Saturday, December 26, 2009

Where love lies the heart will follow


First let me wish everyone a Merry Happy Holiday season (whichever holiday you chose to celebrate). I was fortunate to be able to spend Christmas with my family, though I teetered back and forth as to if I wanted to plan the entity since it required a bit more than just driving up there. I ending up leaving super early Christmas morning since I have absolutely NO patience to sit in traffic (I realize most everyone's like that but I get super anxious & seriously can't deal...I literally plan trips around traffic times for that reason). I sat on traffic.com the entire day the 24th trying to find the "perfect" time to leave and never actually came to terms with anything I liked, then by the time I did I didn't want to drive. Alas I settled on setting my alarm for 4:30am and driving the 4+ hours to NH in the morning. Of course I set the alarm for that time but I didn't actually get the car rolling until about 10 til 6 (no surprise there). With my method of madness I was able to catch a gorgeous sunrise and pretty much no cars on the road to boot. Brilliant. The rest of the morning was spent at my Aunt's house for our traditional Christmas breakfast and a Yankee Swap. Then I got in the car and drove more to my parents' house for a bit of R&R and dinner. After all of that about an hour before I was set to drive again, it started to snow. What a perfect ending to an great day. No material gifts where exchanged but no worries that's just the way I wanted...there's a whole back story that maybe another time I will explain. Instead I received some of the best gifts: a to die for sunrise, time with my family, a track meet, friends and snow.


Saturday is another early wake up call, 8am this time around not 4:30. I decided that it would be best to park and leave my car in my grandparents yard in NH, rather than bother with it here in NY. I don't really need it though it would make getting out of the city a bit easier, but since I'm downsizing I figure that's probably one of the 1st things that should go. Since I was leaving it my grandparents were so very kind enough to drive me to Boston so I could partake in the 2nd series of Mini Meets at BU, and so I could just catch the bus from there home.
The mini meets are great low key tune-up meets where there is no pressure, it's still the beginning of the season. I use them as an extra workout. Seeing as I just got on the ball with training again, my endurance and a little bit of speed if off from what it normally would be at this time of the year, I decided to roll with an 800. It was eh, I may have been able to pull a little better out but it wasn't a surprise. I definitely didn't try quite as hard as I could have, but it definitely wasn't easy, no need to injure myself by pushing my body to it's brink. Honestly it just made me happy to see some of my friends, yet slightly sad too because I knew I was staying.

I'll always leave a little piece of my heart in Boston on the track so I can always go pick it up to leave it there for the next time.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

On Track

In getting myself in a routine, running/workouts are one of those things that needed a serious makeover from recently. Since taking my break from the outdoor season, then coming back only to break my toe, setting training back another 6-8 weeks, then working like crazy then deciding I'd "check out" NYC, to moving to the city, I had lost my way. I was running sporadically, there was no structure whatsoever and I certainly didn't feel like myself. It's slightly sad to say that my craziness is my calm, but it is. I never want to feel like stepping on the track defines me however it does make up a big part of who I am. It's my one true love (another really sad truth, I tell myself I know I've met the perfect man when he makes me feel the way running does).

After spending a week pulling the apartment together, I knew it was time that I made my way to the only indoor track in Manhattan, the Armory. Dragging my feet, not because I didn't want to run (well actually I kind of didn't, my body was not looking forward to the self inflicted pain), but because I knew that it would make a nice dent in my savings. I do have a specific account that I set money aside for all things track related even so I still didn't want to part with that big of a chunk of it knowing that I don't know when I'll be able to contribute to it again. Also the fact that the fee only includes track time and nothing else, with extremely limited times and lots of rules. I got over it quickly and schlepped up to 169th St in Washington Heights with my waiver all filled out, bank card in hand, and gym bag stuffed with my running gear.

In case you were wondering I will train by myself and continue to run affiliated with GBTC for the time being until I am certain that this move is more than a year. Not that I don't think that the teams here aren't better but rather than switching back and forth it's just easier. Also leaving my teammates was one of the few things that really made me not want to leave Boston. I have been in contact with one of Central Park Track Club's coaches and she has invited me to train with them if I get too lonely, which was really nice. Seeing as I will eventually need a runner outlet, it's good to know that it's there.

I started off my first workout to get used to the track with just some repeat 200's at a comfortable pace then threw in a modified hurdle workout. After which I was let known that I was a bit overzealous on my first day by slamming my trail leg the hurdle leaving me with a lovely black and blue prize. Count for the season is Deanna's knee:0 Hurdle:1 I did however get quite a few passes unscathed at the high hurdle level so it wasn't a complete bust.


I now have 3 real workouts down and I'm feeling good. Still adapting myself to the track since all my workouts will be done in mainly lane 2, which I hope doesn't wreck too much havoc on my body. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and what it brings. Not quite sure what races I will race in but as they come I will weigh them out how they'll fit for me. Really I'm just happy to get back in the game and stay in it.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

I'm Back

I know that I've been really bad on keeping this blog updated in the past 6 months or so, but I'm back, I promise. I'm starting with this one and I plan on catching prior posts up to date, I have most of them started just not completed. Don't hold me accountable though if it takes another 6 months to finish them, I do live in the present not the past.


As most people know I just moved to NYC a couple weeks ago, in a whirlwind crazy uprooting. I had no particular reason, the opportunity presented itself perfectly in a timing that things were a bit off in my life and I just jumped head first.
It all was prompted by an impromptu visit to the city at the end of September to meet up with an old friend from Richmond who happened to be visiting the city, with a broken toe I hadn't been working much so I needed to break away. After buzzing around and ending up at a fundraiser I was hungry and wanted to go on a search for cupcakes. As I hobbled along the streets I had a weird sense that I could live here. I passed it off and went on my way*. Then as the weeks passed some ridiculous ordeal happened in my life and in an unexpected turn of events combined with a friend's desire to move to NYC spurred a big move. On November 3rd a friend from Boston and I went to Manhattan on a 'let's just look at what's out there'. The first night we looked at one place that was small but the price was right, then the next day we looked at 10 places but we kept going back to the 1st. The broker was awesome and told us that he'd be away until Sun so we had a few days to decide if we wanted to take it. After riding the emotional roller coaster and almost having a severe panic attack, I just decided to go with the flow and do it while I have nothing tying me down. And besides when else would I have this chance again? We called the broker on that Sunday and he sent over the application, we filled it out and before we knew it we had the place. So after last minute changing moving dates, on Dec 6th myself, my friend/new roommate (who did the exact same uprooting as me), my Dad and a few friends each on both ends, packed us out of Boston, drove the U-haul, and moved us into a quaint Upper East Side apartment. A very interesting task nonetheless. Just a side note: We are so very grateful to all those who helped us out in this move- we couldn't have done it without you guys- Thank you so very much!!!
I didn't have a job lined up, not that I wasn't looking prior to the move but it's hard commuting 4 hours each way, so I gave in and waited until I was settled here. After countless resumes emailed and dropped of as well as open calls and interviews I am sure something perfect will turn up in time (I know some of you may be worried but don't I'll be ok until it all pans out).
In the meantime I'm trying to pull myself together getting some kind of routine in, learn my way around the city, meet up with old friends, meet new friends and make where I lay my head feel like home. I never thought in a million years that I'd end up here. I'm taking each day by day and trying to savour every moment!

*Coincidentally where I ended up living was exactly where I was roaming/hobbling along when that odd sense came over me.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Slowly but surely

With a bit of nudging, pestering, and encouragment to update my blog from some friends, I am working on catching it up by the end of the weekend...stay tuned ☺ I'm even working on them from my phone.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Work in progress

After 4 dark and dreary days, that were actually beautiful weather days, I have finally popped out of my funk. I was on the bridge spikes in hand weighed down with stones ready to throw them over the side and watch them drown, never to return. I had a lot of support from those around me urging me not to take the plunge but didn't want to hear it. That's my stubbornness getting the best of me, once I get an idea in my head no one can change it and I go full force ahead, whether it be good or bad. Deep in my heart I knew that I would be miserable but the stress of disappointment was just breaking me. I did in my despair reach out to a friend/teammate who is in the realm of sports psych to see if she could talk me down from the ledge and help me breakdown where mentally I went astray.

Out of nowhere just about an hour before I was going to break the news to my coach that I was stepping away, it hit me. I donated blood the Wed before. I wasn't really sure at that epiphany moment what that entailed but I set out to research. I started with the sites that went over what to expect after donation, nothing, the only thing they covered was not working out right after. I googled some more, then I found a few articles on what I was looking for. Bingo. Despite not many studies done on the entity, the science, math, and physiology were laid out in perfection. Basically your hemoglobin levels don't completely reset for at least 60 days, which in turn affects the level of iron your blood stores, which then affects how your body transports oxygen to the organs/muscles, which then affects performance. In a nut shell.


With that knowledge in hand I was able to take a step back and not throw my true love away with a single toss. A relief to myself and other supporters around me.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Twilight Zone

Today's meet is the first meet I've raced in almost a month. It's been a quiet time since all the colleges are finished up, the meets start to dwindle down around this time. There's a few select low key races series like this one hosted by New Balance, another post collegiate team. Though mainly geared towards middle distance runners the main/only races are the 800, 1500, and 5000, but they do feature one sprint race in the mix either a 400 or 200, in the series of 3 meets. Today I got to dabble my finesse in the 400. Since indoors ended I have switched my training group from the 800m to the 400m group. I haven't trained with this group since 07 when I first joined GBTC. Determined to battle back out the 8, I think I switched over to that group too suddenly, possibly causing me my "turmoil" in not reaching my goal times. So with this I have decided to work on pulling together my quarter speed which will hopefully enhance both the hurdles as well as the half. My main focus is the hurdles but since there a few meets that host intermediates I have to divert the focus to open races.

My training's been going really well and I was ready to see it come out in a race. Since I had run a 62 in indoor on no real speed work, I was confident that I could run faster with the change in training. Somewhere something's gone wrong. I got out nicely then at the 200 meter mark I just lost it. I'm simply baffled by this, and cannot understand, nothing translates. I'm starting to question whether I'm cut out to be a runner. I've put so much time and effort into my training that it's hard to not see any kind of progress. Very heartbreaking. This hit me hard.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Some like it hot

On fire...well my body and feet that is. Wish I could say the same for my races. Again the pleasures of spring weather in New England, always bringing the unknown. One day it's freezing the next it's like the dead of summer. Today would be that steamy summery weather. I thought that it would be perfect weather but it took a turn for the worst with temps rising to 90. The complete opposite of the prior races. With sprint races, warmer is better, but acclimating to the heat can be essential to racing, especially when your body has been training in the cooler temperatures. I'm not really sure which is worse to run in, freezing or extreme heat.
I invoked on a what I thought would be a good double, 400 open and 400 hurdles. Unfortunately the heat didn't converge well, I don't think my body knew what to do with the temperature. Though not what I had hoped for I just have to chock it up to a training day and look forward.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Come rain or shine

Bring on the hurdles, the time has come to step up and move to going over the intermediates. The IH's are far and few between for races so the more I chances I can get to race the more aped I will be come July. They have also changed the qualifying window for club nationals so my time from last year's nationals now won't carry over. We're required to hit the standard during the 09 season only- indoor or outdoor- but there's not intermeds in indoor so the sooner I get it out of the way the better. I thought that this would be the perfect meet to do so. Perfect it would be if the weather would just cooperate. Getting to the track it wasn't so bad but right after I finished the warm up and started to do drills the drizzle started, then the drizzle turned steady, then the temperatures started to drop. And it boy really sucked. My hands started to go numb, I even had to run in my tights it was so cold. In the end it didn't turn out so bad. I was able to go over all but 2 hurdles very smoothly and time wise I was able to hit the qualifying time. Now no worries come closer to the end of the season. It did however take a while before I got the feeling back in my hands. Guess you can't win them all.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cold and all alone

The time has come to face the bitter truth...that no matter how much you wish for warmer weather in March it's probably not going to happen. Case in point the first meet of the outdoor season. I somewhere in my dazed logic thought that running the steeple would be a brilliant idea in the middle of March. The weekend before was perfect weather, I wasn't quite ready to take on the 400 IH or really anything too short, I absolutely loathe the 1500, I was burnt out from the 800, and I kind of enjoy steeple minus the fact that it's 3000 meters. I also wanted to see where I compared to last year. I was roaring and ready to go take on all 7 1/2 laps and 35 barriers until I watched the temps Friday night drop below 36 degrees. Why that matters is not so much the temperature of the air, I can deal with that, it's the temperature of the water in the pit. Lucky me they were out there at 11am just before the men's race raking off ice! I kid you not. The sun was shining but it was still quite brisk out (we're talking mid 40's). I bellied up since I did pay for this entry and it's non refundable, signed myself in only to find that there was only one other girl in the race. The rest had scratched. Smart girls. I one the other hand am crazy so I just gooed my legs up with Aquaphor (similar to Vaseline) to try and help defer some of the cold from both the air and water. The time comes to step up to the line only to find out now the other girl wasn't running, it was going to be just me out there. Not the most ideal conditions. HA! I'm slightly amused by this, as well as slightly nerve wracked because that meant ALL eyes were watching ME. I do love the spotlight but only when I know that it's something I can super excel. I got over the that fast once I smoothly went over the first couple of barriers and just ran. That was until I got to the first water pit jump. I approached it with vigor until my left foot pulled up on the barrier, I stood on top of the barrier with both feet looked down into the water and in a split second jumped in with TWO feet like you would jump into a pool or puddle. I'm not sure if it was the first initial time of going over the pit or if I was trying defer the inevitable coldness of jumping into the freezing water, but I can assure you that that is NOT how you jump the water pit. After the jump I thought to myself what in the world was I thinking and chuckled. I also had a laugh because some guys had been standing by the pit, for some reason that's people's favorite watching spot in race, and I heard one of the say 'Oh no she didn't' referring to my two footed jump. Haha. I did resolve after I got my breath back from the shock of cold water that I would not do that again. And around I went 7 more times all by lonesome, with no more mishaps might I add. I finished about 10 seconds faster than my time from last year so not too bad, all things considered. I do think that I will probably reconsider opening in March with the steeple if I decide to go at it again, I was pretty painful.


Photos by GreaterSnap


Sunday, March 15, 2009

Luck be a lady



The annual St Patrick's Day 5K road race, one of my few favorite road races. It falls nicely in my training schedule where it won't hurt me, and is a bit helpful. I'm also partial to it because I seem to shave time off every year, so that doesn't hurt the ego at all.


Mid-March in Boston can bring a myriad of temperatures-it can either be freezing, snowing, a combo of freezing and snowing, it can be mild, warm, sunny-there is no constant from year to year. This year it was perfect, sunny and mid to high 50's. I lined up with 2 other of my teammates decked out in my green shamrock boxer shorts, team singlet (which I'm on a mission to find a green or white one and screen print it so I don't look like a xmas ornament or an Italian flag) and the finishing touch of knee high shamrock socks. Since it's a fun run may as well have fun! I'm beginning to see big improvements on my 5Ks in the past year or so. First and foremost in the finishing times but also in my race tactics. I'm running smarter and more efficiently rather than so haphazardly. I managed to pop out a fairly even split race, made sure I unleashed the monstrous kick, finished in a PR of 19:53 and 4th overall female. It's nice to know that even though I'm not in the realm of fast in the distance I still kick some butt on the local level. I picked up the first South Boston female resident for the 3rd year in a row, which this year they threw in a free pair of kicks with the medal. Gotta love free sneakers, especially when you go through them like water.☺

Sunday, February 22, 2009

And cut

Today marked the last indoor meet of the season. A bittersweet goodbye-happy to be done with the indoor track which wrecks havoc on my legs, hips, back but somewhat sad that I could get just one more race in to prove that I've got it there. In the middle of the season I was excited that I actually might have the chance to be an 800 leg of the DMR at Indoor Nationals, though as the season unfolded to now it was evident that I'd have to really prove myself. I came into the meet today hoping that it would all fall into place with the 800. The reality is, it did not. I was a bit disappointed but it made me realize that not everything comes right away. I've had a phenomenal training season which I thought would translate into perfect races. I think that my biggest mistake was that I aimed too far ahead, though I will give myself a pat on the back for not beating myself up after not hitting "that time". Sometimes for me it's all about the numbers and if I can learn to let those numbers/times not get to my head, I think that I'll be just fine. Live and learn or rather run and learn. On a bright note for today's meet I ran a leg in the 4x400 and hit my best 400 time in 62.6. Makes me optimistic that just maybe I can break 60 in outdoors as well as 70 in the intermediates. Looking forward to getting out!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

A little bit Off then On

I have never considered 13 an unlucky number or for that matter Friday the 13th an unlucky day. Actually 13 is one of my favorite numbers and as for the whole Friday thing I've never really taken that to heart. By definition luck is a chance happening and it is, but I also think that some luck is one of those things that's kind of created. When I say created I mean more along the lines of how we perceive things to be in our minds. Take for instance, Friday the 13th is supposedly an unlucky day, why is it so "unlucky"? I believe it's because we've been programmed to think it's a bad day so when it rolls around we think oh no, then look for the "unlucky" things that are happening. They become the focus rather than occurrences, and it snowballs to being a bad day. Wow, sorry to get out on a tangent and start psychoanalysing how the mind plays, just a little habit I have. I really love how the mind works. Hmmm maybe in some past life I was a psychologist or it's what I should pursue. (I might just take a look into that now that I think of it).


Okay so the preface of all that leads into the meet this weekend, Friday and Saturday were the BU Valentine Invitational. In which Friday happen to be the 13th and my little sister also sent me an email wishing me good luck at my meet and added that she didn't understand why the 13th wasn't unlucky for me, hence another reason for my tangent. Similar to the meet 2 weeks ago but in an even larger scale, which it amazes me that that's possible. Friday the ladies raced open events with the men's distance medley relay (DMR) thrown in and Sat was flip-flopped, men raced open events, ladies DMR. For my open event I decided on the 800 and I'd be running the 800 leg of the DMR. I thought that everything was in order to run really good races. I did have to work a luncheon at the restaurant but I figured that I would have enough time to relax before so I didn't fret too much. I did my normal warmup routine, thought I was in a good heat that would challenge me, and everything was on track. That was until I actually stepped on to the track, somewhere in my race I completely lost it. I'd like to say it was right after the halfway mark because that's where the numbers say I lost it but it might have come before, I just can't remember. Or it could have been the exponential factor of being on my feet for 5 hours earlier in the day. None of these really in my mind stand out as the clear concise winner. It could have been that the field went out too aggressive for me. The first girl went through the 200 at 28, I went through at 31 (which is FAST, too fast for the seeds of this heat) then they followed through the 400 at 62, I fell off at a respectable 67. Thereafter I completely fell off the deep end. My pace was almost perfect but maybe when I lost touch with the other girls it mentally killed me. I've actually had that happen in practice when my training partner pulls out so far ahead of me I think that I'm so well off pace that I tend to either slow down or stop, when actually I'm dead on where I need to be. I could rack my brain for hours to find everything, and I have, but the race is over and I can't do anything about it. It's disappointing but I need to push it out of my mind and bring it on to the next day. As Dave told me after the race it was bound to happen at some point. I was continually dropping times like flies and it if I kept dropping times every race like I had been I'd be racing a sub 2 min 800. Which would be fantastic just not logistical.
I went home with my tail between my legs to rest up before the relay the next morning. Before I went to bed I powered up the computer to do random surfing and I checked in on the blogs I follow. The most random/bizarre post came across me on the B family's blog. It was a good bizarre but one of those things that kinda make you go woah. Gina had just posted a post that had this quote:
"Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wow how fitting was that for what my day had been and that I did need to get ready for the next day to race again. I do think that this should be the way we should view everyday but it was the perfect ending to read especially for this day.

I blissfully woke up Saturday morning ready to redeem myself from my failed race the night before. I wasn't taking any prisoners. I wanted to be sure that it was what it was, a fluke race. I am pleased to say that it was a fluke. I race extremely well and hit a pretty sweet time, fastest one all season, though I'm certain I could have run faster had I not had to a girl mess with my final kick. I knew I had it in me but it felt good to solidify it. Now it's off to the next week for the final indoor meet of the season.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

What a difference a year can make

DMR team goofing off
It's now been a year since I started my blog, rolling back with the Terrier Invitational. It all started on a whim that more or less was a place for me vent out my frustrations, not thinking that I'd actually keep up with it. Then it turned into a way to keep family and out town friends or anyone else who chose to read up to date on that thing I call running. Now it's evolved to much more, for myself that is, for all the readers it's still the same. It's been a remarkable way to keep myself upbeat about how my performances have panned out and in turn I think changed the way I perform. My first couple of entries are pretty harsh, we are our own worst critics. I believe that there always needs to be a dose of hard reality, can't always be sugar plums and fairy tales, but it doesn't necessarily have to be so nasty and I've learned that along the way as I read back on earlier posts. I plan to continue this diary of a mad woman who runs lot and I hope anyone that reads it possibly gets a laugh, becomes inspired, relates to a story, or maybe just wants to know a chapter in my life that genuinely makes me me and happy (along with a couple of random entries that have nothing to do with running at all since my life is not completely consumed by running despite my slight obsession with it).

Coming full circle with the meet that left much disappointment a year ago, I'd never know I'd be where I am now. Actually I take that back because I knew I'd get there, it was the waiting out and not knowing when part that was most frustrating. Having already raced less than 5 days before, GBTC's Invite was Sun and open events for women at Terrier were on Friday, it was going to be interesting how things unfolded. I had a great race on Sunday so either my body would not be too happy about the shortened recovery time or it wouldn't care too much-it's a very fine line. After deliberation with my coach we settled on the 1000m then an 800 leg on the DMR on Sat. Usually I seed myself but because I was unsure of my event strategy I just sent Dave an email with my thoughts and he agreed then seeded me himself. When the reply email came back it had the seed time he entered me in, and my chin hit the floor. He had me entered in at 3:00, which isn't crazy fast but for me that was a bit over zealous since at the opening meet of the season I ran a 3:12. I am definitely racing much better than that but 12 sec is a lot for a quasi short race. Literally for the days leading up to the meet I played every possible combo of splits that I'd need to hit to achieve this. It's possible that this could have been detrimental to my psyche but I continued with the nervous twitter up until I stepped up to the line. As soon as the gun went off it all just dissipated and I just ran. I started off great but about the 600 mark I felt my body tense up, then loose it's ability to gauge where exactly I was going with my race. At 200 meters to go I gave in picked up my legs thought to myself it's only 200 meters and just heaved forward knowing it would be over soon. I crossed the finish line, looked up at the score board and saw my finishing time. 3:04.50. Wow I really almost did it! Dave wasn't so far off base. I took off 8 secs from a race only 2 months ago, as well as 8 sec from this exact meet a year ago. I'm not at all disappointed, oh no totally absolutely giddy, but I can't say that I ran smarter because the races were very similar in execution the difference is I ran faster, a plus, it's a good thing that the 1000 is not my race. Like I mentioned in the interlude I do have to look at the reality of it.
The hardest part was over, but I still had Sat morning to contest with. I made sure that I did everything possible so that my body would be recovered for the relay-a cooldown, stretching, chocolate milk for protein to feed the muscles, plenty of water, a good balanced dinner, a couple Ibuprofen for preventative swelling since I wouldn't be able to get an ice bath in adequate time, and a night's rest. I woke up with all seeming well, moseyed on down to track to tackle the 800 leg of the DMR. I must have done something right because I managed to run a pretty decent leg. Big leaps from last year.
Flotrack was at the meet again http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234504/127456

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Pass me a paper bag and a shovel

What an interesting day, all starting with Sat night. I had my usual work day on Saturday but it ended in a bit of an off tone. First I didn't get out of work until quarter til 12 (am) which is not so uncommon, not common either, except for the fact that I was only waiting for one table to leave and it wasn't my table. That's neither here nor there. I get home around midnight, I was hoping that I could get a decent night's sleep, haha, apparently I was mistaken. As soon as I curl up into bed my stomach decides that it's not in a good mood. Oddly the same thing happened on Thur night too. I have no clue what's brought this on since I was fine on Friday, so that ruled out a bug and I didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. Needless to say I was up for a good portion of the night. Fast forward to this morning. I woke up feeling a little better, but very weak, uncertain if I was up for racing today. At around 8:30am I got a call from my family letting me know that they weren't going to make it due to the snow, no worries plenty more meets no need to trek through the snow from NH for a meet in MA. I just figured they were getting pummeled with snow. I finally got up, fighting the temptation to just blow off the meet and stay in bed all day, and made my usual pre-race breakfast of toast with PB and coffee. Then I look outside, there's a white out. Holy cow I thought we were only supposed to get 1-3 inches all day, there's already 3+in and it's still falling at a heavy rate. So that's why the fam wasn't coming, not only was it probably snowing up there it's blanketing the city here. Okay so the toast and coffee settled in my stomach, good sign, but I was slated to race a 400/800 double at the meet, not good. I was entirely too weak to pull off both races so I called my coach and told him to scratch me from the 400, then we'd see how I felt after my warmup as to whether or not I'd race the 800. I warmed up, did drills and what have you, still a bit off but I decided to race anyway. I figured if I had to drop out of the middle of the race I would, not that I ever use that as an option, this was an exception. I had a teammate Laura in my heat with me who helped to ease a bit of the nerves. Up to the line, on your mark, set, *bang* and I'm off. I'm off fast, a little too fast, 33 for the 1st 200. Leading I ease back the pace, 400 hit 68, kept steady, still in the lead hit the 3rd 200 in 37, then came down the last 25 meters and was edged out by my teammate. No big deal, I was happy for her since this was her first race back from being injured and she out kicked me fair & square. I did have other things to be excited about I FINALLY broke the 2:25 barrier that I have been stuck at for the past year. I finished in 2:22.55, crazily on a sour stomach and bad night's sleep, impressive. Wondering what I could have done if I was on a good day. Can't change that, on to the next meet. Afterwards we started cooling down inside around the outside of the track but part of it was blocked off so it was proving to be a bit difficult. Figuring out that neither of us were going to race any more events I suggested maybe going outside and running in the snow. She was aboard and we took to the snowy half plowed/shoveled sidewalks of Cambridge for a beautiful serene scenic cooldown.
It was a long day but it was good. That was until I got home and had to shovel the sidewalk and attempt to unbury the car. Leave that for next day.

Scene overlooking the Charles

Saturday, January 3, 2009

To double or to not double

Photo by GreaterSnap


Sometimes we do things that we really aren't all that too excited to do, but we do them because they are "good" for us. One of those many things is racing races I really don't have a fond liking to or racing a double that just seems way out in third base. Today's meet was no exception to that. While chatting with my coach at practice Tuesday what I should race for the last of the mini meets, I had asked him whether I should race either the 800 or the mile then possibly a workout afterwards. He promptly replied yeah I think a mile, 800 double would be good workout. Okay I'm certain I clearly said or in the statement but he was adamant that I should take on both. I kind of sulked and reluctantly caved, deciding to race both. It's not that I question that he doesn't know what he's doing, because he definitely knows his stuff, I wouldn't ask him if I thought otherwise. I more so question myself and if I'm able to really do it. A bit of self doubt creeping in. After all the woe is me self-pity, I can't believe I'm doing this insane double I ended up racing 2 really good races. I pr'd in the mile (5:26--YAY!) and ran even splits with my ever so favorite kick to boot. Felt amazing. Then came back and raced a not so shabby 800 almost breaking that 2:25 line, where I've been stuck for the past year. Though I was deceived at first since hand timed by my coach he had me in at 2:24.9, but the actual results had me at 2:25.14, so I originally thought I had a double pr. Oh well. I was just floored that I could turn out both races without blowing either one or the other. We got workouts and races turning over which makes me super stoked and more faithful that 2009 is going to be a good one.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy 2009



Here's to a new year...May everyday be blessed with with love, happiness, family and friends!