Brooklyn!

Me, Gina and Pam post-race (look at my shirt! isn't it cute? it says "running chick")

Okay, so it never ceases to amaze me what my body can do. I say this because my running has not been happening, yet I am able to run half marathons and not destroy my body. And when I say I have not been running I don't mean "I've only done a couple of miles here and there, but not the mileage I'm used to." I mean I haven't been running at all. Three weeks prior to the Flying Pig? No running. And then the next three weeks before the Brooklyn Half Marathon? Also no running.

Now, I would not recommend this, being that it is stupid, but it is pretty amazing that my body can handle this.

I also say this because I only got 2.5 hours of sleep the night before the half. Mostly this was because we had to get up so darn early (start was at 7am...in Brooklyn). But also because I just could not get to sleep the night before.

To top things off, we (me, Gina, Pam) decided to take a cab to the park because it would be so much easier. We must have had the most idiotic cab driver ever. I have no idea why he went the way he did, but we basically ended up making a circle around Manhattan. The whole ride was $50!!! That is more than it takes to get to JFK! Ridiculous. So when we went to drop off our bags some guy was yelling at us that baggage was going to close...so we had to run. And then some other guy yelled at us because we were late and our truck was full (the start was at Prospect Park, but the finish was at Coney Island, so the bags were loaded on trucks according to your number) so we had to go to "late baggage". And then the portolet line was like a million people long. Oh yeah, and it was the hottest day (by like 20 degrees) that I've run in yet.

If this was two years ago this would all have destroyed my psyche completely and I would have probably passed out at the second mile. But I was just in it for the fun this time.

Us three girls just ran easy the whole time. It was actually a great time to catch up. Prospect Park is known for these awful awful hills, and we had to run the loop twice, but it wasn't that bad because we were all just chatting away. In fact, it may have been the most enjoyable half marathon I have ever run.

The coolest part about the race is that it ends on the boardwalk in Coney Island. So it was fun to end on a beach even if we weren't going swimming. :)

And after all of this, plus stopping at just about every water stop AND stopping for a restroom break, we still ended up with a 2:17! Pretty good! I could definitely go for some more half marathons like that.

Brooklyn!

So I have yet another half marathon this weekend. This one is part of the NYRR Half Marathon Grand Prix. It is the only one of the Grand Prix that I have never raced, and the one that everyone talks about. From most people I have heard that this is the best one, but from a couple of friends I have heard it is the most difficult. I am inclined to believe both.

I think it will be super cool because it runs all through Brooklyn and ends in Coney Island where there is a huge beach party. However, it is supposed to rain all weekend, so that probably won't be as cool as it seems.

It is probably the hardest because of all of the hills...mostly those Prospect Park hills. I have run Prospect Park a couple of times and it is always rough. The way I picture Prospect Park is sort of like an Escher drawing. It seems like the whole route is uphill. This cannot be physically possible, because Prospect Park is a loop, but it really truly seems like there are no downhills. And for some reason the hills seem so much harder than Central Park. This is weird too, because I think the hills in Central Park are much steeper and there are definitely more of them.

At any rate, I am still looking forward to it. I really want that stupid patch that they give to everyone that completes at least 4 of the 5 half marathons...AND it will get me guaranteed entry into the NYC Half next year. :)

Hurray! Half Marathon!

Thanks to a very special husband who decided that I had trained way too hard (haha, I guess it's all relative) to skip my half marathon and decided to skip his cooking class instead, I was able to run the first of the Grand Prix races this year!

I have to say, I was feeling pretty guilty about this when I woke up on Saturday and it was FOURTEEN DEGREES and I pretty much just wanted to say "forget it". However, I sucked it up and got my butt over to the park. I was so so layered for the whole thing...sports bra, t-shirt, crazy ninja shirt with speedskater hood, fleecy headband, all weather jacket, compression socks, tights, pants and gloves!

I made my way to the last corral (I was planning on run-walking this thing, so if I would have been in my assigned corral I would have gotten plowed over) to stand around shivering for 34 minutes (because I overestimated how much time I needed to get there). I seriously was starting to wonder about my level of sanity. I think it was a mutual feeling amongst all of the runners there who kept saying things like "WTF is wrong with us?" and "WHY was it a good idea to sign up for this?"

I also knew that this could basically last forever since I was run-walking with 3 minutes on and 2 off. I mean, my 6 miler was done at a 13:47 pace and my 9-miler at a 12:39 pace. I feel like I need the run-walk right now though, so it made me a little nervous when I had to run through 10 minutes of the intervals at the beginning because the field was so crowded. I was kind of sort of okay with it thought because it was SO COLD and walking would have frozen me even more.

Oddly enough though, I felt pretty good. And when I looked down at my watch I saw that I was maintaining a 11:38 for those first 2 miles. Awesome! Of course a lot of that was because I ran the first 10 minutes, but even so...

Another strange thing is that when I got to the second water stop and took the frozen water it actually tasted really good. And not just the water but the ice...in fact the ice was preferable even though I was soooooo freezing and it would take me until mile 5 to even start to feel my fingers a little (this from the girl who never used to wear gloves running because I was always too hot).

I made the first loop and it wasn't so bad, but I didn't know about this whole second loop thing. I didn't know if I was up for it. But before I knew it I was at mile 9!!! And I was still maintaining a pace of under 12 minutes (even though it was inching up to the 11:50s).

In fact, at mile 9 I started picking up the pace big time. I felt awesome! And I kept thinking about how I was going to see Bill and Liam at the finish and we would go get breakfast, which just made me happy.

Before I knew it I was in the final lower loop (The race is two loops and then another lower loop...grueling mentally.) I will say that the last two miles kind of weren't the greatest. I was getting tired. But I still felt good enough to run through my last two walk cycles. I kept looking at my watch, trying to get my final pace numbers down.

And guess what? I finished at an 11:32 pace! And that's run-walking!!! I was pretty proud of myself.

So I guess I could do a half marathon with 21 miles of training over 3 weeks. Although I am pretty sure that this was still a stupid thing to do. I am now going to take a couple of weeks off and start training for my spring marathon (or half marathon, I can't decide). I was also so pumped that I went ahead and signed up for the More/Fitness magazine half marathon again.

Hurray! Half marathons!

Denied!

Well, just like tons of other New Yorkers, I too was denied entry into the NYC Half Marathon this year. At first I was just like "Boo. Guess I'll try again next year." Then I started going through my facebook feed and realized that out of all my NYC runner friends (and I know a LOT of NYC runners) only one got in! Then, some of my runner friends started posting links to other blogs like this one.

Seems like the entire New York running community was PISSED.

Why?

Well, first of all, we were supposed to know about our status at "the end of November" and this deadline got pushed to December 15th. But more importantly, all of us entered what we thought was a lottery to get into this half marathon. (Whereas everyone had an equal chance of being chosen for this race.) As I understand it (though am still fuzzy on all of the details) there were three lotteries: one for tri-state area runners, one for out-of-state runners and one for international runners with the number of accepted runners being equal for each lottery. Obviously there would be more NY runners applying and not getting in. (Make sense?) And none of us knew this beforehand.

Presumably this is because NYRR is trying to make this a bigger, more nationally/internationally known event.

Here are some stats on what happened which sort of confirms all of this:
• Of the 27,737 tri-state area runners who applied 3,344 were accepted. Of those people 1,000 qualified for automatic entry.
 • Of the 5,200 out of state runners who applied 4,300 were accepted.
• Of the 1,710 international applicants 1,500 were accepted.

Seems like the best chance of getting into this half marathon in the future is to move out of the country.

My take on the whole thing?

I am mildly angry that I didn't get in, but I am ticked about the transparency on the whole process.

This is a really great race. There is nothing like running down 7th Avenue in this half marathon. It makes you realize that we really do live in an awesome city. And the NYC running community is a GREAT community. So I guess it just makes me kind of sad that we weren't given a fair shake at this event. We are the lifeblood of the NYRR and spend oodles and oodles each year to run a bunch of less glamorous races. I welcome the opening of our events to a larger audience but I sort of feel like this kind of premiere event should also celebrate the local running community.

I just watched this documentary called Run for Your Life about Fred Lebow, the man who is credited with making the NYRR what it is and also for bringing the 5 Borough NYC Marathon to fruition (and therefore popularizing marathoning as a sport). I can't help but think that he would have handled this differently.

I don't know. Just my opinion.

That being said, I look forward to cheering on my friend Gina, as she crosses the finish line in March :)

Not Counting Time :)

I have decided that I am not going to be paying attention to my time too much during this whole running-while-pregnant thing. I say this because I was just checking out my race history for this year and it's kind of demotivating.

The good news is that I've completed another race! Yay! That makes 4 for this year, and I'm already signed up for another one. The nice thing about not training for a marathon (I've found) is that I can run a lot more races because they don't screw up training. I AM still looking for another half marathon to run though (before it gets too ridiculous to do so).

But anyway, back to the title?

Bill and I ran the Mother's Day run this weekend. It was perfect weather and unseasonably cold for May (but nice for running!) with 40 degree temps. Unfortunately there was a TON of wind, but I will take that any day over running in 90 degree temps.

Our first mile was 9:53, which is all well and good, except for the fact that I felt like I was running about a whole minute faster than that. AND (as I pointed out to Bill) kind of demotivating, knowing that I ran an entire 13.1 miles at about that pace two weeks ago. Yuck.

The next mile we picked it up to a 9:09 (whoops, no wonder it felt a lot faster).

Oh yes, and I forgot to tell you. Ever since about 2 weeks ago I start a race or run and immediately have to pee. It doesn't matter that I go right before the run. It doesn't matter that I drink my fluids all at the beginning of the day and run at night. It just doesn't matter. And this past WEEK I feel like I am running with a full bladder the whole time. Like, you know how it feels when you load up on too much water at the water stops and then go to run again? And you feel all heavy in the stomach as it bounces up and down? Yeah, well that's how I feel all the time now.

So I had to stop at mile two. And of course there was a long line...which added on I don't know how much time. But luckily, it allowed us to see our friend Donna and catch up to her in the next mile so we could be chatty for awhile.

Bill wanted to know how I felt and the best way I could describe it was "I'm definitely pushing myself. But I don't need to go slower." Which I think was pretty good for me. Oh yeah, and I had to pee again, but decided to try and finish the race first because seriously, this was getting ridiculous.

When we were around 79th some guy shouted "Only a quarter mile to go!" I said "What? That can't be right!" But here's what happened: I KNEW it was a 4 mile race and I KNOW the park loops like the back of my hand, but in my mind I was doing the 5 mile loop...so I knew that when he said .25 miles, I really had like 1.6 miles (the total of the lower loop). But there was no lower loop!!! Hurrah!

I guess my body was planning for a 5 mile race too, because I suddenly was able to take off and kick it in like crazy.

Which is why I feel like I deserve the 9:50 pace that my Garmin had for the race instead of my 10:36 pace that NYRR had for me. (That bathroom break took a long time).

Yes, I hate people that do that, but come on! Can I get a pass for it this time? :)

The shirt was Bill's idea :)

Fastest Mile Ever

OK. I mean, it's not like I've ever raced a mile before this weekend, so there was no way this couldn't have been my fastest mile ever, BUT I have done miles for time at practice, and I did beat those times. :)

Saturday was the 5th Avenue Mile, which was a straight mile down 5th Avenue (duh). They ran us in heats according to our age (I was in the Women's 30-39 group) with 15 minutes between each race.

Now, I am NOT a sprinter. And I had no desire to run a fast mile in a race except for to see how fast I could go. But I signed up for the race because for some reason, it counts as a NYC marathon qualifier, and I still needed 2 races for this. (If you are a NYRR member who runs 9 qualifying races and volunteers once, you automatically qualify for the next years NYC marathon.) I was desperately trying to get my 9+1 requirement in before marathon season was over, so this was an easy way to do it.

I didn't even know how to approach this thing. I mean, I didn't want to sprint it because it was still a mile...but then I didn't want to hold back too much either, because I would be mad at myself.

This was the first race I've had in a long time where I felt totally keyed up (and was aware of it). In fact, it reminded me a little of my cross-country meets in high school where our coach told us to sprint from the starting line.

I decided to go ahead and sprint it.

Yeah. I am NOT used to running FAST.

My legs sort of buckled underneath me a little bit because the feel of running that fast was so foreign to me. I was flying though. Tears were in my eyes, my nose was a little runny, and I felt like I looked like those astronauts when they do those tests and the skin sort of flies back from their face. I also pretty much felt like I had to puke the whole time.

When I ran past the 1/4 mile marker I saw 1:something on the clock. Whoa. Fast.

Apparently too fast. Now I was like a car slowly running out of gas.

The women I was running with started to get further away from me, and the women behind me started to catch up.

Ugh. I just wanted it to be over. I was counting the blocks as I ran by them (each block is .05 miles).

Dying. Dying. I saw the clock overhead. 6:48. Whoo-hoo! (When I checked the official results though, I saw I actually did a 6:54).

I was coughing and sputtering and breathing heavy all the way to the subway station. I felt AWFUL. It all came back to me...why I hated cross-country so much in high school (yeah, I have no idea why I kept joining the team every year when I hated it so much). I am so NOT a short distance runner.

That being said, I was pretty darn happy to see a "6" at the beginning of my time :)

Rant Rant Rant Rant

I've officially rescinded all of the nice things I've said about NYRR.

I know I am probably being petty, but here is the deal:
Last Saturday I decided to check my "status" on the NYRR website for the NYC Half Marathon (which is tomorrow). Turns out I was in the 11th corral...out of 14. Now, I knew this wasn't right because all of my friends I train with are in the 7th corral. To show you how insane this is, I will be starting on 97th Street. The start is on 85th Street.

So all of my friends suggested that I contact NYRR to see if I could change my number, because it was so off.

So I wrote a nice, long letter.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to ask a question about my corral assignment for the NYC Half Marathon.
I recently checked my registration and saw that I was assigned the the 11th Corral with the number XXXXX. I was talking to my teammates that I normally run/pace with (I belong to Team in Training) and they said they were assigned to the 7th corral.
I am expecting to finish between 1:51-1:53 and am worried that I may be in the wrong corral. My most recent time for a half marathon was the Bronx Half with a 1:54.38.
I know that the half marathon is going to be quite crowded and that the corrals are in place to avoid unnecessary weaving and to ease congestion, so I want to make sure I am in the right corral.
Is it possible that I am in the wrong corral? And if so, would it be possible to change my corral?

Here is my entry information:
Emily Mason
Entry #XXXXXXX
Membership ID XXXXXX
Race # XXXXX

Thank you so much for your time and consideration with addressing this matter.

Sincerely,
Emily Mason

And here is what I got back:

Hello Emily

Bibs were based upon the information you provided on your entry form

Your best time – was listed as 4:25 for the Marine Corps Marathon

This is the time used to assign bibs

Yeah. Thanks for actually reading my letter. AND my time was NOT listed as 4:25, but 4:22. So I was just going to let it go, but I kept getting more and more ticked about it as I talked to more people. I mean, this is my race that I am supposed to use as a checkpoint in my training, and if I'm weaving through 4 corrals of people (there are 15,000 people registered) I am definitely NOT going to have a decent race. I was supposed to be using this race to determine my marathon pace. Grrrr. So I decided since I didn't actually get a real answer I could write back and try to get one. I was fuming, so it was really hard to be cordial in this one, but I tried.

Dear Janet,

Thank you for your quick response.
I do realize that I listed 4:22 as my marathon time. I listed that because I assumed that my half marathon times from NYRR, which were already in the system, would affect my corral placement, like my previous NYRR times do for other NYRR races. I also assumed that my "Predicted Time for half Marathon" (which was listed 1:55) would be considered.
I would not be so insistent except for the fact that I know that my pace is much faster than a 10:12 (from the MCM, which was last year).

My past NYRR paces were:
8:27 for Hope and Possibility
8:42 for the Front Runners
8:33 for the Women's Mini
8:45 for the Bronx Half Marathon

I know that this race is a large one and my coaches and I are concerned that I will not be able to get to where I should be until after the loop around the park.
Are you saying there is no way to change my corral at this time?
I understand that it is very late in the process. But I just want to make sure that there is nothing more that can be done to remedy this.

Thank you,
Emily Mason

Nothing back. Nothing changed. I picked up my 11th corral number for the race yesterday.

I was going to let it all go but then I kept thinking about it. This is a BIG half marathon. NYRR is supposed to be regarded as a premiere racing club. I am not stupid, I understand that they can't change everyone's corral. I also understand that they were probably incredibly busy this week. But at least acknowledge my questions. It would have at least made me feel better about the whole thing and I would have dropped it. (I would have still been disappointed, but I would have dropped it.)

It makes me not even care about fufilling my stupid 9+1 commitment (you have to run nine qualifying NYRR races and volunteer for one event) to get into the New York City Full Marathon next year.

I mean why am I busting my butt in training every week to improve if I don't even get credit for it?

Ptttt.

So I'm really not expecting much (except a lot of frustration) from the race tomorrow...which makes me sad.

The Women's Mini

This weekend I ran the Women's Mini, which is a pretty big women's only (duh) race. It was cool, because lots of famous runners were also participating (first prize was $10,000) including Deena Kastor, Rose Kosgei, Serena Burla, Hirut Mandefro, Catherine “the Great” Ndereba, and USA Half-Marathon champion Magdalena Lewy Boulet. Actually, Runner's World wrote all about this race in last month's issue.

My big goal was to get under an 8 minute pace.

But when I woke up to take my dog out, I realized it was a hot day. There was absolutely no chill in the air, like there usually is in the morning and not a cloud in the sky.

I didn't revise my goal.

The plan was to take out the first two miles at around an 8:30 and to drop from there.

I realized in the first mile that this was going to be impossible. The race was SO CROWDED. I was in the green coral even though my friends were in the red because NYRR had my best pace for a race over 2 miles listed as an 8:45 (not true). So I was stepping all over people and it was too crowded to really pass anyone. I felt like I wasted a lot of time zigzagging. But surprisingly, when I hit the turn into the park (the first mile) I found that I had clocked an 8:29. Awesome. Right on pace.

Me in the background (Hey! I didn't even realize that I was running RIGHT by my friend, Shawnessy...she's in the foreground in the pink)

I decided to keep the same pace for the next mile.

It was still pretty crowded and I think I was annoying people because I was clipping their heels. I really didn't mean to, but it was just because I couldn't get around anyone and I was in the wrong pace category.
My next mile was a 7:58 and I felt really good...breathing steady, still had a lot of energy.

Good thing, because we were now going up the back of Harlem Hill, right by the Lasker Pool. I realized as I was running this hill that we hadn't really trained Harlem Hill AT ALL yet this season. I could definitely feel it. I hate running this hill clockwise. I feel like it is so much harder than counterclockwise. My next mile was 8:14.

This is when it fell apart.

I was DYING. I was sweating like crazy and I desperately needed water. (Too bad I had just passed up some...that meant that there wasn't going to be any for AT LEAST a mile). I didn't feel sore or anything, just hot and tired. I didn't really understand it, because I felt like my Tuesday night runs had been more humid than this, and really, they were only 1 mile less. Now I was throwing up in my mouth (sorry, I know that is gross.) My stomach was in horrible knots.

I had to slow down a lot.

In my head I realized that I was NOT going to get my time goal. This was when I decided to take it easy and just pretend it was a practice run (and not a Tuesday night speed session). It was no use in running my body down when I felt like I would have to pass out in order to make my time goal.

Yes, this felt a lot better.

I even walked through the water stop. Like walked really slowly. This was mostly because I couldn't keep the water down. I had to keep spitting it out and then trying to drink more slowly. By the time I pass the water stop there were no longer any garbage cans (that should tell you how long I was walking...I would say at LEAST 30 seconds). I think my split was 8:14 though, which was pretty amazing. I felt like I was running a nice, easy 10 minute mile.

That actually made me feel better about slowing it down and I REALLY started to slow it down, and just tried to enjoy the run (even though the heat still sucked). Luckily they had a spray station somewhere right before Cleopatra's needle.

I saw Bill! Yay!

One mile to go!

I shouted to him "Did I say sub-8? I totally meant sub-9!" which I think made us both laugh a little.

Did I ever mention that I hate the lower loop in Central Park? Oh, I did? Like in every post where I write about the lower loop? Well, unfortunately this was the end of the race. And they had it marked out in meters (agonizing!!!) And the guy standing by the "800 m to go" sign felt the need to translate that into miles for us ("Just a half mile to go, ladies!"). I was thinking, "No! Don't tell me that. I KNOW that, but translating it makes seem it so much longer."

200 m to go. Are you kidding? I can't run any more.

I finished with a 53:02, which is an 8:33 pace. I do have to say, I was happy with that time. ESPECIALLY after I found all of my friends at the end of the race and talked to them. EVERYONE fell off pace because EVERYONE felt it was the most horrible, hot, disgustingly humid race ever. :)

We got a medal at the end. And when I walked into my building afterwards with Bill, my doorman was like "Hey! You won!"

I just laughed. :)

Hope and Possibility

Today I ran my first official race in New York and let me say...I was pretty happy!

I was really good last night too. I limited myself to one cocktail and went to bed at 10:00 (loser!). Right before bed I read Coach Ramon's game plan for how to run the race. Basically, he said that if you run a 9:00 mile pace that you should stand up with the 8:00 milers. I felt kind of bad for doing this because I felt like I would be the one that was going to be run over by the real 8:00 milers. But then I realized that this is probably what everyone does, and why I am usually so pissed off when I am standing in the section that I think that I should be standing in (and then have to plow through a bunch of runners who really aren't at the pace that they say they are...does that make sense?). He told us to take the run out slowly. 85% of runners start their races too fast, and he wanted us to be the smart 15%. At Cat Hill we should take it easy and swing our arms really LOW. On the downhills we should make sure that we are not overstriding. Other than that, it was sort of play it by ear: if you felt tired, slow down, if not, you could settle into a nice pace and then kick it up for the last mile.

I ran my first mile with what I felt was a nice comfortable pace. I clocked a 9:10 for it, and was pretty happy. I knew I would have to make up those 10 seconds to average a 9:00 pace, but I wasn't freaked out about that at all. I knew I could do it. Cat Hill? Not a problem! I just kept my arms swinging low. In fact, I logged a 8:56 on that mile.

I was feeling great, but I didn't know how long I could keep it up. I felt like I was getting a higher kick then normal (= faster turnover). Next mile was 8:27. Hurrah! I was kicking butt.

NOW was when I felt tired. But I had to keep it up because I was doing so great. I found someone to keep my eye on (a couple in matching Princeton T-shirts) and tried to stick with them. I could tell this mile was slower. Maybe it was all of the little sloping hills. 8:44.

Ok, time to pick it up. I was exhausted but started to kick higher, I only had one more mile. I really pushed it in. 8:07!!!! For a final time of 43:25. AND we got cool medals.



It was also cool because Anthony Edwards was there for the race. (You know? Dr Green from when ER was still cool?).

Anyway, since I was so exhausted I took forever to get water and stretch. I had the best intentions of cheering on the rest of my team, but by the time I was done stretching the race was pretty much over. Bill and I walked over to Magnolia and I rewarded myself with a delicious cupcake. And then we came back to sit on the lawn and see if I won any cool prizes (like a treadmill or a trip to a bed and breakfast). I didn't.



(this is me just chilling after the race).

Oh and NYRR is so cool. Not only do they break down all of your results, but they also tell you the weather conditions during the race.

So here were my results:

536 Overall, 137 Female, 61 Age group, Pace 8:40, Age Group and Female 196, Age group % 55.7%, 70 degrees, 76% Humidity, 5mph wind

So now I am going to do nothing for the rest of the day except work on my sewing! Hurrah!

ARGHHHH going crazy

Yesterday I found out that the lottery for the NYC marathon is TODAY not Friday. It is making me crazy. But I've been really good so far and have only checked twice. IBUT the lottery goes until 11:59 tonight.They said that you would know for sure by then. That is frustrating too, because I could not sleep last night. I kept waking up every 15 minutes. I think its because I had the NYRR Anniversary race this morning. It was at 5:30 and I am ALWAYS nervous about races and can't sleep. Unfortunately, it rained like crazy this morning. I already am not a morning person. It didn't help that I hadn't gotten any sleep. Running in the cold, pouring rain on top of that? I pooped out. Just before the alarm was going to go off at 4am I asked Bill "Do you just want to skip this? It is pouring down rain." Luckily, I had coerced him into running it too, and I don't think he wanted to anymore than I did.

Turns out I am glad I didn't. Yesterday was my first run in over a week (there was no way to run in London with my crazy schedule). It was six miles in Central Park. I was kind of pushing myself too. (Even though I only ended up with a 58:40). It was super hot and muggy and I made the mistake of not hydrating at all until the 4th mile. I was sooooo thirsty. I was running with Kaitlyn, who I've been running with since the first practice. We don't like to stop at the fountains, especially since the TNT team sort of runs in a pack. There tend to be lines like crazy at the fountains and it just breaks up our momentum. We finally decided to stop and the fountain was broken! Grrr. Luckily, we knew there was one at the bottom of the park. By that point we only had one mile left! It never ceases to amaze me how much the heat slows me down. I mean I felt like I was really pushing it, but I was so off of my usual Central Park Loop time from the winter.

The point is, that it is probably good that I didn't do the 5 mile race this morning because my achilles was all clicky like it gets sometimes. Gross.

I did feel bad though, because I thought it was a nice thing for the NYRR to put on this race. Entry was free and everything. I'm betting a lot of people didn't show up :(

AND this week is Running Week (but I don't know if that is just in New York or everywhere).

Nutrition Seminar

So last night I went to the little nutrition seminar that the NYRR put on. I was surprised that it actually did last the full 2 hours! I also found out a lot of really cool stuff. Like: (and I am paraphrasing here)

• Runners tend to focus too much on protein and not enough on carbs. While protein is important, carbs are more important because they give you energy through glycogen. Too much protein actually crowds out the carbs.

• Chocolate milk is one of the best things you can have after a run.

• Men need more fat in their diets than women because fats are what helps with the production of testosterone. Testosterone is needed for building muscle. In general, you can have 1/2 gram of fat per pound of body weight.

• The body absorbs vitamins better through foods then it does through supplements (I know; Nutrition 101. Give me a break though, because I never paid attention in health class).

• 3+ grams of fiber per serving is good.

• Gels should be taken with water, not sports drinks. Otherwise they sit in your stomach, which can upset it.

• You should eat something after your run for faster recovery...however if you don't get it in that "15 minute window" (like they usually tell you) it is okay. That window is for athletes who are training more than once a day...if you have a recovery time of 24 hours you will be okay if you eat later than 15 minutes after your run.

• You can eat something before your run if you are hungry, however, the closer it is to your run, the purer the carbohydrate should be.

I thought all of this was interesting. And they also gave us this really useful chart that told us how much fat, protein and carbs we need according to our weight and how many hours of running we were doing that day. I found that REALLY helpful, because while I may be running for 3 hours on Sundays it's not like I do that every night. They also told us the history of Gels and how you REALLY only need them around mile 17 (when most people hit the wall). Because while it gives you an energy boost it also makes you crash. (That may be true, about I am still going to take more than one with me...maybe I am addicted to them, but I FEEL like they work. And hey, running a marathon is mostly mental anyway. )

Making Use of my NYRR Membership

I finally got my New York Road Runner's membership card in the mail! I had decided not to get involved in the New York running community until after the marathon. It is just too crazy with my work and training schedule right now. And besides, most of the group runs are too short for my training schedule right now. So I am looking forward to taking full advantage of my membership in May. It will be a good way to make sure I keep running.

However, I noticed that they have a lecture this week. They occasionally run lectures that have to do with running and are free to NYRR members ($5 for non-members). It is right in my neighborhood AND it's called "The Art and Science of Fueling the Running Body". They couldn't have made it easier for me to go to it :)
I have been obsessed with runner's nutrition ever since I started eating correctly because A) It has helped me lose 10 lbs this training season, which I swear is making me run faster, and B) it is giving me a whole lot of energy that I didn't have before, which I KNOW is making me run faster. So I'm pretty excited to go. Plus, it's always good to meet other runners. I will just have to bite the bullet and make myself overcome the shyness I usually have at these kind of things.

The lecture is being put on by Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, who is the medical director for the New York Marathon and a columnist for Runnersworld, Dr. Felicia D. Stoler, the sports nutrition coordinator for the NYC Marathon (she is also the host of some show on TLC called "Honey We're Killing the Kids" andHeidi Skolnick who is the nutritionist for the New York Giants.

I'm also going to an informational meeting next week on Team In Training. I wanted to check them out since Team CdLS will be running Chicago (and not New York) this year. I've heard mostly good things about running with them, but I want to check it out for myself. I am also going to look into other charities too, because I would really really like to run New York in the fall.

Tonight is my last round of Yassos (10!!!).

Gambling

Let's hope that I'm lucky with odds...

I was online today trying to figure out what my odds are of getting into the New York Marathon. I have been holding off on my application, because I JUST joined the NYRR, and there is a section on the application that asks for your membership number. I don't think it makes a difference, because I didn't join until this week and I haven't run 9 races with the NYRR anyway (if you registered by January 31st of last year and ran 9 NYRR races, you are guaranteed entry). But when I got my email receipt it said to wait for your membership number if you were going to register for the NYC Marathon. So I figured that was important.

Anyway, what sucks is that I don't get my number until next week via email and it's 2-4 weeks before I get my actual card. I KNOW it shouldn't really matter since the whole thing is a lottery and they don't start drawing until June, but I am still antsy about the whole thing. I want to get in really badly. (It's kind of like how I sent my college applications in waaaaay ahead of time even for the schools that didn't have rolling admission).

The other thing that stinks is that I was reading this thread on Runner's World. Apparently, it's MORE DIFFICULT to get in if you are a New Yorker!!! What?! No fair!
I don't know where this comes from, but two people mentioned it. Of course the official website is of no help on this issue.

I guess I just have to cross my fingers.