Local Running: The 2024 Runners Edge Fun Run

I took my first trip to runners edge back in 2015, when I was training for my first half marathon.  I remember being intimidated at the thought of going, so my dad went with me, and we both left with a new pair of sneakers after the kind staff helped us get fitted and select a new pair that would work for each of us.

Ever since then I head to runners edge any time a new model of a shoe I love come out, just to make sure that I’m buying the right shoe for my fit (usually a pair of Brooks ghosts, but I still tend to go there to try them on and make sure!). The employees are always kind and patient as I try on and trot about in several pairs of shoes, before selecting the pair that will come home with me.  

They often host runs in conjunction with running brands, that will end with a coffee or beer on Main Street in farmingdale. I don’t get to these events as often as I would like, but it’s always nice to meet other local runners when I do make it!  

Last week I got a notification of Strava that they had added a new event – their annual fun run. The post promised raffles, snacks, giveaways, and a 3-6 mile running course, so I messaged some friends and made plans to head there on a Sunday morning. I was pleasantly surprised when my brother Tommy agreed to join us too! 

The forecast called for a sunny but chilly morning, with temps in the 20s. I decided to go with a layered outfit – a pair of brooks momentum thermal tights on the bottom, with top layers consisting of a brooks distance short sleeve 3.0, notch thermal long sleeve (with the perfect watch window), and a neon canopy jacket over it all. To go with the neon jacket, I chose my hot pink Ghost max sneakers.  

On Sunday morning I made the rounds, picking up Mike, Sophie and Tommy, and then driving us all to farmingdale. We even managed to snag a parking spot behind runners edge, rather than having to head to the parking lot across the street.

When we got to runners edge the store was already crowded. We checked out the vendor tables in the back of the store, and I got a chance to chat with Luke, the local Brooks Guru. Runners edge had a table of freebies, and I was lucky enough to find a pair of biking shorts in my husband’s size, which he was very excited about when I broke them out at home.

We dropped our goodies in the car, right as a runners edge team member climbed a ladder, and shouted over the crowd to explain the run course. There was a 3 mile option and a 5 mile option, and while the roads were open to traffic, there were barricades blocking several roads for us, and local police on the course to help direct traffic. They took a group photo, and then shouted a countdown to get us all going!

Tommy, Sophie and I opted for the 3 mile course, as Tommy revealed he had recently been doing a couch to 5k program, but hadn’t yet run the final 5k – so this was the perfect opportunity to get his miles in! Mike headed out with another friend with the intent of doing the 5 mile course.  

I was very glad with the layers that I selected as we started moving, and thankful that I had gloves – my hands were chilly even with them! We crossed the railroad tracks behind runners edge and headed towards bethpage state park, keeping a steady state as we trudged up a mild but steady uphill.

At the 1.5 mile mark we crossed the street and started heading back, a dirt road an option on that side of the street, which was nicer to run on than the road had been. I did wind up pulling off my canopy jacket, and tucking it into the internal pocket that it has, which converts it to a little backpack. 

Slowly but surely we made our way back to runners edge, but we had the bad luck of a a train coming just as we approached the train tracks, so we ran parallel to the tracks as we waited for the barricades to raise again, hitting the 5k mark just before the crossover opened again.

We crossed the street and walked the short distance left back to the store. When we got there they had bagels and coffee, and were handing out raffle tickets.

We hung around chatting as we waited for the rest of the runners to return to the store, and listened intently as they called off the raffle winners – they had so many prizes that it took a full 15 minutes to get through them all! Mike won a mystery bag, which contained a hat and some gels.

We headed home once the raffles were done, and all in all it was a fun event. It was nice of runners edge to host this for the community, with no cost to participate, plus some great giveaways! I’m looking forward to participating in more of their events in the future.

Are you there runners? It’s me, Kelly

So, it’s been nearly a year…. Is there anyone still out there?

I didn’t mean to ghost this blog, but if you follow me on instagram you probably know that I didn’t do much running this year, as I was busy growing a tiny human! At the beginning of this pregnancy I had high hopes of staying active, but running while pregnant didn’t work out for me.

Early in my pregnancy I was still logging miles, but right as I entered the second trimester I wound up catching both covid and the flu at the same time, which really knocked me on my butt. I was out of commission for existing beyond sleeping for a week, and my asthma wound up so inflamed that I could hardly walk around without getting lightheaded for nearly a month. It turned into an existence of daily nebulizer use, and I focused on getting better, trying not to stress out about my dwindling fitness.

While I was sick Brooks had sent me new running shoes, and I was itching to get out for a run to try them. The other exciting news of 2023 was being selected to join the Brooks Run Happy team, their ambassador program. I’ve been a brooks runner since 2017, when I got a fitting my local running store and tried on my first pair of ghosts… I believe they were a ghost 9, and I’ve worn each subsequent iteration since - the current model is the Ghost 15! I’ll save more about the Run Happy team for its own post, but being a part of their amazing team has helped me feel connected to running and other runners even when I couldn’t log my own miles this year.

Three weeks after first getting sick I laced up and headed out for a would be easy run, that turned out to be difficult no matter the pace. I was happy to be outside though, and committed to continuing to run.

I got in a few more runs before eventually hanging up my running shoes for the remainder of my pregnancy. My last run for 7 months wound up happening at the end of march, where I wound up with a surprise nosebleed that would not quit mid-run. I went to touch my face, thinking I was just particularly sweaty, and was surprised when I realized my hand was covered in blood. I was so freaked out by the experience that it wound up being the end of my pregnancy running. Without going into too much detail, the road to this pregnancy wasn’t an easy one, and I have a difficult history with being pregnant. I love running, but the fear of somehow negatively impacting my pregnancy was seriously hurting me mental health, which lead to the decision to hang up my running shoes - as my good friend Katie reminded me, running will always be waiting for you to make a comeback.

Once my son was born in august, my husband and I were in survival mode, like most new parents tend to be. I day dreamed about getting to run again, and about a week postpartum our little family started heading out for daily walks. At first we kept them short and local, but as I recovered the walks got longer, and we headed to as many local parks as we could while we were on leave from work. It became something Dennis and I looked forward to doing together every day.

Five weeks postpartum my doctor gave me the “all clear” to start running again. In my excitement, I wanted to make sure I didn’t dive in too quickly. So I went into my garmin app and set up a “running coach.” This is a feature on garmin devices, where you tell the app your goal, and it builds a running plan to get there. If you miss runs it will adjust, and if you have a specific time goal, it will update your paces based off of the runs you complete. My current goal? To run our local “Jingle all the way 5k” in December. The stretch goal? To do it in under 30 minutes. Something that used to be an easy task for me, but that feels daunting today.

The biggest decision of the day? Which pair of running shoes to wear! While I was taking a break from running I had acquired a few new pairs (what can I say, I’m a sucker for a cool looking limited edition shoe, and figured I would use them eventually!). Ultimately I decided on the Brooks Hyperion, which Brooks had sent me as a part of the Run Happy team virtual Hypefest. The shoes are light and felt good on my feet, and since we weren’t going to be running for too long, it seemed like a good opportunity to try out a new shoe model.

For our first run, we headed to the Jones beach boardwalk. I have logged many miles there, and was excited to return after a long hiatus. I checked the run garmin had for us that day - a benchmark run. We would warmup by walking for 2 minutes, then run as hard as we could for 5 minutes, then cool down for 2. It may sound short, but like I said, I really wanted to ease into things.

We got moving, and when my watch beeped at me to run, we upped the pace. We swapped the stroller every 60 seconds, and while it was a hard effort, it brought me so much joy to be running again. At the end of the 5 minutes, I was smiling from ear to ear.

Once we finished our little benchmark run, we walked a few miles on the boardwalk, enjoying the beautiful weather.

In the subsequent week, Dennis and I went on three more runs. They all shared a similar structure - a 5 minute warmup, 10-15 minutes of running, and a 5 minute cooldown. At this point, Dennis and I are both back at work remotely, so we kept each of these runs local, so that we could get outside after work while the sun was still up.

I was so happy each time we hit the “run” portions of our workouts, and had a sense of pride when I was able to run for the whole requested duration.10-15 minutes of running may not sound like much, but it made my runner heart happy to be moving like that again. I had to play a mental game on these runs, and opted to completely ignore the pace. I’m moving considerably slower than I did in previous years, and quickly fell into the comparison trap - so it was better to just look at the elapsed time on my watch. I’ll worry about paces later, when I have a more established running routine. For now, I’m just happy to be lacing up and hitting the road again - I hope you’ll join me on this comeback journey!

A greeting from 2023

Hello out there! Anyone still checking in on my little blog?

I know I have been quiet this year, both here and on Instagram, but I am hoping to get back into posting some regular updates as the year progresses – If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably realized that I have not been running so much this year, because I have been pregnant!

When I first found out that I was pregnant I had big goals – I was going to run the Disney World marathon in January! I was registered for the NYC Half in March, I certainly could keep running until then, right? Well, spoiler alert: I did not run either of those races. While my OB said I could keep running, a full marathon was deemed “too much” given my specific medical history, and by March my mileage was not where it needed to be to complete a half- but I did have fun heading into Manhattan to cheer on Mike and Carson as they ran the NYC half! It was fun to be on the other side of things.

I know that plenty of women run well into their pregnancy, but that just wasn’t how things shaped up for me. I still got some miles in during the first trimester (when I wasn’t sleeping as many hours as I could sneak in), but at the start of the second trimester I wound up with Covid and the flu at the same time, and it took a toll on me. The biggest impact of this combo was my asthma flaring up, which is something that thankfully does not happen too often, but when it does it usually takes about a month before I am breathing easy again. Between recovering from the covid/flu combo and being pregnant, it took a little longer than that before I had my breathing back under control – which meant I took about a month off from running, since I was getting lightheaded just walking around. It was beyond frustrating to go from being able to run regularly to hardly being able to walk around the house.

When I headed out for that first run back, I was so excited! I laced up, put on some of my favorite brooks gear, and headed outside hoping to just run a mile or two…. But my body had different plans – I struggled to control my breathing, and wound up with the most intense nosebleed, which is not something that I had dealt with while running before.

After that experience I was nervous to get out and run again. Since then, I have stuck to walks and the occasional swim, when the air quality allows it.

As I see my friends starting to train for fall marathons, I find myself daydreaming about lacing up again and getting excited that in a few months I’ll be able to lace up for a run again. That is one of the great things about running – it will always be there to welcome you back.

I ran my first marathon in January of 2017, and had hoped I would be able to run a marathon each year after that. But here we are in July, I am 8 months pregnant, and I have run zero marathons this year. It is seeming like odds are I am not going to hit that goal in 2023, even if I am technically still registered for the NYC marathon (which I know, realistically, I am not going to be able to run, I just haven’t been able to bring myself to defer just yet).

So I will be here for the next few months, watching from the sidelines and cheering on my friends. I have a pile of running shoes that are just waiting to get some miles on them, that I can’t wait to put on. So, I hope you will stick around and I make my way back to feeling like a runner again – because I am so excited for that journey ahead!

The 2022 NYC Marathon

The 2022 NYC marathon – if you followed along at all, you already know that it was a hot day for November in NYC. I think that would be the TL:DR for this race – “It was hot, we felt like death.”

But if you’ve found this race recap, you’re probably looking for something a little more long winded than that simple summary. Before I get into it, let me mention that this post is going to have less photos than my standard recaps, and I apologize in advance for that. Unfortunately, my phone wasn’t very cooperative during this race, as it wound up drenched in sweat, which made it damn near impossible to use.

Race morning started with an early morning alarm, and excitement as I rolled myself out of bed, despite the early hour. I got myself dressed, pulled an (ultimately unnecessary) throwaway layer of clothes over my marathon outfit, and ate breakfast as I waited for my friends to arrive – I had arranged an early morning uber for Mike, Katie, Darren and myself, that would take us to the hotel that our bus to Staten Island would leave from.

As my friends arrived, they were as sleepy and excited as I was, and we piled into the uber as soon as it pulled up to the house. I felt like I needed to pinch myself, race morning had finally arrived. It was about a 45 minute drive to the hotel for the bus, and then an hour of waiting around and taking advantage of real bathrooms before we headed to the land of the porter potty. The morning would basically just be a lot of waiting around, as mike and I weren’t scheduled to start the race until 11:30 – and we had left my house around 5 am.

We met up with a bunch of my friends from Landshark Endurance (formerly known as the Merrick Bicycles Tri Team), and loaded onto the Staten Island busses together, and once we got to the club tent, set up as circle as we organized ourselves before heading into the start village. Darren had hooked us up with folding chairs, which was honestly brilliant of him – I don’t know why I had never thought of it before! Most of the team headed into the start village before Mike, Darren and I, as they had earlier start times, and when we looked around and saw the club area had emptied out, we decided it was time for us to go through security and into the village as well, even though we had another hour and a half to kill before our start time.

The three of us hung out in the start village, grabbed dunkin hats – despite it being already too warm to wear them, and just waited for the booming announcement that the wave 3 corrals were closed. Once it finally boomed over the loud speakers, we headed towards the porter potties one final time before going towards the corrals. There was no line, but there was also no toilet paper. Thankfully another woman saw me checking various stalls and pulled out a roll of TP and offered me some. I love prepared runners.

Once we had all used the bathroom, we began our final preparations with gel placements in our belts and body glide applications. We walked from the orange village to the corrals and lined up at corral b waiting for them to open. I took this opportunity to use the bathroom one last time before starting – I had been drinking so much water in anticipation of the hot weather that I felt like I endlessly had to pee and was hoping I wouldn’t feel that way on course.

As soon as I was out we were able to head into the corral, which was hot with the body heat from all the runners. Around 11:15 they started moving us forward, and out onto the Verrazano for our 11:30 start. The air was electric with nervous energy, as all of the runners prepared to start their 26.2 mile journey. The national anthem was sung, a cannon went off, and the shuffle forward over the start began, as Frank Sinatra’s voice rang out singing “New York, New York.”

Mike, Darren, and I made it to the start line together, but we lost Darren pretty much immediately after that, as he took off across the bridge. Mike and I were all smiles as we took in the excitement of the moment, of finally making it to the start of the NYC marathon together.

The focus of the beginning of the race was to keep a steady pace – I was aiming for about an 11:30, hoping that we could start there and then progress the pace faster later, like we did for our 20 mile long run. It was congested on the bridge, which was a stark difference from the 2021 race, which had a smaller field. But the runners all seemed so happy, and as usual people were climbing up on the middle barriers for selfies, and workers in trucks were blasting music and dancing as runners went by. When we finally made it to the downhill of the bridge, I realized the 5 hour pacer was right near us, and we tucked into their group for a bit.

On the exit of the bridge, a runner directly in front of Mike and I snagged her foot on the road and went down. We stopped to make sure she was ok, and when she got up and kept moving, we did as well. I hope that she went on to have a good race, because it is a tough break to fall in a race, especially that early.

We had lost the pace group, but managed to catch up to them before mile 2…. Only to then loose them around the mile 3 aid station.

As we made our way through Brooklyn, I was glad that I had decided to carry my handheld water bottle for the beginning of the race. I had it filled with liquid IV, since Gatorade tends to bother my stomach, and I wanted to make sure I was taking in enough electrolytes for the warm weather. I still grabbed water at each aid station that we ran through, and Mike and I would split for a second as I ran through and he walked, but then he would pop up beside me again a minute later.

Mentally, I had broken the marathon down into blocks between my spectators. The planned sightings looked like this:

Mile 8 - Dennis (my husband), Jude (mike’s husband), Tommy (my brother) and Sophie.

Mile 8.5 – Michal with the Landshark Endurance team cheering squad

Mile 12 – Jennie and her bother Matt

Mile 14 – My parents

Mile 16 – Dennis, Jude, Tommy and Sophie again

Mile 19 – Carson

Mile 23 – Jennie again

Mile 25 – Tommy and Sophie

Finish line seating – Dennis and Jude

I was so thankful that we would have so much support on course and looked forward to seeing my people at every opportunity. I am 100% the kind of runner that is highly motivated by seeing her people on course.

The first 8 miles were warm, but I was feeling good as we turned onto Atlantic Avenue and started looking for the first group. The crowds were wild at that point, and it brought a smile to my face every time some spotted my shirt and yelled “Happy Birthday!” It really made me feel like the whole world was out there cheering me on.

Tommy, Dennis and Sophie brought out the cat signs that my Mom and I made for the 2021 race, and it made them easy to spot despite the crowds. We pulled to the side and said hello, Mike grabbed his traditional marathon shot off of the poster Jude was holding, I passed off the dunkin hats I had grabbed at ft. Wadsworth and my handheld water bottle, which was empty at that point.

After we left our spectators and started moving forward on the course again, Mike and I started to drift apart as we ran. I don’t wear glasses when I run, so it is often hard for me to identify a face in a crowd, but I was able to spot Mike thanks to the bright orange BibRave cap he had on. He was feeling dehydrated, as we headed into mile 9, which was unfortunately one of the three miles on course that did not have aid stations. I was already kicking myself for passing my handheld water bottle off to Dennis but knew from past experience that if I had kept it, my shoulder would be in pain by the end of the race.

Throughout mile 9 and into mile 10 I kept pulling ahead of Mike, and then struggling to find him in the crowd. Eventually I told him that if he saw me pulling ahead he should call out, or I was going to wind up losing him all together. I felt so relieved when I saw the mile 10 aid station…. But then I saw that there were no cups visible. I kept running further into the station, assuming that later tables would have some, but they never did. And then I realized that people were drinking from jugs of water and Gatorade that volunteers were pouring into runners’ hands or directly into their mouth… can someone please explain to me how on earth NYRR let this happen, on a 75 degree day, after we dealt with a 2+ year pandemic? Despite my disappointment and disgust at the circumstances of this aid stop, I put my hands out and thanked the volunteer that poured water into them. But it was not the aid station that we needed. I hoped that the mile 11 station would be better, but texted Jennie, who would be at mile 12, and asked if she could get us water bottles, just in case.

Mike was feeling even worse after the lackluster aid station, and the gap between the two of us got even bigger as the race went on. Unfortunately, the aid station at mile 11 was even worse than the one at mile 10, as all of the bottles were being poured directly into people’s mouths, and I just could not talk myself into that level of communal water. There was a medical tent taking the “pour into the hands” approach, so I did wind up getting a handful of water there (I mean, how ridiculous does that sound?!).

As we approached mile 12, I completely lost Mike. I sent him a text, and spent about 5 minutes slowly walking backwards, trying to spot that orange cap. But then a text came in from him, telling me to keep going without him. I felt bad, but we had discussed it before the race and agreed that it was okay if we needed to split up and run our own races. I also felt like I needed to keep moving forward, and get to Jennie, who had water for me. The humidity and heat were already starting to make the day hard, and I needed the water she had. It was such a tease as we ran by the crowded parts of Brooklyn, where the streets were lined with spectators at restaurants, all holding various drinks. I seriously contemplated stopping and asking for a cup, not sure if this would be an issue for the rest of the race.

I spotted Jennie and her brother, and she held up a giant string of cats wearing birthday hats, which made me smile so big. She was cheering as I approached and handed me the best birthday gift – a giant bottle of cold water! I thanked her, gave her a very sweaty hug, and headed towards the end of the Brooklyn part of the race, and onto the Ed Kotch bridge, which spit me out in Queens!

My parents had driven into queens to spectate, and I knew I would spot them between miles 13 and 14, just after the bridge. They were decked out with home-made signs, and I laughed when I saw Mom had even made a frosty the snowman one, to help the runners think cool thoughts. Dad was smiling and holding not one but two phones as I ran up to them, capturing my approach. I gave them hugs, complained about the weather, and kept trekking forward.

By this point in the race, I was soaked to the bone with sweat. Every article of clothing I was wearing was completely wet. I had opted for a sports bra that had a pocket for my phone, but even that was so wet that any time I took my phone out I had to let it air dry for several minutes before I could take a photo or answer a text. It made it a little complicated to update my spectators, but I did manage to send out a message to Den and ask him to fill my water bottle and add a tube of liquid IV, then pass it back to me at mile 16, where I would spot him next. After the messed-up water stations, I did not want to rely on the race to have hydration for the rest of the miles ahead.

I crossed from queens into Manhattan, and as usual it was eerily quiet on the Queensborough bridge. It is a mental game as you cross into Manhattan, because with no spectators and another uphill climb, it’s hard to talk yourself out of walking. I did all I could to keep moving forward and enjoyed watching the skyline off the side of the bridge. As I approached the end of the bridge I could hear the crowds on 1st avenue and knew in less than a mile I would see more of my people.

The crowds lining 1st avenue did not disappoint, and I soaked in the cheers as I made my way along. Before mile 17 I spotted Sophie perched on Tom’s shoulders, cheering, and holding up a giant cat head poster. When I got closer to them I saw Den and Jude. Den passed me my water bottle, freshly filled up, and I made my best attempt at taking a selfie of us all, despite my phone really fighting me in the process- It was wet, and I had wet hands, which are not the best combo for phone use.

From there they would split into 2 spectating teams – Den and Jude would head for the finish line, and Tommy and Sophie would head for a point during mile 25, on the last stretch of 5th avenue before the final turn into central park.

The day was only getting harder, and I was struggling to keep myself motivated to move forward. But getting some electrolytes in from the handheld water bottle helped. I would see my friend Carson around mile 19, just before heading into the Bronx, and two bridges later I would find Jennie on course again in central park. This was my 10th marathon, and I have never seen so many runners struggling at aid stations and medical tents. at one point, a runner ahead of me straight up started puking in the middle of the road. I was able to get my water bottle refilled as I ran out of water, and even took an extra gel.

I was so focused on running as I got closer to the Bronx that I almost missed Carson cheering on the side of the road – as I got closer to her, I saw she was holding a “Happy birthday” sign, and a “Go Mike!” sign, and I thought to myself, what a coincidence, that she’s cheering for someone with a birthday, and someone named Mike – and then I realized that the Birthday sign was for me, and it was my friend holding it. I may have been a little delusional at that point. But I was so happy to see her, and it gave me the boost of motivation I needed to get from Manhattan into the Bronx.

At this point in the race my pace had slowed considerably. My dad had started texting me encouragement. As I left the bridge and entered the Bronx, he sent me a text that read “The Bronx loves you” and you know what I saw after looking up from reading the text on my watch? A big sign, with a heart that said the exact same thing. I almost cried when I spotted it.

I had forgotten just how long the Bronx feels when you are this deep into the marathon. I was struggling to take in water because I had to pee so bad. But I knew that I had to keep hydrating, so I made the decision to stop at a porter-potty, which luckily still had toilet paper. I felt much better once I was back on the road, and soon after accepted a water bottle from a spectator who was kindly handing them out. I had to constantly push myself to keep running, I wanted to just walk so bad at this point in the race. I told myself that I could just get back to Manhattan running, then I could take a break. With every corner we turned in the Bronx I expected to see that last damn bridge, and every time it wasn’t there I questioned if I could make it to the bridge… until, finally, I could see it, and knew that I would make it back into Manhattan.

I had taken a few walk breaks up until this point, and each one was harder to talk myself into running again after. So while on the bridge I decided to set my watch to run/walk intervals, knowing that I could skip the walk portions if I felt good, but mainly hoping that having the intervals would up my mental game, and keep me from walking too much. I went with a 2 min run/30 second walk.

I made it across that last damn bridge, and back into Manhattan. Now I just had to make it to central park. The sun was starting to set, and I really wanted to make it to the finish before it got dark. Thankfully, the crowds were still out in full force cheering, and putting a smile on my face each and every time someone shouted at me with wishes of “Happy birthday!”

Finally, I saw the sign welcoming me into central park, and made the right turn onto the familiar roads of central parks, where I have spent plenty of weekend mornings logging miles at the smaller NYRR races. I kept up with running intervals as I made my way through the park, looking for Jennie and her brother as I went, knowing that they would be in the park to cheer me on. As I ran, I spotted Darren, who I hadn’t seen since the Verrazano. We chatted for a minute, and griped about how the race was going. He had lost his salt early on, and was as over the warm weather as I was. We ran together for about a half mile, but then he opted to walk a little longer when I was ready to go into another run interval, and we parted ways.

Soon after I spotted Jennie, around mile 24. As much as I had struggled to make it through this race, I couldn’t believe that it was almost over. I gave her a quick hug and she cheered me on as I rejoined the runners moving through central park. Even though there were only two miles left, I would still get to see Tommy and Sophie at mile 25.5 and Dennis and Jude at the finish line grandstands. I willed myself to keep moving forward, even though my body was tired.

At this point I basically could not use my phone for anything other than reading messages that got relayed to my watch, as it was too wet to be useful. Tommy started sending messages saying that him and Sophie were going to have to abandon their spot and head to the dinner reservation we had booked, and I was super bummed, as I was almost to the little span of 59th street that you pop out onto before making the final turn back into central park, where I knew they were waiting. I has resigned myself to not seeing them, when during a walk interval I heard Tom cheering for me, and Sophie yelling out as well. I almost cried happy tears when I saw them, and it was exactly the push that I needed to start running again, and get myself to that finish line (Tom later explained that he had checked find my friends, and when they saw I was so close opted to wait for me to run by before going to check in to the dinner reservation).

I was back in the park, and in the end of the final mile. There were signs up telling me I only had 800 m to go – two laps of the track, I could do that. I could hear the finish, and the sides of the course were lined with spectators. 400 m to go. It was the end of the marathon. I came up one final hill and around a corner, and could see the finish line at last, as lit up as the sun went down. The grandstands lined the finish, and I spotted Dennis and Jude holding up a giant cat head, and smiled as they cheered me to the finish.

I crossed the finish line, and felt like I was in a dream. It was over, the race was done. I followed the stream of runners, barely aware of my surroundings, but with a smile plastered on my face. I got a medal from a volunteer, and picked up a recovery bag that was filled with snacks and drinks. I had run with the NYPD team, so a volunteer directed me to a tent right at the finish, and I got to avoid the very very long walk out of central park, instead plopping my butt in a chair in the NYPD tent for a few minutes, while I collected myself.

I was able to dry off my phone, and checked the tracking to see where Mike was at on the course. It was going to be about 40 minutes before he was projected to cross the finish, so I decided to make my way to meet Tommy and Sophie at the restaurant for dinner, that way I could change into dry clothes. I collected my checked bag, and hobbled my way out of the park. When I got to the security exit, Tommy was waiting to escort me to the restaurant, which was about a block away. He offered me a piggy back ride, which made me laugh – I was pretty sure I would not be able to jump up onto him, and instead handed him the bags I was carrying and took his arm, shifting some of my body weight onto him.

We were eating dinner at the Smith, and luckily the table was ready when we got there. We were a party of 8, Me, Tommy, Sophie, Carson and a friend of hers, plus Mike, Jude and Dennis, who would join us once Mike crossed the finish line. I was able to change into dry clothes and we ordered some apps while we waited for the rest of the group – I could probably write a whole blog post about the injustice of their bathroom being in the basement, but I’ll stop yammering on. Once everyone arrived, I ordered something bubbly for a group cheers, and did my best to eat a burger. It was delicious, but I struggle to eat after long races. It was a good call to eat before going home, as in past years I have felt delirious after making the hour plus trip home before eating post race.

We took the subway back to penn station, and the LIRR back home. It was a long, hard day, and there were moments that I wanted to quit, but I was proud of myself for continuing to show up and put one foot in front of the other.

I am also proud of Mike, who somehow managed to pull off a marathon PR despite the bad weather!

Week 16: 2022 NYC Marathon training

Taper town is not my favorite place to be.

There is something I love about the grind of racking up the miles during marathon training – a satisfaction in looking at my Garmin and seeing how many miles I’ve run during the week.

But then you reach taper town and the number drops. You question everything you’ve done in the last 15 weeks, and if it was enough. Some part of your body starts to feel funny, and you question if you’re injured. These thoughts are known as “The Taper Crazies,” and they welcome you to the end of marathon training.

I had a slow start to the week. I got my covid booster and my flu shot on Sunday after the half marathon, and I spent most of the day Monday just trying to stay awake. I felt ok, other than my body completely wanting to be asleep. When I got home from work, I immediately got into bed and took a fat nap, that I only got up from to eat dinner, after which I basically went right to bed again.

Because of this extreme fatigue, I opted to not set an early alarm Tuesday morning and planned to get my weekday runs in on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. By Tuesday night I was pretty much feeling normal again and set up to run on my treadmill Wednesday morning – and then my husband discovered that our hot water wasn’t working.

So, I pivoted Wednesday morning, and when I got up I sent my parents a message to let them know I was going to run by their house, and then commandeer their shower after. My mom still hasn’t returned to a normal sleep schedule after Hawaii, and my dad is still having post-covid congestion issues, so they haven’t been able to join me for morning runs lately. Dad was already up when I got to his house, and I wished him a happy birthday before heading out to run.

I had three miles planned for that morning, and I was glad it was only three. It was a sneaky humid morning, where it is not hot, but it wants to rain so you can feel the humidity bearing down. Honestly, I just tried to mentally check out as much as was possible for this run. It was for sure the 1/3 of the time when you don’t feel great for me… I am sure that it did not help that I stuffed my face with fondue the night before.

I was dripping with sweat by the time the run was over, and glad to be done and get on with my day. Runs like this are NOT welcome in taper town, as they make me question how I am going to run a marathon in less than two weeks, when sometimes three miles can suck.

Thankfully, the remaining two weekday runs I had planned made me feel a little better. We had our hot water back by Wednesday night, so I setup to run on my treadmill Thursday morning. Getting outside to run in the dark has been a mental struggle for me lately – I don’t mind getting up early, I just feel really anxious on the days that I am out there alone – I feel like it’s a struggle between wanting to be completely lit up so every car that goes by sees me coming from a mile away vs. wanting to be so invisible that no one notices me going by. I think this is, as they say, the fear of “Running while Female.”

Despite this, when I got up Thursday morning the perfect fall temps lured me outside, and I felt good while running. I was able to settle into a groove, and was a little sad that I didn’t have time to keep going after I hit 4 miles. I was once again covered in sweat upon finishing, and had to wait a minute before showering to avoid sweating through the shower. So my cats got an extra minute of sweaty attention, which they weirdly love.

I wish I could say that I got to yoga or the gym during the week, but neither happened. We are in the midst of moving my brother into the house, re-decorating our living room, we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, and I have been working a little extra, so there was just no time during the week. I was basically getting into bed exhausted just from life each night, glad that I had run in the morning and not tried to squeeze it in later.

Up last was a 6 mile run on Friday morning. I was excited, because I got a new spotlight attachment for my Nox Gear light up vest, that clipped right into the front buckle, which meant I didn’t need my glove lights, which have been annoying me. The new light worked like a charm, and made it so I could see despite the dark morning. I have been working my way through the haunted mansions series on podcast the ride (they release a new episode each year at Halloween, 2022 being year 5), and the newest episode had dropped that morning, so I listened about the hatbox ghost as I got in my miles. It was a nice, chilly morning, and while my hands were cold for the first mile, I was fine once I got further into the run.

My headphones warned me they were going to die around mile 2, so I stopped by the house and quickly swapped them out for another pair and then continued on the way. Den waved as he drove by me when he left for work. It was the good run that I needed that week, to feel better about the rapidly approaching race day.

My final run of the week was an 8 miler, that I saved for Sunday. I wanted a practice go at eating everything I would on race morning, so I planned to start running at 11:30, around the time Mike and I would start the marathon a week later.

But my ambitious plan to practice marathon morning fueling and timing did not happen. Instead, when I work up I started working on finishing up the paint job we were giving my living room, and got too involved with house maintenance after that. My uncle came over to patch the ceiling for us after the plumbing issues earlier this week, we assembled some new furniture, cleaned up the aftermath of the ceiling patch, and suddenly it was 7 pm. Welp.

But there was no way I was bailing on this run. So as the sun was setting I pulled on my light-up vest, and Dennis joined me on bike as we headed for some neighborhood loops. I was tired from a busy day and looking forward to just being done with this run and being able to sit down for a bit before the weekend was over, but it was a good run. I found a groove, Dennis and I pointed out Halloween decorations that we liked to each other, and after a bunch of loops by watch buzzed, showing the 8 mile mark.

16 weeks, done and dusted. Up next, race week!

Week 15: Training for the 2022 NYC Marathon

Not sure how this happened so fast, but we are officially in taper town! I have less than three weeks between now and a 26.2 mile tour of the 5 boroughs of NYC… and only ONE double digit run left between now and then, which is wild to me.

I am gonna start with a side note this week – way back in week 8 of training, I mentioned that I was having massive blister issues when going out on long runs. I want to report, that thanks to a suggestion made by my friend Katie, the issue has been completely resolved – all I had to do was change socks for my long runs. Now, I love my tall compression socks, but this blister issue was getting worse each week. So when Katie suggested that I try a pair of injinji toe socks, I was skeptical. But I ordered a pair and used them for my next long run… and every long run since. It was like magic, and my blister issues are a problem of the past now. I still use my procompressions for bike rides and shorter runs, but I have to accept the blister prevention trade off, and say that injinji will be my go-to for longer miles.

I started the week with a rest day on Monday, that included getting a massage at the yoga studio. I had planned to go to a yoga class after, but the instructor that I like was no longer listed as teaching, so I opted to go home and have dinner with Den instead.

I got up bright dark and early Tuesday morning – the sunrise is officially after 7 am now, which means that the dawn is just barely breaking as I finish my morning miles now. It was a little chilly, but I was still happy in shorts as I set out for a 4-mile run. I wound up cutting it a little short, and finishing at 3.7 miles, due to an urgent bathroom need – it wasn’t time efficient to head back out and get in the last .3 miles after, as it would have made me late for work. So I’ll probably tack a little extra distance onto another run this week.

Most of the day Tuesday I wound up taking advantage of my standing desk at work, because my hip flexor felt awful anytime I tried to sit. I was frustrated by this, because I had felt fine before that mornings miles, despite a little soreness in the middle of the long run on Saturday. That night Sophie and I headed to the gym and focused on leg exercises, especially ones with a single leg option. Better late than never with some single leg strength work, right? Don’t worry, I won’t pull this crap on marathon week.

I originally planned to run again Wednesday morning, but because of the hip pain I figured I would take an extra rest day and move Wednesday’s planned miles to Thursday, since my long run wasn’t until Sunday anyway. I set an alarm for 4:45 am on Thursday morning, so that Dennis could bike with me for 6/8 miles before heading to work – but then woke up at 5:30, very surprised that my alarm had not gone off! Upon checking my phone I learned that I accidentally set a 5:45 alarm. Whoops.

So I headed out and was able to get in 5.75 miles that morning. I figured it was better than nothing, and I am in taper town at this point, so missing a few miles isn’t going to have that big of an impact. Honestly, if anything it will probably give my hip the break it needs. It was a very dark morning run, and it was even chilly enough that I kept my zip up on for the whole run for the first time this season… I did ditch my gloves and headband after the first mile though.

My last weekday run was on Friday evening, when my friend Ryan asked if I had time to get in a few miles together. I had worked late and picked up my bib for the Suffolk county half on the way home, so we were planning to head out for a few miles around 8 pm – but I just could not. By the time I got home I felt overwhelmed with my to-do list, and felt run down. I felt bad, but I bailed, but Ryan was gracious about it, and we re-scheduled for the following week.

Saturday was spent cleaning and prepping the house, as my brother was planning to move in with us, and then headed into Brooklyn to check out a tattoo convention with Kasey and Tommy. After the show the three of us headed to Tom’s apartment, and loaded up his stuff into cars and moved it to the house. It was a busy day, and by the time we got home and got everything into the house, I knew that I had not eaten enough throughout the busy day, and tried to cram in some extra calories before bed.

My alarm clock felt too early Sunday morning when it rang out, but I rolled out of bed and got ready for the race. Mike had offered to drive, and picked me up so we could head to the start line. Runners were being instructed to park about a mile from the start, and then there were busses to shuttle us to the start. We got there about 15 minutes before the race was set to go off, and were able to hop in line for the porter potties and made a quick bathroom start before joining the crowd at the start. I lost a gel to the porter potty, when it flew out of my pocket – it was one of those times I was glad that I always carry an extra.

When we got to the start the national anthem had already been sung, and I dropped my throwaway layer into a pile of sweatshirts as we joined the masses. There were 10k, half marathon and marathoners all lumped together in the start area. After a moment the start was signaled, and we shuffled towards the start with the crowd. Unfortunately, there were no corrals at the start, so there was a TON of congestion at the start line, as people of all paces were lumped in together. After about a half mile the crowds finally eased, and Mike and I were able to settle into a comfortable pace.

The first water stop was just before the second mile, and it was kind of chaotic. It was a loop through the start line again, and the volunteers seemed overwhelmed by the number of runners streaming through, trying to grab water. The first cup I got was empty, but the second had a little water in it at least. The next aid station was between miles 4 and 5, and it was full of volunteers from the lightening warriors tri team – this one was fully ready for us to run through, and we were easily able to grab some water. From there we headed towards the main attraction of the race – the bridge! I was struggling to find a good pace, with the air more humid than is typical of the fall since it was getting ready to rain. The uphill as we headed up the bridge for the first time did not help this. But eventually we got to the top, and started the downhill, where we opened up the pace a little bit. There was a bit of flat ground between the bridges, and an aid station between the two bridges. Before we knew it there was an uphill pitch again, and we were crossing a second, smaller bridge. This one had exposed grating for us to run over, which felt a bit tricky. We had to slow down, nervous that we were going to trip.

As soon as we got off the bridge we reached the turn around point of the race, right around mile 9, and had to go right back onto the bridge. Just as we got off the open grating and onto the road again, we heard what honestly sounded like a car crash. Mike whipped around and saw that someone had taken a bad spill on the other side of the bridge, and the runners around him were rushing to help. We kept running, as we saw that there were paramedics stationed a little up the road, and let them know what happened as we ran by, and they rushed to go help. Hopefully he was ok, as it sounded like a bad fall.

Once we were off the second bridge, we could see the aid station between the two bridges in the distance. I needed to stop and use the bathroom, something I generally try to avoid during races, but there was no way to avoid it. I told Mike to go on without me, but he insisted that he would wait just past the aid station, and there he was when I emerged 5 minutes later. I grabbed some water, and we continued on our way. While we climbed the bridge for the last time, I felt good in the steady pace we had found, but Mike was itching to zoom through the last bridge and rip the band aid off, so he picked up the pace and headed up the incline without me. Eventually I caught up with him, as we very happily got to head downhill. From the height we were at we could see another aid station in the distance, and Mike joked that it was a mile away – I was surprised when it was ACTUALLY a mile away though.

It had been overcast for the whole race, with humid air weighing down on us, and when we got to that aid station, we both down two cups of water and two cups of Gatorade. The red Gatorade was nice and cold, which felt like a gift. It gave me the power up I needed to push through the last few miles.

Once we were off the highway and back in town, we had just over a mile to go before the finish line. The final mile was in remembrance of fallen soldiers and had photos of them in remembrance. This is something that makes me cry 100% of the time when races do this.

After we passed the 13th mile marker, we saw the big blue arch that we assumed was the finish line, and I grabbed Mike’s hand so we could run over the finish together – we turned and ran through the arch, both expecting the finish – and learned that it was just the entrance to the finishers chute, despite both of our garmin’s claiming that we were already at 13.2 miles. So, we ran through the finisher’s chute hand in hand, and crossed the finish line together.

We were handed our medals (which I somehow managed to loose in the following hours… maybe it will eventually show up at my house), and then lead to a tent at the end of the finisher’s chute, where we were given a reusable insulated water bottle full of water, a full sized sweat wicking towel, and post-race snacks including watermelon, hot soup and bagels.

Mike and I found a place to sit while we ate for a minute, and then wandered through the post-race village, and he redeemed both of our coupons for a free beer at the finish. Then we found the bus that would shuttle us back to the parking lot, so we could head home.

For some reason this was a hard race for me. I am not sure what it was, but I felt so defeated when we were done, and was exhausted all day after. It was just one of those runs. I am hoping that I just went in a little under fueled, or the humidity caught me by surprise, and its not indicative of how I will feel at NYC – I hope NYC feels as good as my 20 miler did!

Week 14: Training for the NYC marathon

Less than a month to go to race day, which means the runs are getting longer as the days get shorter – and this week is officially peak week! Aka the week where my total mileage will be the highest of any week of this training cycle, the goal is 40 miles.

I started my week with some yoga at emerge on Monday night, where Vanessa (the owner of the studio, and my favorite yoga teacher), was teaching a class. It was a small crowd, which is unusual for her classes, and she organized the 10 or so of us into a circle around the room, so we were all facing the center throughout the class. While the class started like most classes do – with sun salutations, after guiding us through a few fast-paced rounds, she challenged us to keep moving, but however our body needed on that night, rather than her instructing us. She spoke to us throughout the class about doing what we need rather than what is easy, how even the kindest person on the planet is judgmental, especially of themselves, and how at the end of the day, each individual knows what is best for them more than anyone else. As the hour came to a close, she ended the free flow and lead us through a few group movements and into meditation. It was a unique class, but one that I enjoyed.

My first run for the week was scheduled for Tuesday, with 5 miles on the calendar. I made plans to go to the gym with Sophie in the evening, so I wanted to get the miles in before work. Unfortunately, even though my parents are back from vacation, Mom is still dealing with the time change (they got used to being 6 hours behind in Hawaii), and Dad tested positive for covid… so I was on my own. I don’t really like running by myself in the morning – there is just something about starting the run in the dark that gives me the heeby jeebies way more than running as it gets dark at night. But I reassured myself that the sun would be coming up soon enough and pulled on all my lights as I headed outside. It is the time of year when the temps drop, and I overdress for every run, because I am cold when I wake up. It was about 45 degrees outside, and while I started the run with a jacket and ear warmer, I ran by my house less than 2 miles into the run to ditch both. I stayed close to home for this one, just looping the blocks near my house. I almost bailed on the run at 4 miles, when I ran by my house, nervous about the time, but ultimately kept going. I slightly overestimated my last loop, and wound up at 5.4 miles when I got home – my morning routine was a bit rushed after that, as I hurried to get out the door for work.

Despite our plans, our evening gym trip did not happen – we pushed to Wednesday night instead, because my stomach was not cooperative after work.

Being peak week, I had to get in a 10 mile run on Wednesday. I have a standing appointment after work every Wednesday, so there was no way I would have time to run that far in the evening, and I didn’t want to push the miles to Thursday or Friday, as I need to do my 20 miler on Saturday, and wanted to give my body time to recover. So, it was time for an early morning.

Dennis agreed to bike with me for the first half of my run, and we got up at 5 and rolled out of bed. We both set ourselves up for the morning the night before, so it was quick to get ready and get out the door. It was another chilly morning, but this time I opted to just add a vest to my shorts and t-shirt, which turned out to be a better plan. It was pitch black when we got on the road, but we both were decked out with light up vests, and Den had lights on his bike, while I wore light up gloves. I popped on a podcast about the haunted mansion and put one foot in front of the other to get going. It was slow going, but my plan was to run by feel and not push it, to make sure I’m not burnt out when the long run rolls around this weekend. Around mile 5 Den stopped at the house, and I kept going, the sun finally starting to brighten the sky. It was an uneventful run, and I just felt happy that I had committed to getting this run done early, and actually got out of bed and did it. My Garmin died around mile 6, but thankfully I had noticed the low battery when I started it, and tracked the run on Strava simultaneously, knowing that the watch may die. Will it annoy me that my watch face shows the wrong mileage for the rest of the week? Yeah. But at least I knew when I had hit 10 miles, right as I looped back to my house. I rushed through getting ready and grabbed a Kodiak cake flapjack cup for breakfast, and was on my way for the day.

The last weekday run was scheduled for Thursday morning, and I had 5 miles to get done. Rain was predicted Thursday afternoon, so I knew I needed to get out in the morning. Lucky for me, Dennis was working from home that day, so he had a later start time than normal, as he was skipping his commute. So he was able to join me on his bike for most of the run. We got up and out before sunrise, and I looped a little right near the house before venturing further to do an out and back for most of the run. I had opted for long sleeves and shorts after a few chilly mornings in a row, but was too warm after a mile in long sleeves. Like I’ve said before, it’s the time of the year when I am excited to break out all my cold weather running gear that has been neglected for months, and inevitably wind up over-dressed.

Dennis had to bail at mile 4 to get back to the house on time to start work, so I was solo for the last mile. But at least the sun was up at that point, and by that hour there were plenty of people around, walking their dogs and heading to the school near by. A benefit of running on dens schedule instead of my own was that I had plenty of time to get ready after, and even took a minute to stretch and make myself some avocado toast.

After work I met Sophie at the gym, and we spent a half hour lifting with an upper body focus, and then took one of the core classes that the gym offers. When we left the gym it was full on monsooning outside, and even though I ran to the car I got completely soaked.

I was legitimately excited that I got to “sleep in” on Friday morning, and after talking with Mike and Katie determined that I am not the only one among us feeling a bit exhausted during peak week – but honestly, I feel excited too! But it is a little wild to me that by the end of the week I had already logged 20 miles, and still had another 20 to go before I could call my weekly miles “done.” Since Friday was a rest day, all I did was a restorative yoga class in the evening. I figured it would force me to stretch for a bit and get me in a good mental state ahead of Saturdays long run.

Mike and I planned to head to the beach for the long run, since we don’t run there in summer – there is hardly any shade, and it just gets too hot out there. But as the temps drop it becomes one of my favorite places to run locally. In my head, I broke the run down into 4 5-mile sections, and I wanted to focus on not going out too fast, and picking it up a little at the end if we were feeling good.

We headed there around 6:15 am, and were on the boardwalk by 6:30. I wasn’t sure if the water would still be on at the beach, so I decided to carry my hydration vest as we headed out. I had it loaded up with my gels and some salt as well, that way if we decided to forge on rather than do sectional out and backs I would be good to go. As we started our long run the sun was rising over the beach, and it made for a limited “golden hour” view, as everything looked beautiful as the sun rose higher in the sky. Mike and I joked that we have very different methods of dressing ourselves for marathons – I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, while he had on a long sleeve, t-shirt, jacket, shorts, and long compression pants. I still am not sure how he didn’t overheat. I set a pace alert on my watch to keep a conservative pace for the first 5 miles, and had to slow us down a few times as we settled into the run. As we headed further out on the boardwalk, I checked one of the water fountains and they were still on – which meant we didn’t need to double back to the car constantly to refill on water. So we ran until the end of the boardwalk, and turned around a little after mile 4. As we headed in the other direction, we added a few offshoots to get our mileage up, and around mile 9 turned down the bike path to cedar creek, where we experienced the one hill of the day – the drawbridge that we crossed on the path. The sun was up by this point, and we could see ton of fishermen down on the dock, casting their lines into the bay. Around mile 13 we turned back again, and headed for the car so I could ditch the hydration vest for the last 5 miles. We got to the car at mile 15, and decided to do another boardwalk out an back. Mike and I wound up separating for the last 5 miles, as he needed to slow a little bit, and my hip was unhappy with the short strides that my legs were doing when slowing down. I decided to push the pace, and managed to get into the 10s for the last few miles. I was feeling really good during the final mile, and kept pushing – when my watch buzzed to indicate 20 miles, I had managed to make my last mile the fastest, at a 9:37. I was really proud of this, considering back in June I was struggling to run one mile continuously, and here I was, running 20. I had a little surprise at the end of my run – my Mom knew I was running on the boardwalk, and came out to do a morning walk and catch me at the end of my run. So I got to chat with her while I stretched and waited for Mike to get back to the car.

It was by no means my fastest 20 miler, but I am really proud of how strong I felt, and how far I have come in the last few months.

I spent the rest Saturday relaxing, and Den and I had a few friends over Saturday night for a big ramen dinner, and some nostalgic movies. I was hoping that I would be able to work on painting our living room Sunday, but was not sure if I would feel up to it after running 20 miles Saturday… but my body pleasantly surprised me, and I was more than happy to get up Sunday morning and clean then tape and start to paint. I am really excited for our living room to feel like a coherent space, rather than an assortment of furniture that other people were getting rid of – is this what it means to feel like an adult?

To end this post, I’ll say the thing: We are officially in taper town! 

Week 13: Training for the NYC Marathon

I was so pooped after my long run Sunday, but despite an early bedtime the fatigue carried into Monday. I struggled and needed an afternoon cup of tea at work, just to make it through the day without feeling too sleepy. After work Mike and I met up and headed to a yoga class together, to get some movement and stretching in.

The rainy weather that started over the weekend persisted into Tuesday, and the rain was coming down hard that morning, so I opted to sleep in and get my run done after work, either on the treadmill or outside. When I got home from work it was windy and foggy, but the rain was a drizzle at most so I opted to head outside to run. I pulled on my “Run Visible” Brooks jacket, to make sure that I would be visible, despite the less than stellar weather. I only had 4 miles on my schedule, so I did a nice out and back rather than loops near my house. I took it easy, enjoying the chilly weather, and eventually warming up enough that I needed to peel the jacket off and wrap it around my waist (in that moment did I think about how the new version of this jacket has a feature where it can turn into a vest when you take it off? Yes. I will continue to try to resist buying it, as the one i have is perfectly functional). I knocked out my miles, feeling good overall. Once I was done with my run I headed to the gym with Sophie, and we got in a solid 45 mins of strength training.

The Wednesday morning forecast called for rain again, so I hoped that the weather would be better in the evening again. I slept in, and we had another day full of rain and even some thunderstorms. As I drove home from work the rain was in full force, but thankfully it slowed down, just as forecasted, right as I got home. I geared up and headed out for another solo run, this time 9 miles. I have been on an audiobook kick lately, and listened to “One of us is Next” as I ran and out and back and then loops around my neighborhood. It was a little drizzly still, but at least it wasn’t windy. As the sun went down both my light up gloves and vest started to die, and I hoped that they would last until I was finished, so that I wouldn’t wind up alone in the dark (thankfully, they just barely held on). I made a quick pit stop around mile 7.75 to chug some water, then did one final loop to finish out the 9 mile run. Even though I was tired and just wanted to shower and be lazy for the rest of the night (I am pretty sure only a runner would consider themselves “lazy” after running 9 miles….), I pulled open the peloton app and selected a 10 minute core class. My friend Katie and I agreed to keep each other accountable with our core work, and she tagged me when she got hers in earlier in the day after running, and I knew I spending the extra 10 minutes on a little strength would be worth it. I am still not sure if the class was really hard, or if I was just really fatigued.

On Thursday afternoon Sophie and I headed to the gym, and did a workout that focused on the upper body. This new gym that we started going to is often packed out in the weight room, making it hard to find space to use the dumbells, so we usually stick to the fixed machines, because it is just easier to find space that way. But tonight I finally felt comfortable enough to make space for myself to do the exercises I wanted to do, and it meant we wound up doing a good enough workout that I was sore for days after.

I had 5 more miles to squeeze in before the weekend, and when I got home from work on Friday Den was just finishing up power washing the house. I asked him if he would want to come on the first mile of my 5 mile run, and he surprisingly agreed! I slowed my pace to match his, and we did a one mile loop right by the house (he would spend the next three days limping around a little, as his muscles protested the fact that he moved them in an unfamiliar way – while he can handle himself on a bike, running is not really his wheelhouse). I continued on for the last 4 miles, challenging myself to get a little faster each mile, and pleased when I pulled off a progressive run.

That weekend I headed into the city to run the Staten island half with my friend carson. You can find my race recap HERE!