Tag Archives: St. Patrick’s Day

Spring Changes!

Hello all – happy spring…err or maybe summer? It’s supposed to hit almost 80 degrees this week. Kind of crazy for March.

But, I will NOT complain about warm weather while in the midst of marathon training. That would be absurd. I will simply say, thank you, thank you, thank you – over and over again.

Before I get into a marathon training update, I’ll explain why I’ve been gone again. There were some major changes in my life. I started a new job a little over two weeks ago – and as you can imagine – that was a pretty big deal. I had been at my last job for almost three years, but an amazing opportunity came along at an organization I REALLY love, and a position that basically rocks. After a lot of hemming and hawing, and talking over the pros and cons with my husband and family, I finally accepted the job and gave my notice.

I’m not exactly what you would call good with change. I like my routines, my schedules, knowing what’s going on, etc. So starting a new job was somewhat stressful and a big adjustment. Hence, the blogging fell to the bottom of the list. But I’ve still been reading and running, so now I’ll try to catch up. Last thing I want to say on the job front is that I’m VERY happy with the decision I made. I know it’s only been a few weeks and I still have a lot of learning to do, but so far this has been a great change! And I want to thank my husband, my friends and my family for all supporting me in making this decision, and listening to me go on and on questioning my choice. It was the right one!

And Now Onto Running
On the running front, things have been progressing. I won’t lie and say that I’ve stuck to my training plan 100%. I’m currently at around 215 miles in week 9 of my training plan. There have only been two weeks where I did NOT reach my weekly mileage goal. The first was due to illness and the second was due to St. Patrick’s day. I just completely messed up my schedule last week and left too much running to happen on the weekend, and then of course I was exhausted. But we had fun!

We hit the parade and then enjoyed a full day out in NYC – so running was kind of forgotten.

But I am trying to get back to the plan this week.  I ran 7 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles this morning. I have a 7 miler planned for tomorrow, 3 miles on Friday, and then a lovely 17 miles on the schedule for Saturday. Of course, it’s supposed to rain this weekend – the only rainy days this week.  I’m hoping the Saturday forecast might be a little wrong and some of the nice Friday weather will hold on until Saturday.

All in all, I am feeling a little bit better running-wise. My legs are finally losing their lead and I am getting back some of my speed. It’s still not feeling easy or as easy as it has been in the past, but I’m hoping I’m getting there. Hubby’s training is also going very well. He is running four days a week and has been following his plan pretty closely too. I’m hoping we’ll both have a great race on May 27!!

How are you enjoying this spring weather? Have you changed jobs in the past year – did it stress you out a lil bit? Who’s running a spring marathon – how is training going?!!

Have a great Wednesday all!

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Spring is in the Air!

Good morning all. Sorry I have been MIA, but the past few days have been crazy busy with work, St. Paddy’s Day fun and marathon training.

I started Wednesday off with a nice 4.5 mile run with Liz. The last time I ran in the morning we watched as the sun rose around 6:15. This time there was no sun on the horizon – it was a dark morning. Our splits were:

Mile 1 – 9:09
Mile 2 – 8:53
Mile 3 – 9:09
Mile 4 – 9:33
.53 – 4:31

Total mileage – 4.53 in 41:17 

When I woke up to head out for our run my hip was feeling very tight. But as we got moving it started to actually feel a little bit better. I think my body was not prepared for my super fast run on Tuesday night.

I’m not going to post all my eats for the past two days because there were a lot and I didn’t get a chance to photograph many of them.  I did take a few St. Paddy’s day pics though!

Here is me out in my green gear, trying to drink a Guinness.

I say trying because I only drank about 1/3 of it. I poured the rest into Bill’s beer. I really wanted to drink a glass of wine when we went out, but literally, not a soul in the bar had a wine and I knew I’d feel like a fool ordering one.

We went to three bars on St. Paddy’s day because we were searching for food. Yup – while everyone else was focused on drinking, Hubby and I each had our minds on food (Hubby also has his mind on Guinness though). At the second bar we went to, they were serving corned beef sandwiches, which was what Hubby wanted. But I wanted no part of that.

After he finished his gross-looking sammy, we left that bar in search of some nachos for me to snack on. We finally found The Back Page on 3rd Ave, which was serving food. I ordered a giant plate of nachos.

P.S. – these had WAY too much crap on them. We literally had to dig to find the chips. I still like making my own nachos better than I like most restaurant/bar nachos.

Hubby munched on some nachos as well, and enjoyed a few more pints of Guinness.

So much so that he had a Guinness “stach.”

He’s a little silly…

We stayed out with the crazy St. Paddy’s day partiers until about 9 p.m. – I know we’re so old! All in all, I had 1/3 of a Guinness and 1 Bud Light at the Back Page and then we called it quits. I took one “self portrait” before we headed out.

Thursday was a normal day with some normal eats. I was soo busy at work with a big project we are trying to wrap up. I may be a little scarce towards the end of next week as we launch the project and I devote about 4 hours of Wed, Thurs and Friday to it. Eek!

But anyway – after work yesterday I had another 8 mile run on my marathon training plan. Seriously – Hal Higdon is trying to kill me. I used his intermediate plan as a basis for my plan, but moved some of the runs around a little. And boy did these mid-week 8 milers sneak up on me. I still felt a twinge in my hip (p.s. – thanks for the stretching suggestions!), so I wanted to take my run slow. I had mixed success with that:

Mile 1 – 8:32
Mile 2 – 8:14
Mile 3 – 8:26
Mile 4 – 7:46
Mile 5 – 9:00
Mile 6 – 8:32
Mile 7 – 8:45
Mile 8 – 8:52

Total Mileage – 8 miles in 1:08:14

Ok – so I know about half of those splits aren’t taking it easy. And then yes, I know mile 4 is pretty ridiculous, but there was a reason. I ran on the East River Promenade and headed north to about 115 St. As I turned around and headed back, a big group of high school (I assume) boys trotted down one of the ramps and were basically running right beside me. Umm hello – awkward. Especially when I didn’t have headphones on and could clearly hear them talking about me. And then when they began making little yelps and noises, I decided it was time to pull ahead and get the heck out of there. Hence my speedy 7:46 pace. 

And Mom, before you read this and freak out, there were many other people around that area running, biking, etc., so I wasn’t in any danger, just kind of uncomfortable.  

Have you ever had a weird, scary or uncomfortable running experience? How did you handle it?

After my run I felt pretty good – the hip felt okay, but I was tired. Hubby and I did enjoy a nice steak last night with some broccoli on the side, but I forgot to upload the picture. I also had a banana with peanut butter for dessert. Then I headed to bed at about 10:15 and slept like a rock.

I also wanted to post that I finished Angela’s Ashes on St. Patrick’s Day – how appropriate right?! I hope to have a review coming soon, but I also feel like everyone has already read the book. All the same, I like to record my thoughts on it.

My next book is the The Help. I started reading it on the subway yesterday and last night before bed. It’s definitely very different and it was hard to get the dialect at first, but now it’s flowing.

I am definitely looking forward to the weekend and the nice weather we’re supposed to have in the city. I think it’s supposed to reach 72 degrees out tomorrow! Have a great weekend all and get outside if you can!

Ok, Who Put Speed in my Seltzer?

No seriously – someone must have. I am pushing my daily food recap out of this post so I can talk first and foremost about something magical (or speed-induced) that happened last night. I had an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. run. I actually think maybe my Garmin is wrong. Or maybe it was the stars aligning, the super-charged rice lunch I had, the extra water I drank, the lovely compliment Kelly paid me yesterday (she labeled me as a “real” runner), the fact that it was my first time wearing shorts this season, the balmy temps, the beautiful sun or the plethora of runners out in Central Park. Whatever it was, whatever the combination – I don’t want to lose it and I want it with me on the day of my marathon.

Seriously – I am in shock by these run stats. Here it goes:

Mile 1 – 8:24
Mile 2 – 7:47 (I know!!)
Mile 3 – 7:45 (what, what!)
Mile 4 – 7:59 (oh okay, it’s all over)
Mile 5 – 7:42 (oh no it’s not!)
Mile 6 – 7:54 (hanging in there)
Mile 7 – 7:56
Mile 8 – 8:06

Total mileage: 8.04 in 1:04:04 (maybe 4 is my lucky number?)

I know for many people, these stats aren’t that impressive. I know there are super runners out there that may balk at these times and wonder what I’m freaking out about. But holy moly, for me they are insane. Out of control. I honestly don’t know where this came from or how I sustained that pace.

Have you ever experienced a run like this? Blind-sided by your out-of-nowhere speed?

I’m pretty sure this was a one shot deal and I need to be prepared for the fact that my runs will likely never look like this again. Total fluke.

Plus, after my run I noticed some pain in my hip. I’ve been trying to stretch it out, but that sure is a hard area to stretch. Any suggestions?

I did a recovery run this morning (actual recap to come tomorrow) and that seemed to help a bit, but I know I need to be stretching it some more.

I’m going to forego my food recap for yesterday and just say that it was pretty normal. Oatmeal in the morning, mid-morning snack, leftover rice and chicken dish for lunch (good carbs before my run), Chobani yogurt and an apple around 3:45. Somehow, I guess that fuel combo was the right mix!

Oh and btw – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! I’m wearing green – how bout you?! The Hubby wants to go out for a few drinks tonight and since I got my recovery run in this morning and had an awesome run last night, I think I am totally entitled! Will you be celebrating this evening – or today? I still wish the parade was on the weekend. Have a great one all! 🙂

No Rest for the Weary

Good morning all – have you adjusted to the new time yet? I was actually so exhausted from my busy weekend that I was able to go to bed fairly early last night and adjust to the change a little bit easier.

My weekend was fabulous, but exhausting. I travelled to Albany on Friday night and had a nice dinner with my parents at Beff’s.

We were home pretty early and I went to bed at a decent hour so I could run on Saturday morning before the impending rain and all my activities. I was up by 6 a.m. and ate an English muffins with peanut butter and bananas for fuel. I was out the door a little before 7 a.m. and had a wonderful run. I did almost the same run as the last time I was home (when my Garmin and I got in a fight and I basically had a miserable run).

This time, the run was perfect. I felt really great, the predicted rain was holding off and I ran pretty well. Here are my run stats:

Mile 1 – 9:00
Mile 2 – 8:55
Mile 3 – 8:29
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:36
Mile 6 – 8:15
Mile 7 – 9:15
Mile 8 – 8:55
Mile 9 – 8:33
Mile 10 – 8:09
Mile 11 – 8:38
.25 – 1:54

Total mileage  was 11.25 in 1:37:01

I was feeling pretty good after this run. My fastest mile (mile 10) was partially run on my highschool track. I really picked it up and enjoyed doing some speedwork there. My slowest mile (mile 7) was one giant hill. I purposely added a bunch of hills to this route because I know that the Poconos marathon is going to be hilly. It scares me a bit that I was a little bit slow during that section – I hope I can maintain my speed during the marathon.

Overall, it was a great run and it started sprinkling just as I got back to my parent’s house. Very lucky!

After my run I showered and headed out to my friend Jenny’s bridal shower at the Edison Club in Rexford, N.Y. It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious. We had a brunch/lunch selection of food and I went with both:

I was ravenous after my run and cleaned this entire plate. 🙂

And then there was a delicious bananas foster crepe for dessert. And you know how I love crepes…

Yummy! Jenny’s bachelorette party was that evening as well, so after we wrapped things up at the shower, we headed to our hotel in Saratoga to get ready for an evening of bachelorette fun! 

We spent the beginning portion of the evening in the hotel suite eating some amazing dips, veggies and pizza (sorry no photos). Then we headed out on the town. Here’s a lovely group shot of many of the girls:

The bridey is the lady in the middle in white! The rest of us were garbed in some Irish green attire since the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Albany took place on Saturday and we knew most people would be celebrating in Irish style. Such a great time – I can’t wait for the wedding!!

So now it’s Monday and back to the grind. I have plans for a nice, easy run on the treadmill after work (since the rain is still lingering in NYC) and then I’m heading to bed early again.

Did anyone else watch that new program Minute to Win it last night? I’ll admit that it totally hooked me. I was really rooting for the Rachel girl – I thought she could go pretty far. But don’t worry – you won’t catch me practicing at home or anything – I’m content to just watch.

And starting tomorrow, I think the weather in NYC is supposed to be amazing!! Can’t wait. I may have to do a nice Central Park run after work finally. I hope the nice weather hangs on through the weekend. Have a great day all!