So Friday night just before I turned in for the night I told you how I just wasn’t feelin’ it as far as marathon training was going. I keep skipping out on my mid-week runs because frankly I’ve been choosing sleep or long walks with the doodle instead.

Saturday morning I had the alarm set for 6am and planned to be out and running by 7. At 6:45 while I was walking Duncan I felt rushed and wanted to just sit down on my living room floor with coffee and my foam roller.

Takin' it slow and savoring my java

Takin’ it slow and savoring my java

So that’s what I did. I took an hour to sip the java and roll out every inch of the legs and wouldn’t ya know at 8am I was totally excited for my run. It’s been about 10 degrees cooler each morning which was in the back of my mind when I chose the extra hour to chill.

10 miles....all done and now time to eat. So I didn't even realize how matchy matchy i was until I saw this photo. And like a baby gender reveal party! LOL! It's a boy, It's a girl!

10 miles….all done and now time to eat. So I didn’t even realize how matchy matchy i was until I saw this photo. And it’s like I dressed for a baby gender reveal party! LOL! It’s a boy, It’s a girl! It’s BOTH!

IMG_7837I banged out my 10 miler at a nice consistent pace (not fast but comfortable) and felt like I might have been able to run a bit farther. This is a breakthrough! I visualized the marathon course and where I might plan for Mr. SOTSS and his family to spectate. I visualized Fred Lebow’s statue by Engineer’s Gate at mile 23 when you enter into Central Park and I visualized that finish line.

just showing off my NYC Marathon bling with the one and only Fred.

just showing off my NYC Marathon bling with the one and only Fred.

For now, I am pretty sure that I pushed my “meh” to the curb =)

I’m already preparing to run 3 miles on Tuesday morning before work (and now that I’ve shared this on the Internet I better not back out!) and a mid-length run on Thursday of maybe 7ish miles. And then I’ll get a planned long run of 15 miles in over Labor Day weekend plus possibly a short recovery run as well.

Sometimes it’s just about acknowledging those feelings and once you do they lose their power and fade away. 

What do you need to acknowledge? Tell me here and then you can let those feelings fade away. Your welcome 🙂

First let me say I’m not the only one who is so happy the rain is gone and the sun has returned

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Do you want to know what made me happy after a very nasty day at the office? It isn’t rocket science…Well ordinarily I would say a run. I didn’t run today, but it was a running related field-trip that did the trick.

OK let me back up. My company is working on updating our website and with that comes new headshots of the team. We were all tasked with choosing a location somewhere in NYC that meant something to us. So me being the NYC Marathon nerd that I am, chose Engineer’s Gate, the entrance into Central Park where the Fred Lebow statue is. (For those who don’t know, Fred Lebow was the founder of the NYC Marathon and Engineer’s Gate is a very big milestone along the course. It’s at about Mile 23 and it’s where you re-enter the park for the final few miles where the spectatorship is out of this world! It’s also where I gave this mugshot to the camera this past November =).

i was falling apart and cramping up everywhere and just couldn't smile

i was falling apart and cramping up everywhere and just couldn’t smile.

The shots that will be used for our company website are still under wraps but i had a coworker snap this shot for me since I shlepped my medals into the office and wore my 2013 NYC Marathon finisher’s shirt, I figured I might as well!

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just me and Fred.

Back in December I was having a bad day and ended up visiting Fred’s statue after picking up my bib # for a race I was running that weekend. And then this past January I ran the Fred Lebow Manhattan Half Marathon. It’s a special spot.

After the shoot it was 5pm but I still had to go back to the office to tie up a few loose ends. Everyone planned on hopping in a cab, but I knew I needed to decompress. Had I been in running gear, I would have run the 3 miles back to the office. But since I was in jeans and carrying 2 heavy medals around my neck, I decided I’d walk.

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I walked along the edge of Central Park…cpark and passed Radio City…radiocity

I walked 3 miles in 52 minutes and by the time I was back at the office I was feeling much better!

So I mentioned back in this post about buying my first pair of Brooks Ghost running sneakers after being an Asics Cumulus girl for so long. I loved the Asics Cumulus 13s, but hated the 14s and 15s….well…..I just saw that the Cumulus 16s have been released.

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Not gonna lie…I’m tempted!! =)

Meanwhile, on Sunday, since I knew it was going to be pouring rain, I wore an older pair of Cumulus 13s that had a few hundred miles on them because I didn’t want to ruin the Ghosts that I’m planning on wearing come 4/27 for the NJ Marathon. Today, those sneakers were STILL WET!!!! That’s over 48 hours and they’re still not dry even with the newspaper stuffing trick!.

BkIzxw8IIAAPTvLIt’s April Fools and I totally fell for Monica’s Tattoo post. Bummer, I was really excited to see it.

Questions:

• Are you a prankster? Did you trick anyone today?

• Running a marathon this Spring?

• What sneakers do you run in?

• If you were having your pic taken in Manhattan what location would you pick?

Work was the pits yesterday. I think I just assume that our clients will ALSO be busy with their personal stuff like I am and that we’d be slow during the holidays. That never happens. Like clockwork, December tends to be a busy month. I wrapped up a kick-off conference call with a new client and just needed air. I had to go uptown to pick up my race bib for today’s race anyway so I started out on foot walking from Herald Square to Grand Central (about 10 blocks) where I planned on catching the subway uptown to New York Road Runners. But something happened to me in those minutes and I just felt that with every step I walked I felt less stressed. So instead of getting on the subway I continued walking uptown and additional 20 blocks. (20 blocks is approximately 1 mile).

Passed Bliss Spa on my way. Thought about asking if they took "walk-ins". But then I remembered I don't "pamper out the small stuff"....I sweat out the small stuff =)

Passed Bliss Spa on my way. Thought about asking if they took “walk-ins”. But then I remembered I don’t “pamper out the small stuff”….I sweat out the small stuff =)

I popped in to get my race number and then thought i’d continue the walking “therapy” so I headed up a block and entered Central Park at Engineer’s Gate which is where I entered the Park on 11/3 during the NYC Marathon at my very emotional mile 22-23. I felt such a sense of peace and contentment. Being reminded of that awesome marathon day allowed my mind to stop focusing on my current workload woes and instead reflect on my accomplishments and how amazing 2013 has been.

Engineers Gate! Hi Fred Lebow! Consecutive numbers bib!

Engineers Gate! Hi Fred Lebow! Consecutive numbers bib!

This little squirrel scare the bejeezus outta me while I was deep in my reflecting zone

This little squirrel scare the bejeezus outta me while I was deep in my reflecting zone

I walked an additional 20 blocks and then jumped on the subway back to work since at this point my lunch “hour” was well beyond an hour. So 2.5 miles of walking and almost 2 hours out of the office and I was good as new. Sometimes that’s all you need. I returned to my desk and saw the most beautiful gift that was left for me by one of our vendors. Score!

Godiva chocolate...the perfect gift!

Godiva chocolate…the perfect gift!

I completed my work for the day and then headed home.

This morning my alarm woke me at 5:00am. Good thing I set 2 alarms because I did the SAME  thing I did the morning!  Last time I checked, Saturday is NOT a weekday.

I bundled up in my running gear layers and headed to meet my running peeps for our 15K in Central Park. 7am flurries turned into a steady snowfall just as the 8:30am race began. It was magical. I was so happy….smiling from ear-to-ear. I love snow. I love running. I love friends. WIN-WIN-WIN!

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9.3 miles done!

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aid stops were serving water Slushies and Gatorade snow cones. LOL!

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It’s a masked runner peep sandwich. Photo: L. McGarry

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in the corrals walking briskly to the starting line

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Pretty as a picture. Photo: E. Negron-Perez

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We had to conquer the infamous Cat Hill TWICE on this course. Photo E. Negron-Perez

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Running Peeps!

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It’s a PR but only because I haven’t run a 15K in 3 yeas.

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Gatorade slushie and an apple post-race

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one more running peep!

I ran a good race, a PR by 14 minutes actually. But last time I ran a 15K distance was this race in 2010 when I was a lot slower overall). My Garmin said 9.5 miles (instead of 9.3) so average pace 9:48. My official time was only 4 seconds different but because the distance is 9.3 My official average pace was 10:00 on the button.  I definitely hit a wall today around mile 7. It was tough getting up Cat Hill the second time. I didn’t eat much this morning before the race and didn’t eat anything at all during the race. At one point I could hear my stomach growl.

1214splitsI’m now home and thawed out and refueled (The box of Godiva is almost gone!) and watching the snow come down.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Question: Have you ever run in the snow? Do you ever just feel so overwhelmed at work that you need to walk 50 blocks to clear your head? LOL!