Let It Be

In what feels like another lifetime, but was really just a year and a half ago, I was driving to Hinson Lake 24 Hour. I had a few CDs I had with me, and one of them was a Beatles anthology. Suddenly, when "Let It Be" came on, I began to bawl. Bawl out of control. When the song ended, I hit the back button. And again. I listened to it on repeat for the rest of the drive.

I got to the race and felt shattered, and sat in my car before moving. What was I doing with my life? How could I go on, completely overcome with misery and sadness? How could I spend my days feeling awful and put down and undervalued? How could I do this?

Running loops with K, I confided in her that something was really wrong, very off. She told me that had happened to her too, but then "she divorced him." (Gotta love her sense of humor!) I thought about what I needed to do, really knew what that was...and wondered if I had the courage to do that, or how I was going to do that.

I ran some of the race, but my heart was not in it.

And two months later, I did what I needed to do: gave notice to a job that was no longer serving me, and plunged into the trip of a lifetime, four months in India.

And when this song came on Google Play again today, of course I had a flashback, and feel so happy with where I am today.

Yoga Journal Conference

The Yoga Journal Live Conference in NYC was pretty amazing. It was wonderful to be surrounded by other yogis. While some of the workshops were misses, most were amazing. The students were primarily yoga teachers, though not all. The teachers were phenomenal. I am so inspired to carry my teaching to further levels.

An Indian Comes to NYC....and Runs the Brooklyn Half with Me and Our Own Unofficial Full

I met Ash last year when I went to India, and he immediately became my best friend in India. So when I invited him to our wedding, of course I was excited when he bought his tickets (and then immediately began planning where we could go running and where to go eat...Ash is like me, running and eating are his favorite things (though maybe I like eating a little more?)).

After he arrived on Friday, we took him to Anella for dinner. We ate dinner in the garden and even though it was 90F, he thought it was cooler, compared to Chennai, which has been having a heat wave with temperatures near 110 F. Ugh. Living in a place with tons of alcohol restrictions, he requested someplace with beer. He was happy.

We ran the Brooklyn Half. I've been feeling pretty out of shape, but still somehow managed to crank out a 1:37. Not bad considering the effort didn't tax me too much.

The Brooklyn Half is a lot of waiting, but it's actually a lot of fun. My running club had over 400 people in it so it was a lot of waving and chatting and having fun. And then Ash needed to have a Nathan's hot dogs, so there were some lines for that, then lines for the subway, blah blah blah. Still, it was a fun day and felt nice to be back.

The next day, we got up early. Luckily Ash was super jet lagged and I'm used to getting up stupid early, so we were fine. We ran down to Dumbo, me pointing out every little thing on the way. Then we got on the Brooklyn Bridge. We chatted until in the middle I began panicking....w my fear of the Brooklyn Bridge. Ash thought I was joking when I forced him to stop taking photos and grab my hand. We ran across the bridge hand-in-hand until the cement part, and then I sent him back to take photos (and try to regain my dignity).

Ash said it best: "you run over mountains, yet you're afraid of a bridge?!" oh shush.

We ran around the bottom of Manhattan, stopping in one of the worst port-a-potties ever (Hey, I was hydrated!) and then up along the Hudson. On 59th Street, we ran east until we hit the park, and then did a loop of Central Park. We ran into ultra runner Andy Jones Wilkens. Ash was in heaven, and then we ran back home via the 59th Street Bridge. Ash's assessment of the bridge: "It looks beautiful from afar, but not when you're on it."

We were at just about a marathon, and we ate Ash's first NYC bagel with cream cheese. Felt like it was def a NYC ultrarunning weekend.

Shape Women's Half in Central Park

I thought I needed something faster so I signed up for the Shape Half Marathon in Central Park, put on by NYRR. However, I'm an idiot and signed up for the Sybil Luddington 50k. Oh well.

This was def a training run. My legs were tired from the 50k, so I could barely push. I had a goal of sub 2 hours, and I did make it. But my legs were dead, heavy, lead, tired. Ugh.

I happened to see Karen in my corral - she was not at her peak, and we ended up running almost the entire thing together. I picked it up the last mile, and oops, lost her a bit. But it was fun and we met at the finish line after.

This race was a women's only race, looping Central Park. So there are the hills we know so well, which aren't really that awful. But the signs....the idea that you now deserve brunch with a mimosa because you ran a half. It left me with a yucky feeling. Karen was like, "I'm gonna have brunch and a mimosa whether I run or not." It was very pink...and pink is my fave color.

Still, for $75 we got a medal and a sub to Shape mag. Ah well. And an experience of running a half marathon with lots of other women.

The time limit is higher than other races....which means you get a lot more walkers, which is great and I love the energy...but it makes for late race passing quite difficult.

I biked home, ate more food, taught yoga, and ate. I WAS BACK RUNNING - and oh so glad!

Quick Race Report: Sybil Luddington 50k!

I can't believe I have never run the Sybil Luddington 50k. It's runnable yet with some good hills (great opportunity for a nice break), scenic road route, most roads didn't have too many cars, the aid stations aren't overwhelming but have the necessities (water, gatorade, gingersnaps, pretzels, once for Esther, a beer!).

The story is, a teenage girl rode her horse to warn the Americans the British were coming....rode it 50k around a lake. "Paul Revere got more attention," a runner told me, "just because he was a man." No doubt.

This course was great training for Vermont 100. The hills were frequent, it was only 50k (so kickstart me back into ultra training) so that was good for me. 

I ran the entire race with Esther. We ran at a pretty chill place (walking when we wanted, though at times it felt tough), but I still was aware that I have a bit more work to do on getting into shape.

The weather was hotter than expected, and my stomach got sloshy super early so I couldn't drink as much water as I wanted. I backed off gels too and ended up not eating as much. While this is a great weight loss strategy in the non-running world, this meant I had less energy and couldn't run quite as good.

We finished under 6 hours, so we were pretty happy. I can't even recall what time, but oh well. After, a long wait for a friend to finish, a long drive, and then, some wonderful Mexican food with the one I love. It was a great day!