What a lovely balmy morning it was yesterday! It was above freezing when I left the house at 7:15am and only got warmer….I think we hit low 40s by 10am! It felt great! Oh, and the running felt great too!

IMG_2602

took this backpack with warm dry clothes to change into post running. I wore it while running and it didn’t even bother me. #miracle. Duncan wanted me to put him in that backpack so bad. Sorry buddy…next time…

With all the Superbowl shenanigans going on in the city I opted to do a multi-transport approach…drove my car to the bus, took the bus into the city and met my peeps downtown right by the Freedom Tower.

1622134_10152198505387456_1437430803_n

Hi Roger. Welcome to NYC! photo: E. Negron Perez

IMG_2607

Roger (at left) came in from Boston just to run with us because he won a video contest and scored tickets to the Superbowl! Elizabeth joined and while she lives in the city we haven’t run together in a while. Nice to catch up with her too. And then two of my favorites. The Brooklyn duo: Lisa and Mike.

IMG_2606

And that’s Elvia on her phone to the right. Probably posting a FB status or a pic. =)

IMG_2605

still hard for me to accept that the Twin Towers are gone (along with so many innocent lives). This new Freedom Tower just makes me think of the biggest headstone ever. I can’t help but take a deep breath an a moment of silence each and every time I pass it.

In usual Sally fashion I realized I forgot something. It was my Garmin this time! Not really a big deal since we had a plotted map of the course we were running. The rest of the group had already run close to 6 miles before I joined them so while they ended up with 11.5 miles I was just shy of 6.

We headed north along the West Side up to 59th Street and then over to Columbus Circle where we had a yummy breakfast thanks to Whole Foods.

IMG_2608

we ran past the Intrepid…

IMG_2609

and saw lots of the Hudson “Friver” (frozen river)

IMG_2615

The 555-ers reunited.

It was great to have Roger in town for the run so that the 5 of us who ran the Center of the Nation Series (5 marathons/half marathons in 5 days in 5 states) could be reunited. If you are new to my blog you can read my recaps of all 5 marathons/half marathons here:

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 North Dakota

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 South Dakota

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 Wyoming

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 Montana

Center of the Nation Series Marathon/Half Marathon Day 1 Nebraska

After parting ways, I took the subway downtown, caught my bus back to my car and drove home. The entire excursion was about 4 1/2 hours. Worth it!

IMG_2616

journey home begins in the subway station

IMG_2618

subway reflection selfie

IMG_2620

great morning! well worth the trip!

IMG_2624

do i stink or something?

Today I’m scheduled for 12 miles. I’m on the fence. I think I’ll head out late afternoon and just play it by ear. It’s a long slow distance run so maybe I’ll get in my zone. But I’m giving myself the option to bail early if I’m not feeling it.

I can’t believe how fast my calendar is filling up with races. I better go update my races page…

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Happy Groundhog’s Day. 

Never thought today would be the Friday I decided to coin this post title. You see, this morning I had to go in for an ambulatory surgical procedure. Let’s just say something needed to be removed because it didn’t belong. I had been anxious about this date for weeks now. Not so much because I was nervous about being in pain but I was afraid the doc would restrict my running for at least the next few days. 🙂 Just before the anesthesiologist sent me to LaLaLand, I said “So wait, can I run tomorrow? Like 6-10 miles? I’m scheduled to meet my friends and I don’t want to bail.” He smiled and said absolutely, as long as you take it easy today.” Whew!

weeeeee!

weeeeee!

Everything went well and I was wheeled out still a bit dopey (I actually felt drunk). My good friend knew I was starving since I couldn’t eat anything in the morning so he took me to IHOP (I was just there yesterday! No prob, I can take one for the team and eat pancakes again!)

photo 1

this time I went with only 2 pancakes and added eggs and bacon =)

I was actually shocked at how good I felt so I pushed it and asked if we could go take a look in IKEA. Glad it worked out because I scored!

photo 2

a cart full of goodies!

I got a new night table for my bedroom and a new bookcase for my living room. I relaxed the rest of today and slowly assembled both pieces.

photo 5

Billy on the left and Hemnes on the right. My favorite part of Ikea is the names of the furniture pieces

So, yes, I feel good! It’s officially FGF!

Tomorrow as I said, I’m meeting some of my running peeps for a run in the city. They’re doing about 11ish but I figured I shouldn’t push it so I’m jumping in around mile 5. That’ll give me 6 which I think is a good compromise.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Question: Superbowl? Do you care? Not so much? Are you in a football pool? Interested in the commercials? Going anywhere? What’s the menu gonna be?