NYRR Long training run

With my marathon training program, I've been going out on some longer runs, 12 miles, 14 miles, 13 miles, But today was the first NYRR Marathon LONG training run, 20 miles!!  I've never run that long.  It's a bit daunting.  I got up early and made my way to Central Park.  Since is was a training run, we broke into pace groups.  I'm still pretty new to all this, so I don't know exactly what my goal marathon pace is.  I showed up and the fastest pace was 7 min/mile and went up every thirty seconds.  I didn't know which group to join. On my own I run anywhere from 6-9 minutes, usually pretty inconstantly. I didn't want to push too hard and hurt myself.  I wanted to be able to complete the 20 miles, but I wanted to challenge myself as well.  I ended up going with the 8 min/mile group.  It was a good choice. I was challenged but able to keep up and finished strong.  The next day I was sore, but just my muscles, not my knees, which was awesome!  Marathon here I come....


Time: 7 am
Distance: 20 miles
Time: 2:40:55
Music: shuffle

Run 75

I had a lot on my mind tonight.  I needed to get away and clear my head.  I was having trouble making decisions and being productive.  I had to force myself to get out there and run, but doing so was great for me.  First of all, it was doing some thing productive.  Second of all, I let my head clear.  I tried to ignore all the decisions I was trying to make and didn't really think about the run or NYC either.   I did randomly pick Kellie Pickler to listen to as a ran.  Random or not it was exactly what I needed.  Lyrics keep coming up that where very relevant to my life.  "I don't give up easy, I got many miles to go, But I can't wait to get to, what I see down this road" 

Music is amazing and such a big part of my life.  I'll share two of the songs that came on while I ran.

Other random lyrics (totally out of context) from songs on that run:
"I'm proud of you for never giving up"
"I try to count my blessings, It's a long long list, for a girl who has so much, there's so much I miss"
"I need to drown out this whole world, turn on the radio and dance" 
"I'm through that pity party stage, the healing finally come of age, no more feeling sorry for me days" 
"Gotta keep moving, nothing's gonna slow me down"
"Some times the nights seems so long when you are lying there alone" 
"Some body come and wake me up"
"I'll be alright" 


Time: 9:30 pm
Distance: 5.19 miles
Time: 41:46 minutes
Music: Kellie Pickler

Run 74

 I was trying too hard to come up with some thing exciting to write about.  I just ended up with a jumbled mess of thoughts and nothing to tell you.  I started the run going through a section of car dealerships.  I'm from the west, where car dealerships are on a car lot.  But since we are in NYC car dealerships are in high-rises. It's weird to look up to the second floor window and see cars for sale.  I then started wondering what the largest apartment building in NYC was and how many people lived in it. I found this article for you (click for article).  The article is already out of date, but still interesting.  The building in the article is 76 stories high.  The first 5 floors are a public school and the rest houses 903 apartments.  If we guess there's an average of 2 people per apartment, 1800 residents and 600 students, it's bigger than some of the small towns we grew up in.  
I continued to run.  I thought about increasing my pace each mile (which I did).  I thought about share more lyrics with you or NYC late at night or many other random thoughts. I won't bore you with them all...    


Time: Midnight
Distance: 7.01 Miles
Time: 54:33 minutes
Music: Jewel

Run 73

I thought I started my run out well, Celine was belting Taking Chances at me, I was greeted by a Dr Pepper truck (which I love).  I was enjoying the sights. My route was pretty straight forward, but then I got to mile 1 and the voice from my gps told me I ran the first mile in over 9 minutes. My usual pace is in the 7-8 minute range, so I picked it up, each minute my average pace came down.  Quick easy run, not much to report.


Time: 1:30 pm
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 42:57 minutes
Music: Celine Dion

Run 72 Remotivated

According to my marathon training schedule, I was supposed to run both Monday and Tuesday, but I couldn't get motivated to head out and hit the street.  I must have slept funny Sunday night and my hip hurt most of Monday and Tuesday, I don't think it was running related.  Wednesday rolled around and my hip was just fine, but I was lacking motivation.  I sort of forced myself to get out there.  I wanted to do a quick and easy run near my house to save time.  I ended up running Riverside Park.  The interesting fact about this run is that, when I ran this same route back in August of last year, the idea and concept for this blog was born.  I have not run it since, or "officially" for the blog.  It truly is a fabulous run and doing it re-motivated me.  I was excited to be running.  I know 2 days off isn't that big of a deal, but I was in a bit of a slump and this route fixed that.   This route combines everything I love about this adventure and life.  On your right side you see NYC, buildings, traffic, taxis, people, skyscrapers, etc.  On you left side you see the river, reflections, piers, boats, etc.  I have always been drawn to water, growing up on Lake Powell, living in SF, Seattle and Hawaii on the ocean.  Seeing a body of water, grounds me.  The path you are on is through a park, where you see, trees, cafes, dogs, squirrels, recreation.  What a great run.  

Time: Midnight

Distance: 6.02 Miles

Time: 44:43 minutes

Music: Jewel

Run 71

Another long run under my belt.  This morning I went out on another long run with Front Runners.  We started on 42nd street, headed to the Hudson River ran down the west side of Manhattan, all the way to the tip, back up the east side, up to Central Park and back home.  It was a successful long run for me.  My goal was to have my fastest pace at the end, my last 3 miles were the fasted, so I accomplished my goal.  After the race, my body felt good.  My knee didn't hurt, everything seemed to be in working order.  


Time: 9 am
Distance: 14 miles
Time: 1:58:11
Music: Shuffle

Central Park Conservancy Run July 14, 2012

Today I got up early and  ran a 4 mile race in Central Park.  I've been doing well lately, so I set a goal to try and beat my current NYRR race pace of 6:41/mile.  The race started and my attention kept being pulled by watching people run, different styles, weird postures, loud steps, heavy breath.  I guess I was, luckily,  just born with good technique, because everything seems to be in line and smooth, unlike others I was watching.  I psych me out for a bit, so I tried to ignore everyone else.  I ran fast the first two miles, according to Nike+ I was at a 6:30/mile pace.  But then, for no real reason I really struggled throughout mile 3.  I finished fairly strong.  At the end Nike+ said I had run a 6:39/mile pace, but for some reason I knew I needed to wait for the official results to get excited.  Unfortunately, the official results were 6:45/mile pace.  oh, well..  Next time!!     

Run 70

Today's goal was speed.  As part of my marathon training program I have different types of work outs, long runs for distance, hill runs for endurance, easy runs, runs at target pace, etc.  Today I did a 6 mile speed run.  So the goal was just to run fast.  To be honest I was concentrating pretty hard on running fast, so I didn't notice that much about my route or anything else.  I guess the only things I noticed and can share with you were my obstacles.  Running in the streets of NYC is not always the easiest route, especially durning rush hour.  I almost tripped on a pot hole.  I had to stop for red lights.  I was passing traffic, and sharing the bus lane. I was zig-zagging through people. Running around pedi-cabs.  Stopped once for an ambulance. One of my biggest pet peeves, is a group of people walking side by side, taking up the entire sidewalk.  My keys jingle in my pocket as a run, so that usually warns people someone is behind them.  But some times my pace startles people.  I pass them from behind and they get scared, like I'm about to mug them.  Or I almost collide with oblivious people, with tunnel vision.  It's sort of like this:   

Time: 4pm

Distance: 6.01 miles

Time: 43:49 minutes (7'17"/mile pace)

Muisc: Darren Hayes

Run 69

I wouldn't usually go out on a run, after the 7 mile workout I had yesterday, but according to my marathon training schedule I'm supposed to run 3 miles today.  So I ran close to home and did a quick and easy three miles up 9th and back down 8th avenues.  It still amazes me how compact NYC is.  Just in that short run I saw multiple areas of NYC.  I started in Hell's Kitchen, through Clinton, ran to Lincoln Center, over to the Natural History Museum and Central Park, Down to Columbus Circle and back to Times Square.  I passed 4 subway stops.  How does all of that fit into 1.5 miles? 


Time: Midnight
Distance: 3.69 miles
Time: 29:21 Minutes
Music: Jewel 

Run 68 Scary Run

Imagine the opening scene to any NYC horror film, or any episode of CSI or Law and Order, combine them all and you get the far west end of 155th street, where I started my run tonight.  All with in one block, there was a cemetery, an empty NYC street, railroad tracks, a bridge, a tunnel, a street that dead ends at a large garage door, graffiti, voices in the distance, stray animals, cars doing u-turns, a view of the river, all set perfectly to an Alanis Morissette soundtrack.  Contrary to common belief, NYC is mostly a safe place to be.  I am rarely intimidated to go anywhere at any time, but I'll have to admit that this scene spooked me out a little.  I had planned on getting to the beginning of my route and stretching out.  I ended up stretching as little and quickly as possible and then jetted out of there.  After this one block, I was back in civilization, there were people around, playing dominos on their porch, a.k.a. a NYC sidewalk.  Once I saw my first fire hydrant sprinkler, a smile was back on my face and the creepy begin was almost forgotten.  I did run by an old boarded up abandoned building that reminded me of my starting point.  I also got startled once by my own shadow, but for the most part the rest of the run was lined with pink flamingos.

Time: Midnight
Distance: 7.01 miles
Time: 1:01:14
Music: Alanis Morissette

Run 67 Marathon Fundraising

It's official, I started my marathon training program today.  It all started with a 12 mile long run.  The program has me running 6 days a week.  That is a lot more than I'm used to.  Hopefully I can keep up.  We ran from 125 street, through central park, over the Queensboro bridge, back over the bridge (which was the hardest part for me), up 1st Ave, back to 125th street.  It was a good run.  
On the business side of the marathon, I have finally committed to a charity and started to raise money.  I'm excited to get my fundraising going so I can concentrate on the running.  Here's the link to my webpage. Check it out,  make a small donation if you can.  I'd greatly appreciate it.  


 http://afamarathon.dojiggy.com/brianrunsnyc


Time: 9am
Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
Music: none

Run 66

I had planned today to be a very productive day, but some how the entire day slipped away from me.  I had been lazy all day, and come 8 pm I was now upset that I had wasted so much time.  I decided if nothing else, at least I can get a run in.  Once I got moving I was able to catch the end of the sunset and listened to my favorite musical as a ran.  Rather quickly my attitude had been adjusted and I was no longer feeling down.  Exercise, seeing NYC, and good music may not add up to the productive day I had hoped for, but at least I was able to end it on a good note. 
My GPS hasn't been working the past few times I've been out, but after tonight's run, I called tech support and got it fixed.  The majority of Manhattan is relatively flat.  Today's run was the opposite, I was running up and down the same steep hill.  
Saturday Night in Harlem is like a huge block party.  Usually at this time I'm working or at a Broadway show.  It was fun to see things from a different angle.  Like I mentioned before, people had their lawn chairs out on the sidewalk and were chatting the night away.  Some had food and snacks for the entire group.  I ran past a baseball game in the streets, just like my family plays wiffle ball in the yard.  I ran right through a sidewalk basketball game.  And as you know from the previous post, I smiled and chuckled each time I ran past another active fire hydrant.  At 9 pm the kids were still splashing around.


Time: 9 pm
Distance: 4.58 miles
Time: 39:52
Music: Passion

Run 65 Fire Hydrants

I'm back to running at night so that the temperature is bearable.  It's amazing the sights I see along my routes, tonight was no exception.  I saw stray cats, rats peaking out of sidewalk grates, a motel with Christmas reindeer lit up, new buildings, old buildings, abandoned buildings, families, friends hanging out, hoodlums, delis, Laundromats, a glimpse of Yankee stadium, restaurants, churches, parks, gardens, empty lots and piles of smell trash (thanks summer heat).  The variety of sites is endless.  But my newest favorite site are fire hydrants that have been tapped into, to relieve some of the summer heat.  Tonight I ran past at least 4 of them.  Every time I see one I can't help but chuckle, for some unexplained reason I can't help thinking about the clown fountain I played with as a child in the back yard.  The rigged fire hydrants are pretty much the same thing, just the NYC style. 

Time: Midnight
Distance: 5.48 miles
Time: 44:54
Music: Adele

Queens 10K July 1, 2012

It's July, It's hot.  Remember when all I could do is complain about how cold it was, well, now all I will be able to talk about is how HOT it is.  I'm from Arizona originally and spent years in Hawaii.  So most of my life has been in warm (HOT) climates. But this humidity thing, just kills you.  Today I ran a 10K in Queens.  Before the race we were giving a heat advisory!  I was not looking forward to this race.   Still worried about my toe and knee, a tad under the weather and of course the HEAT, I was not planning on doing well.  I just wanted to get it done and over with.  I just bought a new knee brace and wore it for the first time.  It was also the first "official" race where I listened to my own music.  The race was early, so it was only 84 degrees out, not too bad.  I started the race and felt pretty good.  After the first mile I was still feeling good, actually better than good.  My knee wasn't hurting, my nerves were calm, breath in control.  I decided that this might be a good race after all.  I turned on the turbo boosters and decided to run.  I still had some weak moments, there were a few times I wanted to stop or slow down, not for any good reason.  Nothing was hurting, just pure laziness was whispering in my ear, "you could walk if you wanted, it would be easier" but since I'm stubborn as an ox, I was able to keep running. I ended up finishing in 44 minutes and 38 seconds, which was a pace of 7:12 minute miles, not to shabby.  Overall I was 296th out of 5,442 people.  Marathon... here I come! 

Time: 8 am

Distance: 6.2 miles 10K

Time: 44:38 minutes

Music: Kaleidoscope songs