Illinois Marathon

This past weekend was Marathon Weekend. Jason ran his 3rd marathon, this time in Illinois!  He was meant to do it last April, but because of an injury deferred to this year.

We took a quick flight to Chicago and then drove down to Champaign with my parents.  We left Phoebe at home with some friends because she had to finish her standardized tests.  We missed her, but it was really fun to be one-on-one with Lolly.  She is a hoot.

The weather threatened to be awful, but turned out to be much better than we expected.  I have learned from Jason’s past two marathons that chasing a marathon is not glamorous or warm and cozy.  I was quite satisfied with my attire, never felt cold!

I spotted three different orange sparkle skirts, so I cheered hard for TEAM SPARKLE! woot!  There were just a few crazy looking characters running and a lot of neon gear–super fun.

Jason’s training partner made him a bracelet with splits he had to achieve in order to make it in 3:50.  He followed it faithfully and beat it by 21 seconds.

When I saw all the runners beginning the 26.2 mile journey, I had no desire to be one of them….but as I watched Jason finish and thought about it for a few more hours, I thought: Maybe, MAYBE someday I will be crazy enough to try it.  My sister thinks next April we should try this one.  First I think I will look forward to The Color Run in August.

ps. How do you like my first collage made with picasa 3?  I need to learn more about it, but so far I think it’s pretty cute.

13.1

I cannot believe it is April 2nd and I just ran the half marathon that I committed to running over 4 months ago.

At this particular hour, I am extremely exhausted, but I wanted to record my feelings on the day before they were sucked into oblivion by the rigors of life.

I started coming down with that old familiar cold that I have been fighting since November on Monday.  I inhaled Wellness Formula for a few days and burped garlic burps in between meals.  On Friday I could have slept all day, but I powered through because I wanted to dedicate the day to the sport of running.

I picked up my packet, bought some cold-weather running gear and stopped by MORE Magazine’s half marathon expo (ours didn’t have one) to check out the merch and the speakers.  I felt inspired and excited.  At dinner with 3 other running buddies I ordered potato gnocchi with a side of mashed potatoes.  It was a lot of potatoes.

I slept so well.  In the morning I woke up naturally and everything came together for our departure.  It was chilly out, and we were constantly debating just what to wear.  I decided my francie pants would be fine, and I felt certain I would keep my long-sleeved shirt on the whole time, but quickly shed it after mile 1.

Our cheering section was pretty great.  Many folks on the route would yell out: “Yeah Sparkly Girls!”  One girl even made a second side to the sign she had made for her Mom, that read: I (heart symbol) your Sparkly Skirt. You Look Great.  Every time we passed, she said those exact words: “I love your sparkly skirts! You look great.”  Made me smile every time.

When I rounded the corner of Mile 1, I saw a giant sign that said Go Kristy, next to a sign that said Go Jen. I thought: What a coincidence that another Kristy and Jen are running and that she spells her name the same as mine.  As I got closer, I realized that a family from Phoebe’s class had come all the way from Northern Manhattan out to Flushing, Queens to cheer for us. I welled up.  And now I know the best way to inspire a long-distance runner is to surprise them on the route.

I ran side-by-side with my training partner Melissa. We never left each other.  We both had a hard time around mile 10, so to get through to mile 13.1 we recited vegetables, fruits, boys names, girls names, states, capitals, random cities and countries alphabetically for 3 miles.  It took our minds off the pain.

Our pace was just slightly faster than our training runs, but that got us in the end, it was hard, even though we had properly fueled, stretched and trained.  10:45 was our pace, and 2:20:39 was our official ending time.  I got a little teary when I reached the finish line, but there was no more liquid left to have a good cry.  Today, the overwhelming feeling I felt was that I am a good role model for my beautiful daughters, which makes me a good Mom, and that’s enough.

Jamboree

The girls participated in a New York Road Runners Jamboree Track Meet this past weekend.  Lolly busted out the Long Jump and Phoebe the 200 meter dash.

Later on they joined 3 other kids to do the 4 x 200 relay.  Lolly’s team did not understand the handing off of the baton so well.  In fact, one of her teammates gave the baton to the wrong child.  Lolly was the fourth runner and came in second to last, so because no one was on the track, she thought she was ahead of everyone.

In the end her team placed 3rd, which according to my viewing of the race, was grossly off…even without the baton hand-off misfire. Oh well.

Phoebe’s team had a few rough factors too. One of them was a teeny tiny 8-year old, and one little boy gave it his best try, but he was a big boy, and didn’t look like he was used to much physical activity. He had a GREAT spirit though, I cheered hard for him. Phoebe knocked into another relayer when she got the baton, but gave it her all to try to make up some time. They finished last.

It was a fun adventure, subwaying it very far north for us, and feeling the spirit of running!  Running has really impacted our lives lately, and our kids feel it too. Phoebe was upset we forgot to carb up the night before.

 

In it.

The body is a wondrous vessel.

That giant gap on this chart was me in a bed with a stuffy nose and aches and pains and worry and Prison Break on netflix.

I woke up several times last night with anxiety about asking my body to do this today: Please, will you run 12 miles for me?

Not only did I run a leisurely 12 miles, but my toe did not call attention to itself at all, my nose stayed clear, and I enjoyed it.  I liked running 12 miles. (12.2 to be exact), and I would have been able to finish up to 13.1 in a breeze.

Wonder of Wonders! Miracle of Miracles!

I’m back in the game.

A letter to my girls

Hi! I know some of you are NOT training for the half (kinda like me right now), but I wanted to check in for some much needed moral support.

After a lot of research, I think I figured out what my injury is!

Turf Toe

“Turf toe can occur as the result of a poor runner’s gait, specifically when the athlete begins his or her run. When a person gets turf toe, he or she has been repeatedly jamming the big toe into the ground during push-off. Without rest, turf toe can become a chronic condition and create an arthritic calcification. Orthotic shoes and anti-inflammatories can also ease turf toe symptoms. An athlete with repeated turf toe problems may wish to see a running coach for corrective exercises.” ~livestrong website

I could be wrong of course, but it’s not a bunion, it’s just below that region and it feels like a calcification to the touch.  It hasn’t bothered me while running, just while putting on shoes or sitting cross legged or going up on my tip toes.  I have run all of 1 mile since discovering my condition and I concentrated on using a fuller foot, better gait, so that it is not totally focused on my big toe.

I am still struggling with my sinuses and lungs (coughing), but my energy is getting better. I’m going to try for 3 miles on Wednesday (might try to sneak in a mile tomorrow.)  I am scheduled to run 12 on Saturday and I just can’t say if my upper respiratory will be ready, but my mind and body (besides the turf toe) are dying to get back to the training.

I can only say I am so glad I remained so disciplined up to the 10 miles on the 4th of March when my immune system just gave out on me. I have learned so much from the training to that point, and hopefully I’ll be back in the game and well enough (turf toe or not) by April 2!

~wonder woman.

I run!

Yesterday I arrived at the starting point of my run and waited for my friend, who told me she would be there and on time, since I had a booking at noon.  I waited and waited and she didn’t show! I didn’t have my phone because I didn’t have pockets because I was wearing shorts! Holla! And I didn’t bring my ipod because I knew we would be talking for the 8 miles.  I borrowed two different passersby’s phone to call home to see if she had called and she hadn’t, so after getting a little riled up (miscommunication and tardiness REALLY does that to me), I just told myself I could run it out and this would be a very challenging experiencing, just me and my thoughts, for 8 miles!

I’m happy to report that I ran it faster than I have run any of my long runs to this point, and it felt comfortable, and not very hard at all!  I also didn’t fall asleep immediately after (out of necessity, yes because I had a booking at noon, but also I am sure because I am finally over my sinus infection-2-week-virus thingy that now poor Lolly has…bad).

Now that I have reached the 8 mile mark in my training, and finished over half of the 12 week-training program, I think I can write a little something about running.

First of all, this is what I look like when I run outside.
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Hat: homemade by my sister-in-law Joni,

Hoodie: warmest ever! Jcrew.

Long-sleeve Shirt: Jingle Bell Jog shirt

Adidas Pants: costume from my first NY theatre experience, Little Fish. YES, I wore these on stage!

Leg Warmers: impulse buy from days gone by

Socks: gift from brother for christmas

Shoes: Nimbus somethings for my pronation or lack thereof or whatever

Bandana: under hat….in case I take off the hat. I hate hair in my face and flying.

Confession: I don’t wear a sports bra. THAT’S how flat I am.

I usually reserve running outside for my long distances. Does that seem counter-intuitive? That I’d want to be outside LONGER in this frigid cold? (except yesterday was brilliant!)  Well, if you haven’t tried running, it is much easier to run from point A to point B, then to run on a treadmill.  Though 7-miles with a sinus infection and 2 faster runners than me, and 19 degrees was HARD.

My training program works like this. I do reasonable runs M, W and Sat. (2.5-5 miles throughout the 12 weeks), and increasingly longer runs on Fridays.   The first few long runs were 4 and 5 miles long and by myself.  I loved them both for the snow!  On one it was snowing while I ran and the other, the park was completely insulated with it, it was beautiful.  When spring comes, I will not recognize the course!

The challenge started when I got to week 4 and had to run 6 miles.  I did it with 2 friends, and it was difficult in the beginning, but we did it!  I even talked for a lot of it.  The worst part is the hills in the North Woods of the Central Park loop!

Since I do the long runs on Fridays, I take the girls to school and I am seen by other parents in this outdoor running outfit.  The first week someone saw me, they asked me if I was going to a HIP HOP audition.  Ummm. No. BUT, I will file away this outfit in the archives, in the event that a HIP HOP audition of sorts comes up, you never know.  Another Mom thought I was in costume, which I guess isn’t so unreasonable since I often dress up around Halloween to promote our Halloween school events!

Wearing the outfit helped me to recruit another Mom to run with the team! AND one of my friends has been “helping me with the training runs”…but really, she’ll be by my side on the day of the half marathon, since she found out about the sparkle skirts, she is almost signed up.  (I’m wearing red again!) We’ve already planned our strategy: run together as a group for at least one hour, and then break off if we need/want to and resort to our music.

Speaking of which, I am starting to form an out-of-this-world playlist, that really gets me going!

Food: I am hungry all the time.  I am craving chocolate, sugar drinks (I totally drank a coke this week for the first time in almost 2 years, but I blame it on the Chinese Food Delivery guy who brought us 3 cans! I only had a sip or two of the other two and poured the rest!), bananas, banana pudding, banana yogurt, brownies, almonds, chocolate, chocolate milk, bagels, rolls, gatorade, pasta.

I love it when I can poop before I run.

I usually poop after too.

I use vaseline for my legs and rosebud salve for my cheeks (sunscreen too!).  I usually shed my gloves fairly quickly, and I even lost one in Central Park. boo.

I can’t believe how easy it is to run 4 miles now.  When I ran the jingle bell jog, that was a challenge, now it’s like easy peezy! what?

My knees hurt after my long runs, but only to walk down stairs.  I’m hungry all the time, and sometimes extra tired.

When I finish a long run I have so many immediate needs: food! drink! shower! rest!  I usually fall asleep right after.  I also smell after I have run for a long time.

I log my workouts every day at dailymile.  I especially love this site for the easy map routing feature.  The dread I feel before a long run (or any run) is lessening.  I’m actually starting to enjoy it now.  It has become a social activity for me now, which I never expected it would be, which makes it more delightful.

Jason is quite pleased with me too.

The girls roll their eyes when I blurt out: “I have to run 3 miles today! UGH!”

I love lathering myself in Johnson & Johnson Shea & Cocoa Butter Lotion after I run outside.

 

First “Long” Run

I had my first long run of my training today.  I plotted out 4 miles on this website.  After I dropped the kids off, I basically ran home.  It was snowing, but I remembered that Jason had received some Ice Trekkers for Christmas, so I was not deterred by the weather!

ICE trekkers are great for the snow and ice, terrible on the subway.  The whole reason I wore them was to protect my foot, and then I found myself quite at risk when there was no snow and ice.  The run was fun though. As soon as I entered white Central Park, I just wanted to stay there and do my whole run!  But alas I had already made a plan so I kept going on my appointed route.

When I got home and plotted it in detail on dailymile, I found that I really ran 5.54 miles! What? And my pace was 9:55? That’s cuh-razy.  I never got to that place where I wanted to stop, I barely had to talk myself into continuing. It was a good feeling! The training is really paying off!

I’m allowing myself some extra carbs, which I sort of scaled back on in the spring.  And I’m vacillating towards the “Skinny Kristy” side of the scale. It’s only like a 5 pound difference, but those anti-seizure meds held on with a firm grip to those 5 pounds.  Every time I complain: “I have to run 4 MILES tomorrow!” The girls roll their eyes and Jason kind of does too….but he’s been very encouraging and supportive.

Today I wore my leg warmers and so when I took off my pants, below my knees my skin looked lovely and above my skin looked red and cross.  I need some thigh-warmers!

Today I listened to This American Life (which I usually listen to when I run), but I finished an entire episode, as it took me 55 minutes.

Is reading about running boring?  I’m almost finished with my second week of training for the half marathon in April: where the party hits the pavement!

Jingle Bell Jog

I have decided to set some running goals this year (into 2011) because I have control issues, and deciding to train for a race is something I can control.  I got the idea from Giuliana and Bill when she ran a half marathon on the show.

My first try was the Jingle Bell Jog this morning at Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

This was a perfect race for me because it was 4 miles, festive and thousands of people gathered together in costume! Amazing!

I suited up with a sparkle skirt and race legs from Run Team Sparkle. and added a tartan vest, elf hat and my reindeer sweater.  My friend Amelia found a hat to match her sparkle skirt (from the Revlon Run/Walk).

My playlist:

I got through #17, so it was a perfect length!  Maybe I’ll always listen to christmas music while training….

Jason and I traded places today-he was photographer and I was runner, and each of us can improve in those areas, here’s the photo of me at the start<———————

The first mile and a half I felt really cold and stiff, but then I got into a groove for a while, and tried to push myself to go a bit faster during the last mile, but found myself a bit cold and stiff again.  I am so glad it wasn’t 28 degrees like it was on Thursday….40ish was much better.

At the end of the race I chose a red-dyed bagel, over the green-dyed one, I loved the detail of the food-coloring on the bagels. Brilliant! And an added bonus was that the hot chocolate was delicious.

The girl on the bottom right, her hair and makeup looked like that before the race too, how is it possible she stayed looking so good? Lolly called her “FANCY!”

I look forward to doing this next year too, it was a great way to celebrate the Christmas Season!

I think being 2926th place definitely gives me something to shoot for.