Monday, April 29, 2013

365: Week 17

4/22/13: A moment of silence 2:50pm #BostonStrong
4/23/13: Freezing for practice but I guess I can let it slide to practice with this in the background
4/24/13:One singular word, so many endless connections to it
4/25/13: Diamonds are not this girl's best friend...her foam roller is...getting prepped for some Penn Relays action tomorrow
4/26/13: Turn of events moved me onto the "A" Team for the 4x4 and my team winning the infamous Penn Relays gold watch
4/27/13: Couldn't have asked for more perfect weather and an incredible day of Track and Field in Philly at an iconic meet...pure bliss
4/28/13: There is no exit that way, so either hold on for the ride, or turn around and change things

4/22

4/23

4/24

4/25

4/26

4/27

4/28


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Let's play ball

Ok so this is not a game of ball but more however a game of playing catch up. My last real post beyond the Boston one was February 21. And well obviously things have happened in between that time and now. As much as I would like to give them all neatly separate posts, let's be honest if I attempt to do that I'll be playing catch up again, leaving the masses of 5 people wondering what's going on. I'm going to recap the past couple months hitting all key moments and trying to not leave out any relevant pieces. Hold on for the lovely ride back in time.

February:
Not going to lie this was a pretty low month for me, when I say low I mean bottomed out low. The saying when it rains it pours, well it was a mastermind storm going on for me. I'd love to elaborate on all the tidings and as therapeutic as it might be I'd rather not hash out all the personal details for the public to see, but it is noteworthy to share that things were bad. Running sucked, my racing sucked, work sucked, things just sucked all around. End of story.

March:
Beginning of March things weren't super great but they started to balance out for me. I will say that as bad as things were the last month I learned a lot about myself and truly grew as a person. I also learned to reach out. I tend to try attempt to tackle everything by myself, which is partially why I ended up in the place I was. But that's neither here nor there. In my personal life things really took off for me and turned a corner at the end of the month.
As for my running, indoor racing season officially ended for me March 5th. I capped off my crappy "train through" season with a mile. I wasn't quite in mile shape but I was curious and I also thought it might be the only way I could salvage the season not hitting a single goal on my goal list. I managed to scrap a 1 sec PB so I will deem that successful. I trained through the rest of the month prepping for outdoor season to start in April.

April:
April 1st was my soft outdoor track opener at St John's in Queens. At this point I hadn't stepped foot on an outside 400m track since November. Yikes! This isn't exactly conducive to 400 hurdles, since you really can't replicate the hurdle placement on an indoor track. The need to race hurdles as much as possible made this meet a necessity. It wasn't fantastic but it also wasn't completely disastrous. More a practice than anything, getting my body primed for the next couple months. I also threw in some 100 high hurdles in for good measure as a debut race since it was a very low key meet where I wouldn't feel intimidated. My goal was to finish and I did that, not pretty but ground work set in place.  
After the April 1 magic then kind of set in, that corner I was turning at the end of last month flipped me into extreme happiness and almost perfection (I say almost because there's always room for more awesomeness). I was connected with insanely incredible people and the already incredible people in my life were right there by my side. The weather was getting nicer, the things I struggled with in my running training came together. I was in bliss. 

April 13th I raced my official outdoor season opener in New Jersey, 400IH then double backed with a 200 right after. What was supposed to be a great post on this meet unfortunately turned to the shadow of the misdealings in Boston. This meet was beyond what I imagined it to be, even though I always have extreme hopeful ambitions. I ended up leaving for the meet a little/lot earlier than I wanted but was getting a ride from a good friend and teammate who was competing in the first event so I just made it work. We got there at 11a, hurdles weren't expected to go off until at least 330p and that didn't include if the meet ran behind (which it did). I decided during the extra downtime to hide away in the car and relax for a couple hours and hopefully decompress before I raced. I don't know if it was this time before hand, my training going well, life in place or possibly the art therapy (I'll have another post explaining this a little more in detail) but I managed a 1 sec PR (3 sec faster race than soft opener) AND some really spot on hurdles. I even hit a handful of hurdles with my right leg lead which I've never done in the past in a race (this is a struggle of mine, I will stutter to a hurdle to make it hit with my stronger left lead). My last hurdle which is often one of the weakest was probably the strongest hurdle of my race. I knew the second that I went over that hurdle it was exactly as it should be, then as touched down I caught a glimsp of the clock at the finish line and couldn't hold back the happiness. I didn't know the exact finish time but I KNEW it was PR. It was seriously the best feeling. Afterwards chatted with a couple teammates and even they said that was the best that they had seen me race. I couldn't get too over my moon since I still had a 200 to bang out. I was already "warmed up"  and pretty lactic from the race so I just sat still for the hot 15 min I had before I had to line up. Did a couple drills, shook out my legs, and wound my legs into the blocks when my heat was called to the line. I really had no super expectations from this race seeing as I just walked off the finish line of another race. When I came out of the blocks my legs were like bricks and did not want to turn over, eventually after 100 meters they got some turn to them. I could see the clock but it was hard to tell exactly what the official final time was. I thought I had a small PR but couldn't be certain until I saw the results. Low and behold it was a .5sec personal best! Well hot damn! Double PRs back to back in an opening meet. I couldn't have been more ecstatic. This. This was exactly that boost to my track ego that I needed. Still a ways to go and still a lot more potential for the hurdles to get much faster but going in the right direction.

Well there you have the great catch up of 2013. Hopefully I won't leave you hanging in rafters again as the next couple months unwind to Club Nationals. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

365: Week 16

4/15/13: Nothing like waiting til the last minute...someone save me!
4/16/13:This hangs in my office as my reminder to never give up on my dream, today it serves as remembrance of Boston, the unity of the running world, and why I run
4/17/13: Finishing a client session to a beautiful sun setting to bring a little more peace to my broken heart
4/18/13: How does one singular person make THIS much laundry in only 2 weeks...oh yeah a runner can do that
4/19/13:Banana bread, cupcake and a Boston beer make for a great stay in girls night...definitely needed after this week
4/20/13: April showers bring Park Avenue flowers
4/21/13:Someone staged the perfect NYC spring night shot for me
4/16
4/15


4/17

4/18

4/19

4/20

4/21

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

365: Week 15

4/8/13: Oh hello lover, all 400m of you, it's been a while did you miss me
4/9/13: This day was all about me, so self photo made sense. Basking in this gorg day (sunblocked up of course)
4/10/13: Spring has sprung
4/11/13: I am lion hear me ROAR! (and naturally this makes sense since I am a Leo and lions are pretty badass creatures, as are leos)
4/12/13: Laugh, it's the thing that gets me through the rough times and makes the incredible times even more enjoyable. It's also the single most important quality I look for in people to stay in my life. The ability to laugh & make one laugh is priceless.
4/13/13: Running 2 back to back PRs at a meet means one must commemorate the photo of the day with a pic of the track meet, obviously.
4/14/13: Cheering on the More Fitness 1/2 Marathon with some awesomesauce peeps ...oh look there's the ever amazing Deena Kastor (and if you don't know who she is, google her) speeding by, yea that happened

4/8

4/9

4/10
4/11


4/12

4/13

4/14

Monday, April 15, 2013

Heavy Heart

I woke up this morning exhausted from the weekend festivities but incredibly grateful for the insanely amazing things that were happening in my life at that very moment. I trained my client, then on the bus ride home started thinking about the Boston Marathon, I had a number of friends, current teammates from CPTC and old teammates from GBTC racing. I always get this crazy excitement when Boston comes around, even though I'm not a marthoner, nor have plans in any near future to become one (I won't say never). Did a quick social media wish to everyone, then got home to try and tackle my taxes (because I'm the queen procrastination and had to wait til the last minute to file). Of course I passed out as soon I got home, prolonging my tasks, then as I woke up the marathon top finishers started to roll towards the finish so I HAD to refresh twitter 20 thousand times to follow what was going on (since the marathon wasn't televised in NY), again prolonging looming tax tasks. Finally I put the phone down to start on the dread, didn't get too far before I was on my phone again playing in twitter land(yes a little bit obsessed).
 Then something happened, I started to see some disturbing tweets and photos. I wasn't sure if I was really reading what I was reading. Is this for real? Two explosions went off at the finish line of the Marathon? This can't be real? Then the tweets started coming in from reputable sources and they were coming in at an alarming rate. I felt my stomach tighten, and my heart feel like it was about to explode. Holy crap this is REAL! I didn't know what to do. I sat in my bed looking in disbelief at one particular photo and the constant tweets on my phone. In my lifetime so many devastating tragedies have hit, and all have saddened me. But this one hit home, really really close to home, too close to home. Home as in my running community, where the heart of my soul lives. Home as where I call where I'm from, Boston whether I'm near or far will always be the home of my heart. Home as where I had countless friends there running and cheering, where had I not had to work and race my own meet this past weekend would have been there cheering. Home. Home. I just couldn't. 
Only an hour before was thinking about the amazement of Kara Goucher asking how her friend/training partner Shalane Flanagan finished as soon as she crossed the line. Thinking about my own past training partners and how much they made an impact on me and really wishing I had that right now. Thinking about how resilient anyone that runs for 26.2 miles is, I have great respect for them. Thinking about how excited I was about my own 2 PRs I broke on Saturday. Thinking about all the crazy happiness I was experiencing. Then BAM how, why, what! I couldn't wrap my head around the events. I started sending out tweets, facebook posts and texts to anyone I knew that either lives there now or may have been in town. Slowly and thankfully I started to see that people were safe. But even with that security, my heart still sat in my stomach, all I wanted to do was hop on a bus to Boston and hug every single friend I know there. All I could think about were the people and their families that were injured/killed from this senseless act. All I could think about is could I possibly know someone that was right where the explosions went off. All I could do is pray, hope for the best. I felt lost, confused, I still do. 
In the light of the devastation I will remember runners are one big family, no matter where we are in the sport, novice, elite, sprinters, jumpers, mid-distance, distance and road. We are truly a resilient bunch, I mean put our bodies through some serious torture for so many reasons. We are crazy (in a good way). I will remember only yesterday watching and cheering on an empowering field of fierce ladies run the More Fitness Half in Central Park.  I will take out my old Greater Boston Track Club gear and wear it in unity for today's tragedy, even though I no longer compete for them. I will continue to run despite my heavy heart. I will continue after my running goals. I will remember the happiness running brings. I will unite as a runner. I will find solace in my sport. I will remember why I run. 

Monday, April 8, 2013

365: Week 14

4/1/13: I said YES! Ok so I couldn't resist an April Fool's joke (also this beauty of a ring is the workings of Erica Sara, check her stuff out for some great personal engraved jewelry esp running pieces)
4/2/13: SO many amazingly great things happened today but there was just something about this train station that called for POTD..the bizarre name and two random abandoned platforms on either side of the working platforms...quite intriguing
4/3/13: Step away from the Easter sale candy...that by the way is the 2nd bag of M&M's and there were 4 rows of peeps...I may or may not need an intervention
4/4/13: Opening Sox and Yankees at Yankee Stadium. You can take the girl outta Boston but you can't take the Bahston outta the girl
4/5/13: After almost week of pining over it I finally got one of my fav cupcakes from my fav bakery and it was pretty EPIC and a perfect way to end a fantabulous week
4/6/13: This might be the most random obscure reference I will make, but tell me that manhole cover does not scream Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (This is on the side of the hill I do my hill repeats on, so I see it every Sat & finally snapped a pic)
4/7/13: Shoe obsession, who me, I don't know what ever you might be referring to... I don't know about you but I just like to get prints of things I don't like to hang in my place


4/1

4/3

4/2


4/4

4/5
4/6
4/7


Monday, April 1, 2013

365: Week 13

3/25/13:  Impending spring snow won't stop buds from prevailing through
3/26/13:  Equality track style (I don't usually do edits like this but this pic for the day needed/deserved it)
3/27/13: Not a pack rat (you can't be living in NYC) but there are some things I just can't seem to get rid of...
3/28/13:  My good day and good mail (bottom right-seriously I LOVE handwritten notes with purchases and in general) had to go be ruined by the top piece of mail. Blah
3/29/13: 1st meet on Monday, goals need to be made. Yeah those 1st 2 columns are happening...I mean they were empty and I have no plans on racing anything over 800, so why not (yep I'm declaring that now so if you see me at a meet racing over that distance trip & push me off the track...no seriously, but just don't injure me)
3/30/13: Easter egg dying/decorating and hiding them for tomorrow's hunt for breakfast... done and done, because I'm just cool like that
3/31/13:  For lunch I'll have some sugar washed down with sugar... Nutella milkshake with double chocolate walnut cookie...it sufficed for my fav bakery washout and Easter bunny fail

3/25
3/27

3/28


3/26
3/30

3/29
3/31