miss my grandparents. I haven’t enjoyed the company of a senior in a while.

I’m feeling recovered enough that I’d like to start tossing in a few easy runs this week. Lots of bloggers were running marathons and half marathons this weekend and it was super fun to track them and hear their recaps. But now I’m anxious to start training for my next one. In the meantime I’ll keep cross-training with the doodle. It’s actually fun to spend so much time with him. So long as it isn’t another National Squirrel Convention anytime soon =)

How was your weekend? Anyone have the monday blues? Anyone run this weekend?

 

I spent 2 hours walking through the park on Thursday scoping out a perfect spot for a Christmas family photo shoot I’ll be doing today. It should have been a perfect day. The weather was crisp and sunny. I brought Duncan and my camera.

I found a small area of picket fence by the lake. Tried to get a test shot with the dog. He wasn’t enthused. I was late getting the memo that there was a National Squirrel Convention being held at the park.

Seriously! Duncan was in his glory chasing squirrels. But that left me one cranky pants. Dogs must be leashed after 9am meaning every time he chased a squirrel, I got dragged with him (and so did my camera). I also hadn’t eaten anything so now add “hangry” (hungry and angry) to the list. Then there was my nose that wouldn’t stop running. I had no tissues. It wasn’t pretty.

It felt good to be on my feet for 2 solid hours and not have any pain. It’s the most “exercise” I’ve done since completing my half last Saturday. Tomorrow I’m going to take a li’l hike with the hound because I want to abide by #7 from this post and then next week I’ll figure out what’s what. Maybe some elliptical or rowing machine or just some walking. I don’t think I’m ready to run yet.

I hope you are all having a swell weekend (did I just say swell?).

Question: What is your perfect day gone wrong story? 

I woke up this morning 4 pounds lighter! While that’s kinda cool, it’s also I sign I didn’t hydrate and refuel properly. More on that later.

My morning started at 5am when I woke up before both my alarms. I took advantage of the extra half hour to play around with where to pin my memory/support ribbons.

I showered and got dressed, took the pooch out, had a soft pretzel and some coffee and water and headed out at 7:45 to drop the pooch at my friends’ house.

About an hour later I was parking my car about 1/2 mile from the runner entrance. (It’s a huge plus to live on Staten Island for this event). There was added security this year which I was happy to see. Then on I went into the start village!

I knew from running in 2011 that the start village area is crazy! There are 40-50,000 people—half of whom are from other countries and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to meet up with all my running peeps. (they all traveled on the ferry) I texted a few but the reception was probably a bit on overload. I did manage to connect with a FaceBook friend Kevin (from a running event group) and so I just put my phone in airplane mode to preserve battery and we hung around talking, taking pictures and trying to stay warm. It was very windy.

It was much easier to stay calm this time around. In 2011 I was as nervous as a bowl of jello. It was my first full marathon and I really didn’t know what to expect. Probably not a great idea to run the largest marathon in the world for your first?! Go big or go home I suppose. Oh wait, I WAS home. LOL!

When Wave 4 started, Kevin and I stayed with the 4:45 pacers. I was being really bold as my current PR is 4:48 and that is on a fairly flat course. My plan was to stay with them until the halfway point (on the Pulaski Bridge) and then re-assess. I knew there was a 5 hour pacer behind me that I could fall back to. (yup the exact opposite of what they tell you to do at the pace table at the expo.)

The course itself:

Miles 1-2 The Verrazano Bridge: Well if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know how I love my VZ Bridge

I got to run on the upper level which made me giddy. (did you see the video I posted yesterday?) I’ll never forget these miles. My first mile was 11:03 which was the uphill and my second mile 9:55 on the downhill

 

Miles 2-12 Brooklyn: Staying with the pace group seemed to be the right choice. I was in a groove keeping splits right around 10:40 for these miles. Most of this stretch is fairly flat and straight and there is the most amazing energy from bands and spectators. I was loving it all except the aid stops. The pacers weren’t really slowing down much through the aid stops and while there was plenty of pre-poured cups of gatorade the water seemed to be more in demand and I found myself standing there and waiting for a volunteer to pour water from a gallon container into a cup to hand to me. But i was feeling so energetic that I’d speed up to catch up to them.

Miles 13-16 Pulaski Bridge/halfway point thru Queensboro Bridge: I was smiling and running and enjoying the even splits still around 10:40 and as I crossed over the Pulaski Bridge I decided to get in front of one of the photographers. I leaned to the right to make sure he saw me and although I got a cute shot, I felt a twinge in my lower back that never left. (It’s still a little sore this morning). #dumbmove

Mile 14 was relatively uneventful. Then it was time to start climbing the Queensboro Bridge. It was at this point that I finally saw the 4:45 pace group pull away. I had already stayed with them for longer than I wanted and I decided to take my first walk break. I had 10+miles to go and knew I needed to be smart. It was quite wild on that bridge. An international running group pushing a disabled runner came by singing in a language other than english and it reminded me of how so may people come from so far to be a part of this. I took a little video. Check it out here.

Miles 16-20: First Avenue: I actually kept decent splits for most of these miles. Slower but not like I was out of gas, just a little less energetic. I got to see a former coworker Marissa. She grabbed this pic of me.

When you come off the Queensboro bridge you enter 1st ave which is nicknamed the “of sound”. It’s a hot spectator spot and it goes for miles literally! I can’t begin to tell you how many people screamed my name.

Mile 20-23: Willis Ave Bridge/Bronx/Madison Ave Bridge: I actually started to have a mini “crumble” just as I was approaching the “wall” that they say runners hit at Mile 20. But I knew my good friend Elvia was there in her Super-Rican costume with her posse and an amazing special aid stop with coca cola and peanut m&m’s. I got to see Colleen and Cindy too! It was a nice little happy reunion to snap me out of feeling the “crumble”

 

So now I just had to get back into Manhattan via the Madison Avenue Bridge and bring it home. You know if you read this post that I finally decided to use my ipod and couldn’t get it to work. So I drew my strength again from the crowd.

Miles 23-26.2: Engineer’s gate entrance into Central Park to the Finish: MiI started to cry as I entered the park. I put my hand over my face and just sobbed. I was overcome with emotion (I’m ALWAYS overcome with emotion. LOL) I was exhausted and there was some sort of cramp happening at the quad muscle right above my knee that left me unsteady. I kept thinking my leg was going to give out. There was a photo op spot and I just decided to be overdramatic document how crappy I felt. I call this my “ugh-shot”.

I looked at my watch and then at mile marker 24 and realized if I could just hang on to a sub 12 pace for 2.2 miles I’d break 5 hours!!! (my B goal). Well, that was it…I was off! I even got to see my cousin and her son at the last stretch before the finish. Totally a lovely surprise.

I did it! I finished in 4:57

I only took in half my fuel during the race (i had 2 packs of sport beans but didn’t eat the bag and a half of Honey Stinger chews) and switched it up between water and gatorade at most aid stops. I’ve just come to the conclusion that I hate to fuel while running. Whatever. I’ll deal.

Now it was time to exit the park. I chose the “early exit” option that allows you to bypass the gear bag pickup. Unfortunately it wasn’t really an early exit. They still made us walk up to 77th street when the family reunion area was down at 66th street. (and I was meeting my dad at my cousin’s apartment on 64th street). But we got our nifty poncho’s which really did keep me warm.

Post race my appetite really didn’t come until 10pm! (I finished just before 4pm). So I had an apple, some carrots with hummus, a few crackers with cheese, some homemade spanikopita that my cousin made, some seltzer, tea and a glass of wine.

By the way, I need to give props to this product!

Now if i finished 4 minutes later I don’t know what would have happened. LOL!

So an amazing accomplishment happened yesterday. My friend Lisa (the Lisa who inspired me to start running in the first place (go check out this video to learn our story) completed her 50th marathon yesterday AND she PR’d!!!! 4:52!! I wanted to give her big props!!!!

Today I finally got my appetite back. Woke up at 5am and made eggs and turkey bacon. Then for lunch I took care of replenishing my sodium at lunch.

So there you have it! Now I’ve got to recover and be ready to run a half marathon on Saturday.

Question: What are your favorite post race meals?