bk half marathon PRs

we did it !!! 

we completed the brooklyn half marathon and both pr'd for the course! the bk half has got to be my least favorite race ever, and i think the dislike is heightened by the commercialization of the event as well. these days when the word "brooklyn" is attached, suddenly there is a hipster or low-key edgy-cool vibe associated with it, and suddenly the world wants in. over 26,000 people ran the 13.1 miles today.

but back to it being my least favorite race - it's partly because (i) it's one of the earlier races in the season so by the time it's here, i haven't gotten in more than a 5-8 mile runs in, making the back half of the race that much more painful (ii) the back half of the race is already painful, as it's a 6 mile straight-away down ocean parkway all the way to the finish at coney island.

a relatively flat straight-away should be easier technically than the rolling hills of prospect park during the first half of the race, but it is difficult for the mentally weak, which is why i am always suckered into stopping to walk or use the bathroom multiple times. this time, kev and i ran the first 7-8 miles together, probably me pushing it a little too much in the park, but hey that's my favorite part.

when we got to the straight-away, he left me in the dust and i was out to fend for myself on the vast, open ocean parkway. i tried to use my friend's advice and look at peoples' outfits or count lampposts, but it wasn't helping me. over the years, i had mentally created a six mile monster out of ocean parkway and the best way for me to countdown was counting the streets as they went up from ave h through ave z. during mile 12, i made a quick pitstop at the local honeybucket, and then it started to drizzle! slowly the drizzle turned into a downpour, which i think most people felt refreshed by and used to propel themselves into the finish on the coney island boardwalk.

1:42:11 and 1:43:52 were our official race times! my second sub 1:45 half marathon now! :) next goal: 1:40 !!!

trying out my new neighborhood favorite, trestle on tenth! we pass this place every time we run to the west side highway, but tried it for the first time this afternoon with jess and ben. the menu has a lot of typical american brunch offerings using familiar ingredients such as eggs, bacon, etc, but the chef is originally from switzerland so there is are many notable swiss dishes as well. ben had the green market omelet, jess had the swiss bacon-onion potato hash ("bure rosti"), kev had the three herring plate, and i had the special, baked eggs with ramps, warm yukon gold potatoes, and herbs. we also shared their chicken liver pate which was plentiful and deliiicious. so glad we got to try it with my sis and ben for the first time, and can't wait to come back to this spot again! (and try rocket pig next door - i have a plan for this :D!!!!)

we rested our tired legs for the rest of the day :)

scotland run

we ran the nyrr scotland run 10k this morning, our first race of the season, and the weather turned out pretty nice! 48F and 61% humidity. kevin now starts in a faster corral than me, so we no longer start the race off together or run any portion of it together. i miss running with him, but it's better for him to be competing with faster peers who can challenge him to improve and it's working!

since i haven't really done a run longer than 3 miles in a couple months, my plan was to take it easy and treat it as a long training run. the first mile went quicker than expected though, and i hate increasing splits, so i tried my best to hold on for the next five. since we ran clockwise in the park, we did harlem hill backwards to our benefit, but i still wasn't able to pick up the pace for miles 5 & 6. finished the race with 7:40 mile splits, about the same pace as when i raced it two years ago. haha ... no improvement :p

after the race, we ran into brian yuen for coffee and a fun post race recap & analysis at bouchon at the time warner center. it was the perfect way to spend a saturday morning.

met up with glenn and nick (in town for the long wkd from chitown!) for brunch at the dutch, where i had the fresh cheese omlet with a side of bibb salad and ale bread, and kevin had the smoked salmon & bagel with soft scrambled eggs and trout roe. our meals were delicious, and relatively healthy feeling too - not greasy at all, which is my kind of meal! i paired my brunch with a clean green juice blend, which contains kale, spinach, cucumber, lime, pineapple, and mint, and kevin had his third cup of coffee for the morning. LOL.

for dinner, we met up with glenn and nick again, as well as a few other cmu friends, at jack's wife freda's, to welcome grace and dallas back to nyc. it was a nice reunion for us all, as we haven't seen dallas since last summer before his most recent and last deployment. after dinner, we hosted an impromptu gathering at the loft to watch wisconsin kick some kentucky butt in the final 4s. 

wisconsin vs duke REMATCH on monday for the 2015 ncaa championship!

best: malva pudding at jack's wife's freda's! it doesn't look too special, but it tastes oh so good and relatively light. it's basically a soft caramelized muffin-texture dessert with a side of creme fraiche.

worst: still jetlagging this weekend ... we were able to keep ourselves up by doing mind-numbing activities such as box folding though. managed to clean up the office after an hour of box folding and paper shredding.

smile: one of kevin's colleagues at work was also running this morning's race and, for some reason, felt the need to hype up the race and start a market with all their former colleagues about their race times. what was supposed to be a fun race ending up being somewhat of a stressful pissing match as former colleagues were betting on kevin beating this guy by as much as 8 minutes. i was very annoyed because now kevin would be stressed out about the race and had people pinging him all week long about how much money they had on him, this spread, and it was basically our first race of the season. in the end, kevin kicked that guy's ass big time and beat him by 8:05 minutes :) regardless of how he performed next to that jerk, im proud of him for the vast improvement in his time!

sunday rundays - 22-miler done!

sunday was our long run day! and similar to last weekend, while saturday was raining cats and dogs, sunday was gloriously sunny and dry, cool and crisp! absolutely perfect.

though it didn't start out that way. alarm went off at 5:15, snoozed until 5:35 and finally got ready and out the door around 5:55. it was pitch black out and very cold (45F). as we sped along the FDR on sunday morning in the cab, i was wondering if we were going to get ourselves lost or held up or blown off the island (it was so windy!). by the time we pulled up to the staten island ferry station, i was convinced we were idiots for trying to do our longest training run on staten island (neither of us have really spent much time there before), and pairing it up with a half marathon. how the heck was this going to work? on top of it all, i was still groggy and yawning.

as we walked towards the ferry station, i saw a few other people in running gear with their bibs and thought - haha we're not the only idiots. as we took the escalators up to the ferry station landing, BOOM! there were hundreds if not thousands of runners stretching, drinking coffee, adjusting their gear, etc! i suddenly felt very awake and not so foolish anymore. it seemed like lots of runners were pairing up their training with the half! :) i think that mental relief helped me through the rest of the day. it's pretty crazy how much of the race is mental ... at least 50% i'd say.

the first part of our run was NOT nice. we ran from the ferry station west along richmond terrace and stayed as close to the water as possible, passing some downtown retail stores, some residential areas, and lots of sanitation treatment centers. the smell in the air was not so fresh to say the least. in addition, the sidewalks, when available, were uneven, strewn with glass shards and litter, and in dire need of repair.

the second part of our run (the race), was really fun! the race course started at the staten island yankees stadium and went along the east side of the island, passing the verazano bridge (honestly, i didn't notice it though), some nice downtown and residential areas, and what seemed like beachfront area. unfortunately one older gentleman, probably in his 50-60s, had fallen and was being given CPR around miles 6-7, but we heard after the race that he survived. thank goodness. kevin and i ran the entire race together, and i think we helped each other through it. miles 12 & 13 were the hardest for me. i wanted badly to finish strong with negative splits, but my legs felt like lead (calves specifically). i think when i got a half-second glance behind from kevin, i pulled it together a bit and was able to muster a little bit of energy left in the last 1/10th. hahaha. we finished with 1:46:18 by my watch (1:45:49 official). i think it's a PR for me :)

here are a couple pics from the race:

staten island yankees stadium

bumped into ray and will at the race!

part 1 of long run

part 2 of long run

staten island recap: the 13.1 is a great course and will definitely try it again. however probably will not do any longer training runs there again!

now for the treats :) treated ourselves to abraço cafe's olive oil cake (thanks to the great rec from dais!) and oatmeal raisin cookie, and odd fellows pretzel and smores (smoked marshmellows!) ice cream. pigging out without regret is definitely a nice side perk of training!

odd fellows' pretzel and smores ice cream

best: fun ride back from staten island and lunch with ray and will! post-race analyzing and caring for battle wounds is super fun with friends. not to mention, i discovered the BEST dish ever at pho sure: pork chop with fried egg over rice. cannot wait to go back ...

worst: pretty sure i traumatized and lost another two toenails after the long run. doh ... personally i don't mind not having the toenails - it makes the running much more comfortable, but it looks funny in sandals :D

smile: wil's friend, steph, also ran the half and during our ride back to the city together, all she could talk about was getting a fried egg sandwich, but it HAD to be on a portuguese roll. hilarious. (i don't even know what a portuguese roll is ...) she was overall super light-humored and funny, reminds me of my sister hahaha ... sees the lighter things in life.

20-miler complete!

kevin and i have been training for the ny marathon since july, though we were only doing 5-10 miles/wk in july and upping it to 10-30 miles/wk in august. overall, the workouts haven't been as consistent as either of us would have hoped, but i think we may finally be getting into the groove of things, especially with his princeton ironman 70.3 out of the way now (completed on sep 21st)! we have been logging about 15-30 miles/wk in sep, though i think ideally i'd like to bring it up to 35-40 miles/wk, with swimming and plyometrics as XT on the off days. what do i really know though ... but i do feel guilty on the mornings that we sleep in and don't get a workout in.

anyways, today was our longest run to date - 20 miles! starting at 5:45am, we ran from 14th street up the west side highway to the start of our nyrr bronx 10-mile race at 168th street by yankee stadium. who is crazy enough to suggest running at 5am as to beat the sunrise? ME. who is the sweetest, most caring and considerate husband in the world to appease my insane request? kevin, hands down.

the first ten were basically in the dark, so absolutely divine for sun-allergic me, also quite peaceful. the latter ten were a bit too sunny, but it was great to be running amongst 10,000 fellow runners and the crowds were cheering us on! there was also a "fun" hill on 155th st coming off the WSH. we took it nice and easy, but i wouldn't mind going back and owning it. repeatedly.

our awesome 20-miler today!

with just three more weeks left for long runs (oct 5, 12, 19) before we're supposed to taper (oct 26), hopefully we can get some nice weekday tempo runs in and nice long weekend runs as well. we may try to check out the north brooklyn runners at mccarren park as well!

and finally, our dinner tonight! spaghetti with homemade bolognese sauce, parmesan reggiano, and maison kaiser cheese bread. soooo delish and pretty easy to make so we made a big batch which we'll be able to save for a couple dinners later this week.

tomorrow morning will be our first day of commuting from williamsburg to work in the city! hope the trains aren't too crazy ... 

best thing that happened to me today: not hurting my knee or ankle on our long run! YAY

worst thing that happened to me today: in the company of a girl that i was once friends with, but had a falling-out with a couple years ago. we have some mutual friends so we do bump into each other from time to time. i personally want to just forget about what happened, but her de-friending me from FB leads me to believe she feels otherwise. lol. it just feels like unnecessary drama!

someone who made me smile: kaira, my friends' susan & hode's baby girl who turned 1-year old on friday, in her gold polka-dotted shirt and bright pink tulle skit and matching bright pink hair piece which mom also handmade and sported herself! kaira also started walking on her own on thursday, the day before her birthday - happy birthday, lovely girl! i can't wait to watch you grow up :)

ps. i logged in 43k steps on the walkertracker, which put me in 3rd place overall with 207k steps. first place is coming in at 232k steps, so even more reason to get those morning runs in and catch him!