My wild and crazy weekend + 1/2 Marathon update!

So it's been FOREVER! Let's go through the weekend day by day (Anyone remember that DC Talk song?!)

Friday: My husband LEFT me! No not because I don't cook well (Which I do, almost every night!), he went to visit his parents in Rochester with our friend Drew who is getting married to Sarah on April 10! YIKES that's close! (Sarah and Drew have been mentioned a few times so you follow, they're our neighbors) Because they left earlier than planned, I had to drive Sarah to the airport on Saturday morning at 5:30am! DOUBLE YIKES! But that didn't ruin our Friday night plans. Sarah has had company, in her STUDIO apt, for the past 13 days! Not a moments rest, always hosting! So I demanded she join my friend Lori and I for girl's dinner! Needless to say, we went to the gym and ran 3 miles (supposed to run 6, still sick), cooked stuffed shells and rice pudding, had GREAT conversation and we all went to bed full and happy. Mmmmm. Rice pudding.

Saturday: Started with waking up at 5:20am to leave at 5:30. WE MADE IT THANK GOD! Ha ha. Went back to sleep. Hit snooze 3 times. whoops. I NEVER DO THAT! I finally woke up and put the finishing (cleaning) touches on the apartment because MY SISTERS WERE COMING! Ah it's the first time they saw it, with my nieces, and they liked it. Yea yea yea I'll post pics soon! And no running that day. LOTS of walking. We went to Alice's Tea cup on the upper east side, shopped on 5th ave, went to dinner in Little Italy and got magnolia cupcakes for desert! LOTS OF WALKING. I ended the evening by watching "The Holiday". If you haven't seen it, well, just do it.

Sunday: MY DAY! I ran 12 miles! First time ever! I had major heel pain unfortunately, so I got a pedi with my good friend Andrea! It was glorious. An hour and a half with a back rub while my toes were drying! I then watched Pride and Prejudice and Serendipity consecutively, while partaking of left over Little Italy food and more cupcakes and cookies (TRIPLE WHOOPS!). It was heavenly. But by the end of "me" day, I missed my husband SOOOOOOOO much! We've only been married 3 months and going to sleep without him was terrible. I ended the evening by being in bed at 9pm. Lights out. Asleep.

Monday: No running, husband home, went to Trader Joe's and got FABULOUS food!
Tuesday: Sick again. No running, still sore and CLASS blahhhhhhhhhhhhh 5 hours worth!
Wednesday: The day is still young...

Half Marathon Training Week 5: Day 3 and 4

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I'm so full right now because I just went out to lunch/dinner blahhhhhhh. Had penne al a vodka with spinach and chicken. mmmmmm. bread. Caesar salad. mmmmm. Never eating again!


Why did I go out to lunch/dinner?! Why, it's parent-teacher conferences! We finished our 1-3 session, and the tortuous 5-7:30pm session is about to begin :-( Ugh. But....I RAN!

Day 3: Ran 40 minutes outside on the bridge it was awesome. So sunny and warm! I really enjoyed it. But it got hard at the end with my cold, throat, stuffy nose, it all started acting up.

Day 4: Ran today in the city I work in! I had 5th and 6th period off, and because it is conferences we had a half day, so I ran outside! It started sprinnkling 5 minutes in, but I did a solid 35 minute run which I was satisfied with. But then I ate a HUGE lunch because we didn't have a break till 3!!! Sigh. You win some you lose some.


Till next time! It's the First day of Spring Tomorrow! YIPPEE!!!

Half Marathon training week 5: TAKE TWO!

Ok so I've been SICK! Ugh. Last week I was LAZY, so lazy, I tried to get my running in, but by Friday when my husband left me to (take a 3 hr) nap while he went to the gym, I knew I was getting run down. The bad feeling started Sunday, my long run day, which didn't happen. Scratchy irritated throat, head congestion, BLECH.


Maybe it's allergies, maybe it's a cold, but I know I work in a germ infested school and I'm sick of being sick!!! I ran (suffered through) 3 miles at the gym on Monday, Tuesday is my off day because I have night class, so today is an "easy run" day, 30-45 min. Thank GOD it is sunny outside!!! It is supposed to get up to 60 degrees, so I will take a wonderful run outdoors, and hopefully that won't be considered "suffering"!!!


UPDATE ON THE TEXT BOOK: My prof. found it in the lost and found; no papers in it, but I'm assuming it's mine...which means somone might steal my papers I've already gotten graded! Dun dun dun. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.


Despite the sickness, it's been a very good week relationally, spiritually, professionally, and I wish I could say scholarly! Muuuahhhh


Till next time...after my run...

BIG PROBLEM

I left my textbook at school last night!


EEK!


This is very bad. Within the ($40) textbook is my syllabus with the reading assignments, authors names for the books I (have yet to purchase) need to read by next week, the essay response assignment that I have due next week, UGHHHHHHH. And by the way, did I mention my school is (in Harlem) over an HOUR away?! This is a breaking story ladies and gentlemen, I will keep you posted as soon as more news becomes available.

Week 4: Half Marathon Training part IV

11 MILES!

Yes, it's true. I'm in my hometown in CT for the weekend, and I ran to my sister's house on the other side of town and back. It was AMAZING! I started at around 8:40, and by the time I got to her house (My halfway point) it was SO warm out! Probably over 50 degrees!!! So I took off my black half zip shirt and rocked only my FLOURESCENT pink tank and black reebok pants. By the way, my shoes are gray white and pink. I looked great ;-) Needless to say, it was a GLORIOUS day out with BEAUTIFUL weather!

The run was really good, almost threw up because I ate a quick breakfast (All the parents had was shredded wheat, I think the milk was what upset me), but it was a great run. My hydration belt came in handy, especially when running when it was a little warmer than I was used to, I realized how much more I NEED to drink because my body was overheating!

Running in Connecitcut is SO different than in NYC. First of all, the crosswalks take FOREVER to turn to "walk" here in CT, but in NYC it's about ever minute to turn to "walk". Ha. And up here, the runners all say hi to each other! Even pedestrians just taking a Saturday stroll nod or extend a hello! Ha ha ha.

All in all I feel good, I'm actually in CT for a (Surprise) 50th birthday party (HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICKI!), so putting on heels 2 hours after the run probably wasn't the smartest move, because my ankles are a bit sore. I'm contemplating wearing some sort of support. Specifically, the top of my foot is a bit tender, not the ankle, and this has happened before.

The picture is of a street I ran down today, it's "Main Street". The church at the bottom left of the screen is where my sister got married (I was 5 and a CUTE flower girl!), and this is the location of of the Road Race I run every Thanksgiving which got me into running originally. It's funny to think that my wanting to run in a race that is 4.78 miles, starting from NEVER running at all, year by year cutting down my times, to now training for a half marathon. It's kinda cool to run by this road today where I have run so many times before, but not on mile 1 or mile 4, but on mile FIVE and SEVEN, it was great (Ran on the way to sister's house and on the way back!).

Week 5 Starts Monday...HALFWAY THROUGH TRAINING!

Week 4: Half Marathon Training part III

Took Wednesday off because I had an interesting (tough) day at work. So I took it out on my kitchen by cooking and cleaning (Slow roasted chicken, sweet mashed potatoes AND cookies for small group oatmeal and butterscotch).

TODAY was 25 minutes running hard according to my training schedule. But I had to RALLY with my coworkers in Manhattan against the budget cuts (When I say Fair share you say now, "fair share" "NOW!" ....you get the picture)!!! So, when I got home, Brian and Drew had already gone to the gym (My gym buddies! Husband and friend, in that order), so I was faced with the decision: Will I be lazy because I'm tired?! NO! Sarah (Drew's fiance...getting it now?) and I did circuit training again!!! We ran hard for 15 minutes, but it was hard to do because it was in the school gym, which is a square, so just when you're getting fast you have to take a corner! But we made it work! We circuit trained for 30 minutes, it was much harder than last time because we were rested the day of the snow storm, and we hadn't worked a full day like today. It was great. Same stations as last time and WHEW are we tired! But it feels fabulous.

LIVING FOR THE WEEKEND! Where will you be? I will be in Connecticut!

Week 4: Half Marathon Training Part I & Circuit Training!

Alright, after the quick wrap up of the end of my week, it's time to talk about my SNOW DAY! YAHOO! Wow was it great. I woke up at 6am knowing I'd have to leave early to get to school because walking will take longer (NYC does not recognize the neccessity to EFFECTIVELY shovel sidewalks) and my train is above ground so I wanted to avoid any delays with that. As I woke up, I checked my phone with a text message from our friend Drew that said, "Tell Bri school is closed." NOOOOO! My husband gets to stay home but I must go to work?! Gah. We turn on the news. Nothing. All the private schools are closing. over 10 inches of snow in the city is a nightmare, why add to the chaos with busses?! As I was walking around complaining about how life isn't fair, Brian saw the text message on my phone from my friend Meg which read, "Happy Snow day!" "Look!" He shouted. I looked and responded with, "Your school is closed?!" "ALL city schools are closed!" She replied. Hence the dancing around like a moron and eating coffee cake WAY too early, and then returning to sleep till 10am ;-)

We took advantage of the snow day by going to the gym. (We are all from snow-enriched areas and are therefore not scared by anything less than 2 feet) The gym was nearly empty: perfect. And it was cold: even better. I can't run in the hot gym, ew, body heat and smells. Blech. My training for Monday was sprints, but a little longer and increasing speed each time. So I did 2 miles at 6.0, 2 miles at 6.3, 800 meters at 6.7 and 800 meters at 7.0. I'm supposed to rest 2-3 min between each elevation, so it ended up being over 5 miles total. Then I hit some weights because, well, I could!

Circuit training: Moving from one station to another, doing short but intense exercises and repeating it over and over.

Now, the aforementioned Drew is getting married in April to the Lovely Sarah. They joined me in the origin of this blog, "*May*keover", dedicating the month of May to healthier lifestyle changes....and bathing suit season!!! Well, Sarah was getting down about her expired gym membership and didn't want to sign up for another one, and Drew came up with "MARCH to the altar". SOOOOOOO I decided after my workout to help Sarah! Let me tell you, this was SO hard! I had heard from a friend about circuit training, so we used her school's gym (In the bottom floor of our apartment building) and set up 5 stations:

1. 30 crunches

2. Ball Throw Squat: 12 lb ball thrown back and forth, squatting when you catch it.

3. (Girl) push ups

4. 1 Minute Wall Sit

5. 10 lay up's, going to the foul line after each one is made.

*In between each of these we did 1 minute of suicides, 3 flights of stairs, or side to side steps like football players with our bodies in squat position.

UM so yea that lasted 35 minutes, and seriously I don't know how we lasted that long! It was INSANE! We got through 3 full rotations of it and let me tell you, I am SORE! But it felt great, I am glad we used our snow day wisely. Now about that brownie I ate while watching 24...

Week 3: Half Marathon Training Parts II, III, IV

Wednesday: Ran 3 miles and worked with weights. Ankle/foot was miraculously better so I tried it out, it was 90% great, 10% not perfect.

Thursday: Ran 3 miles and worked with weights. Didn't want to push it. Foot was still 90%.

Friday: Rested. Prepared for the long run Saturday. Cooked rice pudding, blueberry coffee cake, cleaned up the apartment...

SATURDAY!!! 11 Mile run! I ran through Central Park it was AMAZING! I purchased "running gloves", which really helped because they weren't heavy and soaked up any sweat. I also bought a "hydration belt", which I got made fun of for, but it really helped me. Yes, I looked like a scuba diver, but having the water and not having to carry a bottle was glorious. (And I saw 14 other runners with the belts on in Central Park...I counted...no lie)

I will do a second post with this week's start and snow storm escapades!

Is anyone else exercising this winter?!?! I have a great story about circuit training coming soon...all indoors...