Category Archives: Running

The Countdown Begins!

Posted on August 23, 2010 | 9 comments

Happy Monday all. How were your weekends? Mine was pretty low-key. Today is a dreary and depressing day in NYC, but I’m not letting it get me down because at this time next week I’ll be in Ireland!! Hence, the countdown to our Ireland Vacation 2010 has officially begun.

I’m a little bit nervous that this week is going to drag by because I’m so anxious and excited for vacation to get here. But then again, I do have a ton of stuff that I need to get done before I leave, so maybe this week will be busy and just buzz right by. I suppose I’ll find out soon enough.

So anyway – this weekend was very nice, although not filled with any running to speak of. I have determined that I will not be motivated to run until after our vacation. It’s just not where my head is. I k now it’s awful, but I just haven’t felt like forcing it. Maybe this means I’m not a “real” runner, but I’m pretty tired of giving myself the guilt trip. I know that I’ve got a half marathon in October and I think that once we get back from Ireland, that looming deadline will really hit me and I’ll get into gear. Until then, I’m not going to beat myself up.  

If you’re a runner – do you ever “guilt” yourself for not running enough?

I had this conversation with my friend who is currently training for a fall marathon. Hearing her talk about her training makes me feel guilty for not running more and not running a fall marathon. That sounds pretty crazy – I know. She doesn’t experience the “runner’s guilt” like I do and I just wondered if any other runners out there get it?

Moving on, so last Friday was a busy day and then I went to the Yankee game with two of my girlfriends, one of which is pregnant. We did not eat healthy anything at the game…but we sure had fun!

Despite watching the Yankees lose pretty miserably, we still had a great time together. And the weather was amazing.

We called it a night after the game and went to bed fairly early. And then on Sunday morning, I took them to my favorite crepe place for breakfast – The Yorkville Creperie right around the corner. We debated between ordering savory or sweet crepes and then made the wise choice to split a savory crepe and each have our own sweet crepe.

Our savory crepe:

Filled with ham, egg and mozzarella.

Then my friend Becky and I ordered the Country Crepe:

I added some granola to mine. It is filled with strawberries, banana and nutella – YUM!

Lauren has this heavenly crepe:

It was filled with lot of fruits and topped with whipped cream. Doesn’t it look like the 4th of July?!

The rest of my weekend was very low-key. I read some more of my book “Once a Runner,” I watched Law Abiding Citizen with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx and thought it was pretty good. Then I cleaned a bit and watched Trueblood on Sunday night. I’m so sad that Trueblood is almost over. 😦 

I hope you all have a good Monday!

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Posted in Books, Restaurants, Running, Uncategorized

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Not Quite Ready to Quit

Posted on August 4, 2010 | 15 comments

Hi all – I know, who the heck am I right? I’ve been MIA for so long, I’m sure all my readership is gone, my bloggy friends have written me off, and nobody likes me… I guess I’ll go eat worms.

So what’s the deal right? Well – things have just been crazy busy at work and at home.  The fun non-work stuff has been running the Boilermaker back in July…

Camping with friends in Lake George…

Some BBQ-ing, hanging with friends and family, etc.

But when it rains it pours and as our summer fun picked up, so did my workload. A few weeks back, my boss gave me a new big project and responsibilities which have included a lot of coordination, creativity and writing.

But, as I started writing more at work, my desire to blog before or after work started to decline. I only had so many creative juices I could squeeze – ya know?

Anyway – I know this sounds like all excuses, excuses and maybe it is, but I don’t want to quit my blog completely. I just don’t think I can do it everyday. So my promise is to try to blog as often as possible, but it may not be everyday.

READ: Since I lasted posted, I’ve read two books:

EAT: Since I last posted, my eating hasn’t been great. On top of lacking motivation and time, we encountered an issue with our gas in our apt building and it has been turned off since July 24. Guess what – our stove is gas. Our solution was that Hubby and I went out and bought a hot plate, I’ve redefined the term microwave-friendly and have discovered that you can cook many, many things in a toaster oven. I jest, but seriously this has not been fun. Our dryer in the building also runs on gas, so Hubby and I have become the newest visitors to the nearby laundry mat, someplace I had never frequented before. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, but man is it expensive!

Run: This has been worst component. Since the Boilermaker on July 12, I think I’ve run maybe twice. And last night was one of those nights. I started off my run at a brisk 7:46 minute mile and then watched as my speed steadily declined and I began hyperventilating. Anyone watching would never have believed that I ran a marathon a short 3 months ago.   I finished up at a 9:18 minute mile pace. Last weekend, Katherine texted me to see if I wanted to run either 9 or 11 miles (can’t remember which) and I literally laughed out loud as I pictured myself keeling over at the end of that run. However, this week as I watched my gut start to expand, I decided to get back in the game. Afterall, I am signed up for a Half Marathon in October. Eeek!

So alas my friends – you finally know the truth about my disappearance. I will try to regain my momentum and find the time to stay updated with the blogworld, but I’m going to beg for a little slack as I get back into the swing.

If you’re a blogger – what has been your longest lapse…if you’ve ever had one?  

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Posted in Bloggers, Books, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

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I’m Still Here & a Restaurant Review!

Posted on July 15, 2010 | 3 comments

I swear – I haven’t disappeared. I’ve just been really busy. The past two days were spent in a Leadership Development Class I was selected for about a month ago. They were full day classes about Communicating Up, Down and Across an Organization. It was taught by someone from the American Management Association and it was a really great class. However, since it was all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, I came into work early both days and stayed a little late to get things done, so blogging fell to the bottom of my list.

So anyway – I’m here and trying to catch up on quite a few blogs. But I also promised you a restaurant review! Last Wednesday, my friend Katie and I went to a little restaurant in the East Village.

Tsampa
212 E. 9th St., New York, NY 10003

We arrived at Tsampa fairy early (we’re the early-bird people hehe) and could very well have been the only people in the place. This Tibetan restaurant is conveniently (for me) located off the 6 line and I got off at Astor Place.

If you recall, last week in NYC was pretty sweltering. Wednesday was a really tough day and it didn’t seem like Tsampa’s air conditioning was up to par. As we walked inside, we noticed it was a little cooler, but not too much. We tried not to dwell on the heat as we were shown to our table in the front corner.

We were both ravenous, so we set to work on choosing an appetizer to hold us over. We ordered two 1) Khampa Momo With Chicken and Vegetables – which were dumplings and 2) Tibetan Salad Shredded Cabbage, Carrots, Greens, Cucumber with Sesame Vinaigrette.

one dumpling left


Both appetizers were delicious!

We also decided to try one of their “signature” drinks, which I can’t remember the name of, but looked a lot better than it tasted.

To me, this sort of tasted like soured milk. It looked so refreshing and milkshake-like, but it was not. We were very glad we decided to share this drink and not each get one.

For my entrée, I ordered one of the specials which was made with chicken, rice, cabbage, carrots, leafy greens and spices.


It was sooo good!! And it was really filling as well. I wish it was on the menu all the time.

Overall, our meal was delicious and super cheap. The NY Magazine review of this restaurant also states that all their chicken is free-range. While we both chose chicken dishes, there are a TON of vegetarian options. I would say more veg options than meat dishes actually.

All in all, I think we found a great little place to come back to for healthy, cheap and delicious food!

So that’s all for me today folks. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I hope you all have had a good week. I squeezed in a nice 5 mile run on Tuesday night and am going to try to run outside tonight. I’ve got a 4 mile race planned for Saturday morning and I’m hoping it’s not too hot, although the forecast is showing high temps. 😦 I know I shouldn’t complain about the warm summer weather, but sometimes it just makes running feel so awful!

Have a great Thursday all!!

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Posted in Restaurants, Reviews, Running, Uncategorized

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Back from the Boilermaker!

Posted on July 12, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning – happy Monday! I’m trying to think positively here. How was everyone’s weekend?

I was a little mia for a bit at the end of last week and then we had a super busy weekend, so posting was not at the top of my list. Some of my weekend activities:

  • Finally going to see Eclipse with two of my girlfriends. I liked it soo much better than the first two movies and am looking forward to the next one already. I’m a sucker for cheesy movies.
  • Had a nice pasta dinner with Lauren before our Sunday race.
  • Dealt with some work stress over the weekend, but managed to get done what I needed to.
  • Ran my 6th Boilermaker 15k in Utica, N.Y. on Sunday morning!
  • Had a nice family BBQ at the in-law’s house after the race.

So those were the highlights of my weekend! What were the highlights of yours?

As far as the Boilermaker goes, I did not set a PR 😦 , but it wasn’t my worst time either. I ran it in 1:17:12. Last year I ran it in 1:17:03. I’m happy with that time considering I didn’t really train as well as I could have and hit a major running slump after the marathon in May.  

So how was the race overall? It was fun, but tough. Last year when I ran this race, I had started marathon training a few weeks before and I think I was in a little better shape. This year, we started in a faster corral (thank goodness) and didn’t have to weave in and out of people as much. Here are my stats from the race:

Mile 1 – 8:13
Mile 2 – 8:15
Mile 3 – 8:22
Mile 4 – 8:43
Mile 5 – 7:39
Mile 6 – 7:50
Mile 7 – 8:38
Mile 8 – 7:59
Mile 9 – 8:32
.40 – 2:59

Total mileage – 9.40 miles in 1:17:13. Average pace 8:12 minute mile

It was pretty cool to run this race with a Garmin for the first time. In the past, I really didn’t have much clue what my splits were. Mile 3 -4 is definitely tough for me – it’s at a golf course and there is a big, huge, long hill that we run up for most of that mile. Ugh. I’m glad that is over.

But overall, this is such a fun race. The whole town comes out to cheer you on, there is music, tons of water stations, and even a popsicle station. It’s a good time and I highly recommend this race. Plus, it’s the biggest 15k in the U.S.! This year was even the largest in the history of the race – over 13,000 people! Anyway – if you’re even slightly intrigued, you should check it out.

We were having so much fun that we didn’t end up leaving the in-law’s place upstate until about 7:15 p.m. and get home until after 11!! That meant that bedtime didn’t happen until about midnight. That is super late for me. So, I’m pretty tired today and have a dentist appointment – not a good Monday.

Hope you all have a great Monday though!! I do have a NYC restaurant review that I need to post – hopefully tomorrow!

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Posted in Races, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

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I Admit it…I’m a Planner

Posted on July 7, 2010 | 5 comments

Good morning all. Happy Hump Day! Except it really only feels like Tuesday since we had Monday off. Don’t ya love that?

Yesterday wasn’t as rough as I thought it would be. Anything that technically feels like Monday is never fun, but the day went by pretty fast for me. Breakfast was boring cereal – no pic.

In the afternoon, I went out into the sweltering heat to grab some lunch.

You know – my usual salad. The salad place happened to be particularly busy yesterday and my regular salad guy was trying to move quick. So he literally just started throwing all my items in without me even asking. I noticed several people giving me strange looks and then finally the guy next to me said “Don’t worry – he does the same for me too. He knows my usual. It’s kind of nice and it impresses the tourists.” Haha. It was pretty funny.

Do you have staple meals or items that you consistently eat?

For some reason, I have always been this way when it comes to my lunch salad. At my last job, my co-workers wanted to buy me my salad as a surprise for my birthday, so they actually went in with a picture of me, showed it to the salad guy and he knew exactly who I was and what I wanted immediately. Surprisingly, I never feel like I get in a salad rut either. I only eat it once or twice a week at max – so it doesn’t seem to get old.

Sorry for that random tangent. I just thought it was hysterical.

After work yesterday, I decided to head to the gym for a short run. The heat was out of control and I knew running outside would be brutal. I did a quick 3 miles in 26:14 and then finished up with some ab and arm work. I was just not feeling like working out yesterday.

Dinner last night was back to the basics – pork chops and a massive side salad.

After dinner, I spent a little time working on some of our Ireland itinerary. We are all set for Dublin and Galway. Slowly making some progress. And yes, I’m booking all of our accommodations ahead of time because I’m just not the girl that can go without having everything set. I’d love to be that spontaneous and free, but that’s just not me. I’m a planner and I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I didn’t have it all squared away.

Are you a planner or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants?

Oh and just for fun, here is one of the few pics that was actually taken this weekend.

Yup – that’s Hubby and me on a four-wheeler! My mom grew up on a farm (a real one with cows, chickens, vegetables and all that), and we go up there once or twice a year to visit with our family in that area. In case you didn’t know, the easiest form of transportation on a farm is by four-wheeler. I grew up riding on them with my older cousins, so this was like a little blast from the past…and a lot of fun! 🙂

Ok all – have a Happy Hump Day!!

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Posted in Holidays, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

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Bookworm & A Break in the Heat

Posted on June 30, 2010 | 2 comments

Hello all – happy hump day! Except today really isn’t my hump day because I have Friday off! Yay! So today is really like my Thursday.

How was everyone’s Tuesday? Mine was pretty decent. It wasn’t as hot as I expected it to be – thank goodness. I started off my day with some oatmeal – no pic.

Lunch turned out to be kind of a mish-mash of things. Triscuits with Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb cheese with a side of carrots.

It’s a little random, but it worked. Sometimes I crave a bunch of little things for lunch, rather than a sandwich or other typical lunch items.

What is your strangest or most interesting lunch choice?

In the afternoon I snacked on a Chobani, an apple and a few of these bad boys.

After work, although it wasn’t sweltering, I decided I still preferred to hit the gym for an “easier” run. I ran 4 miles on the treadmill in 33:55. After my run, I did some ab work and arm work and then headed home.

I had some remaining few grape tomatoes in the fridge that were about to reach their peak, so I used them up in our dinner. Use them or lose them – right?!

Chicken with brown rice, grape tomatoes and corn. For flavoring, I used some chicken stock, lemon and a sprinkle of shredded cheese. It was a very enjoyable meal. 🙂

After dinner I literally buried my nose in my new book: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am not a fast reader at all. I think I take longer than most people, but I seem to be flying through this one. The book is almost 600 pages and I’m about 150 pages in at this point. I have a feeling that I’m going to be really happy that there are follow-ups to this book.

So when I left this house this morning, it was a brisk  and beautiful 68 degrees outside. Woohoo! It was lovely. I’m going to try to do a 6+ mile run tonight to take advantage of the weather and feel a bit more prepared for the 15k next weekend. Eeks – I can’t believe how fast it snuck up on me!

Have a great Wednesday all!

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Posted in Books, Recipes, Running, Uncategorized

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Too Hot to Trot, Soccer and a Royal Run

Posted on June 28, 2010 | 3 comments

Oh gosh – is it really Monday already? How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was good. We had one last weekend in the city before we spend almost the next full month traveling every weekend.

When I posted last, I had just finished up the American Heart Association Wall Street Run & Heart Walk and here is a group shot of my work team:

On Friday I was busy, but not overwhelmed at work and then Hubby and I  just hung out on Friday night – very low-key. I wanted to get up super early on Saturday for a long run. However, I could not seem to get myself out of bed until about 8:30 and then I didn’t make it out for a run until 9:30 a.m. and that was just way too late given the heat and humidity. I had planned to do a 7-9 mile run, but ended up calling it quits after only 5 miles at a very slow pace. 😦

On Saturday afternoon we headed to a local dive bar to watch The World Cup game and were so saddened when they lost. Hubby really loves soccer and was super bummed. So we got some late-afternoon ice-cream to help cheer us both up.

Then on Sunday, it was time for me to volunteer. I had signed up to volunteer at the Achilles Run for Hope & Possibility a while back. I was assigned to be a Course Marshal on the UES. I was a little bit nervous because I didn’t really know what to expect. I had no reason to worry though, the NYRR organizers were really great and explained exactly what I needed to do. I also have a new respect and understanding for the marshals who try to get people to stay within the coned area. I wasn’t one of the really stringent marshals though. I understood when people were trying to work their way up a bit and needed to go around to the outside to do that.

What was amazing though, was seeing so many disabled runners and walkers competing in this event. They were absolutely inspirational and so many of them thanked me for volunteering, when really I felt like I needed to thank them! I just kept watching as more and more amazing people came by. I guess I was so in awe of these runners and walkers, that I totally overlooked when Prince Harry either ran or walked by! At one point early on, I saw some cameras out in front of someone and another camera man running to catch up, but I really didn’t think too much about it because there were so many amazing runners out there. I just figured a news crew had the smarts to capture this race and one of the exceptional runners on camera. But most likely, that was probably good old Harry going by me.

source

Anyway – it was a great experience and I’m glad I chose that race to volunteer at. I know that most people do the volunteering thing so they can qualify for the NYC Marathon as part of the NYRR 9+1 program, and I might be going that route as well, but I think even if you aren’t trying to run the marathon, you should consider volunteering once or twice a year. It really did give me a new appreciation of all the volunteers and the work that goes into coordinating a race.

So that’s all for today folks – have a great Monday!!

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Posted in NYRR, Races, Running, Uncategorized

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America Heart Association Wall Street 3 Mile Run

Posted on June 25, 2010 | 7 comments

It’s Friday!!! Yippee! This week went by pretty fast for me, but I am still thrilled that the weekend is finally here. I am soo far behind on all my favorite blogs – I have some major catching up to do.

So last night after a busy day in the office, filled with about 4 hours of meetings and more fun, I decided it was a good idea to run a race in the near 90 degree weather. Yeah it was really gross out.

About eight of us from the office signed up for the American Heart Association Wall Street 3 mile run/walk, which started at 6:45 p.m. We took a team photo and then the walkers and runners were split up. We lined up at the Start, well actually quite a ways from the start, but we could see it.

When the race started, as usual, it took a while to get to the actual start. Then the weaving and avoiding people began. There were soo many people and so many people who started walking within the first mile of the race. I had to run up on the edges on the sidewalks for a while and try to avoid people walk or stopping abruptly – all within the tight confines of the downtown streets. By mile two things started to get a little clearer, but it was still pretty frustrating.

Between the heat/humidity and the crowd, I can say that it was not a great run. It was different to run downtown instead of Central Park, but not the most conducive for running.

My overall finishing time was 24:23. Blah!

After the race, I walked with two of my co-workers from the downtown finish up to 14th Street and then crossed over to the east side and hopped on the 4/5 at Union Square. I got home around 9 p.m. and was starving! After eating some leftover pasta and showering I headed straight to bed.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I think the NYC heat and humidity is finally supposed to break a bit!

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Posted in NYRR, Races, Running, Uncategorized

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Who’s Staying in a Castle – We Are!!

Posted on June 24, 2010 | 5 comments

Hi all – Happy Thursday – how is your week going? The forecast in NYC says it’s going to be around 90-93 degrees today! Craziness. Does anyone remember last June and how totally different it was from this year? Last June it rained almost every day of the month! What a difference a year makes, right?

Today after work I’m running the American Heart Associations Wall Street Run and Walk. It’s only three miles, but I thought it would be kind of cool to run a race down here where I work. Then a few co-workers and I might jog up the West side to about 14th Street. That is if the weather holds out and it doesn’t pour on us.

I started of yesterday with a breakfast of oatmeal with frozen fruit.

Then I got to work and my camera battery died, so no lunch or afternoon snack pictures.

After work I picked up my race packet at the NYRR’s on 89th Street and then headed home to get into the air conditioning. Yesterday was pretty brutal as well.

For dinner last night I made a boat load of pasta – so I have some leftovers for lunch today. I wanted to keep it light, so I just added some veggies and sprinkled with some Italian salad dressing.

Multi-grain pasta with grape tomatoes, corn, peas, walnuts, raisins and cheddar cheese.

However, the highlight of yesterday was definitely when I booked us a room in a castle in Ireland!! Our trip is at the end of August and our last night there will be in a castle. I may not want to leave!! I’m so excited. We’re really starting to get into planning now. I’m a huge planner and want to have our hotels and B&Bs booked in the near future. But other people have told me that we don’t need to book our B&Bs in advance and should really only worry about finding rooms in Dublin. I just don’t think  I can go that route – I’ve got to have it out planned out and set.

BTW – if anyone knows of any great B&Bs in the following cities in Ireland, let me know! Kilkenny, Kinsale, Killarney and Galway.

Have a great Thursday all – hurray for tomorrow being Friday!!

Finish

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Posted in NYRR, Running, Travel, Uncategorized

Toughening Up!

Posted on June 22, 2010 | 4 comments

Good morning all – we made it past Monday. Mine was a busy Monday – how about yours?

I started the day off with a lighter breakfast – whole wheat English muffin with cinnamon raisin PB and grape jelly.

My morning sort of flew by. For lunch, I had triscuits with laughing cow cheese and some carrots and grape tomatoes.

I’m loving the grape tomatoes right now, and the latest Cooking Light magazine has a bunch of great grape tomato recipes that I want to try.

Then my afternoon snack was Chobani with granola.

I ended up staying a little bit later at work than I expected and it was soo hot out after work, that I gave myself the night off from running. Plus, after my tough race day on Sunday, I think I needed the rest.

I came home and threw together a quick salad for dinner.

Field greens with apple, walnuts, cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes and beets with Sesame Ginger dressing. Yum!!

After dinner, I happily finished up some dessert that Hubby made on Sunday night.

A piece of pistachio pudding pie. I was iffy about the pistachio, but I actually really liked it. Thanks Hubs!

The rest of our night was low-key, we finished up some laundry and then I’ll confess that I watched The Bachelorette. There was nothing else on. Really. And sometimes it’s just funny to watch the crazies on there. 🙂

What is your guilty pleasure summer t.v. show? I’ve been watching The Bachelorette and So You Think You Can Dance. 🙂

I’m going to attempt a run tonight after work. I’d like for the predicted rain to hold off and for the temps to drop a little, but I’m not sure that is going to happen. I’m running the Wall Street American Heart Association 3-Mile Run on Thursday night, so I’d really like to get a run in today as well. This is me forcing myself to get back on track.   

I have to say that after reading Gracie’s comment on my blog post yesterday, I need to be thankful for the tolerable heat we have in NY. It’s nowhere near as bad as down south and I need to remember that, and quit being such a baby and toughen up!

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