Marathon Wknd Summary: Pre Race Hoopla

Mission accomplished! I officially went from zero to twenty six....I finished by the skin of my teeth but I finished all the same! When you see me feel free to call me Ms.Marathoner! I will give you the play by play of the event weekend. It was such an amazing experience that I want to share a detailed account…and just to keep it real, I don’t want to tell the story over and over again. If you really just care about the race then skip this post and head over to my "Race Day: Part 1 and 2" post. If you're looking to get the full experience sit back relax and keep reading.....

My Arrival

Luckily when we got to our hotel we were able to check in. There was nothing more I wanted to do than shower and regroup after catching a 650am from NYC. My good friend Nicaila (Nicki), also a race participant, was my roommate. Nicki and I signed up for TNT together and I was SO happy that I was rooming with someone I knew. I couldn't imagine going through pre race day nerves with a stranger. Although, I have made plnty of friends through TNT over the past few months, so I don't want to down play my TNT homies.


Our friend Fabiola (Fab) came out to San Fran to cheer us on. I would like to give Fab the "2010 FRIEND OF THE YEAR AWARD." Not only did she fly clear across the country to cheer us on in the race in crappy weather, but she also had a T-shirt made to show her support. Once Fab arrived we took a couple of hours to explore San Fran. I had a laundry list of things I wanted to do while I was there, none of which got accomplished, oh well you can't win ‘em all :-/


San Francisco


Now this is my kinda Cali! San Francisco is so pretty and has an urban feel that isn't overwhelming (unlike crazy ass NYC). But the hills are a bit much, I actually saw this woman wipe out walking down a hill. FYI - when someone tells you something is two or three blocks away, please note that those blocks might be straight up a steep hill. After brunch we walk completely uphill to Lombard street, which is famous for being the crookedest street in San Francisco. Once we were done taking pictures we rode the trolley from Fisherman's Warf to the Nike Expo to pick up our race packets. Side note the trolley broke down about 10 minutes after we got on, suffice to say I was slightly disappointed with one touristy thing I actually had time to do.


The Event Weekend

First of all, I would like to give a shout out to Nike for putting on such an amazing event! I felt so official when I showed up at the registration tent and expo. Quietly I felt like an Olympian  The event branding was great, they really made the runners feel special, like the city was ours for the weekend. The expo tent was in Union Square which is directly across the street from Niketown. For the weekend the name of every runner registered in the race was displayed on the side of Niketown, I was so excited when I found my name!

Back at the expo tent they had more free samples than I could count, foot messages, and all kinds of co branding stations (Nike + iPod, NWM on facebook, etc.). Side note Fab was definitely at the expo getting a foot message and posing for pictures like she was running the race on Sunday. But since she's our #1 supporter we indulged her. In Niketown I lost my mind buying official race day gear. I also managed to find time to take over for the DJ and spin for a few minutes :-)


Ok, I would also like to shout out TNT for creating by far one of the most uplifting experiences of my life. The night before the race TNT hosted an inspiration dinner. I spent most of Saturday afternoon napping and icing my feet, really trying to conserve my energy for race day. When I got up from my nap I'll be honest I wasn't hard pressed to get to the dinner on time. I was at the peak of "operation reduce stress," so Nicki and I took our time as we made our way over to the dinner. Thank God we made it because it was such a moving experience.....


When we walked into the doors there was a massive crowd cheering for us. I was so shocked and overcome with emotion. I was fighting back tears from the minute I walked in the door (mind you I only cry like maybe 3 times in a given year – and NEVER in public!). Then I turned a corner and saw the New York coaches cheering for us, I got a lump in my throat and it was becoming harder and harder not to cry. We reached a landing and looked down at an even bigger crowd cheering for us. I was amazed to see people from all over the country cheering for little old me (or little old “us” the runners)! As I walked down the stairs I looked to the right and saw a man with a sign that said "I'm a survivor because of you." I officially started to ball, I was so focused on the race that I forgot about the cause. All the funds I raised really DO have an impact on peoples lives! It was nice to see a connection to the cause. We heard many stories of survivors that night which inspired me to give my all to the race. I was pumped and ready to go!!!!.....

(proceed to Race Day: Part 1 and Part 2 post please)

Race Day Part 1: Good Times!

Most people say that you can't sleep the night before your first marathon, but I slept like a baby! I woke up on race day refreshed and ready to go. Sadly, we got to the starting line too early and stood outside for like 45 minutes waiting for the start. In the end it was fine because I basically conducted a photo shoot with my teammates while we waited. Our coaches got in on the action too! They hung out with us at the starting line and right before it was time to start they wished us luck and left. I’m not going to lie, I kinda felt like a child being dropped off at my first day of school. Quietly I was scared, the training wheels were off and we were really about to do this. I didn't really here the starting horn go off, but next thing I knew we were moving. My fear quickly turned to excitement, they don’t lie about that starting line adrenaline…I was out!

Right after the start we ran past the pointy building (or the TransAmerica building as it's officially know - not as fun) to Fisherman's Warf. We hit our first water station and I went into my run/walk intervals. The beginning of the race was actually pretty amazing, we started when it was dark out so we go to watch the sun rise as we ran the first couple of miles. The first five miles really weren’t that bad. Sure there were a few hills, but nothing unreasonable. I can’t reiterate enough how much I enjoyed the course, it was so beautiful! San Francisco is a pretty amazing city, the perfect mix of nature and concrete.


The first painful moment of the race came around mile 7. Let me take a step back and set the scene, there were literally tens of thousands of people running this race so it was just a sea of people everywhere you turned. I mentioned this because as I looked up right before we went into mile 7 and no lie in the distance it looked like ants climbing a mountain! The hill going into mile 7 was ridiculous! Every single person walked up that hill, I didn’t see one person running. At one point I thought, am I going for a hike or running a marathon? But the good news is that old saying what goes up, must come down and when I got to the top of the hill the views were insane and by the time I was on my way back down, I forgot about all huffing and puffing I did on the way up.

Around mile 8 or 9, someone had the genius idea to hand out orange slices. It was on a hill and of course after runners were done with the oranges slices they discarded the rinds on the course, which created a hot slippery mess! Sure I had an orange slice, but that’s not the point it was still a bad idea.


Going into mile 10 I was still feeling great! Before each mile marker there was a power song station playing music. The mile 10 song was Don’t Stop Believing by Journey (one of my favs). So I just sang my way into mile 10, it was starting to drizzle but I didn’t care I have to say I was truly enjoying the race at this point (because I had no idea of the torture that was to come). We were going downhill and headed towards the beach and everything seemed great.

This particular race was both a full and half marathon, both groups ran together for the majority of the first half. Remember how I mentioned that there were a sea of people running the race?...well the sea parted at the full / half split. Suddenly I felt very alone and very scared. Ironically it started raining a harder too. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was about to enter the dark side of this race

(proceed to Race Day: Part 2)

Race Day Part 2: The Dark Side

Now, I’m a very prideful person and rarely do I discuss falling flat on my face (metaphorically speaking) in a public forum. However, when I started this blog I promised that I would give you the good, the bad, and the ugly of this process and that includes this race so here it is...

Once the half marathoners split off I held up for a little while, but by mile 15 I felt like a scared lost little girl just trying to find her way home. This part of the course went through some wooded park which didn’t help matters. By mile 16 a little pain started to set in. The way the course was laid out mile the last 10 miles of the race were what runners call an “out and back”. This means that you end up where you started. But what this really meant in the context of the race was that while I was passing mile 16 I saw the runners on the other side of the road hitting mile 25. This was such a mind f*** for lack of a better phase. To be struggling at mile 16 and watching people who were almost at the finish, that was tough.

The great thing about this event was that it was a LLS race so there were TNT coaches all along the course, helping runners along the way. At mile 16 one of my Brooklyn coaches (Radie) spotted me and asked me how I was doing, I told her not good! She stayed with me for a little while and this was a huge help! Right before mile 18 she said “ok I’m going to leave you now and I’ll see you when you come back around the other side.” I held up for about another mile. By mile 19 I thought, you are played yourself. Where did you get off thinking that you could run a marathon? I tried to repress my negative energy by the positives of the situation were few and far between at this point.

During every marathon there are pacers to for the runners to keep up with in order to finish in a certain time. I was terrified that I would not complete the race in the required 6.5 hours and knew that if I saw the 6 hour pacer pass me I was in trouble! At this point I had seen the 5:00, 5:15, and 5:30 pacers pass me, so I still felt like I had a cushion. Then out of nowhere I see this woman with a sign that says “Course Closing Pace”!!! WTF! What happened to the 5:45, 6:00, and 6:15 pacer??? How did I miss that? Suddenly I felt like I was running for my life from this woman. I lost two of my friends (Kat and Caroline) shortly after mile 15, right after I reached mile 20 I caught them. They looked so excited to see me, but before they could say anything I yelled “run, run for your life the Course Closing Pacer is coming for us!”

I ran as fast as I could but my body had enough I was finding it hard to keep up and slowly but surely the Pacer lady was coming for me. She finally was right on my heels, I asked her what would happen if I finished behind her and she said I wouldn’t get the finishers necklace…Oh the horror!!! How could I come all this way and not get my Tiffany’s finisher’s necklace!?! But I just couldn’t keep up anymore and that’s when it happened…The great meltdown of mile 21 SMH I’m so not proud of this.

I stopped dead in my tracks and started balling, as a matter of fact I launched into a full on ugly cry and said “I can’t do this anymore!” Some man on a bike peddling next to me was rambling about how it was all mental at this point, mind over matter, etc. He’s lucky I had no energy left in my body because I might knocked him off his bike. Then out of nowhere this woman from LA grabbed me up by the shoulders and screamed in my face “DON’T YOU QUIT ON ME!” I don’t know if I was shocked or scared but for some reason I started running again. I accepted the fact that I would not get a finishers necklace because I didn’t meet the required time, but I was determined to finish all the same. I was determined to cross the finish line.

Shortly after mile 22 I had to stop again. By the grace of God a TNT coach happened to be walking by and she asked me “are you ok?” I said “no I’m in a lot of pain and I feel quesy.” I didn’t know it at the time but this was Coach Melanie from LA and she would be the person to get me to the finish line. I am forever grateful for this woman because I’m not sure I would have otherwise made it. Melanie took my fuel belt and made sure I took some time to hydrate.

Melanie said to me “this is your race and you can walk to finish line and cross it all the same but how do you feel about doing 1/1 intervals (meaning running for a minute and walking for a minute)?” This might sound easy to you but after running the majority of 23 miles I could barely put one foot in font of the other. So we did 1/1 intervals for about another mile and then I was really done! I walked pretty much for the last two miles of the race.

Right before mile 25 my Brooklyn coach Radie was there, she really did look for me! At this point it was raining and the first aid people came to give the remaining runners a finishers cover so we wouldn’t freeze. Shortly after I spotted Radie, I saw two of my other Brooklyn coaches. I was so disoriented at this point I didn’t even recognize them at first. One of the coaches Kara ran up to me and said “give me a smile” and I responded “Kara? Is that you? Oh it is you!”….yeah I was out of it. Right before mile 25 there was a power song station playing “Eye of the Tiger”. My other Brooklyn coach James said “this is it! You have the eye of the tiger!” Two seconds later they race staff turned off the music and started breaking down the power song station. James quickly cleaned it up with “you already know that song, you don’t need to hear it again.” At this point I just wanted to finish the damn race I was cold, wet, tired, and in more pain than I could ever imagine.

Then in the distance I saw the finish line. I started to tear up a little bit at the thought of finishing this race but I held it together. It was a strange feeling because I wanted to get the finish line as fast as possible but my body wouldn’t move. Then out of nowhere I started running like a granny and before I knew it I finished!!!! I thought I would be more emotional but I had a quick cry and then kept it moving (slowly of course). But the best part of the finish was despite finishing after the required time, I got a finishers necklace and shirt! Proof that I was actually there and I actually completed the race.

People always say that you walk up to the starting line of a marathon as one person and cross the finish line as another. Truthfully I didn’t believe that until I wrote this post and reflected on my experience. When I finished the race I felt numb, I expected this big outpour of emotion and this huge transformation, but it just wasn’t there. I was embarrassed that I didn’t finish in the required time, but when I think about that day now I’m proud of what I did. I chose to do this race because I wanted to challenge myself. The race wasn’t easy and that’s what makes me proud. It broke me and I still managed to pull it together to finish. It took me four and a half months but I went from zero to twenty six!

When I finished the race I declared that I would never run another marathon. Well my exact words were “I’m never putting my body through this bullsh*t again.” I wasn’t exactly in a happy place after the finish. I then got on the bus back to the hotel and one of my teammates said I think this is more painful than giving birth. I don’t have children so I can’t compare the two. However, I’ve heard many Mothers say that the further away you get away from the labor the more you forget about the pain. Why else would women keep putting themselves through the agony of childbirth? This weekend I cheered on my teammates running in the NYC marathon and I decided...I think I want another baby, stay tuned :-)

Race Day Count Down!!!

The time has come everyone...all of my training will be put to the test
this weekend as I make my way to San Francisco for the race. I looked
back and realized that I haven't posted in about a month (since I
announced my injury), this is mainly due to the fact that my company no
longer allows us to access gmail from our work computers. My boss won't be happy to read that, but sorry JP you know how I like to multi-task :-) Also any
working adult knows that between labor day and the end of the year
things get a little hectic. I don't know what it is about this time of
year, but people act like the world is going to end on December 31st and everything has to be done before then. Anyway, I digress back to training.

The Good News: My foot is all better!!! I've been back to training for the
last three weeks. The first run that I took after my hiatus was
September 25th. I was so excited to be back and to take a run in the crisp
fall weather, sadly it was like 80 degrees that day (yuck!). We did 10
miles and it as struggle the whole way, not because of my foot but
because of the heat. The up side was that we got to run with the Manhattan team and so after four months of training, my friend Nicaila
(who I signed up with) and I got to train together! We all met in Union
Square and did a loop around the lower tip of Manhattan. The following weekend I did 12 miles, which had me a little concerned because my foot started to hurt towards the end of the run...

The Bad News: While I was off my foot I missed our peaked runs. I only reached 16 miles in my training (the longest runs were 18 and 20 miles). After you reach the peak distance during your training you start to taper, meaning you decrease our mileage leading up to the race. I'm a little nervous because I peaked at 16 miles and my body doesn't know what it feels like to run more than that distance. However, my coaches keep telling me that your body doesn't know mileage it only knows time. Apparently as long as I have run for more that three hours (which I have) I will have the endurance for the race. I'm just gonna throw up a prayer on that note and hope my little feet carry me across the finish line!

Pre Race Prep: Overall I feel really good about the race, I'm trying to do my best to stay calm. I still have not come up with my race day mantra, the thing I'm going to repeat in head to keep my going when it gets hard out there (and it will get hard). I need to update my iPod before I leave for San Fran, so if anyone has any good running music that they would like to suggest let me know!In addition, as I've reiterated several times throughout my training, distance running is mire mental than it is physical. I've trained as hard as I could and now I just need to get my mind right to get through this.

Last thoughts: Two and a half years ago one of my colleagues who had recently joined Amex was talking about how she was going to Phoenix to run an Iron Man race. She said she'd been doing marathons and triathlons for years around the world. She's Australian, and in my mind of stereotyping I like to think they're an adventurous people. So I began to affectionately think of her as my crazy Aussie colleague who runs around the world. Every time she would tell me about a new event I would think, who would does that? Just run for miles and miles?

Well two days ago this same colleague gave me a pre race pep talk and she said "after Sunday you'll be a marathoner." I thought, did she just induct me into the crazy club? Have I really become a marathoner? Clearly a chip needs to be loose to put you body through this, I must be some kinda crazy...I've spent more money than I care to add up on running gear and countless hours on my couch icing my body. Those of you that know me, know that I'm not a morning person. I counted and I woke up at 6am for 14 Saturdays to make it to Prospect Park for my long runs (FYI the bulk of which were over the summer)! That means tha I stayed in for 14 Friday nights to be able to get up the next morning. I ran over 100 miles during the past 4 and a half months, in many cases in 90+ degree weather. I've been banned from wearing heels over the past month and a half (which was probably the greatest sacrifice during the process) all to preserve my feet. I've been off alcohol (for the most part - free drinks are hard to pass up) for months. Finally, I've been more exhausted than I've ever been in my life!....But guess what I would do it all over again in a heart beat!

This process has been the most extraordinary experience. I have challenged myself in ways that I never thought possible. I have hit highs and lows both physically and emotionally. I have met the most amazing people who in inspire me in the most surprising ways. I discovered the strength and depth of my support system. Each and everyone of you has encouraged me throughout my journey and I could not have gotten through this without you. Many of you believed in me when I stopped believing in myself and was ready to just give up. When I hurt my foot, I was ready to drop to the half marathon and so many people said don't do that, give it time and you'll be ok. Here I am three days before the race feeling better than ever! The road to San Francisco began four and half months ago. My flight leave at 650 am tomorrow and come Sunday I will have officially gone from zero to 26!

Week 13 & 14 Update!

Happy end of summer everyone! I hope you all had amazing holiday weekends! Well I'm back, I've actually been training this whole time but thought I'd wait until after the holiday weekend to send my latest update. T-minus 5 weeks until the race! Btw if you haven't already done so please donate to the cause, every dollar counts!

I'm actually writing this update on my phone while I'm at the physical therapist...but I'll get into that later. Since my last posting was on August 26th I'm going to hit you with some quick stories about what I've been up to on the training front. I'll do a summary "What Did I Learn About Running" at the end

Ok.....

August 28th: GWB

The Saturday after my last posting my team and I met up at Prospect Park and car pooled to the NJ side of the George Washington Bridge (GWB). The plan was to do a timed run which included a round trip across the GWB and a round trip into the Palisades Park.


Here high and low points from the run:

LOW - running across the GWB is a hot mess, plain and simple! First of all the traffic is literally right next to you. Secondly, the lane for runners and bikers is so small. I was almost run over by a biker twice! I swear these bikers act like runners ruin their whole day when they have to share a lane with us. How about this? How about you ruining my run buddy!?! Now i have to look over my shoulder every two seconds to avoid "death by a 10 speed." I could write a whole post about how bikers think they're superior to runners but that's for another time.

HIGH- running in the Palisades Park was so nice and the park is beautiful. I finally gained an appreciation for NJ beyond shopping malls and Great Adventure. But it gets better, remember a few weeks ago I write a post about meditation through running? I was struggling to clear my mind and be present in the run...well I did it that day in the Palisades Park! It was amazing all of the sudden I was running and the thoughts just stopped I was completely zoned out and it was as if my body was on auto pilot. When I came back to "consciousness" the first thought I has was OMG I did it!!! One mile of meditation down 25.2 to go. If I could do that for the whole race I'd good!


SIDE BAR COMMENT - there was a security guard posted on the GWB. I just want to know what exactly is he suppose to be doing up there, call for help if someone tries to steal the bridge? Which he wouldn't be able to do because he was too busy texting. Just seemed random to me.



August 31st: Broken Toilet = No GTS

If you really need details on this story you can email me. But the gist is my toilet wouldn't flush, I had to wait on the super to come fix it and I missed GTS....moving on


September 2nd: Lackluster Run in the Heat

Since I missed GTS on Tuesday I felt like I needed to run on Thursday and luckily this time I wouldn't be alone! My teammate Kat is my GTS running buddy, we're doing the same race and we run at the same pace so we usually pair up during our Saturday runs. Kat also happens to live across the river from me, I live in BK Heights and she live in the financial district. We found out that on our off days we were both running a long the water front but on opposite sides of the river, so we decided to do a water front run together one night. We had such high hopes for this run but it immediately turned into a Class A disaster! It was 95 degrees out and nearly impossible to get through the run. We threw in the towel about a mile and a half in and chucked it up as a loss. We decided that we would redeem ourselves during our Saturday run...wait until you read about that one.


September 3rd: Recapturing Euphoria

After my amazing run in the Palisades Park, all I wanted to do was to get back to that clear state of mind. I'd been craving it ever since. I've never experienced doing something so physically demanding with zero mental effort. I was like an addict trying to get my next high. So on Friday I set out to do the Promenade and a round trip on the BK Bridge. I'm not sure if it's because I was trying so hard to clear my mind that it wouldn't happen, but this run was a serious mental challenge. Just to get across the Promenade (which is the easiest part of the run) I found myself having to focus so hard. By the time I got to the middle of the BK Bridge on my way to Manhattan, I was spent. I was so frustrated, this was now my second consecutive failed run. I thought to myself, I don't have time for this! MIND, BODY get it together! The race is 6 weeks away! But, mind and body were like " Please! You should be happy that we brought you this far!" It was clear that my mind and body had an attitude and were done for the day, so I packed it in and went home.


September 4th: Praying for a Hit

I woke up on Saturday, just knowing I was going to have a good run. This was a long distance run, actually the longest distance I'd done to date 16 miles. The route was to go from Prospect Park, across the BK, across Chambers Street, up to W18th street and back...yikes! Once again I was chasing that clear mental space so I was pumped and ready to go. After all three times is a charm, right? So what if I had only run 10-12 prior to then? I had the eye of the tiger and was determined. Here are the highs and lows from the run


HIGH - Kat and I ran together as usual and we were running like champs for the first 10 miles! Our time was good (considering that we had to stop in a bodega twice to refuel). I couldn't believe but it felt like we got to the BK bridge in no time and then before we knew it we were at W18th!!!! As we were started running back tot he bridge, I started to hear whispering from my body....uh oh this was about to get ugly...

LOW - The out an back runs are mentally tough. You feel fantastic going out, but coming back is the worst. I felt like I was slowly falling apart. Around mile 14 I started to feel a clicking in my ankle, this was no bueno. I walked the last two miles of the route, which ended up being 16.7 miles. 12 to 16.7 is a big jump and more than I should have done, but I paid for it.

SIDE BAR COMMENTS - When I got home I commenced "Operation Heal My Legs!" I stopped by CVS and picked up thinks that I thought I'd need for this special Op. I basically stood in the First Aid aisle for about 15 minutes and dumped a bunch of stuff into my basket. I wasn't exactly sure how the medical tape was going to come into play, but it felt right at the time. When I got home I strategically ordered some food before I got in the shower. As soon as I sat on the couch after getting out of the shower the delivery guy rang the bell, perfect timing! After I ate, I tried to make sense on my First Aid purchases. I took the Ibuprofen, rubbed some Icy/Hot on my legs, slapped the ice pack on my ankle and bound it to me with the ace bandage. Still couldn't figure out how to give the medical tape some of the action. A couple of hours later I decided to go get a mani/pedi. Like many New York establishments the nail salon is located on the second floor. I managed to waddle up the stairs, pregnant lady style, but when it was time to leave I just stood at the top of the steps and almost broke into tears. My poor legs just wouldn't bend. I'm not going to get into it, but I had to get creative to get down the stairs.


September 7th: Something Aint Right


We were doing another 5K for our Tuesday GTS to see how our times improved, long story short, I couldn't complete the test because I had pain shooting up the back of my right leg and the outside of my left leg. I told my coach and he said two words that I wasn't trying to avoid throughout this process Physical Therapist....dammit! (that's me at the Physical Therepist)



What Did I Learn About Running Over The Past Two Weeks?strong>

1) I am capable of meditating while running, although I'm not sure how to get into that zone everytime

2) You're going to have some good runs and some bad runs, that's just the way it goes. You need to just put the bad runs behind you and focus on doing a better job next time

3) Never add on more than two miles to your distance at a time, that's how you injure yourself

4) Going to the Physical Therapist is far from a day at the spa it is brutal

Week 12 Back on the Wagon!

My vacation was lovely but boy did I pay for it! My body was like "you want me to do what!?! Phaleeeze!" Now everyone has to remember what the original purpose of this blog is: to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly of a first time runner training for a marathon. I keep it real with you guys and this post is no exception....WARNING the follow story involves potential vomiting so if you can't handle it scroll down to August 22nd


August 17th: Hold On To Your Lunch

It had now been about two weeks since my last hard run, I don't even count the treadmill because is not comparable. When I left for my trip we were doing hills in our Tuesday night GTS and I had completed 10 miles on our long run like a champ! But oh how quickly the body forgets and spirals into mush.

Much to my surprise we were still doing hills in our Tuesday GTS. Except we had moved from a friendly hill to this beastly hill on the other side of the park. This hill had a serious attitude! I think it flipped me the bird when I got there. But hey I'm a New Yorker, I don't get phased by attitudes. I once had a bum curse me out in Penn Station because I wouldn't give him money. It was actually pretty funny, but I digress.

Anyway I pushed the hill's attitude to the side because I was pumped to get back on the wagon and was looking forward to good workout. As usual this plan immediately went downhill (no pun intended). We were doing repeats again, running a hard effort up the hill and recovering down the hill. After two times up the hill I started to feel sick to my stomach, the feeling you get right before you throw up. I've seen this happen to people before, where they are pushing themselves so hard that they throw up. I personally don't see anything wrong with this. Obviously if you feel like you need to throw up your body is telling you to get rid of something that's not right. I decided to tell my coach Jim how I was feeling.

"Not to sound gross, but I feel like I have to throw up. Should I just step to the side and do it? I think I'll feel better."

"No, don't do that just chill out for a little while and it will pass." Clearly Jim did not understand the seriousness of the situation, so I thought I'd reiterate how I was feeling.

"Um, I don't think it's going to pass, I REALLY think I should go throw up and I will feel better."

"Just sit down take a few sips of your Gatorade and you'll feel better." I hate getting into back and forths with authority figures so I just took his word for it, sat down and tried to hold it in. A few minutes passed and Jim asked how I was feeling.

"It still hasn't passed! I still feel horrible! What does this mean!?! Am I done? Can I not run hills anymore? Is my body refusing to work with me because I took a week off?" Jim looked at me like I was losing my mind. I knew I had taken the dramatics over the top so I just stopped talking and he asked me a series of questions.

"When was the last time you ran?"

"About two weeks ago."



"Ok, was it this hot out during your last run?"

"No." come to think of it when I did my last hard run it was nice and cool out. This particular day it was 90+ and humid.

"Ok, what did you drink today?"

Shamefully I answered, "coffee and iced tea."

"Alright, it sounds like you got a little out of shape while you were on vacation and your body needs to adjust. You're dehydrated and trying to push yourself in really hot weather. So just take it easy." I gave Jim a blank look and said "thank you." He had diagnosed me in less than a minute and sure enough a few moments later the nausea passed and I was on my way back up the hill! Everything he said made sense, why didn't I think of that? I'm so determined to progress in my training I didn't realize that knowing when to take it east is progression!

What Did I Learn About Running That Day?

1) Pushing yourself is not always the best thing to do when you're just getting back into a training routine

2) sometimes you have to take a step backward to move forward

3) Throwing up is not always the answer to your problems


August 22nd: Lack of Muscle Memory

On Sunday the team ran in a 10 mile race at Prospect Park instead of doing a long run in the streets. This meant that we would run the outer loop of Prospect Park three times, which meant I'd have to run up that beastly hill three times! I wasn't too nervous because like I said earlier I was running 10 miles like a champ pre vacation. When I got to Prospect Park it was raining, this was my first time running in the rain. After the first lap I realized that this was 100 times harder than I remembered. But on the bright side it had stopped raining.

I was doing ok on the second lap until I hit that hill, the one with the stank attitude (which is about the half way point for each lap). I had to dig deep to get to the top. Quietly, when I got to the top of the hill I wanted to just keep running out of the park to the Grand Army Plaza 2/3 stop, go home and get in my bed. But I found my "eye if the tiger" and kept going.

By the time I hit the third lap Murphy's Law was in effect. It was full on raining, I was tired and my body was breaking down. My body was talking to me. As a matter of fact I was having a full on conversation with my body, it went a little like this:

My legs started first with, "WTF are you serious with this nonsense right now!?!"

"Come on legs, cut me a break I need you the most. I promise I'll give you some Icy/Hot later."

Then my butt chimed in, "look here girl I'm not built for all this. My job is to sit up and look cute. I'm the muscle that doesn't like to do a lot of heavy lifting."

I immediately snapped back "listen you, you've been doing nothing but expanding since my 25th birthday! You need this more than any other part of my body." Before I could continue to scold my butt my abs interrupted.

"Excuse me, I really feel like I've been doing my part today can we please take a break?" My abs were so polite about the situation I started to feel bad. Then came the final straw...my hands. My hands were so swollen, this is because I was dehydrated and releasing too much salt through my sweat without replenishing. My hands didn't even have to say anything I could already see that they were suffering.

At this point I had about 1/4 mile left, every part of my body was screaming for me to stop....except my mind! My mind shut all that noise down. "Would you fools stop complaining, we have a goal to complete. Marlena don't listen to these idiots you're fine look the finish line is right there!" Sure enough the finish line was about 100 yards away and all of my teammates ( who were finished) were cheering me on. A few seconds later I had crossed the finish line!

I have never been in more pain in my life! This was such a humbling experience on how quickly you can get out of shape. I walked away (well really limped away) from the race half proud and half scared. If I was in this much pain after 10 miles, what will happen after 26.2?


What Did I Learn About Running That Day?

1) If you don't use it you really do lose it

2) ok a real lesson: you're body will swell if you lose too much salt and don't hydrate (which is what happened with my hands)

3) Listen to your mind not you body because sometime you're body is ready to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble

Week 10 & 11 Update: Off The Wagon


Be forewarned that this post has more to do with my adventures in the Mediterranean than it does with running. So if you tune in every week just for the training tips you will be disappointed.

August 6th: Almost missed the boat...true story

I would like to first Thank God for giving me this vacation. I have a new appreciation for Job 1:21 "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" because that was almost my story last Friday. I would also like to say shout out to American Airlines, Delta was a hot mess in both directions of this trip. I'm generally a loyal American flyer (due to all the free trips I get through their miles program). Delta can learn a few things from their airline brethren over at American. Now on to the story.

After sitting in an insane amount of traffic on the BQE and Van Wyck I finally made it to JFK to board a plane to Venice for my vacation. I was due to go on a Mediterranean cruise traveling to Dubrovnik (Croatia), Athens, Ephesus (Turkey), and Nafplion (Greece). My flight was due to Leave at 7:15, I got to the airport at 5:30 super excited. I had my slippers, scarf, and sweater in my carry on to get cozy for the nearly 9 hour flight. I was ready to pop my Tylenol PM and wake up refreshed in Venice. Oh yeah I said it , I'm not ashamed, I pop OTC medicine to fall asleep on flights...and don't act like you don't do it too!

Well the plan was completely derailed when our flight was delayed until 11pm. I started to do the math, we needed to board the ship 2 hours prior to the 5pm departure. If we were originally due to get in to Venice at 10am that meant with the delay we would not get in until 3pm. crap we might not make the ship! Wait it gets worse....the Delta crew then announced that they are checking the planes engine and would let use know at midnight if the flight is cancelled!!...Wait it gets worse, I didn't put insurance on my trip so if I missed this flight and the ship I would not only miss out the vacation i would also lose all the money I paid!!!! Suffice to say I was sitting at the gate feeling sick! Listen I ususally frown upon excessive use of exclamation marks but I really want to convey the stress of this situation.....Anyway about 20 minutes later they made the boarding announcement and we were on our way! Granted i'm not sure the speed at which the pilot flew was entirely legal because we made it to Venice in 7 hours. But whatever, we were the last people to get on the ship but we made it!

Whew that was a close one. After volcanic ash ended my first attempt for a vacation in Amsterdam this year I just couldn't take another disappointment. Lesson learned Lord, don't brag about your fabulous vacation to every person you come into contact with. Got it, I am officially an understated traveler!


August 7-14th: Black and Fat

Once we were settled on the cruise the good times began! The ship was like heaven, but with a sun deck and piña coladas. I have to say I had every intention of training whole time I was there. I woke up bright and early on the first day and hit gym. I used the treadmill for the first time during my training, I'll tell you up front I'm not a fan. First of all there's a window right in front of the treadmill looking out at the Sea. Awww sounds pretty right? Wrong! I had to look away to avoid getting sea sick. I'm so spoiled from running outside. It much more challenging and obviously better scenery. Not to mention the fact that running on the treadmill is boring I wanted to shoot myself after mile 2. So once I got to 3 miles I declared it a 5K and called it a day.

I felt good after my workout and fully intended to go back the next day....but sadly friends that was the first and last time I worked out on the cruise. Wait, I mean that was the last time I worked out in the gym. Surely I burned some calories while I was laying out in the sun. I was sweating, doesn't that mean I was burning calories?

Well if laying out wasn't enough I definitely burned some calories walking the city wall around Dubrovnik. The stairs to get up the wall were crazy steep and once we got up there it wasn't like strolling down Broadway. It was blazin hot and the wall had all kinds of dips and turns.

Ok still not convinced I worked out? Try this one, climbing to the top of the Acropolis. Oh you didn't know? Yes, you have to climb to the top. Once again you're not walking up a flight of modern stairs, these are ancient stones that are super slippery. I have no idea how the ancient Greeks got up and down that hill in just their little gladiator sandals.

Ok still don't believe I exercised? How about touring the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey for and hour and a half? When we got to the port in Turkey, no lie it was 101 in the shade at 8am. I had sweat dripping from my brow as soon as I set foot on the dock. Once we actually got to the site of the ancient city there was no shade. I kept telling my friend "this desert is killing me!" She would reply everytime "Marlena, we're not in the desert it's just really hot."

The bottom line is I did get some exercise in. But truth be told anytime that we were on the boat I was either laying out, eating, or sleeping. I was living the cruise credo of getting black and fat. I would love to tell you all my fun stories about the ports but that would take too long, thought I'd give you a snap shot at some of the high class problems I had while I was away. Tune in next week for our regularly scheduled program. What happens after you've taken a week off from training!?! don't know let's find out together!


What Did I Learn About Running that week?

1) Running on a treadmill is no substitute for running outside, not even close!

2) When training for a marathon it's probably best to take a vacation after the race because it's hard to motivate yourself to get back into it.

3) the next time I have to fly somewhere to take a cruise I will a) get there the day before and b) insure my trip

Week 9: 10 Miles and a Hill

July 31st: 10 Miles and Counting



I can't believe I've come so far, but I managed to conquer 10 miles!. On Saturday we ran from Prospect Park over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. This was a milestone on a few levels, first this is the longest distance I've ever run. Second, this is the first time we've done a run where it wasn't 95+ degrees!!!!! It was a perfect day for running on Saturday and for the first time I didn't feel nervous about the run. I think this is mainly because I was familiar with the route. When we did our Coney Island run, I felt like I was running to the end of the earth. That was an all around hot mess! But because I've run the Brooklyn bridge before I felt optimistic about the run, plus I now know how 8 miles feels so I had an idea of what I was in for.



I went out with friends Friday night and didn't stay out to late like a good marathoner in training. I got home around 11:30 and for some reason decided to clean my apartment like a mad woman. I finally laid down at 1:30am. My alarm went off a 6am and I immediately contemplated skipping GTS. By the way this happens like 99.9% of the time on Saturday mornings ever since I started training. Everytime that alarm goes off I dread dragging myself out of bed to get excited about running. It's the absolute worst.! I laid there for five minutes and starred at the ceiling weighing my options, would it really be that deep if I missed this practice? I finally sat up and got moving. I seriously yawned every two minutes all the way to prospect park.



Once I got to the park after a few announcement coach Jim gave us some quick directions and told us to go. We started off down 9th street, this was great because it was all down hill, I couldn't think of a better way to start a run. I was working my five in one strategy and feeling great. I don't know if it's because there were more turns on this route or because it was the first time I ran when it wasn't blazin' outside but in seemed like we got to the bridge in no time! I wasn't exhausted or feeling like death. I felt like I had plenty of energy left but I was completely confused, why wasn't I tired or wanting someone to put me out of my misery? Did the drop in temperature make that much difference? Did I really build up that much stamina in a week? I didn't know what was making this run so bearable but I just went with it. We went over the bridge and back, which was slightly challenging because as I've explained before the Brooklyn bridge is one long hill going up. When we got back to the Brooklyn side of the bridge the run continue at a good pace until we got back to 9th street urgh!



Remember that hill that we started on, the one that made me feel so great going down hill, well it was the devil coming back! I tried to get my "eye of the tiger" on up the hill, but it wasn't working. I was officially tired. That familiar feeling was back, yes! I now wanted someone to put me out of my misery...ahhh marathon training, I'm back in business! If it's not hard it just doesn't feel right to me. I finally made it to the top of the hill running as much as I could. I could barely talk or breathe by the time I got up there, but this didn't matter because I was back in the park and the run was over! I did it, 10 miles approximately 38% of my race! I felt like Rocky when he reached the top of the Philadelphia Museum steps....or when he beat the Russian dude, or Apollo Creed - whatever works for you to get the point, and if you haven't seen Rocky (at least 1-3) you should be ashamed of yourself! The point is I felt a major sense of accomplishment.



After the run two of our coaches were having a fundraising BBQ. Granted it was like 10am but I felt like I earned a burger. I sat and chatted with my teammates and yes ate a burger and hot dog (don't judge). It was a great way to start the day! I went home and started to fell a little stiff, when I got out the shower I sat on my coach and literally fell asleep upright for about 20 minutes. I had plans to meet my friends in the afternoon, this was the first time I made concrete plans after a long run. Usually I'm non functional and pass out. But surprisingly I popped off the couch after my little power nap, blow dried my hair, got dressed and was out the door. I didn't even feel that tired. I spent the rest of the day at the Heineken Inspire event with my homies ....did I mention it was free? Ahhh the power of free (there's not a lot in the world that can beat it). Free flowing Heineken, free food, free give aways, free concert, games. We then left there and went to another Free Nike sponsored event, again free everything we had so much fun. I'm not sure if it was conquering 10 miles or all that Free in one day, but Saturday was one of the best summer days I've had in a long time!




What Did I Learn About Running That Day?



1) Knowing the route of your run makes it easy to break the run down and for whatever reason the run doesn’t seem as long



2) I’m praying that for the rest of the summer the temp does not rise above 85. Running in extreme heat is the worst! It wasn’t until I ran in decent weather that I realized how much energy you have to put up to run in the heat



3) It was more the heat than the runs that were making me crash after out long runs on Saturdays. I can actually be a functioning human being after running 10 miles





August 3rd: An Up Hill Battle



Just three days away from vacation, I once again made a game time decision on going to GTS Tuesday. I knew we were doing hills and considering that I’m running San Francisco this would be a good workout. When I got to the park we jogged around to "the hill". Between the 10 mile run and all my socializing over the weekend I hadn't run since Saturday and I felt it. The run over to the hill was probably about a half mile but it felt like an eternity. It became clear to me that it would not be an option, I would HAVE to hit the treadmill while I was on vacation, if you take more than a day off your body tightens up. As I was running by the people in the park must have thought I was crazy. I was making the "ouch" face and with every stride I let out an "ouch, oh, yowwsa".



We finally made it to the hill and let me just cut to the chase, remember those repeat effort drill that I've talked about? Yup we did those up hill. This reminded me that I have really gotten myself into a mess with signing up for a marathon in San Fransisco. This will definitely be an up hill battle urgh!



What Did I Learn About Running That Day?



Hills are still the devil...and I learned this in week one!

Breaking News…I went back and tallied up all of my training distances over the past two months and I’ve covered 57.5 miles to date!!!! That’s two marathons and change! Before this I'd gone two+ years without running 100 meters, I can’t believe I’ve made so much progress!

July 24th: Journey to the Ocean

I knew Saturday’s GTS was going to be a hard one, we were scheduled to run 8 miles from Prospect Park to Coney Island…I know, who does that!?! People who are training for marathons and I am now one of those people. Unlike my ill-fated 6 mile attempt two weeks ago I was prepared this time. I work up early and had a bagel and a big glass of water. Also because I had such a horrible reaction to the gel packs last time, I packed graham crackers to refuel this time around. I filled my water bottle and I was out the door!

Naturally it was hot as all hell outside. I have to tell you, training during the summer is rough and it doesn’t help that we have a heat wave every other week. It was one of those 97+ days but I refused to sit this run out because of the heat I was so determined to complete this. You’re already hip to my run / walk strategy, and that’s how I planned to do it 5 and 1. We did ¾ the outer loop (3.3 miles) of Prospect Park and then exited the park for Ocean Parkway. We ran Ocean Parkway straight out to Coney Island.

First of all, I am so amazed by how far I’ve come in my endurance. On one of my earlier post when I talked about doing the 3.3 loop at Prospect Park and that it felt like death. Well there's something to be said about knowing you have a long road ahead of you. I whipped (and whipped is a relative term) right around that loop and out of the park with plenty of energy to spare. When you're training you really don't feel like you're making progress because it's so hard and you keep increasing your mileage which is challenging. But when you go back and breeze through distances that seemed impossible in the beginning you realize that your growing as a runner. When I was done with the loop and left the park I thought to myself I might actually be able to pull this marathon off!

Well that all changed when we got on Ocean Parkway, the path down Ocean Parkway is shaded by trees so that was a relief but it was a straight 5 mile run out to the beach. The avenues that across Ocean Parkway are all letters of the alphabet (ave A, ave B, etc.). At first I didn't notice this until about Avenue K, then Avenue L. I stopped and thought wait a minute are we about to go through the whole damn alphabet!?! I immediately pulled out my phone and checked the GPS on the iMapMyRun app and sure enough we would be running all the way to Avenue Z before we hit the beach.

I was tired and feeling depleted for energy and so I started to tap into my mental strength. I just focused on getting to the beach. My running buddy Natasha was out of energy on all levels, she was cursing all the way up Ocean Parkway, it was actually pretty funny. Then I found myself coaching her on mental endurance. I told her to pretend we're running towards something we really wanted. Every time she said I complained I would say in a little while we'll be there and this will all be a distant memory. I basically was talking to her and keeping my mind right as well to get through the run...and it worked!

Soon enough I saw the Belt Parkway in the distance, and then signs for Coney Island, and in no time we were on the boardwalk!!! 8 miles, I couldn't believe it! When we got to the beach the team all went in the water. I wasn't too sure about that, let's be real this is still Brooklyn, who knows what's in that water. But I was so hot I threw caution to the wind and slowly made my way into the water. On my way in I thought man I hope there's no needles in here, then threw up a prayer and dunked my head. The water was as refreshing as NYC beach water can be.

What Did I Learn About Running That Day?

1) Sometimes retracing your training steps can revel your progress
2) Mental strength is everything
3) I'm kinda over running in 95+ weather. This will probably the first and last marathon I train for during the summer

Week 7: The Emotional Rollercoaster of Running

Thursday July 15th: Girl Get Your Mind Right

Let me start this post by saying I do not have PMS, this is genuinely how I felt about my training last week and please remember that I'm only human and have a breaking point like everyone else. On the off days from group training session (GTS) it's so hard to get motivated to run, especially after work. We've already established that I'm not a morning person so that leaves me to do my alone runs in the evenings. The problem with running at night is that you know the day is coming to a close and this is the one task that's standing between you and relaxation. However, morning, noon or night I've been struggling since I began this process with learning how to be present in my run. When I went on my yoga retreat in June, the instructor talked about different forms of meditation and he noted that running is a physical form of meditation. I thought oh that's why people go running to "clear their heads" or "burn off stress". I googled running as meditation and found and article from the May issue of runnersworld magazine called How To Meditate When Running (Or How I Learned To Love Running Without My iPod). The article briefly describes the goals and process of meditative running.:

Meditative running, is an extension of the basic meditation practice that is performed while sitting on a cushion, which teaches you to keep your mind focused on your breathing, or following each breath as it flows out of your lungs. When your mind becomes distracted by other thoughts, you acknowledge it and return your focus to your breath. "Through meditation we learn to relax and yet be keenly aware of our moment to-moment sensations, thoughts, and the world around us," Pratt says. "We set an intention to let go of daydreaming, fantasizing, and problem solving. By letting go of thoughts and coming back to our immediate physical experience, we find that our body so" ens and our mind feels lighter, more joyful."

After I read the article (particlularly this exert) I was positive that this would never be me. I generally have the same thought that repeats in my mind the whole time that I'm running: "just get this over with and then you can go (fill in the blank)". The blank could be go relax, go finish some work, go out, go hang out my friends, go get my hair and nails done, etc. The other repetitive thought is usually a "to do" list. For those that don't know me I thrive off of "to do" list, I feel so good when I can cross something off of my list. The point is I would like to find some mental balance that would make my running, well less miserable. The thoughts that currently go through my mind when I run are not getting the job done. Sometimes I try to give myself the "eye of the tiger" speech, but mental cheerleading only goes but so far. I'm running for a cause, which helps and is inspiring. I have all of you behind me, which helps and surprises me everyday that so many people believe in me. But I have to be honest, sometimes when I run I think to myself "I do not feel like doing this today." This is a darker side of my training that I'm just now revealing to you all. But I promised the good, the bad, and the ugly of this experience so there you have it.

Thursday night was just one of those days when I just didn't feel like doing it. BUT I got into my running gear at about 8pm, sat on my couch (fully dressed by the way) and weighed my options. After about two minutes of thinking it though, I walked out the door for my run. It wouldn't be a total loss, I had a new gadget my interval timer watch! This allows me to time my run and recovery strategy. The first interval I would run for 5 minutes and in the second interval I would recover for a minute, the alarms repeat which allow you to repeat the cycle. I ultimately would like to run 10 and 1(run / recovery) for the marathon, but need to build up to that.


I jogged about seven blocks to the beginning of the promenade at Remsen street, I jogged onto the promenade and immediately felt good about my decision to run that night. If you have not seen the views from the Brooklyn promenade put it on your "to do"list. I've lived in BK Heights for 81/2 months now and I still fall in love every time I see it. However, I quickly got over the view and became frustrated, everyone was out having a good time:date night, family night, friends hanging out and here I was trying to master a 5 and 1 strategy. I missed hanging out with my friends, seeing my family, and going on dates. Lately I felt like all I did was work and run. Then that popular thought popped in my head "just get this over with and you can...."


I stopped at the park under the Manhattan bridge (and took the above picture with my iPhone 4...oh yeah that's no postcard), I love sitting there and looking at the city behind the BK bridge, it's a good "thinking" spot. It dawned on me that training for this race was becoming like a second job and like anything new I had to find a way to balance it with the rest of my life. It's not just the time I spend running, it's the toll it takes on my body and my mind. I'm constantly tired, not sure what I should be eating half the time (although I'm getting better with that), and feeling torn between my social life, me running life and my work life. This process also makes you very competitive with yourself I constantly feel like I have to runner longer that I did the last time and when I don't I get really frustrated. Plus, for a non runner, do you know how much mental energy and will power it takes to psych yourself up and say "yes! we're running 7 miles today in 90+ degree weather on a Saturday morning I can't wait!"? As a matter of fact try it right now...exactly it doesn't even sound right. I kept thinking that there's has to be a better way! But there isn't it's just hard, that's why less than 2% of world population either have or will ever complete a marathon in their lifetime.


I got up dusted myself off and reset my watch. As I ran home I realized that I needed a break from this. Just like I can't not show up to work, I can't stop training and expect that I'll be able to complete this race. So I decided I needed some PTO from training (PTO is the code my company uses for vacation days)....I had a great time on my PTO Friday I went out to celebrate my friend Cheryl's birthday. I missed GTS on Saturday morning and didn't even entertain the idea of running on my own.Our GTS Saturday was a race in Central Park, you already know how I feel about CP so it didn't take much for me to ex that out of my schedule. I spent the better part of Sunday at a BBQ with my friends and definitely didn't think about running. I had a great time over the weekend and felt like a new person when I showed up for GTS on Tuesday. Like anything in life if you over do it you'll burn out, balancing training with other elements of my life is important because it keeps me sane when I get back out there. I seriously need to take a time out and get my mind right. I can't emphasize this enough the mental element of this is a hundred times harder that the physical, it takes a strong mental state not to quit. I have gained a new respect for athletes around the world not only for there's physical abilities but the mental endurance to compete at an elite level, because if your mind aint right your body won't fight!

What Did I Learn About Running That Day?

1) Despite all of my above complaining the interval watch is the bomb guys...the run/recovery strategy is where it's at for the novice runner!
2) Training breaks are good and totally acceptable (I asked my coaches and they approve). It's also better to take a break early on in the training versus right before the race
3) Building up your mental endurance is just as important as building your physical endurance



Tuesday July 20th: 400 Meters and a Twinkie

During Tuesday GTS we did another effort drill, 400 Meter repeats with 400 meter recovery. Basically we would run fast (somewhere between a jog and a sprint) for 400 meters and recover for 400 meters (FYI 400 meter is a quarter mile in case you were wondering). I have to tell you I underestimate the Tuesday training every time. When we did the effort drills the first time the distance we ran for the repeats was much shorter, so that's what I was mentally prepared for. BUT doing this for 400 meters was rough! I counted and we did 5 repeats so we covered a little over 2 miles.

I learned something new about myself on Tuesday, I have bad running form. One of the coaches pulled me to the side after a sprint and helped me work on my form. At first everything she was saying was a blur because I could barely breathe. But once I caught my breath I was able to correct my form. I tried to correct my form during my next sprint and it was super uncomfortable. Then my mentor Suzy gave me good advice she said "just point the 'girls' out when you run and you'll have perfect form" (oh and she has a British accent by the way which made her comment even funnier). I'll have to remember the boob thing when I run from now on.


As part of this process I have to raise $3.900 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you haven't already done so please click on the Team In Training icon on the right hand side of the screen and donate. Fundraising is not easy so my mentor thought it would be good to have all of her mentees get together and brainstorm about fundraising ideas. She owns a restaurant in Park Slope called the Chip Shop so we all headed over there after practice....Well the specialty of the Chip Shop is fried food. We had fried everything! Fried Mac & cheese, fish & chips, fried pizza and that was just dinner.Then for desert we had fried twix, fried snickers, and the best of them all fried twinkies! Needless to say we quickly replaced all the calories we burned during practice, but I didn't care it was fun getting to know my teammates and the fried twinkie was totally worth the calories!


What Did I Learn About Running That Day?


1) Sticking your boobs out while you run helps improve your form
2) 400 meters is a long way to sprint...this is why I did not run track in high school
3) Don't knock fried twinkie until you try them

Tune in next week to hear all about my run to Coney Island...Yay!!!! (That's sarcasim for those of you who don't speak my language)

Week 6 Update: Bridge, Bootcamp and PowerBar Gel

July 9th: bridge and tunnel...minus the tunnel


For those of you who know me less than a year ago I wouldn't even come to Brooklyn let alone live there. I was one of those New Yorkers who only left the island to go to the airport. Well I'm one to admit when I'm wrong and I was very short sided on this one, there's a lot of fun to be had in BK! For example if I didn't live in Brooklyn I probably would never wake up in the morning and decide to run across the Brooklyn Bridge and back as I did last Friday.

I had the day off, but of course being the Corporate blackberry addicted type A personality that I am, I spent a good portion of my morning answering emails. My best friend Joy and her daughter Addyson, my Goddaughter (that's Addyson and I at Coney Island), were visiting from Atlanta and would arrive at my apartment at 11am. The window of time for me to make this run was closing. But I figured it won't take me more than 20 minutes to run across the bridge and back (the approximate distance is 2 miles).

Finally around 9:45 I was out the door feeling good and ready for my scenic run. As I ran down Tillary street I realized that I was running in pass out weather, it was hot as ----- outside(those of you who know me know that this is one of my favorite phrases). Anyway I was keeping a good pace as I ran onto the bridge AND I had my trusty iPhone 4 to take pictures of my journey. I snapped a shot as I entered the bridge (eh hem look to the right please). Then I noticed something, I started feeling really tired like it was taking a lot of effort to put one foot in front of the other. I was even starting to lean forward a little bit. Then I thought wait a minute I know this feeling, I'm on a hill!

If you ever look at long shots of the Brooklyn Bridge you'll notice that there's a slight ark to it. Let me tell you what that translates into for a runner, one long hill. Do I need to reiterate how I feel about hills...ok if you insist, they are the devil! I manged to make it to the top of the bridge / hill and took a breather to take the next shot (eyes left people) with my highly sophisticated iPhone 4 :-) Ok that's the last time I'm going to mention my iPhone I promise! Real quick side note, did you know that there are vendors on the Brooklyn Bridge selling art and bottled water? Well you know now.

Anyway back to running, as I continued on my run I had a thought that messed me up, I've never really traveled over a bridge on foot. Don't ask me why but I stopped and looked down, I could see the water through the wood panels. All that was stopping me from plummeting to me death was a little piece of wood. Suffice to say this inspired me to run faster. Luckily running the remainder of the bridge was down hill and before I knew it I was back on the island!...well at least for a moment until I had to climb the hill back to BK.


What Did I learn About Running That Day

1) I guess I've been training long enough now that I can detect a slight incline by a change in my stride
2) If you're running over a bridge don't look down
3) I'll be traveling to Manhattan the old fashion way from now on, by subway or bus



July 10th: 6 Miles...Really?

So the game plan for our Saturday morning training was to do a 6 mile run from Prospect Park to the Promenade in BK Heights (that's my neighborhood!) and back to the park. So essentially we were going to run from the park to my apartment and back. Let me give you some perspective on how far that is, to get to training from my apartment I walk 10 minutes to the F train at Jay Street, take it 5 stops to 7th Avenue and then walk another three blocks to the Park. If this still isn't registering with you click this link to view the map of our route.

Once we got to the park, the coaches had a long talk with us about nutrition. What we should eat before our run, hydrating, and replenishing ourselves throughout our runs. Before our long run we're suppose to eat something carb heavy like a bagel with peanut butter. This is the first time we were running a long distance as a group. The general rule of running long distances is that you should drink 6-8 ounces of fluids every 20 minutes and take in 100 calories after 45-60 minutes and then 100 calories every 30 minutes. You're probably wondering how do we take in calories while we run. Well someone, who's probably rich now, developed these little packets of gel that basically supply you with the nutrients you need to keep running. Each pack contains just about 100 calories. PowerBar sponsors TNT (who knew!) and apparently supply a lot of free gel packs to us, so the coaches gave us some before our run.

For starters ask me what I ate before training, half a banana...didn't want to catch a cramp and all, real smart (that's called sarcasim folks). But I was hydrating all morning and was ready to go. One thing I'll say about this process is it makes you very competitive with yourself. You feel like you wnat to do better than you did on the last run. However, for some reason I seem to get nervous before a run and running in a group for 6 miles did not easy my anxiety. Luckily I found one of my team mates who had the same fears so we partnered up. I grabbed one of the gel packs and we were off.

Mistake number one: all that hydrating caught up to me, 10 minutes into the run I had to go to the bathroom, so did my running buddy so we took a detour looking for restaurants that would let us use the rest room....I know real classy. We continued on our run at what I thought was a great pace for beginners. It was so humid it felt like I was putting out so much effort to even run on level ground. So shortly before we hit the promenade (about 4 miles and and hour into our run) we decided to take the gel packs...it all went south from there.

Mistake number two: since all I had to eat that morning was half a banana I was essentially running on an empty stomach. Running on an empty stomach in extreme heat and eating a gel like substance for the first time under such conditions are all bad ideas. At first everything was fine, the gel didn't even taste so bad (I had strawberry banana flavor in case you were wondering). But about 15 minutes after I took it, I started to feel real bad. My body was not down with the gel packs at all, I felt terrible! We were just leaving BK Heights and moving into Cobble Hill, but I knew I was not going to make it. So instead of running back to the park I stopped and walked home.

My 6 mile run turned in to a 4.5 mile run. I think I made the right decision because it would have been the worst to get sick on some random street in Brooklyn. But I was disappointed in myself, I really wanted to complete my run. I feel like I gave up in a way, maybe I could have kept going. This is where the mind and body thing comes into play. My mind wanted me to keep going, I had the eye of the tiger, but my body just couldn't keep up. This was a good lesson on getting to know what I need to sustain myself through this training and the marathon. But don't worry I still have the eye of the tiger, I just need to eat a bigger breakfast next time!

What Did I Learn About Running That Day

1) Skipping breakfast isn't an option, and you can't worry about carbs when you eat a meal before you run
2) I have to try out different gel packs and sports drinks to see what agrees with me and what doesn't so I have the perfect combination for race day
3) I will always listen to my body, because it doesn't lie!



July 13: Bootcamp


This is pretty self explanatory. For our Tuesday night training, we had Jasmine Graham, a TNT certified coach and owner of Pace 4 Success, come in and do a bootcamp session with us. I already knew this was going to be a hard, so I mentally prepared myself for the pain...butI still came unprepared. Jasmine's workout is crazy. That is the heardest I've ever sweat in my life. BUT it was a great workout and I wouldn't mind doing it again. Just so you have an idea of how crazy the work out was check out the before and after pics below. The after pic is by far the worst picture I've ever taken in my life (the before one isn't so hot either) and I thought twice about posting it, but I'm committed to giving you all the inside track on my training.

What Did Learn About Running That Day...Not a damn thing I was too busy sweating!

Tune In Next Week Folks!