Blog from vacation land...

So far on vacation we....

- traveled to Annapolis MD and had the best time!

- Celebrated Lambeau's birthday

- Arrived in Virginia Beach

- Played with my nephews!

- Let Lambeau run free as a bird on the beach for the first time

- Ate a donut from the market :-) / :-(

So far on vacation I...

- Ran 3 miles, 4 miles, 7 miles.

- Biked 7.25 miles then did a mile with my sister Jennifer

- Rest day for a long run.

What I will do on vacation...

- Two a days

- Long runs

- READ

- Relax

- Run with my dog on the beach

- Grill

- Pray

- Enjoy nature

Long run tomorrow pretty much will make or break my marathon hopes and dreams.

Distance is undetermined. I have one distance that is satisfactory, one distance that is preferable and one distance that is exemplary. We'll see what kind of day it is tomorrow.

Through it all....

cool as a cucumber.

Deliberations...

We went to a FABULOUS event last night called East Village Food Day! Well, we created it ourselves. When a bunch of friends were at brunch a month ago (Pictured above) the subject turned to all these fabulous places to eat in the EV, such as an authentic Maine lobster roll place, amazing dumplings, beer brewed on location, scrumptious mac n cheese, tasty tapas called arepas, out of this world french fries, and we ended the night with DELICIOSO frozen yogurt! So we organized ourselves to do a "progressive dinner", stopping at each one of these places for a little sampler at each stop. The best part: each place was some sort of hole in the wall that barely had any seating, if any at all. So fun!

Now, the heavy stuff.

Running. Oh running. I may not be in marathon contention any longer. I've realized some things about myself. Training for half marathons in the spring is no problem for me. Training for any form of a marathon in the fall, however, requires training in the summer, which I seem to struggle with. Even in everyday walking in heat, I drink a ton of water, more than most people. I don't like heat. After the episode in the previous post, I experienced ZERO soreness. Therefore, my body was recovering well and I continued with my training throughout the week. However, when I attempted to execute my long run last Saturday, I ignored how I was feeling. I had a headache, felt extremely tired, and cranky. Hmmm. I figured I needed sleep so I went to bed at 8:30pm for a 6am wake up. Still felt the same. I figured I could run it out; maybe it was sleeping on a new bed or pillow. 1.5 miles into the run I had to turn around. Horrible. Felt nauseous, bad headache, terrible. Had turn turn around.

Tears.

Lots of them.

Ugh.

I felt this way throughout the weekend. I believe I had some sort of bug. I was under the weather for 4 days. And I took a couple of days to relax and make sure I was ok (Still was really tired from going back to work vs. sleeping all day.)

So here I am.

Unsure.

Deliberating.

October 9, 2010 is not coming any slower.

I want a 26.2 bumper sticker.

I want that swagger. That confidence.

Deliberating.

Can I do this?

Will I do this?

Longest run is 12.5 miles.

A lot of work for 7 weeks.

Is it safe?

Is it possible?

Cool as a cucumber? Uh. Hmmm. Not sure.

12 mile run in pictures

The 59th Street Bridge which takes me to Manhattan from Queens

Crate and Barrel, my favorite store to run by and look in the windows!

Infamous underground Apple store

6 mile loop around Central Park

The running path whose roadway stays closed to traffic till 8am and is always packed with bikers and runners.

Some of the GORGEOUS scenery along the way.

My run went well till the end, since it was 9ish and I was HOT, I got a bit dehydrated which resulted in some unwanted stomach cramps, nausea and a trip to a hotel's bathroom 1.5 miles from my house :-( Never had that problem before, but apparently it happens to people most when they're dehydrated. I basically need electrolytes when running long runs in the heat, even if I start at 6:15am! I guess I never really ran long runs in the heat much since my half marathons were in the spring except for one, which for that one I did 10milers for and that was it.

I got so frustrated after feeling so good during the run (Even though my Garmin was out of battery so I was running BLIND! The horror!), the end of it was pretty pathetic. When Brian picked me up (Yes I had to call him to pick me up), I was so distraught saying, "I can't do this I'm horrible I'm never going to be able to do this." And he told me, "Wait till you're clear minded to say that." He's the best. Now in retrospect I should have at least had Gatorade or SOMETHING other than water. (I refilled my fuel belt 3 times, meaning I drank 96 ounces of water, but my body was saying "Uh uh oh no you didn't.")

So. This week is 13 miles. We'll see how I respond. My sister Jennifer suggested I take electrolyte pills, so I'm going to try that.

In other news, Bri and I have been busy this weekend: Birthday party Friday night, parents came to visit Saturday, White Party Saturday night (Pictures coming), Sunday went to morning and night church services, Monday long run and Empire of the Sun concert.

I'm TIRED! Cool as a cucumber.

I run Astoria

I want this shirt so badly. But it's a touristy shirt maybe. Hmmm. Not sure if I can go with the fad or succumb to its self imposed "coolness". This shirt says, "I run NY". Maybe I can make one that says "I run Astoria".

Yes, this is my view from my 5 mile run this morning. Manhattan. In a city that is supposed to be fast paced, I find this view so calming. Probably because it involves water. Actually, it involves DECENT smelling water, which doesn't happen in the metropolitan area too often. My foot held up for 3 miles, then was a bit sore for the last 2, so I cut my workout from 7 to 5 miles :-( Wisdom with injuries always wins. I run to run.

We have a fabulous speaker at our church named J. John. He spoke on resting this weekend; and resting to me is very hard to do. Like, I need to be completely removed from my life in order to rest. He talked about keeping the sabbath holy. I'll write more on that Friday in preparation for the upcoming sabbath next weekend ;-) Suffice it to say, I will not be doing any long runs on Sundays anymore. I get too anxious and worked up about it, and I'm completely distracted at church thinking about it. Friday or Saturday is my designated long run day. But the interesting thing about the sabbath is that it's meant to help you relax. And this past year, I used it as my homework day for grad school and my long run day. It wasn't a rest, it was work according to keep my life going; maybe not work for a livelihood, but work nonetheless. So, every Sunday I will attempt to be calm, relax, and catch my breath.

In other news: It's Shark Week. Enough Said.