christmas in the square.

so i went for my first run in the snow (well, leftover snow) this morning. it wasn't too cold and i wore my new winter running stuff so i was all set and comfy. i did an easy 4.5 miles up tulip and around by aunt lid and then back down to the square. its been a few months since i did a run out on long island and i found myself really taking in the surroundings. people have all their christmas decorations out, everything was covered in snow and the sun was making it all shiny and sparkly.

as pretty as the scenery was, i fluttered between being all "christmas is amazing, everything is so beautiful, lalala" and "stupid pirate hookers, why didnt you shovel the sidewalk?" seriously, you live on long island, you have a house, a yard, and a sidewalk. SHOVEL. i actually laughed out loud when i realized that within a span of 10 seconds i thought both "i love christmas" and "douche bags" as i had to climb over a mound of snow to run in the street because SOMEONE didn't shovel their sidewalk. pshhh.

alright.. time to shower and get ready for tonight's festivities. it's baby's first christmas :-)

merry christmas (eve) all.

a winter of running..

so it's officially winter.. and not only because it's the 21st but also because it's frickin freezing and it snowed all weekend.. yuck. i was supposed to run 7 miles this weekend and i just COULD NOT bring myself to run outside in the 20mph below-zero winds. however, i wouldn't have been able to justify not running the 7 miles at all as it would be the longest i've run since the marathon and i do have to run a half-marathon in a month. so yea, i ran 7 miles on a treadmill at the gym. talk about one of the most boring 70+ minutes of my life.

i bought a bunch of winter running gear from runner's edge last week. i've got the gloves, the jacket, the headband that will cover my ears, etc. i'm just not so thrilled about having to run in the cold. i mean, i hate being cold to begin with, and when the winds are whipping around the nyc buildings and into my face, i'm damn near the crankiest person on the planet. this should be an interesting few months..

seriously, i hate snow. snow is officially 'on notice' - especially because it played a part in my delayed return to the island this weekend. originally, i wanted to go home friday. then when i got back to the apartment, i decided that i'd have to do a lot of rushing to be ready to get on a train.. so i decided i'd go home saturday. thennn on saturday, i wasn't able to get myself on an early train and i wanted to be around to see andy so i ended up not getting on a train at all. thennnnnn yesterday i was unable to wake up to get on the early train with joe.. and the entire day there were delays up to 2 hours on all inbound/outbound trains. so yea, OFFICIALLY getting myself on a 3:27 train today and will be island'ed until further notice.

one downside of the island: no gym. gonna be doing lots 'o running and all of it outside. pray for warmer weather (and by warmer, i mean roughly 35.. ugh), no wind, and absolutely NO SNOW.

ughh. perhaps i should start "wintering" in sicily. .

girls on the run 5k.

so this morning, i participated in the girls on the run 5k as a running buddy. sunim told me about it a few months ago and sent me a link to all sorts of information about the organization and whatnot. the goal of the program is to encourage positive emotional, physical, social, and mental development in young girls, striving to build self-esteem through the training for a 3.1 mile run.

the experience itself was incredible. when i showed up this morning, i had to stand around outside for what felt like eternity as it was FREEZING outside; however, i had to keep my complaints to myself once i was assigned a third grader from a downtown manhattan public school.. i wouldn't be able to defend complaining that i'm cold to an 8 year old who was about to run 3.1 miles.

once we started running it didn't feel as chilly. the sun was out and it made for a really nice run along the east river. my third grader wanted to quit about a quarter mile in. she was like "this is so far, i can't do it. can't we take a shortcut?" she reminded me of myself at 8 years old. i remember trying to be absent or fake a sprained ankle on the day we had to run the mile in gym class.

i tried to keep her mind busy so that she'd forget what she was doing. we talked about how cute joe jonas is (i had to google image him when i got home.. i didn't remember which one he was), disney shows like hannah montana, hot chocolate, macaroni and cheese, bubble baths, how awesome it would be if joe jonas was a vampire like edward cullen.

anywho, my distracting worked because pretty soon we were at mile 2! she got so excited that my heart almost burst. with about a half mile remaining, her mom and grandmother were on the side with a big sign for her. they cheered and took pictures as we ran past and i could tell that it was just the pick-me-up she needed for the last short stretch to the finish line.

right as we turned the corner back onto 90th and saw the finish line balloons, i reminded her that not too long ago she told me that she "couldn't do it" but here she was.. her response was to throw her arms up in the air and scream "but i did it! i did it!" she was so proud of herself that i could have cried.

i waited for her mom and grandma to get to the finish line, got my lil running buddy package, and headed back on home to the west side. what an amazing run :-)

"ya know, i dont even like long distance running." -my third grade running partner, mile 1.

recipe for running faster.

that's right ladies and gents, i have found the key to running faster.. here it is: go out the night before a run, drink even though you promised yourself that you wouldn't, barely get any sleep, feel like crap. there you have it lovies, the secret to a faster race time!

"but ang, this seems so bizarre, wouldn't this be the opposite of what you want to do the night before a race?," you ask.

and i say to you, oh curious wonderer, that yes, one would think otherwise.. but it turns out if you feel pretty crappy (not so crappy that you're puking on the side of the road.. but just crappy enough that all you can think of while running is that the faster you run, the faster it'll be over and you can pass right back out), you'll actually have a pretty decent run.

so yea, as i'm sure you've guessed.. i did end up drinking saturday night. i brought sunim with me for many a reasons, one being that i needed to make sure that i did not drink and came home early. sunim failed on these two levels.. however, i cannot blame her as i am pretty hilarious and quite entertaining when i've been drinking.. and mary wall was there and reminded me of a certain nickname from back in the 'ol bc days.. and i couldn't disappoint.

so anywho, it's not entirely all my fault as tomas bought me a "surprise" drink that ended up being a long island.. and jessica had me consume her shot as well as mine for andy's bday shot at midnight.. and so on. so yea, i take no responsibility.

oh and when we did actually leave, tomas was in our building standing by himself eating pizza. hilarious.. and oh so very indicative of who tomas is as a person. love it.

annnnyways, i did end up waking up and getting myself to the race on time. it was rather chilly waiting around for the start but i knew that once i started running that i'd most likely be too warm. as expected, i warmed up rather quickly but my fingers were definitely cold. i asked for winter running gear for christmas cuz i most definitely will not get away with what i was wearing come january 24th.

i felt pretty decent up until about mile 2-3. By mile 4, i wanted to stop; however, all i could think was if i didn't stop and didn't walk, i'd be done quicker. apparently that thinking worked cuz i ended pulling a 9:48 pace with a finishing time of 1:00:47. not too shabby, not too shabby at all.

now that that's over i guess i'm officially "training" for the january 24th half marathon.. with this it's not so much training to run the distance.. more like training myself to run in the cold weather. yuckers.

girls on the run this saturday. should be fun.

10K-ing in la mattina.

so the Joe Kleinerman 10K is in the morning. i haven't really run at all this week. actually, i haven't run since last sunday. all i've done this week is get some cross-training in. either way, i feel pretty good about it. it's just one loop of central park so it won't be so bad. the only thing that sucks is that it's SO early in the morning.. and i'm planning on going out tonight. i'll try to stick to diet cokes and get in bed decently early.. so yea, we'll see. i'm guessing that i prob won't be in the mood to stay out all that late anyway so it should all work out.

anywho i went over to nyrr on the east side today to pick up my race bib and tshirt and whatnot.. i LOVE getting the free shirts. seriously, i would continue to run races all over this country for a free shirt. tomorrows race shirt is pretty sweet too.. long sleeve, navy blue, nice design. mi piace, mi piace molto :-)

after picking up my stuff i went over to the gym to get a good stretch, sit on a bike and move my muscles a bit, try and clear my head. successes: stretch, moving muscles. failure: clearing my head.

ran into hil at the gym (well, ran is the wrong word as i was sitting on a bike..). i swear i see that man more at the gym than i do everyday at work hah. while i was getting ready to leave, i ran (okay, walked..) into tfk coach neil. i had never seen him at the gym before but it turns out he got his masters from TC so he still uses the gym there. we chatted a bit and i told him i was running the 10k tomorrow so he wished me luck and all that. it's actually kinda weird running a race unattached to the team. i'm really starting to miss it..

i'll update with my finishing time tomorrow afternoon (thank you nyrr for posting race results so darn quickly).

wish me luck (for tonight AND tomorrow ha)