The only professional photo B + I were in from the Manhattan Half and it was with our friend M! 

This past Saturday I ran Grete’s Great Gallop, the half marathon part of the Norwegian Festival this weekend. B, J, my brother and I all met up in Central Park, wished each other luck and then split into our respective corrals. This was going to be my brother’s first half marathon so I was very excited for him! This was also going to be J’s second, so it was also a big deal. Unfortunately my left knee has been killing me for the last few weeks. I’ll blame it on not stretching after my long BK bridge park run, but I think I’m also adjusting my stride for my new sneakers. I went into the race just hoping to finish.

Miles 1-5 were kind of hard, I was very aware of my knee and weaving around people caused more pain so it felt like people were passing me. Something great happened at mile 5, maybe it was because I had already done almost a full loop of the park, or because right there started the last few miles of the marathon, but I felt great. I was happy and didn’t notice my knee. Then I hit a wall at mile 10. Perhaps it was because I had just gone up a hill and then down and then was about to go up a longer one, but it hurrrrt. By the time I got up that second hill I actually felt nauseous and was nervous I was going to barf. I have no problem throwing up, but I believe if they see you vom they make you stop, I didn’t want to be forced to stop. With the nausea came back my knee pain. The next few miles were tough. Things that got me through - seeing an elderly man with a shirt on saying that he had run every single NYC Marathon, how inspiring! Also, watching the Achilles volunteers and runners practice alongside our race was motivating, if they are up for the task of running, I certainly could be! I didn’t get to do my normal sprint to the finish but I made it without stopping and without barfing! After chugging a lot of water and eating a plum I felt much better.

I was upset that this could have been my worst half, but then when the results were up, I saw that it wasn’t! In fact, it was faster than when I ran BK with Sara and McKenzie and faster than my first few races. In all, I’ve now ran 11 half marathons and this was my 6th best (or 5th worst, but I prefer to look on the bright side). I’m hoping to bring my half time back down to where it was for the NYC half and the BAA half. To do so I’m going to get back on doing speed workouts during the week and keep an eye on my long run times as well. I’m glad I had this race as inspiration and hope it will keep me moving forward.

Because I got back from Amsterdam late Monday night I was able to take Tuesday off without using a vacation day. My day involved sleeping in, scrubbing my apartment, doing laundry and dropping more off, grocery shopping and going for a run. My friends and I recently signed up for the Grete’s Great Gallop half marathon in Central Park so I decided to make my way up to the park and get a nice run in. My head was pounding from jet lag but I was able to get in about 5 miles. To mix things up a bit, I ran up from Columbus circle, did a lap of the reservoir and then ran down the east side.

One thing that caught me off guard was the cars in the park. I usually run there in the morning, evening or weekend, when cars aren’t allowed. Having cars in the park forced the bikers into the running lane and squished the runners into one lane. More than once another runner and I were coming straight for each other. I’m all for sharing the road with bikers, but next time I’ll make sure to run when only runners and bikers are allowed.

I’m a bit behind on my half marathon training after being out of town the last three weekends. I wanted to head out and get in a good amount of miles without hurting myself. I wasn’t feeling great all day so I was kind of dreading the run, but once I got out there I forgot about my knee and just enjoyed every minute of it. The day was absolutely gorgeous so the South Street Seaport and West Side running path were absolutely packed with people out enjoying the day. I had planned to go up to 60th st then turn around and go to Trader Joe’s in Chelsea but ended up just going directly to TJ’s. It was a bit over 5.5 so hopefully I can boost the mileage next weekend. Running to TJ’s, picking up some groceries and heading home felt like such an awesome multitasking mission. They say not to go to the grocery store when you’re hungry, but I think because I was feeling so healthy after the run I filled my basket with even more vegetables than usual. Expect a few new tasty recipes this week!

Rather than taking a night off after the half marathon I wanted to get in a yoga class to really stretch out my muscles. I was feeling pretty good, but my hamstrings, which had been tight before the race, were seriously in need of a good stretch. Fortunately, many of the poses focused on that. My balance seemed really off, but hopefully that was only a function of the tight muscles and I’ll be back to normal next time. The class was an hour and fifteen (verses the usual hour) so I felt like I got in a great workout.

(all photos courtesy of Yoga Journal)

This morning I ran the More Magazine | Fitness Magazine Half Marathon. The course was two loops + a bit around Central Park. There were a few things this spring that got in the way of some of my long runs so I was a bit nervous about this race. I went into it planning to take it easy, have fun and feel good throughout. After completing it, I can honestly say I succeeded in doing that. A combination of the gorgeous weather, a great playlist and enthusiastic support from husbands, fathers, brothers and children on the sidelines made for a great race. The last two miles I was able to amp it up a bit I hadn’t expected to PR (1:53:10 in last year’s NYC Half) but my time of 1:56:16 came pretty close considering I was taking it easy. 
(as you can see I had a lot of fun with my new phone and the instagram app after the race. expect the quality of my photos to be hugely improved!) 

9 miles, all over the place. Today was insanely windy but with a bit of spring still lingering from yesterday. I went off to go up the west side highway but was absolutely dragging because of the wind. To make sure I could get in a lonnnng run, I ran to the gym and did 3 miles on the treadmill. After some strength training, I ran home with the wind only on my side or at my back. At one point the wind actually pushed me against the river railing! It hurt! On the way home some lovely little flurries were buzzing around in the wind. In the end I got in 8.5 miles and felt great. I had been nervous going up to this distance because I haven’t run more than 4.5 miles in a bit and I know I shouldn’t increase by more than 10% per week but I’ve got to get back on track for the More Magazine | Fitness Magazine Half Marathon. So glad I got this distance and strength training in.

One of the reasons I was able to fully enjoy this long run was a new playlist! I downloaded a bunch of DJ mixes from VitalJuice and put together a playlist. It was great! The beat really kept me going and the new songs were fun. Download some of the song for free on this site. After some stretching at home I’m feeling great and can’t wait to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

2010 MORE Magazine | Fitness Magazine Half Marathon in the pouring rain. Will 2011 be better?

This morning found me back at spinning, loving it. My hamstrings have been out of control tight lately but spinning seemed to loosen them up. Because I had to fit in my three miles for half marathon training, I ran to and from the gym and added two miles in on the treadmill. 

This morning I signed up for the MORE Magazine | Fitness Magazine Half Marathon on April 3. The spots were filling up quickly and I didn’t want to miss out. I’m so glad to have a race on my calendar again. Besides the Turkey Trot (which I don’t really count) I haven’t run a race since the NYC Marathon. I kind of miss the leaving bars early after only a drink, getting up at an ungodly hour and running many miles before my friends roll out of bed. Really though, I missed having a goal. I was enjoying my goal of adding new cross-training and will continue to do so, but knowing I have this event on my calendar is getting me psyched. Last year it poured rain (photos above) and I still had a blast so this year it can only get better!

Staying up way too late Monday night doing some freelance work and not being able to preregister for a spinning bike online made me decide to hold my workout til after work. Fortunately I got out at a decent time and knew I could also get in grocery shopping that I had skipped this weekend. I decided to check out the Equinox on 19th and Broadway because it was the closest to the Chelsea Trader Joe’s. It’s built into a beautiful old building, which looks really cool on the outside (above photo from their website, it was way too rainy for me to catch one) but makes the inside very odd. There’s an almost spiral staircase in the middle that breaks off on several different floors. I think there are four floors, though I only went on three.

The gym was jammed when I got in but I lucked out and a treadmill opened up. I’ll definitely be doing a spring half marathon to get back into running and it may be as soon as April 3! Short timing means I have to immediately bring more running back into my workouts and keep mixing that up with other things. I ran for 35 minutes, slow to start then 30 minutes of intervals for a total of 3.5 miles. Despite the hot gym, it felt fantastic. I then grabbed my book and did another 25 minutes on the bike. I was tempted to keep going (I was LOVING the book) but I still needed to grocery shop and get a good night’s sleep. All in all, good workout, cool to check out a new Equinox.