Gnarly!"
My week started strong with three 4 milers in a row. I know it looks like I ran 9 on Monday but for some reason it isn't letting me move my 4.5 miler to Tuesday. Sometimes technology and I don't get along...
Thursday was a tricky one for me. I've always kept my midweek runs to 6 miles or less because I don't often have the time. This Thursday was no different but I decided to make my run a priority. Besides would an extra 10 minutes ruin my day? Absolutely not. I set my alarm for 20 mins early and hit the treadmill determined to make it happen. Much to my surprise the extra mile flew by and I was able to get on with my day just the same. I find it mentally tough when the treadmill turns itself off after 6 miles but I made that last mile a little game by picking up my pace to 7 mph and dropping it back .2 mph every two minutes. Sometimes silly distractions work and a little speed at the end never hurt anyone.
Friday was just another run. I hit the treadmill right after work a 3 because I had pretty exciting plans. My cousin got engaged the night before so C and I were meeting her and her new fiance at 6 for celebratory drinks downtown. I chatted with her via text my entire run and was actually surprised when the treadmill beeped alerting me it was slowing down. I didn't even realize I'd been running for an hour.
Saturday's run was incredible and I should probably write an entire post on it. I joined Nike Run Club for their first "elevated" run of the 2013 Marathon Training Season. They came up with a great route that brought out almost a hundred runners. We met at the Nike Flatiron store where they had a mobile bag check, divided us into pace groups, and stretched us out. I was a little intimidated at first as it seemed like everyone was there with other people. My fears dissolved the moment we started moving! The pacers were fantastic and the group was friendly. Everyone was excited about the marathon and we chatted about past races and about expectations for the first timers.
Nike plans on doing one elevated run in each of the five boroughs this training season and I must say, I'm pretty excited about it. This run took us from from 20th and 5th across the East River and down to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal where they had a van with ice cold bottles of water for us. We took a group picture in front of the terminal and headed inside to wait for the ferry. Our timing worked out great as the ferry pulled up in less than ten minutes and we were on our way to Staten Island.
Once everyone was off the boat, we regrouped by pace and took off for a 3.5 mile trip to Fort Wadsworth, the start village for the NYC Marathon. We ran under the Verrazano Bridge and got to show the first timers the start of the marathon as well as the incredible view of Manhattan. The city looks so far away from here! It's hard to believe 48,000 people will run all the way to the heart of Manhattan from there but I can't wait to be one of them again. Another van met us for a water stop in Fort Wadsworth before me ran our final 3 miles back to the ferry.
As we rounded the last turn we saw the Nike Run NYC vans and knew we were down. What we didn't know was that in addition to the ice cold water and Kind Bars Nike had the Cool Haus truck there serving up delicious ice cream sandwiches as a special treat. What a great way to end an amazing run.
Thanks Nike for making me feel strong about my training, having amazing pacers who kept us going on this hot day, and for making us feel extra special at the end. Keep an eye on the RUN NYC facebook group for news about Run Club and about their next elevated run. I, for one, can't wait!
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| Photo from Run NYC |
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