I Love New Yorkers

I’m back! I took two weeks off to recover from the NYC half on 7/27/08. I really was fine the next day – mostly I was just trying to get myself psyched up again and also trying to get some work done. But today I decided no matter how much or little I get done in a given day, I must make it my priority to run so that’s what I’m doing. Running is my therapy. If I don’t run, I go stir crazy no matter how busy I am doing other things. It’s my therapy, rejuvenation, revival, memory retrieval, attitude booster, stomach trimmer, cellulite sucker and so much more…got to have my running.

So Sunday I met my friend Michelle in Central Park and we took it easy. We just did a 10k. We were laughing at the fact that when we first started out, a 10k was such a monumental task and now we’re like oh we’re not really doing much today. Just a 10k. Sunday and today, I felt great during the run, but starting with Sunday…;

Michelle was struggling because she had worked out hard in the gym the day before and was still aching, so we just took it slow which was fine with me. I could have ran that pace all day. We just did a full loop of Central Park which happens to be a 10k (6.2 miles). Next week we’re going for two loops.

Now the funny part is always after the run, getting the stroller on and off the subway. The F train which I normally take was not going back to Queens so I walked another ten blocks (total of twenty blocks = one mile AFTER I ran the 6.2 miles in Central Park). Now the train that was working (the R train) does not have an elevator going down to the platform, so I carry the stroller down three flights of stairs only to get to the bottom and realize that there’s no way to get the stroller through the turnstile. So I have to carry the stroller back up to the top and across the street to where there’s a gate to take the stroller through.

And this is the part I love. This woman comes walking up the stairs – I’m already half way down carrying my jogging stroller, my baby, my diaper bag, etc, etc, and this woman without looking first comes walking up the stairs right bellow me instead of on the other side where it is completely empty. Then she finally looks up and notices me when she’s about to crash into us and at this point she glares at me like what am I doing walking down her stairs! I love New Yorkers!

But other than that the run was uneventful and totally boosted my confidence which was good because after the half marathon I was thinking no way am I going to be able to complete the full. Now I’m confident that I’ll do just fine!

Now today was great. Actually I ran into an old friend today and we we’re chatting online, as a result I got very little done this morning. 4:00 I said if nothing else I’ve got to run – so I grabbed E-man, the jogging stroller and my over-packed diaper bag and we headed to the train station to Central Park.

Today was all about hill training. I picked a hill in Central Park which is about six or seven blocks long and I ran up and down that hill eight times. It was great – something about the day. We’ve been having a lot of rain over the past couple of days, so there’s that jungle like feeling in the air that you get after a good rain, and it was about sixty-five degrees, breezy, plenty of oxygen, just felt great. I ran up and down that hill feeling so psyched and after I finished I was ready to run a loop in the park, except for those thunderclouds brewing in the sky and I hadn’t brought a rain cover for the jogging stroller.

I was laughing because walking home I was exhausted and I realized I’m so used to training less than I should and being exhausted after every run that if I have any energy left after my run I feel like there’s something wrong. I think I didn’t train hard enough or something. I feel like I got to go run off all my energy until I can barely drag myself and my baby home. I was laughing today thinking, “It’s actually a GOOD thing that I have enough energy to get home and I don’t want to bite everyone’s head’s off when they don’t go running out of my way.”

So yeah, I’m feeling good about this running thing. Some days are good, some are bad, and the last couple days have been good. I’m going to make it a goal to run three days every single week, no matter what, cause like I said, everything is better when I run. And mostly running is better when I run more often because you know that famous idea that we so often forget – everything gets better with practice! ;-)

And my baby – he’s doing great. He loves the runs he loves anything that takes him out of his crib, outdoors and into the fresh air. And he loves being around people. On the train, in the park, wherever, he just loves blowing bubbles and talking to everyone and laughing – he’s such a charming little fellow – I’m so proud of my sweet, social little boy.

On the way to the train station after the run, it started pouring rain so I’m running as fast as I can (and that’s actually much faster than I ever go when I’m running just to run) trying to keep him from getting soaked, stopping under every awning to take a breath and he was just laughing and blowing bubbles, he thought it was hilarious.

Under each awning where we stopped, there’d be a group of people huddled up waiting for the rain to stop and he’d look around and smile and start blowing bubbles and making faces and talking to everyone…it was just great. And in turn they’d laugh and talk and start pulling pictures of their little ones out of their wallets. I love New Yorkers when it’s raining. That’s the thing – New Yorkers will be so jaded and then you’ll share this moment like a rainstorm or an especially creative “money-requester” on the subway or something and all of the sudden you become the friendliest person. I love it. And my five-month old baby fits right in. He just loves talking to everyone.

Well back to running…I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for reading. Your comments appreciated!