Brooklyn Half: No Cheesecake Please

I love the Brooklyn Half. 

So even though my doctor hadn't approved me running, I'm a moron and decided to run it anyway. I was pretty excited and it felt amazing to be running.

I started off with a bunch of my friends in one of the early corrals. I ended up running by James (BRC50k alum) and Kike (another BRC50k alum!) and chatted with them. I was supposed to start at, per Ray's instructions, at 9 min miles, and I felt good,  could drop to 8s. I started at 7s. Ooops.

And then the crash came, around mile 8. I was running with some NBR peeps - Mia and Jose - and all felt horrendous. Then Mia and I stopped to go to the bathroom - my tummy was not right - and when I left the port-a-potty, my stomach felt worse and my shin was really bothering me. Mile 9 now.

I told Mia to go ahead and slowed down a lot. I walked, because I knew I could only damage myself more. My stomach was a wreck. I ran, I walked. Wayne biked next to me.

Mile 12. I went into the first of the port-a-potties. And then I left and then I went into the last of the port-a-potties.

UGH.

Really, Italian ricotta cheesecake the night before a half is NOT a good idea.

Finished around 1:55 or so. Shin hurt a lot and could barely walk after. Didn't eat until late afternoon as my stomach was killing me all day.

But it was fun!!!

Awesome Running Videos

My friend John Budge has taken to making some brilliant movies...with a running focus. Here are a few - warning, you will laugh at the first one.



I want to freak out that stupid girl too and take that dopey guy's visor.

An Ultrarunner's NYC Christmas....yep, this is how I get my tree too!



And the latest - the Senegal Sensation Meets the Itching Guy!

Brooklyn Half!

For some stupid idea, I signed up for the Brooklyn Half. The original idea was that I would do a bunch of speed work, train hard, and try to PR. Wayne even offered to pace me, but he ended up with a messed up ankle and rode alongside the course, biking, offering cookies to runners. However, a hamstring strain almost two months earlier meant I cut my mileage down and my speed work. I spent a lot of time at physical therapy.

I started out feeling good, running 7minute-something miles, all under eights. maybe i could hit my goal....hmmmmm....and then around mile 9, this horrible pain began on the pad of my right foot. it was excruciating. tears to the eyes. moaning while running. i kept it up, and was relieved to finish.

1:45. Far from what I wanted, but still, pretty decent for someone who hasn't done the proper speedwork in months, good for someone who ran a 50k the week before, and a 50miler the week before that.

After, NBR went to the beach for a picnic. Lots of alcohol, snacks, cold water, slight sunburns. Wayne and I ended up leaving tipsy - and napping for a while in the afternoon. A fun day overall.

Brooklyn Marathon!

The first annual (ha!) Brooklyn Marathon in Prospect Park was held on Sunday. It had a really great vibe - less like one of the anally organized NYRR events and much more like a chill ultra. It was smaller, but the medals were good, the RD was friendly, and the weather rocked. The course consisted of two lower loops and six full loops on the pretty, occasional small hill course.

I voluncheered w my team, NBR, at one of the aid stations. I chalked cheerful messages on the course, made signs and taped them to the ground, filled cups with water and gatorade, and screamed my head off.

One of my less finer moments was when I cheered on teammate Ray and raised my arms - which smacked into a runner who decided to turn around and walk in the other direction (not sure his reason) - I felt so terrible but he was very nice about it. And he kept going! (And my arm hurt, but that's besides the point!)

I ended up pacing Wayne the last 2+ laps which was a lot of fun. On four hours sleep, I felt pretty rough but the pace was manageable, for six miles for me anyway! I chattered away, wouldn't let him drop the pace, and tried my best to motivate him. It was really wonderful when he PR'd by 8 minutes, going sub 3:30. I was so happy for him!

To those who insist upon only doing big races, you're missing out on a chill vibe, individual attention, and lots of fun!

Bolt the Billyburg: A Race Report on the Running of the Williamsburg Bridge

I've been running the Williamsburg Bridge since the days where I found the bridges of the lower part of Manhattan the most rewarding place to run when I lived in a crowded "one bedroom" (not sure if you can even really call the teeny apartment Jenny and I lived in that) in the East Village. So when I saw the announcement for Bolt the Billyburg, a race solely run on the bridge, I thought, "YES!" And then I got scared.

In recent years, I have been running long. LONG. I feel very comfortable running a 50miler, to be honest, more comfortable than I do running a 5k. But I still felt drawn to the race.

After a day of run-work-haircut-run-more work-protesting-NBR happy hour, I found myself tipsily ending the night. The alarm began braying way too early, but as usual, I respected it. And got myself to the foot of the bridge.

Fernando, Kim, Tyler, Wayne and I were the sole representatives of NBR, with Christine showing up for the Whippets (I miss her in NBR!). We did the race in two waves, running over the bike path side of the bridge, ending at the foot of the bridge in Manhattan, turning around, running back over the running partner until we hit the cross-over, then running across that, and down the bike path.

Wayne had promised me he'd run with me - mostly b/c I'm feeling like a slow wimp lately. He told me he'd pace me, and stuck by my side the whole time, which was really awesome and nice.

We started fast. My asthma was feeling crappy the day before, so of course, I immediately felt like hell. My lungs were burning - I used my inhaler. And again. And again. And again. I pushed hard up the bridge. My legs said yes, my lungs said no. It was so hard to push as fast as I was capable of.

I pushed faster. We got on the flat part and my lungs slowly calmed down. I looked at the water, the boats churning past underneath, the skyline, including my job's building. It was fun to run fast on my favourite bridge.

Running downhill was fun. My lungs were like, "Awesome."

At the base, some of the friends/volunteers of Mikal's were there to remind us to not run into speeding traffic and to instead turn around and run back upwards. And then my lungs began cursing me out again.

We pushed it faster.

And then flat.

And then down.

I pushed harder.

"You're the first woman," Wayne told me. That was obvious in our small heat, but I didn't know about the other heat. I told him this. But still, I pushed down.

He held my hand for a little while running down the very bottom of the ramp...

Until we finished.

I sat there, filling my lungs with oxygen and another six puffs of my inhaler.

After, we all went to Pips, where people drank PBR (though not me, a beer-hater), played pingpong, learned results, hung out, let my lungs chill a little. I was kind of excited to find out that I was indeed first woman; it was a very small race, but that's always fun to have. Victory does indeed taste so sweet, and it's impossible to accomplish without those you love. (Thanks, Wayne.)

good graffiti

a revolution is when you don't have to say i don't have health insurance.
--side of new building going up in williamsburg

one tree grew in brooklyn

this is sad, but amuses me...my block is so sparse of trees (there are several at the far end of the block, and then one in front of my house, followed by a few more), that when i give cabbies directions i'll say, "my house is three-quarters of the way up the block, the one with that tree in front of it."

where i used to live--in southern brooklyn--we had trees. prospect park was a paradise. i tried to convince a friend from colorado that there were trees. "oh, i know what you meant," he said. " there was a book. a tree grows in brooklyn. it didn't say, 'many trees grow in brooklyn.' a tree. so i guess you have seen that one tree." ha-ha, seanne.