inspired.

my friend meghan is 6 miles away from her 2010 goal of running 1,000 miles.

a millennium of miles for this girl in 2011?  I THINK SO.

just to visualize, it's roughly 1000 miles from new york to kansas city.  yup, that distance.

bring it onnn.

think you're too old to run? check it out...

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something only a marathoner would understand...

 "Admit it. You can run 20 miles and later that day forget to mention it to other people you want to impress. But add 6.2 on top of it, and everyone starts to say you're crazy to attempt it, and when you're in the thick of those 10,000 meters of regret, you'll be inclined to agree."

Check out the full article at:
Peter Sagal's Road Scholar: The End at Runner's World

15K.. my new favorite "long" distance.

note: if u wave at the camera guy, he takes a pic.

I was definitely a little nervous about the 15K this past weekend as I haven't run anywhere near 9.3 miles since the marathon in november.  actually, the only time since the marathon that i've run more than 3 miles was on thanksgiving when i ran the 5M turkey trot.  i essentially walked the entire jingle jog so i wouldn't count that as a 4 mile run.  needless to say, i felt really unprepared.

but what're ya gonna do, right?  i had signed up, meghan was meeting me before the race, and i really needed to prove to myself that i can still run that distance and feel good doing it.

great thing about runs in central park is that i really don't have to leave until roughly 20 minutes before the start.  i met up with meghan by the pink corral sign at about 7:50 for the 8am start.  we stuck together the entire time, keeping a pretty steady 10:40/10:45 pace for the duration of the 9.3 miles.

when we had just passed mile 4, the two male leads came zipping around to the left of us.  it was really cool because we were able to see the winner cross the finish line and that's something that i actually never get to see in person.  of course, my next thought after "that was really cool" was "those guys did more than double what i've done in the same amount of time.  stupid jerkfaces."

all in all, we had a really great run.  it was awesome to run another race with meghan, who, by the way, is so close to meeting her new years resolution of running 1,000 miles in 2010! absolutely ridonkulous.  i love it.

stay tuned for more meghan and ang running stories because the manhattan half-marathon is quickly approaching.  first race of 2011!

jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell jog.

last Saturday was a pretty big day for the "runners" in my life.  it was kudz's first nyrr race and it was my mom's first race ever!  kudz and i woke up pretty early as we needed to get all the way down to prospect park in brooklyn by 8:30ish.  tis a good thing that friday night we stayed in, drank hot cocoa, and watched classic christmas chick flicks.  good idea by yours truly.

kudz!

seeing as though dave missed not one, but TWO trains, mama dukes came into the city by herself.  kudz and i met up with her at baggage, made sure we all had our jingle bells securely fastened to our sneakers, and got into the corrals.  kudz, antlers and all, stayed back with us until we crossed the start line and then she took off on her own.

i stayed with mama brocks for the entire four miles.  we did a lot of walking, taking in short bursts of jogging.  at about mile 1, we ran into coach Sid.  Sid is quite possibly the best person to run into during a race.  either him or his wife.  the two of them are like little running angels.  anywho, he spoke to my mom about how important it is not to worry about the other racers, how it's just you out there, how it's your race and no one elses, and how it all starts with a single step.  good looks, coach sid, good looks.

jingle jogging.

when we could hear the finish line, we started doing even shorter bursts of walking/jogging intervals.  walk 5 seconds, jog 5 seconds.  right before the finish line, i'm pretty sure it was the first time the whole morning my mother actually believed she was gonna do it.. and it was awesome.  we got our hot chocolate and then had to walk back up to the subway.. which was really, really far might i add.

finish line!

anywho, kudz and i came back uptown and mama dukes went back to the island.

next year: mama brocks jogs the whole thing.  watch out.

Turkey Trotting 2010.

Okay so I'm a little late with the Turkey Trot post... forgive me.  Anywho, i spent Wednesday night at the parentals casa on Long Island so that I could sleep in a bit Thursday morning before the race.  The great thing about the GC Turkey Trot is that it starts at 10am, it's literally 5 minutes away, and there is absolutely zero organization.  Last year, I was talking to my mom on the side, realized that people were running and went "oh gotta go" and jumped right in.  So yea, good looks garden city, good looks.

This year, Sunim spent Thanksgiving with us so we picked her up at the train at 9:30.. and then obviously sat in the car until closer to race time because I was cold.  surprise surprise. Another nice thing about the gc turkey trot is that it doubles back so sunim and my parents were able to stay in one general area and see me three times: at the start, at about mile 3.5, and again right before the finish.

pre-turkey trot.  

 it's always good to run 5 miles before eating ridiculous amounts of food.  for some reason, these 5 miles are actually more difficult for me than running the marathon.  sounds silly but it's true.. and i guess it's mainly because i know that i'm only running 5 miles so i push myself harder to run faster.  it's also a heck of a lot colder than the first sunday in november.  that could also be a factor.

regardless, turkey trotting was a success.  speaking of thanksgiving successes... my cousin dave ran his first race ever, a 5k, on thanksgiving morning!  i'm so excited that he's started running.  since thanksgiving, he's run another 5k, took a minute and a half off his time, and is running the 4M jingle jog next weekend with me in brooklyn!  needless to say, i'm super excited.. and very proud :-)

alright i'll be back after the jingle has been jogged.  gonna be a good week.