healthy kidney 10k becomes 10miles.

U of M visor makes its race debut

so last weekend, in preparation for tomorrow's brooklyn half-marathon, meg and i wanted to get in a 10 mile run.  with the healthy kidney 10k, we needed to tack on another 3.8 miles.  so yea, by 7:10 am, meg and i were running around central park trying to get in a few miles before the race.

it was extremely humid and my allergies were KILLING me.  seriously, worst allergy season ever.  everyday, no matter what drops i put in my eyes or what allergy relief pill i take, i want to scratch my eyeballs right out of their socket and buy stock in kleenex.  absolutely ridiculous.  anywho, my allergies really did a number on my breathing and i just never felt good at all during the run. 

finish line.

after our "warm-up" before the 10k, meg and i met up with lisa and elise.  we all started together and we all finished separately.  everyone was just on completely different wavelengths that day.  i lost everyone around mile 1.5 when i got the worst cramp/side stitch right under my left boob.  seriously, i didn't even think it was a cramp... who gets cramps that far up on their chest?  apparently i do.

anywho, i had to slow it down significantly.  this cramp kept at me until mile 4.5ish when i was able to pick it up a bit. regardless of that cramp that slowed me down, i still finished with an average pace/mile of 10:48.  not bad at all.  take that you stupid boob cramp!

and please, stupid boob cramp, stay away tomorrow.  i'd like to make it through 13.1 without any significant annoyances.

5am wakeup in the morning. AWESOME.

she said it was my choice, so obviously i didnt have one: scotland 10k.

usually i struggle waking up for a race.. well, every race besides the 15k that began at 11:15.. that was awesome.  anywho, for 99.99% of the races i've run, it's been a pain to get out of bed when my alarm goes off.  i usually end up snoozing until the last possible second i'd have to get out of bed in order to walk out the door fully clothed and get to the start line on time.

it was refreshing that when the alarm went off before the scotland 10k, i actually felt awake.  i didn't feel like i was rushing around trying to get stuff ready (probably because i was a good girl the night before and gathered all my race gear together and put it in a nice neat little pile for myself). so yea, we got out the door and into a cab with the perfect amount of time to get down to 67th street and meet the ladies before the start.

when we got to the park, we ran into dena right at the entrance.  she was cute in her kilt as she practiced running with it on the sidewalk.  so many people were wearing kilts or plaid skirts! it made me wish i had thought to wear my little red plaid skirt over my running pants.  ahh well.  definitely nice to run (ha!) into her.  we ended up running near her and some of her running friends for a little bit of the race.  good looks.

it took us a while to get to the spot where meg and lisa were waiting.  he-who-must-not-be-named (yes, i am poking fun) couldn't believe how many people were actually up at this hour.  i reminded him that for the nyc half, i was already standing on 5th avenue with seth at 6:30am.  seriously, people who run never get to sleep late.  i'm pretty sure the brooklyn half starts at 7:30 in the morning.. which means i will be sleeping at allison's so i don't have to wake up at 4am just to get to prospect park for that absurdly early hour on a saturday.

once the race started, it took wayyyy too long for us to cross the start line.  typically, it'll take me around 5 minutes to get to the start.  sunday?  13 minutes.  that's right, it took 13 minutes from when the first runners began to when we actually got to the start.  absolutely absurd (but not as absurd as the nyc marathon... first runners out at 9:40.. me? 10:45 if i'm lucky.)

it was uber crowded so we did lots of lateral movement in and out of people. so much unnecessary running.  major boo.

i was just not feeling well on sunday at all.  i felt like i couldn't get into a rhythm, which was super disappointing because it was one of the few races in which we run around the park clockwise, which is my preferred direction.   no one ever agrees with me that clockwise is the easier direction and im beginning to think that something is wrong with me. why does everyone else feel that this direction is more difficult than running counter-clockwise? aaanyways, it didn't matter much on sunday because i felt awful even during the flats and downhills.  around mile 2, when we encountered the long uphill on the north west side of the park, i literally wanted to stop.  it took so much to not only keep my pace up, but to just keep myself going in general.  it was like heaven to reach the top and know that i now had the downhill of the harlem hills.

reason #1 why clockwise is better than counter-clockwise: downhill harlem hills.  DOWNHILL HARLEM HILLS, PEOPLE!

right before mile 4, he-who-must-not-be-named said he wanted to "stretch his legs" and see how fast he could finish this thing.  he went off and i stayed with meghan almost til the end when i got a surge of energy (essentially because i felt so crappy that all i wanted to do was finish).


reason #2 why clockwise is better than counter-clockwise: downhill cat hill.  DOWNHILL CAT HILL, PEOPLE!

rounding the bottom of the park to get to the finish line, i picked it up, excited to finish and excited to see the 'rents.  i saw my mom cheering right at the finish line, assuming my father was somewhere around with mr big.  big loves central park, mainly because it's a giant playground for dogs, so whenever my parents come out to a race, mom ends up cheering, and dad ends up elsewhere with the pup.

i finished in 1:01:52, 3 minutes after he-who-must-not-be-named, with a 9:58 overall pace.  i'm pretty happy with that.  it's not my best, but it also isn't my worst.

so yea, we met up right after the finish, got our scottish water, and headed to meet my parents and mr big. we waited for quite some time in the parking garage as it seems that half of the 10,000 people who ran the race parked in this exact garage.  how lovely.

good looks though when we got back uptown: i showered and mama brocks went to get us all bagels and fruit.

sweet deal.

next up? Japan Run - May 8.

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.

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)