baby born with two heads? must be from Brooklyn.

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Grand Prix Half-Marathon Series: Brooklyn.

so last saturday i ran the second of five nyc half-marathons that will take place in each of the five boroughs this year.  because the race started at 7am (OMG!) and was in brooklyn (OMG AGAIN!), rina and i had to wake up absurdly early.

my alarm went off at 4:45 (but i didnt get out of bed til 5:10), which is considerably late seeing as though we were out the door by 5:30 to pick up two friends of rina's who were also running.  we got in a cab and picked up the guys.  after all of us were in the cab we tell the cab driver that we need to go to prospect park in brooklyn and he literally gave us a face that would basically translate into "are you shitting me?"  i was reminded of the scene in sex and the city when miranda gets in a cab to go to brooklyn and the driver says "brooklyn? i don't go to brooklyn."  her rationale then for why she shouldn't move there was because "even cabs don't go to brooklyn."  lucky for us, this cab took us to brooklyn.

we got to prospect park in record time thanks to our cab driver who was most likely trying to get us into the brooklyn spirit by making us feel as if we were on the cyclone.. OR he just wanted to get in and out of brooklyn as fast as possible.. that could be it too.

so yea, i had enough time to do all the pre-race things: drop off my bag at the UPS truck, take a potty break, warm-up jog, stretch, etc.  at the start line, i ran into vanessa and jackie from TFK.  i was excited to hear that they're running the marathon with TFK again this year because at least i know i'm not the only crazy one. yay for alumni!

we ran the first mile or so together and then we lost track of each other but it was definitely a great way to start the race.  i had a bit of a rough run.. i was anxious to get out of the park because of the hills but once we were out of the park and onto ocean parkway, the course is rather boring and the ground made my knees and ankles hurt pretty badly.

it felt great to actually see the boardwalk because the end felt sooooo close.  running on the boardwalk was weird because it was really uneven with everyone running on it (think trying to jump on a trampoline with a friend.. or a few hundred friends, for that matter).  but yea, either way, finishing on coney island was pretty cool because well, it's coney island.

the downside to finishing on coney island was once the four of us were ready to leave (post walking around and grabbing a post race beer for the men, riding the cyclone), we were on f*ckin coney island.. ugh.

took the Q (23 stops to 42nd.. i counted), and then all the other necessary trains to get home.  finally got homeee a little before 1 where i ate, slept, ate, and slept some more.  literally- i slept straight through til sunday.  ridiculous.

i had been worried about this half because i felt so incredibly crappy during the LI half this year.. i didn't feel great during this run but i most definitely felt a lot better than i had on may 3rd during the LI Half. I cut 9 minutes off my time from the LI Half which, isn't my best, but it isn't my worst either.

this next week before marathon training officially starts, i'm taking a break from any long distance running.  i've got my tuesday yoga class and i bought a 20 class card at a local gym so i figure i'll  just do some short runs, take my yoga class, and perhaps 1 or 2 classes at the gym.  with the intensity of the next 5 months, my body really needs to recover this week and take it easy.

oh and it's christmas timeeeee in the cityyyy.. and by christmas time, i mean fleet week. woohoo!

best. week. ever.

2 days. 2 causes. 15K.

So this past weekend was a pretty busy weekend fitness-wise. Saturday morning I ran the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park. Proceeds went to the National Kidney Foundation.. which is pretty cool because not only did I get to run a 10K race the week before the Brooklyn Half, but it was actually benefitting something other than just myself.

I felt alright during the run.. but not great.  It was a major improvement from how I felt during the LI Half though so I really shouldn't complain.  I honestly feel like those hills in Central Park continue to get steeper and steeper each time i set foot on them.  I must be doing something wrong because my sciatic nerve and hip flexor really only bother me when I'm running up an incline.  It's gotta be the way I'm moving my body or something.  Perhaps once marathon training starts, I'll have one of the coaches look at my form, especially when I'm running uphill, to see if it's the way I'm running that's creating the problem.

So while my time was not a PR for me on Saturday, I still feel pretty good about the run in general, especially since I had a negative split time.  I'm typically a little slower the last half of a race and this training season I really want to work on making sure that my last 13 miles are slightly faster than my first 13.  We shall seeeeee.  I'm actually quite excited about the training season starting back up again.  It's nice to feel like I had a group rooting for me the whole way (and by whole way, I mean for 5 months, not just the 26.2 miles that first Sunday in November).  I liked meeting up with everyone on Monday and Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings.  And i most definitely loved my marathon training body.  Seriously, I want it back.  Let's goooo.

So Sunday was the NSLIJ Every Woman Matters Walk at Jones Beach.  The money raised ($500,000! -that's $500,000 exclamation point, not $500,000 factorial.. that'd be ridiculous) went to the new Women's Center that the hospital is building.  It was a really nice day so I ended up with a little bit of a tan (no complaints here).  A 5K feels like such a small distance when you're running because it's like "oh, a 5K, that'll take a half hour."  Turns out, walking a 5K takes a lottttttt longer.  I found myself thinking "if i were running this, I'd be done by now."  but yea, pretty good all in all.. and a good recovery from saturday's 10k.

I stayed on LI pretty late as I didn't feel that I needed to get back into the city for anything.  I've got a lot going on this week and I'm feeling pretty stressed.  I definitely just sent Andy an e-mail that only read "I'm cranky >:o" in the subject line.  If i can just get through this week unscathed, I'll feel a whole lot better.

just breathe, ang, juuuust breathe.

a full year of running.

2010 Long Island Half-Marathon.  It's actually quite hard to believe that it was only one year ago that I ran my first ever race, the '09 LI Half-Marathon.  I've done so much running over the past year that it's really weird to think that it has literally ONLY BEEN A YEAR.  wow.

well, this run was most definitely not a great running anniversary for yours truly.  I've been on meds for strep throat for the past 10 days and had a hectic week and a half before getting sick in the first place.. aaaand have not run a single mile in more than two weeks.  After so many weeks off, ESPECIALLY after 10 days of being sick, one really needs to ease back into running, doing a few short recovery runs before going out for a long run.

note to self: a half-marathon is NOT a recovery run.

okay so yea, back to why this run was not the best.  actually, it was my first race all year where i literally thought "it's okay if i dont finish this."  ugh.  alright, here goes..

reasons the 2010 li half marathon was not fun:
1) 80 and humid (it was nuts.. people were passing out like crazy)
2) recovering from a long break from running due to busy schedules and damn strep throat
3) i rolled my ankle early in the race, VERY early in the race..
4) hip flexor started bothering me right after i rolled my ankle
5) only ONE water station up until mile 4 (RIDICULOUS!  water/gatorade should be at EVERY MILE!)
6) not enough water/gatorade for the rest of the race
7) were there always this many hills?  i swear, it felt uphill all the way until mile 10.

so yea, not really ideal conditions to be running a half-marathon.  at around mile 2 or 3, i started thinking that i wouldn't be able to finish.  i had never felt so crappy so early in any long distance race before.  it took so much mental strength to push myself to keep going.  i dropped my pace back about a minute and a half, keeping a very easy jog and walking at every water station.

with all things considered, i'm actually quite happy with my time.. and i'm very proud of the way i was able to push through the physical and mental pain i felt throughout the entire race.

not too shabby, Ms. B, not too shabby.

"your biggest challenge isnt someone else. it's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs and the voice inside you that yells 'cant!' ... but you dont listen. you just push harder. and then you hear the voice whisper 'can' ... and you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are."