I might be old but I'm someone new she said

As you might remember, last week, I ran a 15k in Van Corlandt park. It was wet, windy and wild. It wasn't a great run, but all things considered...
I also knew I'd be doing it again this week though in the friendlier Central Park. There was almost no chance the weather would repeat itself. Plus it wouldn't be on trails and mud even if it did rain/snow/ blow a house in my direction.
At the start, it was just about freezing, which is actually a nice temp. to run in.
I started running with old pal Megan. I knew I wanted to run faster than last week's 1:23:40 which, come on, shouldn't be hard. I told Megan I was looking to go somewhere between 8:30s-8:45. Just sorta a longish run a bit faster than a long run. Megan hasn't run that far since the NYC Marathon back in Nov.
Well weren't we just running and chatting. When I looked at my watch, I was surprised by the pace. It was hovering around 8 minute pace and didn't feel hard. This wasn't a goal race by any means so it was nice to run this way, chat through the miles and enjoy the morning.
Megan told me she wanted to finish fast and would pick it up at mile 6. I was quite content to stay right where I was, so off she went.
As she was leaving me, my long time friend and sometime coach Kelsey came by. He was out on a longish run as he gets ready to run his first Boston (fear not Kelsey, you're going to run through this winter!!!). Kelsey is a sub 3 hour marathoner so my pace was no problem for him. We spent the last 3 miles catching up and chatting. Just after mile 8, we saw Loren out running with Bea.
We came through the finish together.
This week: 1:15:59 about 8:09 pace.
I admit, I was surprised. I ran a 10k 2 weeks ago at 8:15 pace that felt a lot harder. This does tell me, however, I'm going into my Boston training pretty fit. Of course with my history of plantar fasciitis I do worry about it rearing it's ugly head (and painful heel) again. Loren and I have made a serious effort to do strength training for the last few weeks. Things that strengthen the core and hips and things that are generally weak with runners. After just a few sessions, I'm noticing a difference. Fingers crossed this is the piece that's been missing.
This will be my last race for the year. This will also be my last race (barring me getting some crazy idea in my head) as an open runner. Gulp. Yes, in a few week's time, I'll be debuting as a master. Fear not, however, I plan on staying the same immature jackass I've always been!

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

oops, I said I was going to post pictures on my bike and didn't. So if you clicky here you can see my beautiful new Calfee. Unfortunately for me, NYC is under almost a foot of snow, so it'll be a wall hanger for now. I'll have more pics when it's totally built up.
So yes, snow. The East coast got hit really hard over the weekend but it completely missed NYC. I mean, totally. I know my pals in Philly and DC/B'more got hammered. And then got hammered again yesterday. We got snow yesterday but it wasn't the oh my god locusts are falling from the sky variety some people thought it would be. It was actually rather nice.
As you can see, Bea has been enjoying it.


In running news, I had a wee bit of a chest cold. Just a hint of one. I know a lot of people think you shouldn't run which such things, but I disagree when it's mild. For me, it really helps to get things moving and I think helps getting it going on it's way. And who wants such an uninvited guest anyway?
Last Sat. I had my longest run post injury, 15 miles. And it was COLD. About 24 and felt like it was in the teens. And windy too. Lucky for me, Loren ran most of it with me.
Sunday, I did an easy recovery 4.
Tues, out with Ishii for 8
Today, I started with RayK then met Hilary. I did 11.
Generally, I have no pain in my foot. I'll feel a little ache from time to time, esp. after longer things, but the major pain isn't there. Also, I've been taping it for longer runs.
I must say as well, here in NYC, we're very lucky that Central Park is really on top of clearling the road in the park. It's awesome. The park is really beautiful in the snow and it's a hoot to watch all these older Upper West Side ladies break out their cross country skis and ski around the park. See kids slide down every little hill on everything you can imagine. Hawks flying beautifully over head. I've lived in NYC for so long, my I <3 NY moments dont come that often, but scenes like this are certainly one of them.

This one goes out to the one I love, this one goes out to the one I left behind.

This week felt tough for me, not sure why. Maybe too much intensity in a short period of time.  Last sat I had that tough 4 miler in the heat, followed by a (slow) 16.5 mile run the next day. I took Monday off, did hills on Tues, had a progression run on Wed that was suppose to be 10 that I cut to 7 due to heat and humidity that made me want to throw up.  Thurs was a totally different day. Lots of rain and it really cooled off. I had a nice run with Loren and Bea in the rain. Fri I did a pretty good 10. Most of my problem through the week was this stupid PF that's come back stronger than ever. It almost never hurts when I run, it's the more usual once I wake up and after I run. I did some research and found some new stretches I'm trying out. My usual routine just isn't doing the trick. After 3 days, this already seems to be helping.

Today's workout: 12 miles, with 10 at MP +10/20 seconds. Right now, I'm basing my MP on the Brooklyn half I ran a few months ago. I ran a 1:43 which gives me a 3:38 marathon, 8:21 pace. Today's forcast: High chance of hell covered in wet blanket. I wanted to get and early start as to not suffer too much. The NYC Tri was also happening in Central Park so I got to have my own duathlon: work out+cheer for team mates. Loren came with me and ran 8, which is great, since she's going to do the Philly Distance Run with me this fall (hi!). Over all, my workout portion, I averaged 8:36 pace and never felt too horrible. Every part of me was soaked when I was done.  My legs felt the best they've felt all week. I took yesterday off and I think that helped. 

In other news NOT ABOUT ME (oh my god, can you imagine?) My training pal and neighbor across the street and frequent guest here at movingdogward enterprises RayK ran the SF Marathon today. After running NJ on May 3rd and posting a HUGE PR, she out did herself today running a 3:42:54, taking another 10 minutes off her time. Rachel, you're moving ever closer to that BQ. I see it coming in NYC. I leave you with me and RayK running in NJ.

Right then, right there I feel this burning pain

Yesterday was the Run for Central Park 4 miler. Let me just say, I do not enjoy racing in this hot sticky weather. If this wasn't a team points race, I would have been home with my feet up, drinking my morning beverage, watching the Tour. 

A little background story on why I run these team races: when I joined Front Runners in 1999, we couldn't field a women's team (a team is 5). It took a few years before we were able to. It was a goal of mine and a few others to get a team of women out there. Now, 10 years later, we have no problem doing that. We are by no means the best out there, usually finishing somewhere between 10-14th each race. But we're out there! And that's important to me so I always try to be out there too.

Now on to the race. The heat wasn't the problem, it was as it is often said in this part of the country, the humidity. The official race site says it was 70 degrees (I dont believe that, MAYBE at the start) with 94% humidity. You need a snorkle to run through that. I warmed up by running to the start, 3.2 miles. 

I lined up with team mates RayK and Megan. Rachel is running the SF marathon next week, so no running hard for her (oh except her 6:32 last mile!). Megan and I hemmed and hawed about what we were going to run. I suggested trying to break 30, she was game for that.  The first mile has the biggest hill of the race, Cat Hill. This is good, it keeps me from going out too fast and then it's out of the way. We went through mile 1 in 7:36. Mile 2 has some fast down hill but I didn't want to go crazy. Mile 2 7:26. Mile 3. Oh mile 3. I've had long meaningful conversations with people about mile 3. I hate mile 3. Here's mile 3 and mile 4:

So mile 3 is a bit uphill. Really it's not killer, but at that point in the race, most people seem to slow down. I'm not exception. Megan pulled ahead of me a bit and I couldn't really stay with her. Mile 3 7:50. UGH. Luckily, on mile 4 I was able to bridge the gap a bit. Mile 4 is mostly down hill so it's fast. The final turn to the finish is in the 72 st transverse. It can be a total night mare with all the tourists trying to get to Strawberry Fields and having no idea how to cross the street during the last quarter mile of a race (hint: don't). I could see Megan just ahead of me. I figured she had about 10 seconds on me and I wouldn't be able to catch her. Mile 4 7:15.  Finish time: 30:10. Megan finished 30:08. I have no idea how it was only 2 seconds. Ugh. Right past the finish, she turned to me and said that was HARD. It was. It was like running while being water boarded. We finished 13th out of 26 with Megan first and me 2nd.(Rachel with her "easy run" still finished 4th for the team).

Then it was time for brunch and my post run Coke. Post run is the only time I drink soda, I dont even really like it but right then it tastes so good.

Today, long run day. I wanted to get out early so I could get home to see the end of today's Tour stage. I started at 7am. I figured I'd run easy and do 16-17. I ran down the West Side hwy to meet up with the Front Runners doing this week's long run. I was in no hurry. I had no intention of running hard at all. Today was such a better day. Touching the upper 60s, almost no humidity. I did 16.6 miles at 9:39 pace. My average heart rate? 140. (my max is 200 for you geeks out there) 140 is about what I hover around on recovery runs so I'd say this was a very good run for having raced yesterday. I end this week with 45 miles on the nose.

Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls

This morning was the 28th running of FRNY's Pride Run. This is my club's 5 mile race. Obviously we get a great turn out from the club (250 running today with tons more working the course!) and we get a lot of fast locals since we hand out the cash.

The men's over all winners came in in a photo finish of 23:05 and 23:06, with third in at 23:08.

My own race was much more on the human scale with a 37:16, a 3+ minute PR. While I am happy with this time, again, I'm not happy with how I ran the race. First mile was maybe a hair too fast at 7:21. I did stick with it and gut it out. Mother Nature also gave us sunshine and some heat, something we haven't seen too much of lately. Oh well. I also got 11th in my AG, being outstepped by  the woman who got 10th. We had the exact same finish time. I dont even remember seeing anyone cross when I did. 

Loren's been working her way back from a calf strain and not running too much so she ran with me. I was holding on for dear life, she was having a casual conversation about how I can gut this out and pick people off in the last mile. We rarely run races together so that was a nice treat even if I did feel like hell.

Thanks for taking such a nice photo of us when all was said and done Bernd! And Congrats Rachel for being the first FRNY woman.

Stats:

Overall: 545/3661

Women: 68/1780

AG 11/277 

traveling twice the speed of sound, it's easy to get burned

I had a decent week of running. Tues night I went out and ran hill repeats/tempo with my team. I hadn't done a team workout in a while and it was great to see 30+ people out there working together. It was a weird balancing act to recover from last weeks half and get ready for this week's 10k. I wouldn't have run this race if it wasn't a team points race. 

The women's mini is the oldest all women's race in the country. It has a pro field and I haven't run it in years. I usually do a tri on this weekend. There are 2 things about this race, however:

1. It has an unusual course. It's the only 10k NYRR puts on that has the first mile out of Central Park. It's up Central Park West and it's a FAST mile. Too fast.

2. It's always hot as hell. Or feels like it.

1 and 2 were true today.

I'm not going to go into the messy details of the race except to say I knew I was in trouble when I hit mile 1 in 7:10. Rachel came past me not long after that and said YOU'RE RUNNING TO FAST! I said I know and tried to keep it under control. Honestly, I didn't feel well even before I started. Even though I knew I started too fast and it was totally stupid, I did try to save it a litte.

I finished 47:37, 5 seconds faster than I ran the last points race 2 weeks after NJ.

So not a total wash, just not really what I was hoping for (why I was hoping for anything is a totally different story).

So right now I'm going back and forth about running a 5k next week in Philly with Girl In Motion, mostly because it's flat. I never get to run 5ks. Plus, I like to watch GIM get smaller as she pulls away from me.

Just like a heatwave

This morning was my last long run before NJ. I ran the More half marathon. This event is women only and there's a full marathon for women over 40. I had no intentions of racing, just getting the miles in. When I got to the race, I found out they called off the marathon and made the half a fun run. While people were not happy, it was the right call. Even with that being said, most people still decided to run.

My plan was to run easy. It's a 2 loop course so I would pick it up the 2nd lap but still run with in my long run pace. Man, some of these women still went out guns blazing. I was a litte surprise by that. I was warm for April, low 70s at 8am. None of us have had a chance to acclimate to this. I know later in the summer we'll be begging for such weather. 

Before the race, I drank a whole bottle of electrolyte drink and took a salt pill. I took water/gatorade at the first few stations. Yes, it was warm but I felt fine. I just went out with the mindset if I needed to run slower due to the heat that was fine. Just a training run. There were several Front Runners out there volunteering and cheering and that was great to see. Thanks guys!

At mile 6 I took another salt pill. Mile 7 I took my clif shot. It was warming up. I was surprised by mile 8 the runners had really thinned out. I think a lot of people slowed down or just decided once around the park in this heat was enough. And I started to lap walkers. At first it was fine. Then it was insane. If this were a race, I would have been pissed. By mile 10 some of them were walking 4 across and the runs had to go wide. Not really want you want to do. 

On my 2nd lap I saw 3 people down on the ground. The heat was totally taking it's toll. Another woman was down at the finish. The heat, it's no joke! When I was walking back to the train, the clock above the park said 78. It was about 10:30 am.

When I finished, they were pulling walkers off the course as well, saying they were shutting it down at 11. While I ran how I wanted to and felt really good the whole time, it was getting hot. I did not want to be out there any longer than I was.

I crossed the line in 1:53:22, which is about 8:40 pace. A tad fast for a long run. Actually, a bit faster than I had intended on running. I'm not going to let myself get crazy about that. I didn't have my heart rate monitor on since I just wear a watch in races. I wish I did have it, but I was never breathing hard. I was never WORKING which leads me to believe, even in this heat, my pace was fine. Since finishing, I've just been pushing fluids to recover quickly. I took an ice bath and feel totally fine. I feel like I did a long run, not a hard run so that's a good sign.

Just one more week. It is expected to cool off before next weekend which is great.

I'm excited and trying to stay calm.

This is it people!

I guess we're at our best when we're miles away

Ok, I forgot to put the stats in from yesterday, I'll post them today because they're insane.

1270 out of 7603 (that is a ridiculous amount of people for a 10k in Central Park, if it hadn't been raining, I'm afraid of what it would have been)

172 woman out of 3584

17 outa 517 in age group. 500 women in my age group finished behind me!!! THAT'S INSANE! (Loren was 7th in our AG. oh and the woman who one the age group? 37:37)

Now on to today's run, my last 20 miler of the cycle. I had done 2 others this cycle. One, it was cold. Really cold, 26 degrees cold. I averaged 9:36s and a HR of 160.

My 2nd one was 2 days after we got Bea. I slept about 3 hours the night before, it was a total phone it. 9:52 pace (OUCH. Ok, still with in long run range, but come on. SLOW) 156 HR

Today, well...I did run a 10k yesterday. I ran it fairly hard...

9:09 pace 153HR.

I FELT GREAT

I didn't expect to feel so good, I sorta felt like I'd go out there and just get it done. And I did, and a pretty good clip I might add. Thanks again to RayK and Hil for the (TARDY!!!) run.

Here we go tapper here we go! 

People, please help me not loose my mind as I taper.

As far as my shoes go, I ran the 20 in my DS Trainers 14. I really like them, I think the decision has been made. Off to joisey they go.

I feel stormy wheather moving in

Today was the Scotland 10k in Central Park. And someone ordered Scottish weather just for the event. 48 degress, 93% humidity, RAIN. Oh and 7603 finishers. So much for the 5000 runner cap NYRR uses. I can only imagine what it would have been if the weather had been nice. I was in the 4th corral. With my time from last week, I should have been a corral up but the new time wasn't entered in time. Oh well. It took me 4 minutes to cross the start. Part of the give aways for this race were ponchos. I couldn't believe how many people were wearing them in the start and actually RAN in them. I decided on short sleeves and shorts. I wasn't uncomfortable, I think anything else would have annoyed me. I wasn't cold when I was running, just wet. This was also a Club Team Points race, so all the big guns from all the big clubs were out in full force.

So when I finally did cross the starting line, I stayed left and just muscled my way past people. No noodling in the first mile for me. 

Now, I had 2 goals today. I wanted to beat my PR of 48:51, I wanted to go under 48 and I would have been happy. My other goal, was to run 7:30s. I just raced last weekend, I had a speed workout on Tues, I have a 20 miler tomorrow, I didn't want to go ALL OUT OH MY GOD KILL MYSELF. If I wasn't hitting 7:30s fairly easily, I was going to ease up.

Mile 1 7:27, ok, not bad, I feel really good it's just CROWDED.

As I've mentioned before, Central Park is hilly. This race went clockwise, which isn't the usual way races are run. I find it to be a bit faster, but not by much.

Mile 2 7:32. Its still crowded, but I've averaged about 7:30s for my first 2 miles so not bad. Now we move into the Harlem hills. Up then down then up.

Mile 3 7:22. I worked that down. I run the hills up in that part of the park so much I'm really use to them. It's FINALLY starting to clear out a bit. Going into mile 4 is a lot of gradual uphill. I'm just trying to keep the effort steady.

Mile 4 7:50. Poop. Slower than I wanted. But now I know I have Cat Hill to run DOWN so maybe I'll make up a bit of time in mile 5.

Mile 5 7:19. Yup. Time made up. One mile to go around the south end of the park and then up towards Tavern on the Green. The finish is where the marathon finish it. I'm looking at my watch. Sub 48, no problem, maybe even sub 47. Thing about this finish is there are 2 little rises. I know them well. Whenever a races finishes this way, I think about the 4 NYC marathons I have run and how what ever I am doing now feels better than it does when I'm finishing the marathon on this stretch. 

I'm soaked, I am tired.

Mile 6 7:30. Right on the nose. Oh here's that lovely .2 uphill to finish.

.2 1:27

Total: 46:30, well over 2 minutes better than my PR. 

I can't feel my hands. I am soaked to the bone. 

I find Hilary, Loren, and Rachel all close to the finish line, the 4 of us making up 4/5th of our top 5. Hilary and Rachel both PRed, Loren ran a lot better than she thought she would. Our women's team finished 10th, the men finished 7th. 

This will be my last hard race before NJ. Next week I'm suppose to do a tune up race, but I did this instead. I am signed up for a 4 miler but I'll use it as a tempo run. The week before NJ, I'm running the More half for my last long run, but running it easy. I did this before Steamtown as well and really liked it for a long run.

Wow, I can't believe I'm about to taper! This training cycle has gone so well for me. Fingers crossed for just a few more weeks.

Come fly with me

Today's installment takes us to the Run for the Parks 4 miler. This year NYRR has instituted a cap on most of it's races of 5000. Last year, they started a corral system to properly line up people by pace. I am a fan of both of these things as Central Park is a very busy place and while the runners would like to take up the entire park, that's just not possible or fair. This race, since it was a benefit for the parks, was not capped. Read: CROWDED.

It has been a long goal of mine to break 30 minutes in 4 miles. I was a bit unsure about today. I've had tired legs. My 17 miler on Sunday was a sludgefest. Yesterday's recovery run, not much better. 

The race started at 8am. I got to the park about a half hour early and warmed up for a few miles. With shorter races, I need a long warm up. There just isn't much distance to make up a mistake in 4 miles so I wanna be ready to go from the gun. I was hoping to start with Hilary and just hang on, though she was looking to go sub 29 (and did 28:27 a whopping 72.2% age grade!) I knew with in the first half mile that wasn't going to happen. I was already throwing elbows. 

Mile 1 has Cat Hill about half way through it. I want to run it smart, but not too easy that I fall off my overall pace goal. 7:22 good, maybe a bit fast but I feel good.

Mile 2 brings us  gradually back down hill. Why is it STILL so crowded? Once we turn into the 102nd st transverse, I know I'll see the mile 2 marker. I also know at some point I'll see Loren and Ms. Bea. Ms. Bea is working up her milage. 7:13. Ok, still pretty fast but I'm banking a bit of time cause mile 3 brings ALL the hills. I just want to keep the same effort through them. Nice and steady. There hasn't been any water yet which is odd. I can go with out, but I'd rather have.

There is it, right before the mile 3 marker. I dont even slow down as I grab a cup and take a quick gulp. 7:31. Not bad for the hills. 

Now I know I just have a mile to go and it's a fairly fast mile. It's mostly down hill then at the end, there's a left turn into the 72nd st transverse and a little rise to the finish. The same finish as the 15k. I let the hills take me. When I make the turn, I push, but really there isn't much there. I can usually find a kick but not today, I think my whole last mile was a kick. 7:02. I didn't know I was going that fast! Wow if would have been cool to run that last mile in sub 7!

I finished in 29:09, shattering my previous PR of 31:20!

I am totally pooped and totally thrilled! 

Stats for the day:

679 outa 5739

66th woman outa 2818

8th in AG outa 436

67.5% age grade

Oh and the icing on the cake, the Front Runners men AND women both placed 3rd in the team events.

I have one more week of heavy training for the NJ marathon then I go into the taper. I'm looking forward to letting my legs recover before the big dance.

Let the sunshine

Ah yes. Earlier in the week I was layering like crazy to stay warm, staying on the sunny side of the street to stay warm, side stepping ice patches and snow drifts left by Monday's snow storm.

Yesterday I was dodging kids, baby carriages, nuns on bicycles, clueless dog walkers and fair weather outdoorsy types. Not to mention yelling "go back to Jersey" to a gaggle of meat heads out of frustration late into my run in Central Park, every NYers back yard. The thing is, to me, it my back yard all year round no matter the weather. In my deep and rich fantasy life, I'd like the first spring like day to have the park reserved only for those of us who are out there no matter what. All the rest of you should be relegated to your beloved treadmills for one more day. 

Ok, exiting soapbox.

So yesterday, as noted, I ran in the park. 

Today, since the weather is almost as nice, I wanted to avoid the park. I did a 14 miler up and over the George Washington bridge to River Rd on the Jersey side. I've cycled over River Rd countless times, I've only run over there maybe twice. It's nice and secluded and gives a beautiful view of the Hudson and NYC.  During the wet winter months, it's prone to rock slides. There's a pretty big slide over there now that wont be cleaned up for a while. Traffic, car and cycle, is pretty non-existent since you can't pass all the way through. It was lovely. Their were a few cyclists, people walking, and some other runners.

About a mile before my turn around, I noticed the very distinct figure of a dead bird on the road. I stopped to take a look at it. Broken neck. Can't imagine how that happened. Hunt gone wrong by a hawk? I'd think it would still eat it. Hit by a car? Doubtful. A mystery not to be solved. It was a beautiful woodpecker with a very long beak and beautiful feathers in all shades of brown. I got a stick and moved it off the road so it could rot in piece or become lunch for someone and continued on.

This coming week is my longest running week, milage wise, of this cycled. I dreaded it last time. I think I'm in much better shape for it this time.

Fire and Ice

Ok, today was...oh man, there are no words. Insane? Crazy? Stupid? Frozen? I do not think I have ever raced in such cold. When I lined up at the start, the clock over Central Park said 14 degrees. The windchill made it feel like 5.

People, that is not right. On so many levels. 

Today was the Manhattan Half marathon, the first in the series of 5 halfs in NYC. One in each borough. I've run all of them though never in the same year. NYRR capped this race at 5000 people and it filled. I though, ok,this weather is stupid maybe 3000 will show up. Well, NYers have a reputation for a reason. Even with this weather, 4506 people came out to run.

I got up a little after 6 this morning. Ate and met up with Rachel, a new woman in my club who lives 2 blocks away. So convenient. We split a cab to the start. I did a 1.5 mile warm up and to get a bit closer to my 15 miles for the day. I ended up running 14.5 today which puts me more miles than degrees. I think I've done that maybe once before a few years ago when I ran when it was 3 out.

Anyway, because my body has a sense of humor (those who have been reading along at home for a while know this) I have my period. This is very common for me when I have a race that I'm actually TRYING to race. Today, I was TRYING to race. Even in these crappy conditions.

Somehow, I sweat like mad even when it's below freezing. Mile one, off with the gloves, some where in mile 3, off with the hat. Even though I couldn't feel my face, I could tell sweat was freezing in my hair. By the time I was done, I have an icicle hanging from my head where once was a ponytail.

I thought the course was going to be the same course they used at Grete's. I was wrong. It went counterclockwise and ended on the east side in the transverse. I've run countless races in CP, and several halfs. I've never run this course. I didn't like it.

I started off with an ok mile 8:31, figured I'd ease into it. Mile 2 was the same with Cat hill. After that, I was hoping to pick it up. I would from time to time but never felt like my motor would really go. I think it was a combination of things. 

I finished in a time of 1:50:51, a PR by about 90 seconds. My goal was to run closer to 1:48. I know that is well within what I'm capable of but we have to run with what we've got on race day. I do think I'm on track for a good spring marathon and I'm happy about that.

A few other notes, Rachel ran a 1:42! 11 minute PR!!!! And I met internet superstar, Squirrel at the start. 

Race 2 of the series is n 2 weeks in Da Bronx. We'll see what I have on that day.

Gang of 5

Man, I am not use to this stomach biz. It's still not 100%. I don't want to each much which makes planning on running a long run well difficult. I also really didn't want to take any gels on my run. I could have gotten through without, but the tank was already low.

When I woke up this morning, big fluffy flakes of snow were falling from the sky. So pretty out the bedroom window.

14 was the plan of the day. 4 other Front Runner ladies were going me. 3 of us did the whole 14, 2 others did 10. The park was a bit slushy but runnable. Tons of people out and totally beautiful. Maybe a hair slower than I would have liked, but with the way I've felt the last few days, not bad.

round and round

So, did I mention I actually signed up for the NJ marathon? Because I did. This means training has started. 

Today was my pfitz prescribed 12 miler. I headed out around 10 this morning, it was 31 degrees. Warmer than it's been for my last few runs! I think something fell on Loren's head recently. She came with me. For those who dont know, 12 is far for my greyhound of a girlfriend though lovely to have the company. I am actually enjoying running in this winterish weather, as long as I dress right. The other day's 25 degree day left me over dressed and chaffed. I think it beats the 90 degrees with 90% humidity I dealt with in August. We'll see if I'm singing this tune in March.

While going up Cat Hill, I saw a few folks with cameras and huge lenses. I looked up to see possibly the biggest hawk I've ever seen (except the Eagle Hawk I saw in South Africa). He was just perched on top of a tree. When we came around again a few miles later, he was still there. Loyal readers may have noticed I mention the hawks a lot. I love them, I love seeing them, I love that they are all over Central Park. It's much easier to spot them when the trees are bare. They are so strong and beautiful and yet very fragile. 

Ice ice baby

When I woke up this morning, there were big, fluffy flake of snow falling from the sky. Before long, it turned to rain turning all of yesterday and last night's snow into a big big mess.

I hate running on the treadmill, esp. since it takes just as long to get to the gym on the bus as it would for me to run there.

Loren and I decided to go to the movies early in the afternoon. We went and saw Milk (which I believe should be required watching for everyone in this country). Since we went near the bottom of Central Park, I decided I'd run home. I figured the park would be clear, they're usually really good about that.

When we came out of the movie, the sun was out and it had totally cleared up.

I had a great 4 mile run. It was clear out, not too cold, and the park was full of people walking,  running, sliding down the hills of snow on just about everything you can imagine.  I saw another Front Runner out there as well, we high fived as we passed each other. The only real downside was lots of black ice. It was a bit slick.

Winter running so far hasn't been that bad.

hell no we wont snow!

This morning, NYRR had the last race of the year slated, a 15k. I ran my ass off during this race and was sorta maybe hoping to do the same this year. Well, mother nature had other plans. NYC got hit with a mild snow storm yesterday leaving everything an icy slushy snowy mess. In interest of preventing broken ankles, NYRR turn the race into a fun run. Usually I go do these things anyway but this morning I was feeling lazy.

Instead I waited til almost 10am and headed out for an 8 miler in the park with Loren. It was 24 degrees with a windchill of 14. Dressed properly, I didn't mind at all. I wore a winter cycling jacket and stuck a fuel belt bottle in the pocket so I'd have some water. All the fountains in the park are shut off. A little more than a mile into the run, we ran into another Front Runner. The 3 of us had a lovely run around the loop. I saw a hawk fly by with it's breakfast dangling from it's beak and land in a tree. I saw several red cardinals sticking out brightly against the white snow. Central Park has amazing birds.

I love running in the park in the snow, clearly so do many many other NYers. Many braved the conditions and did the 15k anyway while others were simply out there on their own.

Except for the first and last hilly/icy miles, I was clipping off miles around 9:10 pace. I felt really good. 8 miles for the day.

In other news, I went back to PT Pete yesterday. He thinks I'm in fairly good shape I just need to get back on the program. I plan on it, I dont want to go into a new cycle hurting.