Memorial Day, Multiple Blessings and Reality

To celebrate the Memorial Day holiday I stayed home, slept, and hung out with my dog. Well, to be perfectly honest I was recovering from the last few weeks so there was no way that I was even attempting to get out of the city. In a short span of time I had my mom visit, went to Chicago, worked a bunch, and then had a friend from LA visit with whom I spent a few nights in a row reliving my early years in New York.

That all translates to alcohol, a lot of it. I sound like a booze hound on this blog sometimes but usually I have a couple drinks these days and call it a day. I used to party it up every weekend but the older I get the harder it gets and with all of my running I have the alcohol tolerance these days of a 13 year-old boy.

I needed a break and I needed to clear out my body and mind before my marathon training starts in earnest. I needed to run. I needed to sleep. I needed to tune everything out. I decided to keep the weekend fun and just to easy runs. I even tried again to run with Fiona the dog which lasted for about a quarter mile before she was just done. She LOVES running up stairs so did a lot of that. Mommy needs to do those stairs more often because my butt has never been so sore (mental note).

I can stay on the beach all day long but New York sun only allows me to stay outside for brief amounts of time before I get hot and bothered. Other than my runs and Fiona time I did get into the great outdoors to do lunch at the Boat Basin but time inside was simply spent watching “Jon and Kate Plus 8.” I LOVE reality TV marathons when I am lazy. I never know when these cable shows are on but when I catch them all at once I sort of freak out.

My friend Sasha over at Zelda Lily (and Sasha is a Monster) is a bit obsessed with this family and after watching a couple episodes I felt like I was on Gosselin bender. Those kids were so freaking cute, but in the end it was creepy to see how far this family has gone off the deep end in regards to really appreciating each other, their huge house and all of the blessings they have gotten by being mini-celebrities.

Needless to say I’ve been pondering my own blessings… Kate Gosselin makes a huge deal of her book “Multiple Blessings” yet is treating her unique situation now like a huge burden. Life is a series of choices and you just have to listen to your gut. Rest when you need to, get around people you love when you need to, get out and run when you need to. Such strange thoughts coming from such a silly show but it has stuck with me. Case in point: the photo above is from a BBQ where we “Jon and Kate Plus 8″ were a very rabid discussion topic. Something about this situation and the demise of a once seemly happy marriage has touched a cord in people.

These last few weeks have left me exhausted but after a few days of sleep and poodle time (yes, I am the crazy dog lady) I feel revived and blessed at the fact I could stay in the city have lunch with an old friend, drinks with some new friends and a BBQ with a whole mess of lovely people. I am lucky. My career might be a bit of a melange of strange jobs and my IMDB profile isn’t what I want it to be but I have amazing friends, a happy healthy family, the best and most understanding boyfriend one could ask for and the cutest dog in the world.

Happy Summer! Happy Running!

Chicago Running!

I just got back from the most amazing weekend in Chicago! I have to say, I would live in Chicago if the weather were in the 60s/70s all year long. Sadly, that is not the case and I was just thrilled to see sun!

Reason for all of my trips to Chicago is the boyfriend and his business school had a Miami Vice themed party on a boat that I couldn’t pass up. These fun parties are a bit rough on the running the next day so I knew a Thursday party would mean a Sat or Sunday run.

Saturday was a bit of a bust because the Art Institute had opened up its new Modern Art Wing and I also wanted to enjoy a relaxing day with the boyfriend. Even with all my training I’m afraid when we really tries to “run” with me he is going to kick my booty unless we run over 8 miles… I brought my new Livestrong running shorts which I really have to say are just amazing to run in.

Sunday morning I hit the trail! On my way down to the Lakefront I realized that there had been a Half-Marathon that morning. I was a bit bummed that I hadn’t realized I would be in Chicago during a half…I think I may have ran it. There also was something called the Walk and Roll which was some kind of biking walking even that seemed very confusing… I kept passing both runners and walkers and I couldn’t figure out who was doing what… Someone at one point handed me water, which I was hesitant to take but they insisted and had a huge table of it so I grabbed some and headed south.

Running by the Aquarium and the Planetarium was AMAZING. I felt so hard-core running by the water with the waves and the seagulls. Once again, really wanted to move to a place with a beach. Run was slow but got in a solid 6.5 miles and felt amazing after. I can’t believe my training is going to be all over the map this summer. So far here is what my travel plans are (and where I’ll be running)

Chicago: June 12-16
Croatia: July 9-17
London: July 18-19
North Dakota: Aug 8-10
Alaska: Aug 11-17
North Dakota: Aug 18-20
Chicago: Aug 21-24
(then a mélange of US Open, best friend’s wedding (Sept 5th!) and mommy visit)
Nantucket: Sept 25-27
Marathon: October 11th

So excited to run Chicago in October. I’m looking for training tips now!!! This week I’m going to start keeping a journal here on the site of my weekly runs, travel and progress!!! Enjoy.

R Baby Mother’s Day 4m

What a beautiful day! I was so excited to run this race because my mom is in town and we haven’t gotten to run together since the PF Changs Half-Marathon back in January. My mom, new to NYRR races was super excited and amazed at the number of people that haul themselves into Central Park on the weekends to run these fun races.

I’m glad it was the nice fast 4m course. After weaving through some people to start out we got on a nice pace and between the breeze and showing my mom some “sights” along the course we really just trucked along pretty well.

I enjoyed being a tour guide and it actually made me much calmer runner today. Cat hill wasn’t as hard as it usually is for me and in general making sure my mom was having a good safe run kept me really on a nice steady pace.

Once we hit 2m I was so impressed with my mom. She is a consistent runner but isn’t used to pushing herself speed-wise and she was just seriously trucking along. Even when we hit the rolling hills on the west side of the park she didn’t skip a beat. Go Mommy! If I can be as fit as my mother at her age, well…I will be one happy camper. Well, scratch that, if I can be as fit as my mom right NOW I would be one happy camper!

Towards the end I was super happy to see my friend David (who did my first NYRR race with me last December!) cheering for me and my mom! I love having people at the finish line. The feeling of finishing a race is one of my favorite things now. My body is a little wanky since I took a little time off of running but next week starts my marathon training! I’m super excited that my next big race is Chicago! I’m now 7/9 of my races for New York 2010 and will be volunteering at Japan Day!

The only downside is that I think our crono chips didn’t work. I used these before and never had a problem but both my time and my mom’s time aren’t coming through. Argggg! Gotta figure out how to fix this!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Distance: 4.0 Miles, 6.4 Kilometers
Date/Time: May 10, 2009, 8:00 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
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