Hi folks,

Happy Monday! It’s chilly here in New York today but I’m so happy that we finally have daylight at 6:15am again after turning our clocks back in the wee hours yesterday. I love daylight savings for that reason, although I’m not looking forward to seeing darkness at 5 tonight when I leave work. Time to take the flashlight now when walking the dog. Speaking of, yesterday I got up super early (another perk of daylight savings!) and took Duncan to the park. He had been trapped in the house all day Saturday since the rain just never let up. The leaves were peaking and just so gorgeous yesterday.

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Then I drove to my boyfriend’s house where I left Duncan to hang with him for the day. Once the doodle drop-off was done I hopped on an 11:30am train to Penn Station and then switched over to the subway to get me up to the north east tip of Central Park, 110th St. and 5th Ave. (gee, sound familiar to my commute to the Dash to the Finish Line 5k on Saturday?) I arrived just a few minutes past 1pm. The weather temps were perfect for running but the winds were way out of control 🙁 I read today that there were wind gusts of 60mph on the Verrazano and 45mph at many other locations along the route. That’s tough for a runner. I’m proud to say that it didn’t deter any of my friends. They all finished!

 

Happy spectator Sally

Happy spectator Sally

Shortly after squeezing in and settling into my official spectator spot my friends started passing through. Some noticed me, others did not. First we had Robin…

Robin was looking for me as I took the picture.

Robin was looking for me as I took the picture.

She finally heard me screaming her name and waved! Next up was JD, who was running his first marathon. He was so in his zone he didn’t see me either…

In his zone! JD's first marathon!

In his zone! JD’s first marathon!

Then I was lucky enough to recognize this guy…

 

This is David

38 year streak! This is 71 year old David Obelkevich

Dave Obelkevich who is 71 years old, has run every NYC Marathon since 1976! I only recognized him in that split second because yesterday morning while having breakfast they had some pre-marathon footage on the news and he was interviewed! Crazy!

Next up was Carey.

Every Mother Counts...especially this girl. She's run so many marathons getting really close to completing all 50 states.

Every Mother Counts…especially this girl. She’s run so many marathons getting really close to completing all 50 states.

I even saw Waldo!

where's waldo

I found Waldo!

I missed seeing Cindy somehow but I didn’t miss Lisa. So here’s an AMAZING statistic. In the 43 years that the NYC Marathon has been in existence and with the 1,000,000th runner finishing this year, only 354 women have run the NYC marathon 10 or more times and my friend Lisa, the Lisa that inspired me to start running, is one of those impressive people. Yesterday was her12th NYC Marathon and 51st overall marathon. Can you say UNBELIEVABLE?!!!

Go Lisa Go!

Go Lisa Go!

Next up was Jorge with his infamous smile!

It's so easy!

It’s so easy!

And last but not least, another loyal NYC marathoner. My friend Pete (1 of 1,947 finishers) has run every year for the last 14 years straight! And get this? His training consists of running basically 3 miles a day every day and then he does a half marathon a month before. Easy peasy!

Go Pete Go!

Go Pete Go!

He even used his camera to take a selfie with me.

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photo courtesy of Pete!

I’m so happy that I chose the spot that I did to spectate. It was easy to get to and so full of energy. There was a band playing music and I was in awe of how many runners still looked so strong and effortless at mile 22.5! Here’s a quick 10 second video.

I had such a great time watching from the sidelines. It pumped me up. I’m only one race away from securing my spot next year. I thought I was done running NYC after running it twice but somehow it’s just contagious. If you ever get the opportunity to run it or watch it DO IT! Trust me, you won’t ever regret it =)

Hope your week starts off well.

Have you ever run the NYC Marathon?

Have you ever spectated at a big race?

 

I’m deeply saddened to share some heartbreaking news.

Last year I was part of Dicks Sporting Goods Every Runner Has a Reason Campaign. I got to meet so many inspirational runners. One of those runners, Meggan Janota, passed away this morning. She had been battling cancer for quite a few years.

I’m just so sad. Such a beautiful, young woman with her whole life ahead of her. (Meggan is # 3972 in the photo below).

Every Runner Has a Reason photo shoot (a faux marathon)

Every Runner Has a Reason photo shoot (a faux marathon)

I remember feeling terrible that I had to literally give her the sweaty white shirt off my back because they needed her to wear it for a different shot. I remember not even knowing she was sick or in the middle of treatment at first. But most of all I remember sitting around in between takes just sharing laughs with a bunch of runners who understood me and understood how amazing running is.

You’ve probably seen my video but here’s Meggan’s video. Please watch. Please take a minute to say a little prayer for her family as they start their lives without her. And please take a minute to be grateful for this day that wasn’t guaranteed. As cliche as it sounds each day truly is a gift.

I’m probably going to head out in a few for a run. Just a short one. A few miles for Meggan. It just seems like the perfect way to remember her today.

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Yesterday I decided to run a 5k distance in my neighborhood and “push it”!

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Not necessarily “all out” but I focused on getting out of my comfort zone. I am running my first official timed 5k on Saturday and I have no idea how to pace myself! I’m a fish out of water with short runs. I ended up keeping a 9:31/mile pace. I know I’m probably capable of keeping a 9:15 pace. So I’m just going to leave my goal at breaking 30 minutes. Let’s see what happens.

I am off from work today so I took the doodle for a nice walk in the crunchy, colorful Autumn leaves.

Red Autumn leaves

Red Autumn leaves

And then stopped off at the vet clinic to get a 6 month supply of his heartworm and flea and tick preventative meds. Of course he started shaking when we pulled into the parking lot. Poor doodle. He must have thought he was going in.

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Tonight I’m meeting my “wolf pack” for dinner for a little birthday celebration. And in the next few days I have some exciting news to share! I’ll keep you in suspense for now.

Now go have a great day and make it count! 

Today at lunch I went to a local sporting goods store for some new running socks. You see, most of my running socks are white, but I don’t have much else that is white and I end up running out of socks too frequently while waiting for a big enough load of whites to put in the wash. #runnerproblems #livingsingleproblems

So I made sure to buy some darker colored socks. GENIUS!

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A few stragglers of white, but mostly blue, gray and black. I love ASICS socks, I’ve worn the Intensity before but this will be my first try with the Quick Lyte’s. After I grabbed a few packages of socks, I walked around a bit and spotted a nice little iPhone holder that straps to the handle bars of a bike and a water bottle holder for the bike too. And then I remembered I used my last 2 pieces of KT tape this past Saturday so I got another roll. That ish is expensive! But it does help! As the cashier rang me up she said if I spent $6 more I’d earn a $20 gift card so I grabbed another package of socks! And now I need to decide what to use the gift card for.

Great news! I got my referral for physical therapy….my first appointment is Thursday! YAY!

Duncan has some great news too! He just won the latest game of tug…

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Also, I just added these two inspirational pics/words onto my Dig Deep page.

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Go the distance. Take it slow. Enjoy the journey.

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Walk through the fog to find your light

I’m going to try and be more dilligent about creating them more frequently. I don’t have a Pinterest board yet but eventually I’ll set them up there.

So I have a few questions:

1. What are your favorite running socks and why? Are they white?

2. What sporting good item should I get with my $20 gift card? Should I buy a $20 item like a hat or something more expensive and pay the difference.

3. Do you take a lunch break at work? Do you eat at your desk? Run errands?

So I have little to say as far as sweating out the small stuff goes. No sweating….frankly i’m just stressing and eating and that’s all gonna have to stop before I spiral. =) I’m going to try for a little cross-training tomorrow or Thursday. Luckily we’re super busy at work leaving me little time to feel bad that I’m taking a few more days off from running.

Last night I had my own personal Cinco de Mayo celebration with a huge bottle of (non-mexican) wine…

big bottle of riesling

big bottle of riesling

And after one glass I fell asleep. Yes boys and girls, welcome to 40. #oldlady

Duncan tried to wake me with his stuffed buffalo but it didn’t work…

labradoodle

Hey ma! Wake up and take this Buffalo and throw it across the room!!

Humor

In the meantime, my friend Sue who blogs over at WriteAwaySue just posted this entry which is super funny! If you have elderly folks or grand folks you will get a kick out of this.

Inspiration

If you’re new to running or even just feeling like you have seen little progress with your running check out Karla’s post where she celebrates her 7-year “raceiversary” and shows how far she’s come since her first race in 2007.

Jane’s Marathon Recap

And my friend Jane (who shared the glory of crossing the finish line with me) has her recap up in part 1, part 2 and part 3 for the NJ Marathon. She has some great reflective thoughts in part 3!

see jane and sally finish the marathon

see jane and sally finish the marathon

 

Question: Anything funny or inspirational to share? Anyone else get sleepy after a glass of wine?