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November 2009 archive

Excuses, Excuses

Sorry, but that is all you’re getting today. A quick rundown:

I received notice of the final date of my current job. I knew this day was coming but until I had a definite date it didn’t feel very real. This means I have to spend more time job searching. I have been conducting a half assed job search for over a year — even turning down one health & fitness writing job that didn’t pay enough and in retrospect would have been perfect — but now I really have to amp it up. If you or someone you know wants to hire me, I have a Master’s degree in Corporate Communication; I specialize in internal communication; I am open to other possibilities given the current climate; I am a writer. Please read my professional website for more information.

My Humor Writing class is going well, but there is lots of work! My assignment for this week is to read an entire humorous book. Not a huge deal since there is never a moment I am not reading a book, but the pressure to both start and finish one in a week’s time while juggling work, job search, family, the boy, TV, working out, rest and the rest of my writing assignments is a little much. I will get you that Seattle recap post (I started it!) once I finish the book (Waiter Rant, by the way. Thanks Phoebe!) And did you know there are rules to writing funny? I have a hard time following these rules and need to practice being funny so I can continue to be funny.

Additionally, I have had one of my worst gastrointestinal weeks ever. So much that I have scheduled my next appointment with the surgeon. So much that I begged and pleaded with the boy to please just sit on my stomach, hoping the pressure of his body weight would help me to feel better. It didn’t. I am seeing the surgeon on December 10.

I have been consumed with lengthy phone conversations with the doctor I saw 2 weeks ago with both his office and my insurance company trying to get approval for an expensive antibiotic. Apparently, the doctor approved it but the insurance denied it because although I am sick, I am not sick enough to actually receive treatment. It makes lots of sense and I love this situation very much.

I HAVE BEEN TAKING PICTURES OF FOOD! I don’t know why I shouted that, but it felt right. I have not, however, uploaded said pictures. I will. And I will post. And I owe you a kidney.

The food I have been taking photographs of has mostly been vegetables, hence my bad gastrointestinal week. In this week I also ordered from Peacefood Cafe and ate at the incredible Pure Food & Wine twice. YUM. Seriously, that place is so great. I can’t wait to tell you all about what I ate. Love the food. Don’t love the effects on my tummy. My problem is (and I will get much more into this in a future post) that I have absolutely no idea what to eat. I know the foods that won’t cause me as much pain, but they are not healthy enough nor are they what I WANT. I want vegetables and whole grains. So I don’t know how I can eat what I want and what is healthy while avoiding extreme pain and discomfort.

Working out. I had some spin shoes mishaps I will tell you about soon. Let’s just say there was a spin class with me repeatedly and angrily banging my foot against the bike and saying “F*CK.”

ALSO I was at the gym and Days of Our Lives was on and I was surprised to see Luis from Passions. And even more surprised to see Theresa and Ethan kissing in the next scene. What show is this?!

Passions - Theresa

And I tried yoga again and didn’t hate it! More on that to come as well.

Lastly, I ran 6.24 miles yesterday. I decided to run to the George Washington Bridge because it didn’t look that far away but really, the more I run and run, the distance between me and the bridge never seems to close. After 3.12 miles I decided I better turn around so I don’t cause massive damage to my already sensitive knees before my race coming up this weekend.

I will run to the bridge another time. It might not be until the Spring due to unfortunate temperatures in the northeasten region, but it will happen. Oh and I saw a unicylclist during my run. He was wearing a backpack. All I could think was how strong his core must be.

OK work to be done. Bye, sorry.

Running is Amazing Because it is So Easy to Improve

So much to post about and really no time at all! I just uploaded all my Seattle pictures but I will have to get to that later this week. Or next. For now, I will leave you with a little food porn from my trip:

French toast baked in pumpkin

I will get into more detail when I write my Seattle post!

Anyway.

What is amazing about running is how easy it is to improve.

Let me start from the beginning of my story.

I had mistakenly assumed that after my October 25 5 mile race, my outdoor running days for 2009 were over. But then I went to Seattle and the weather was gorgeous. We took the pup to Green Lake and I ran the 2.8ish mile loop. My stomach was bad — I had eaten breakfast 6 hours earlier — so I had to walk a bit, but overall it was a beautiful run. At the end I met up with my brother, Mallory and Santana and I took Santana’s leash and we even went on a little confusing (for pup) run together!

Then I came back to NYC and found myself waking up twice before work to run in the 44 degree weather. And I didn’t even feel that cold! I did about 3.5 miles both times and decided I could keep this up until the weather hit the 30s.

This past Sunday was an unseasonably warm day and with temperatures reaching 65, the boy and I had to go for a run. The plan was 5 miles, which is a bit longer than the boy’s usual distance but I wanted to keep my mileage up in preparation for our 4 mile race on November 22.

I took the boy into a section of Riverside Park that is gorgeous in the fall! We ran past the point where I typically turn around for 5 miles and kept going until we reached tennis courts at 119th street where we turned around to come back. That was the 3 mile point! At this time, the boy went off ahead of me since I slow him down, and we both started on the 3 miles back home.

The longest I ever ran before this was 5 miles and both times my knee was killing me towards the end, so I was a little nervous about this. I had been feeling well during this run; all I had to eat was a green juice and while I did get a right ribcage cramp, I was able to battle it with my breathing. The first 3 miles went quickly since I was talking to the boy and watching a stream of people dressed in purple doing a walk for Pancreatic Cancer.

The next 3 miles ended up being really great! I felt strong, my music was great (testing out my next race playlist) and once I hit 5 miles I couldn’t stop smiling knowing I was PDRing (and feeling fantastic!) the entire time. When my Polar hit 6 miles I stopped, with a time of 1:02:17! I ran 6 miles! I ran for an hour!

I came home, ate and napped for 2 hours. At night we went to the most incredible dinner at Blue Hill, but I’ll save that experience for another post.

Stats:

Distance: 6 mi
Time: 1:02:17
Avg pace: 10:20
Max pace: 4:11 (that can’t be right)
Avg HR: 170
Max HR: 187

I was so happy to have run 6 miles for the first time in my life. It is crazy how just a few months ago I could barely run for 20 minutes and I proclaimed that running is not for me. Even more crazy is that today was another beautiful, warm day in New York City and I decided to go for another run.

I wasn’t sure how my knees would handle this since they usually kill me after 4 miles, but yesterday they were fine throughout all 6 miles — no pain at all. I decided to just run 2 or 3 miles and if I am hurting, I’d stop. I set out and the first mile was definitely a challenge. My legs felt heavy, which I had never experienced before. Once I got past the first mile, they loosened up and I felt great. Whenever I glanced down at my Polar, my pace was faster than normal (around 9:30) but I felt comfortable. I decided to run down this little path that goes under a highway exit underpass to see where I’d end up.

When I came out on the other side, I had to do a double take. I felt like I was in Super Mario Brothers and went down one pipe and came out the other end in a totally different part of the level!

Super Mario pipe

I was on the same path as I started out, along the water, but I was on the OTHER side — a side I did not even know existed! A SUPER MARIO BROTHERS PIPE WARP RUN!

Okay, let me explain. I run along the water on the Hudson River Greenway, starting at 68th street. At around 84th street, there is no more river path; for the past year or so, they have been building an extension so that the path will go straight up and when it is complete, I won’t have to run up into the park. I can stay along the water.

So when I ran up into the park and took a path that brought me under the highway exit, I expected to be brought into the other side of the park where I run my longer runs. I usually get there by crossing a street but I thought this would take me underneath the crosswalk and back into the park so I wouldn’t have to cross any busy street.

Instead, I came up on the Hudson River Greenway — on the OTHER SIDE of it. It is right at the other point of the construction to extend it. This means that when they finish the extension, I would go straight along the water to the point I was currently at. Does this make sense? I feel like I need to draw a picture but I don’t have a scanner.

As I said, I never saw this path before; it was along the water, stunning views of the George Washington Bridge, but it felt strange. Like I was on my usual waterfront path, but in a section where nothing was recognizable. A section so close to me but I never knew existed. It was SO weird! I kept glancing backwards to try and make sense of how this perfect running path had been here all along and I never knew to take advantage of it.

Because I wanted to run along this path, I ended up running a little longer than planned. By the time I got to a section where the pavement became extra smooth and the designated area for those on feet became narrow, I was at the 2 mile mark. As much as I wanted to keep running and see how far up I could go, I knew it was time to turn back to make this a 4 mile run. I had to be careful on my knees after running 6 miles the day before!

Despite having ran 6 pain free miles the day before, I had another amazing, happy, pain free run once again. The 4 miles was not only easy, my legs were going so much faster than normal! My typical “comfortable pace” is around 10:15. Throughout this run I was running at 9:15 without trying and feeling very comfortable. For my last mile I knew I could really pick it up and for the first time in a long time, I did! I was no longer running to be comfortable, I was running to be STRONG. I sped up, my breathing picked up, and I finished my 4 miles in 38:26! Aaaahh! I felt perfect, not like I was about to die as I had in the past after pushing myself hard. And the time went so quickly, I ran a mile more than I had planned, much faster than I had planned. I wonder if I could do this for my race in a couple weeks?

Distance: 4 mi
Time: 38:26
Avg pace: 9:40
Max pace: 8:06
Avg HR: 174
Max HR: 192

This is a low max HR for me! Yet another way I know I am improving.

THIS is why running is so amazing. A few months ago I could barely run for 25 minutes. I almost gave up on it — and once proclaimed to the boy that running was not for me — and I am so glad I didn’t because it seriously is just SO easy to improve! I ran 6 miles on Sunday and then 4 on Monday with no problem at all! I used to get the worst knee, hip and abdominal pain within a few minutes of running; now they are all kept at bay. Not gone, but definitely improving. And on top of that, Monday’s run was so much faster than my usual runs — and it felt so natural! I am so sure that if I keep this up, I will become a faster runner and won’t have to “take it easy” during my races. It only took me a few months to improve this much, so imagine where I will be in a year?!

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