"this water is more watery than water" and MVP of the manasquan reservoir run.

so i guess it's been a while.. and marathon sunday is quickly approaching.  i am happy to announce that i reached my fundraising goal of $2,620 (and even surpassed it!).  i'd like to thank everyone who donated and helped to secure me a spot in this years' NYC Marathon.  all the funds donated go directly to team for kids, an organization that provides low-income schools in nyc, ALL 50 states, and south africa with absolutely FREE running and nutritional programs.

i read somewhere the other week that there are now more obese people than overweight people in america.. and it all begins in childhood.  children now are more likely to have asthma and diabetes than any other generation and will be the FIRST generation to have a shorter lifespan than their parents.  the only way to stop this is to get our children active and eating healthily and team for kids provides children with the opportunity to do just that.  plus, the coaches and runners that work for team for kids are absolutely amazing people and i'm so blessed to be running my second nyc marathon with them.

so if you donated, i know you got a nice lil' thank you card in the mail from me but i'd like to thank you again publicly.. so thanks for the support!  i hope to see many of you out on the course come november 7th!

on october 2nd, i ran grete's great gallup half-marathon in central park.  it's a rough course (twice around the park.. in the BAD direction) but i had a pretty great run with meghan.  we kept a pretty steady pace the whole time and i was able to push my last mile.  andy was at the finish and that really helped me to feel supported.. which one definitely needs after two times around that damned central park loop.

so yea, all in all, grete's great gallup was a successful run.  i pulled a 2:19:51 which is a pace of 10:40.  i'm actually really happy with this as i only finished a few seconds faster when i ran the manhattan half in january.. and that was the easier direction to run this course.  i'm hoping come november 7th, i can run at roughly the same pace and hopefully beat my time from last year by a few minutes.  firstly, my goal is to finish the 26.2 still feeling good.

i didn't walk at all last year and i'll consider this marathon a success if i can do the same.  but secondly, i really doooooo want to knock a few minutes off my time.  last year i ran the whole thing myself and i think it'll do me good to really try and stay with jennie and meghan at the beginning as they've been a critical part of my training this year.

speaking of jennie and meghan,  yesterday the three of us along with hannah drove out to the manasquan reservoir in new jersey to join team for kids for a 20 mile training run.  i got to meghan's apartment for 6:15 where jennie and hannah picked us up and we headed on out.  we ended up getting to the reservoir before the bus of tfk'ers arrived so with the help of coach gail and coach vinny, we set out early to try and get at least one 5 mile loop complete before the rest of the team arrived.

starting early was KEY.  usually, we're one of the last team members to finish and it was nice to actually finish amongst the fast group.  it really helps ones mentality to pass someone in the A group, have them say something encouraging such as "looking good" or "keep it up, you're doing great" and actually be on the same loop as them.  it sucks when you get those comments and they're almost done and you've got like another hour or two of running ahead of you.  so yea, starting early was definitely a good idea.

so the manasquan reservoir, while it is absolutely beautiful and a medium-level course, it was one of my most challenging runs ever.  it's a bridal path all the way around so it was easier on our knees for 20 miles.. HOWEVER it is not so easy on ones knees when one falls at mile 4.  that's right, i wiped out at mile 4 of 20.

BUT DID I LET IT SLOW ME DOWN?  NOPE.  i literally got right back up, didn't miss a beat.  i ran the remaining 16 miles with a throbbing and bleeding knee.  at mile 5, coach frank sprayed it with some anti-bacterial stuff and i was on my way.  at the finish, i was cheered for finishing all 20 miles after my fall and it just made me feel so strong.. like i could push through all types of physical pain and discomfort.

forgetting my bloody knee for a moment, this was also one of my most mentally challenging runs.  the first loop i felt alright, the second loop i felt pretty crappy, and by the third loop i wanted to quit.  meghan and i decided to switch directions for our final loop so that we'd meet coach ryan for gatorade/water with only 2 miles remaining and help us out by turning all those crazy uphills into downhills for miles 15-20.

jennie finished only a few minutes behind us so we went up to the lodge to wash up and change into comfy sweats and slippers and such for the car ride home.  we sat in the sun to cheer hannah across the finish line and then headed on back to manhattan.  safe to say that i didn't move for the remainder of the day.  by the time we got back to the city, it was late afternoon.  by the time i showered and ate, it was pretty much time for bed.

i'm gonna head on back to the island tonight so that i can sleep in a little bit longer tomorrow before my second day of my brand new job. i've gotta test that reverse commute one of these days to see how long it's gonna take me to drive out and then drive back in after work. hopefully it's not too frustrating..

three more weeks, ladies and gentlemen, three more weeks.  are you ready, nyc?!