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NYC Half 2015 recap: I took a leap of faith

16. March 2015 · 7 comments · Categories: injury, running, Uncategorized · Tags: half marathon, NYC Half, runners knee, running, times square

Hi peeps.

Welcome to Monday. So much to tell you. Let’s see last we spoke it was Friday the 13th and I was headed to Dr. Williams for more knee work. That went well.

heat first—then torture

The lovely waiting room. I always sit in the turquoise chair

I told him my plan for the NYC Half and he actually encouraged me to run more than 4 if I could. Love him! I high-tailed it out of his office and downtown to the NYC Half Expo where I met up with Lisa.

Love this clever cropping that the stranger who took our photo did. He probably didn’t do it on purpose but it’s funny to see half of a NYC Half sign. =)

I got my bib and bought some fuel and then headed home. I took duncan for a quick evening walk since I knew the forecast for Saturday was going to be rain.all.day.

6:30pm and we’re taking a stroll. This is the best part of Daylight Savings

Saturday I woke up and did some retouching to some headshots I took for a brokerage firm a few weeks ago. Then I spent a couple of hours doing laundry, cleaning and eventually I started to pack up all my gear that I would need for the NYC Half plus an overnight bag and drove to the boyfriend’s house. We had dinner over at my brother and sister-in-law’s house and stayed out a bit later than I would have wanted if I was in full focus training/running mode. But since I figured most of my race would be walking I wasn’t too worried. Plus I don’t normally sleep well the night before a race. Always nervous I’ll oversleep or forget something.

OK now on to the recap of the 2015 NYC Half

Alarm sounds 4:15am. Ouch! That’s early. But I managed to sleep walk my way to my gear and suit up and was out the door by 5am to go catch a train into to the city.

4:30 am…before coffee…so flattering.lol.

I hadn’t had breakfast yet so when I arrived at Penn Station I popped into Starbucks for a petite vanilla bean scone and some coffee.

Say hello to my little Vanilla Bean friend. (taken from Starbucks website)

The scone is only 120 calories. It’s one of my favorite treats. I’ll have to learn how to bake them someday. I know I know not smart to eat something new on race day. But it all worked out fine. I sipped my coffee as I walked the block from Penn Station to the subway (the F train) that I would take up to Central Park. There was a man from Argentina who was running the NYC Half for the first time so I gave him advice on what train to take. I also let him know the course 411.

• Rolling hills in Central Park from mile 1-6!

• Crazy awesome energy thru Times Square. from mile 6-8

• Wind along the West Side Highway miles 8-12.

• Prepare for your Garmin to have difficulty tracking properly through Times Square and also mile 12 goes into a tunnel. (side note: my Garmin ended up saying it was more than 13.5 miles)

• Fast and flat from mile 6 to the finish.

• Heaviest recovery food bag ever (thanks to a huge bottle of water and Gatorade, plus an apple, pretzels and maybe a brick or something)

Hopefully he did well. Then the train pulled in and low and behold I get on the same subway car that my running peeps from Brooklyn had taken in. 8 million people in NYC and almost 20,000 runners coming in for the race and I get on the same subway and subway car as the 3 people I was planning on meeting up with at our designated street corner. Love when that stuff happens. (side note: I also noticed a woman along the course that I had seen at 5:30am in NJ while waiting for the train into the city. Again, almost 20,000 runners and I spot her).

We rode the rest of the way together and then had to make our way through the security checkpoint where we bumped into Robin, yet another friend.

The sea of runners waiting to get through security. It took a good 25 minutes (photo courtesy of JD)

This was no joke. We are talking TSA experience. Put your loose items in a basket and walk through the metal detector gates. Oh, and before that I checked my gear bag easy peasy at the trucks lined up on 59th street.

• So YAY for easy gear check.

• Nay for security congestion (although I totally understand and appreciate that the runner’s safety was a priority.)

• Yay for weather which was much better than last year. It did get a bit windy from miles 8-12 but it was overcast and in the 40s. Nice!

By the time we got through security we had to move pretty fast to get in to the corrals before they closed them. We didn’t have time to find our exact corral so we just jumped into the one closest somewhere in the middle and wouldn’t ya know we bumped into 2 more friends, Jorge and Lisa’s friend who she says she ALWAYS bumps into. A serendipitous morning for sure.

Jorge and JD. I love how runners are very individual with how to dress for the weather. Jorge felt a tshirt and shorts was plenty for a 40 degree day and JD wanted a little more coverage. =)

And before you knew it we were off and running. I said goodbye to everyone and told them I’d see them at Au Bon Pain for our planned post-race breakfast. I ran the first 5k with no issue. I’ve run in Central Park plenty of times and also ran this race last year so I was very familiar with the course. As soon as I saw the 5k sign I slowed down and walked to assess. Of course right away the knee started hurting. Crap. Should I have walked the first 9 miles and run the last 4 like my original plan? I had multiple conversations with myself and eventually shut myself up and agreed it was going to be a long time until I crossed that finish and I better just deal. I walked most of mile 3-4 and then my knee felt better so I progressed to a shuffle and then I was back running.

Here’s the most amazing thing: other than that mile and a little issue during the last 800 meters of the race I RAN THE WHOLE WAY! I kid you not. I was not prepared to feel good enough to do so. And since song lyrics are my mantra these days I found a new one to describe this day. I was listening to a song by Nickleback called “What are You Waiting For”. There’s a line where he says “Everybody needs a leap of faith. When are you taking yours?” I took a leap of faith with this race knowing the outcome was a big question mark and it worked out for me. I’m really grateful for that. And yes, in true Sally fashion I cried a lot. I just get so emotional.

No cars….just runners. NICE!

Took this shot for my boyfriend to show his girls. He mentioned that they love the M&Ms store. Of course I’m sure they would rather have some souvenir merchandise rather than see a photo lol.

Look at that smile. I wasn’t pretending. I was so happy. I was running!

I got a kick out of these girls who dressed up in that “is it blue or is it white” dress that went viral. So funny.

Is it blue and black or white and gold?

They were airing the race on ABC and I got to see myself on TV while running toward the Freedom Tower.

There i am on the big screen!

This view always makes me emotional

So as I mentioned just as the 800 meters to go sign appeared my knee gave way. I hobbled those last 800 meters but I crossed the finish line and within a minute my knee was recovered again. Whew! I did it.

Homestretch

Hi. My name is Sally and I love to run.

26 minutes slower than my PR but with basically no training and a knee that isn’t 100 percent I’ll take it!

I walked around the corner and met up with Lisa, Jorge and Amy.

And then I made it back to Penn Station to get the train back to the boyfriend’s house.

Coordinating sneakers AND KT tape. It was a Turquoise day

later on in the day we took the dogs to the park for a 2 1/2 mile walk. And by the time the evening came to a close I had taken 40,000 steps!

This morning I’m feeling SORE everywhere. But my knee actually feels pretty good! My hamstrings and quads though are not happy. I foam rolled and iced yesterday and I took some ibuprofen today but I guess this is what I get for running so many miles under trained. I’m really surprised though how endurance-wise I felt fine. I never felt fatigued or out of breath. My body remembers how to do distance running. And now I need to recover smart. I’ve got another 1/2 in 2 weeks!

How was your weekend? Did you run? Did you spend any time outdoors? Are you ready for Spring?

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Just keep running and we will get your mileage back up

03. March 2015 · 10 comments · Categories: injury · Tags: Active Release Technique, rotator cuff, runners knee

Hi! Great news to share.

First, the shoulder: Not bad…I have “regions of interstitial and articular surface partial thickness tears involving the mid to distal supraspinatus and rotator cuff tendonitis. I also have arthritis and a type 2 accordion. Sounds intense but actually it’s pretty good. Physical therapy should be all I need. YAY!

And for the knee: Dr. Williams (my new favorite person) said I should keep running as far as I can handle and that taking a month off actually made my knee worse. I have Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome otherwise known as Runner’s Knee. Basically there is scar tissue around the knee and a tight quad muscle that are causing knee tracking issues. By taking a whole month off of all activity I essentially ended up with tighter, stiffer muscles and more scar tissue. Doc is using the Active Release Technique (ART) on me for about 4 treatments. OUCH! Hurts so good I suppose =)He did the first one today. He said I should continue to foam roll and stretch but to do it before I run and not after. Interesting because I was always under the assumption that after was better.

Foam roll between the Vastus Medialis and Rectus Femoris and between the Rectus Femoris and Vastus Lateralis

A little ART and I’ll be as good as new

The last words Dr. Williams said to me were “keep running as much as you can tolerate and we’ll work at getting your mileage up. You should be good in about 3 or 4 treatments.” So I’ll head back for more ART on Friday. And I’m going to start back to short runs this week! Oh happy day!!!!!

Have you ever had Active Release?

Have you ever been to a chiropractor?

What exciting news can you share with me today?

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Back to back runs, potato chip overload and a long run cut short

25. January 2015 · 2 comments · Categories: injury, labradoodle, running, Uncategorized · Tags: labradoodle, potato chips, runners knee, winter

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend. I had a nice balance of lazy and busy as well as some highs and lows when it comes to running. I’ll fill you in…

Friday it was sunny and relatively warm (for winter in New York City)—about 40 degrees. So I decided to just go for a short run. I was so thrilled that I felt no knee pain at all. I’m continuing to enjoy the Garmin Forerunner 10.

Short and sweet and pain free!

It was the first time since last September that I ran on 2 consecutive days (I had run 5 miles the day before). HIGH! Then I took the doodle for a walk to enjoy the sunshine too.

Does this angle make my butt look big?

In the evening I met my childhood friend Tara for dinner. We try and see each other about once a year. We caught up on life and while she isn’t on Facebook yet she FINALLY got an Instagram account and we took our first selfie!

Saturday was quite the lazy day. We had snow and rain overnight leaving the roads slick so I took advantage and just stayed put and did stuff around the house like cleaning, freelance design work and knee rehabbing. I did manage to get the doodle some run time on this soccer field by my house to enjoy the few inches of snow that we had received.

Running it out

Of course with all the lounging around, I found myself going in to the kitchen a little to frequently and kept dipping into this bag of chips:

My name is Sally and I'm addicted to potato chips

My name is Sally and I’m addicted to these chips

I ate so many I felt a bit sick so I finally got in the car and just drove to the mall to walk around, but more importantly, to get away from the chips and just get out of the house.

Today I took advantage of another sunny day and went to the beach to get in my 8 miler…well, I tried anyway. LOW! My knee gave out an hour into the run and I just immediately stopped running and walked back to the car.

Serenity!

Beautiful scenery for the consolation prize

It wasn’t worth it to push it any more. I have already said that I’m prepared to take more time off and not run the New Jersey Marathon in April if this knee isn’t healed and I’m sticking to what I said. For the most part I’m ok with this but we all know I’ll cry like a baby if I truly can’t run it. (I swear I feel like a broken record…although most days are like Groundhog’s day here at Sweat Out The Small Stuff….you know….walking the doodle, running, bitchin’ about injuries, binging on carbs…)

These are some dirty, sad snowmen

I’ve come to the conclusion that 3-5 miles is my comfortable distance for now and I think the knee will need some more strengthening and rest before I can realistically do distances more than that. Le Sigh!

I did a repeat of Friday and took Duncan for a walk to enjoy the sunshine too (you see! just like Groundhog’s day!)

Leading the way

Paw prints in the snow make me happy

Good thing because I hear we’re getting a big storm of a foot or more of snow starting tomorrow afternoon!

Do you like potato chips? Do you have a favorite kind? What’s the snack you tend to binge on?
I love kettle chips!

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Why I love living in New York City and knee progress!

23. January 2015 · 6 comments · Categories: running, Uncategorized · Tags: blogging, knee progress, runners knee, running, sculpture, Tom Otterness

H all!

It’s Friday! Can I get a WOOT WOOT??!!! I have all that I need to get this blog post complete: Coffee, my laptop and the doodle resting his little head on me. I love that furry boy.

bloggin’!

I’ll catch you up on my last few days. Wednesday I had to take some more head shots but this time I had to go to a building downtown in the Meatpacking District. The building was super secure and you could only get access to the floor you needed to go to. Except I was having such a hard time getting to my floor that a messenger going to a different floor told me to follow him. Next thing you know I’m in Alexander McQueen space.

If you’ve ever watched the red carpet at the Oscars or the Golden Globes you know Alexander McQueen is a fashion designer. Ooh-la-la! Of course not my thing. I’d rather land at Asics or Brooks. LOL! Eventually I got to where I had to go. I was on my lunch break so I needed to hop on the subway to get back to work fast. I noticed this cool public artwork set of sculptures by a sculptor named Tom Otterness.

2 of many bronze sculptures in the subway at 14th street (The C train)

Down Under

How cool? How did I not see this ever before? This is why I love living in New York City. There’s always cool creativity, art, fashion, music, food….you name it!

Yesterday I did some freelance work and then I went for a run.

First run with the Garmin 10

I wore my new Garmin Forerunner 10. I like it. I really like that the main screen only shows distance and elapsed time. I never toggled to the secondary screen to see my pace and I think for the bulk of my training I’m going to do the same.

So the knee seems to have made some minor progress. I wanted to share what I’ve been doing because I think it’s helping. (I’m not a doctor folks!)

I’ve been foam rolling both legs in all areas focusing on rolling the quads, hamstrings and calves and making sure to get the outside of those areas like the IT band and peroneal tendon. I’m doing this daily and try to roll a little before my run as well as after.
I’ve been taking Ibuprofen for the last 2 days in the morning and evening hoping to help reduce some inflammation.
I’ve been doing lots of strengthening and balancing exercises for my hips, quads, glutes and core. Step ups, bridges, planks, front leg raises, clam shells, side stepping with resistance band etc.
I’ve slowed my pace, shortened my stride and i’m keeping my knees bent a little more than usual while running, especially on the downhills.

I made it through all 5 miles yesterday without the knee ever “slipping”. It felt a little tentative but didn’t cause any acute pain or discomfort. And by the time I got home, showered and stretched I didn’t even feel any discomfort around the knee area. And this morning I feel great! Apparently, so does Duncan…

Feelin’ good!

I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing. Let’s see how the next few weeks go. I’m going to shoot for 8 miles on Sunday.

Tonight I’m meeting my grade school friend Tara. We try and catch up over dinner once a year. We met in the 3rd grade! Crazy.

Have a great weekend!

What’s your favorite part of where you live? Do you love where you live? What’s your least favorite part?

I hate traffic/commuting.

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NYC Half 2015 recap: I took a leap of faith

Just keep running and we will get your mileage back up

Have you ever had Active Release?

Have you ever been to a chiropractor?

What exciting news can you share with me today?

Back to back runs, potato chip overload and a long run cut short

Do you like potato chips? Do you have a favorite kind? What’s the snack you tend to binge on?
I love kettle chips!

Why I love living in New York City and knee progress!

What’s your favorite part of where you live? Do you love where you live? What’s your least favorite part?

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NYC Half 2015 recap: I took a leap of faith

Related posts:

Just keep running and we will get your mileage back up

Have you ever had Active Release?

Have you ever been to a chiropractor?

What exciting news can you share with me today?

Related posts:

Back to back runs, potato chip overload and a long run cut short

Do you like potato chips? Do you have a favorite kind? What’s the snack you tend to binge on? I love kettle chips!

Related posts:

Why I love living in New York City and knee progress!

What’s your favorite part of where you live? Do you love where you live? What’s your least favorite part?

Related posts:

Follow me on Bloglovin

Follow my pics

Follow my tweets

Follow my page

Subscribe to SOTSS via Email

Top 100 Women’s Running Blog

2019 Most Helpful Blogs for Runners

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Tags

Meta

Do you like potato chips? Do you have a favorite kind? What’s the snack you tend to binge on?
I love kettle chips!