10 Day Mental Check

Hola! Check Check Mental Check.  I'm having a hard time figuring out what to write about tonight since I haven't been able to run in 10 freakin' days.  You don't come here to read about my day to day boring ass life so I'm gonna try to pull somethin' out here that you might be interested in.

It's been a tough 10 days and I've had a few breakdowns in the meantime just feeling like every couple of weeks I get behind on my training again with some injury.  But, luckily for me I have a few little birdies whispering in my ear trying to keep me alive and motivated.  It is sooo hard not being able to run and feel like you're sinking and don't have enough time to get prepared.  This is such a huge thing and I'm sacrificing a lot to get to this day.  

So, I have been on a mission to find things to keep my cardio up and help to get me more strong.  I started Jilian Michaels crossfit video and was only able to do that for a couple days because it was irritating my hip further.  So, I decided to take a step back on that for a few days and went to yoga.  Oh yeah, then I went to Happy Hour on Thursday (haven't done that in a while).  Like, a real Happy Hour, where I stayed out late and was totally hung to the moon on Friday.  So, because of that I did absolutely no workout on Friday.  But, I sooo needed that night out.  Oh yeah, retail therapy (NEW SHOES!!!) to help as well with the random depression.  So, all in all the week ended pretty well.

In the midst of everything throughout the week I discovered a new awesome amazing website called Blogilates.com.  The chick on here is so cute gets you movin' w/her videos and she is mad STACKED (yep, I said that).  She's a clean eater (which I'm on the verge of moving into), she has an awesome blog, she's so inspiring, designs Gorgeous gym/yoga bags (gotta get me one!), she cooks and gives you the recipes of easy things that I think even I can manage.  (oh yeah, and Maribel has a girl crush on her, lol).  She's amazing!  Did I say that already??
Anyways, so after recovering my hangover, I was finally able to get out of bed on Saturday and I immediately got on the web, turned on her website, pulled up some videos and wound up doing 6 videos to equal an hour of workouts.  Needless to say, she kicked my ASS!!!  During the videos you find yourself screaming @ the computer "Are you fucking kidding me!!!"  But, she just has a way to keep you doing it.  I I did like 25 burpees on Saturday doing these vids.  BURPEES!!!!  Then still managed to get in my plankaday.  (Crap!  I still need to do that tonight!)  I try to get in my 1 minute plank every day.  Priorities people!!!

Sunday I woke up sooooo sooooorrreeee from the vids yesterday, BUT (big BUT) my hip wasn't hurting and it hasn't hurt in a few days.  I was going to wait until Tuesday to run again, but today I just felt like I couldn't wait.  Maybe not the smartest decision I've made in a day or so, but I did it.  I went for a run and ended up going out for over 3 miles.  I had a decent pace and felt really good.  My hip didn't hurt and things have been good so far.  My legs and glutes are still sore from all the lunges and squats on Saturday, but that's a good hurt and I definitely know the difference.  I'm gonna rest on Monday and do my workout vids tomorrow and I plan on going after it again on Tuesday morning!  I have a physical therapy appointment on Friday so I'm hoping that's gonna help some things too.

All I wanna do is keep running and get to this damn November 4th!  I enjoy running but these things are making it really hard to keep going.  This is what I want to do and I want to feel good about it.  But, I'm going to keep going because that's what I do.  I do what I want to do, I'm all I've got!!  Cassey Ho says Train Insane or Stay the Same.  I'm a believer.  Striving to be my best no matter what and push past these limits.

I hope you have a blessed week!  Keep moving to your goals and pushin' it.
What are some of your goals for the year and what are you doing to get there?  Have you accomplished any or all of them for the year?

xoxoxo
KC

Not Just About Running Anymore

 Oh My!  I don't even know where to begin to tell you about this week!  This journey is definitely a roller coaster ride.  It's only week 5 of this 16 week training and I've had to miss 2 long runs.  Week 2, I hurt my foot going too fast and this week my left hip has finally decided to tighten up and tell me to take it easy.  How can I take it easy when I've got 26 freakin' miles to run in 11 weeks.  I've said from the beginning I just want to make it to the start line injury free.  I have to tell you, I'm nervous.  I'm emotionally torn between resting or pushing it just a little further.  

I'M A BALLS TO THE WALL KINDA GIRL.  I'M THAT GIRL!

I get excited and pumped about something and I'm ready to do it and do it now.  

I keep running through my head everything I do to prevent these injuries.  I've explained all the stretching I do and I've even added more to my repertoire.  I don't skip on stretching.  I don't rush through it. I do it before I run, after I run, @ night, I do yoga, I've just bought resistant bands to strengthen my hips, I do that dreaded foam roller (and I've even gotten better @ it).  I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO!!!  That's where I was on Friday.  That was my thinking.  That was my dilemma.  And, on Friday night I had to make a decision about Saturday.  I HAD to tell myself NO!  YOU CANNOT DO THAT 16 MILES TOMORROW!!!  ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND WOMAN!!!  I cried and I talked to my friends about it.  I tear up now just sittin' here typing about it.  How can this happen?  What am I doing wrong?  How can I fix it??  I was sooo looking forward to that 16 miles.  I really wanted to see how I would do, How I would handle it and how my body would react.  I even went to Modells on Friday and bought my fuel belt, I bought my gels, I bought new t-shirts, I bought recovery shakes.  I WAS READY!!!  By the end of the day on Friday I had to tell myself NO!  This was killing me!!

So, I decided not to let this ruin my weekend!  I slept in on Saturday, went to Brooklyn (by accident) and had an amazing lunch, found a new neighborhood, and drank some wine (I never drink wine).  For the last month I've been doing my long runs and just crashing afterwards until Sunday when I go to Yoga.  The weekend hasn't been too exciting in terms of getting outside my house and seeing the city.  

In the meantime, I decided there's something about my body that's not right, something MORE I need to do.  So I decided it's the other fitness aspect of this journey.  A new lifestyle, a realization that I can't just run and not do anything else.  I have a blog I follow, it's called BurningBabiFat.com (LOOK IT UP, IT'S AMAZING).  One of her posts this week was STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY (http://www.burningbabifat.com/2012/08/strong-is-new-skinny-what-drives-you.html?m=0).  When I read this post I had to really think about it and it really hit home.  I have to make myself strong for this marathon.  I need to work on my core, work on building more muscle.  I like to think my legs are strong, but my upper body could definitely use some work.  So, above the hips I go.  I started talking to my friend Maribel.  She's totally into nutrition and fitness.  In fact, check out her blog @ http://food4thoughtnyc.tumblr.com/.  She's amazing and has tons of stuff to share.  Honestly, I don't know what I would do w/out her @ this point.  She listens to me complain, cry, and wonder what the hell is going on w/me right now.  We were talking and she's lost a ton of weight and has gotten really healthy in the last few years.  She likes to do @ home DVD's and we started talking about the Jillian Michaels circuit training dvd's.  So, low and behold, I downloaded from Amazon today and did my first workout @ home to the DVD.  Ms Michaels had me going for 20 mins straight.  I enjoyed it and got my sweat on.  She says to do it every day and you'll lose weight and get fit in I don't know, like 30 days?  I'm not going to put a time limit on it.  I'm just going to work hard and see where it takes me.  I'm definitely not going to stop running.  I have tons of work to do there too.  I'm going to do this Jillian Michaels thing in addition to the running & yoga.  This is how it has to be for the next few months until the marathon.  I have to focus and get strong in these days to come and make sure I can do this.  I have to turn it into my new lifestyle if I want to get better.  

All that being said, I had a pretty good week running my short runs and getting motivated to try something new and begin to get disciplined.  Since I've started this blog, I've also started twitter.  You can follow me @  Start2Finish12.  I've begun to follow all these runners, tons of women who run, who inspire, who eat healthy, who are positive, and encouraging.  I'm telling you it's a whole new world for me.  These women are awesome.  They blog and tell you about their journey, post pictures, they go to seminars, they do so many things that it's just all so motivating.  This is what has kept me going this weekend.  Knowing that I'm not the only one w/these problems and knowing this isn't the end of this journey.  I know now I can do this.  There are women who do so many inspiring things that have kids and a family.  I don't have that so I have no excuses.  If they can take care of families and keep in shape, run marathons, run 1/2 marathons, do triathalons, I have to be able to do this w/just me.  So, I'm ready.  Let's get going.  I've learned about #plankaday.  I've been doing 1 min plankadays for the past 5 days.  This is just one little thing that can help build up my core to make me just a little stronger.  I wanna be STRONG!  Not just skinny.  I wanna be healthy.  Not just skinny.  I wanna be toned and lean.  I'm on a mission.  

It's more NOW than just a marathon!  

What is it that inspires you?  What motivates you and how far will you go to be the best you can be?  How far will you go to reach a goal?

KC

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxxoxox

"I've got to feel Alive!...Even if it kills me." 16miles in 3hrs 34mins!

    "Once again it's on".. to quote the well known poet IceCube...

Well runners...another week has passed, and Im here gettin my blog post in just like I got  my miles in this week!! Im feeling really good..now, that its 9 hrs after my longest run thus far!! It was pretty tough!! but more on that in a min.

     So this week I changed up my music selection that I run to. Im a big fan of all types of music not just HipHop and I wanted a totally different vibe to get me prepared for the run at the end of the week. So I chose the group Incubus a 90s post/grung/alternative band. "Warning" from their 'Morning View' CD is what I started my run with. I find that I tend to like songs that build up, ya know start off slow then build to a driving tempo to get my first few miles at a good pace. This song is PERFECT! The way it starts so cool and calm and at 39 sec mark the guitar comes in picking up the pace..and the lead singer belts out "...dont ever let Llife pass you by." And thats when the song really gets goin!! Throughout the song it goes from uptempo to break downs. The last few minutes of the song is pure energy!!! "Wish you were here" is another song with the same structure, as is "diamonds and coal". Great running songs.  "anna molly" and "pardon me" are very heavy on the "grunge-guitar" so if you dont mind that, they are great songs to get your pace up. "nice to know you" is grungy but it has a great breakdown in the middle. "Drive" and "the Warmth" are great mid tempo songs to run to when you want to slow your pace a bit. So my weekly runs were really good and I felt refreshed running with a new music selection and I was ready for my loong 16mi run on sat.  Or so I thought...

   So I got my 16mi in!! YAY ME!!..Its kind of a BIG deal!! It went pretty good, as well as a 3 hr 34min and 18 sec run could go. ..SCHEWWW!!!   I WAS TIRED!! I felt good and inspired from completeting the run but still couldnt ignore the fatigue and pain i felt in my legs. (but a GOOD pain). I've noticed its usually around the 10 mile mark is my threshold. Thats where my body seems to give out. When we ran the Staten Island half  marathon (13.1 mi) i ran the whole way. I guess it was the excitement and adrenaline. But when Im running to train I have to stop and walk after 10 miles. My legs and feet feel so heavy that i have to slow my "slow pace", down even slower. I alternate between walking and jogging. By mile 12 its mostly walking & getting my heart rate down & catching my breath a little. The whole time Im thinking .. "this 26.2 is gonna be a booger" lol!! mMile 12 1/2  to 13 Im jogging again, legs heavy, hurting, burning & heavy as lead! (can someone remind me why Im doing this again) Rings in my head...But I push on,  finding strength in the fact that there are only 3 miles to go!!! So I dig in and jog to 14. I slow down at 15 to catch my breath but keep it moving w/ a steady fast walk. But my feet at this point are beginning to get sore..but I push on, because now I have ONE MORE MILE!! THANK YOU BIG-BABY JESUS!!!!

   So since Im here writing today that means I survived..I bet you weren't quite sure there for a min right? So of course I went to get my legs massaged with warm oils and hot stones and my feet soaked then wrapped in warm towels at my local spa....I left there with my feet /legs feeling rejuvenated!!

 The kicker about the long brutal run, is that I cant wait to do it again and push my body even further..Its freakin Crazy how that works!!

   I slept in this morning but have a 3mi this evening to finish off my 30mi for the week. Welcoming Monday because Monday=Restday. Who knew running would give me a reason to like Mondays..

 Well thats it for this week sports fans. Stay tuned next week for new music plus I'll be breaking in my new shoes next week!! They will most likely be the ones that I will wear in the Marathon. So Im getting excited, but based on my run last week...I still have a lot of training to do! But Im ready!! #LetsGo!!

Lloyd out, till next blog...
.Llove-Llife.

I'm Definitely in My Zone

Just to piggy back on Big LL's post, if you're keeping up, Jay & Kanye have definitely been motivators on my early morning runs and my long runs on Saturdays.  I've been running to Watch the Throne for Months now.  Sometimes it's all that'll get me going.  I love how the whole CD starts and then just pushes me all the way to the end.  I'll say, I'm Definitely in My ZonE!!!!

I'm feeling so good!  Feet are good, legs are good, heart is keeping up and we're workin' hard!  5am runs are on track and I'm right on schedule!  I have to tell you, this is all I'm doing right now.  It's all I think about, it's all I wanna do when I get off work and it's all I've been looking forward to on my weekend.  However, my buddy Maribel is on her way back from London and I'm sure we'll have some catch up time comin' our way.  I'm so excited.  We have a booze cruise coming up, and we wanna get out of the city for a weekend as well.  I digress.

I've been trying to work in some yoga and gym time during the week, but it's really hard.  I don't get home til after 9p and sometimes after 10p if I do yoga.  Class doesn't start til 730p.  It puts me on a late schedule and I come home eat something real quick and hit the sheets for my early morning.  I'm usually out of bed by 430 to get some protein and food in before I hit the road.  I eat once before my run and eat again before I head out the door for work.  I'm ALWAYS hungry!!!  ALWAYS!!!!!!!!  I can't say I have the best eating habits right now either.  Diana and I were talking the other day and I feel like all this running just gives me permission to not eat as well.  The guy @ the ferry on Wednesday looked @ me like I had 10 heads when I told him I wanted 2 glazed donuts.  I looked back @ him and said YES, 2 PLEASE!!  You have no idea.  I'm starting to be a mean chicken spaghetti maker (w/whole wheat pasta), but I just can't get that damn sauce to noodle ratio down.  I always have way too many noodles for the sauce.

Anywhoooooooo.  My runs went really well this week.  Oh yeah, I joined Twitter...FML!  So, follow me.  I think you can find me under Kyndra Clawson or Start2Finish12.  I'm not really sure which one. It's all so confusing.  Do you really have to type all those @ signs & #'s all the time? Like, I don't get it.  But whatever, I assume I'll get it down pat in no time.  It hasn't even been 24 hours yet.  I've only tweeted once so far. (I always wanna call it "twatting", btw).  LOL.

Okay, back to running...We had an "easier" week this week.  Only 24 miles total which included Tues 3M, Wed 4M, and Thurs 4M.  Diana and I couldn't figure out if Thurs was 3 or 4 miles when we got to Nike Town, but LL set us straight on that one.  I struggled through Central Park on Thursday.  I need to run out there more often.  Those hills are a BITCH!!!  But, we conquered through the steaming humidity and by the time I got home I was STARVING!!!  No surprise there.

Friday was rest night and so I did. 

I was up on Saturday and on the Ferry by 7a, and on the road by about 745.  NYC for 3 weeks has had summerstreetsNYC where they close Park Ave from BK Bridge for about 7 miles up to 72nd street and you can enter CP.  They have tons of FREE activities for people to partake in such as bike riding, ziplining, rock climbing, art, and glorious views of Grand Central and running through that tunnel.

So, my plan was to run up Broadway to BK bridge and do the ZipLining.

Dude, it started @ 7a, and I was there by 8a and they were already full for the day!! (That's NY for ya!  You snooze you loooooze)  I would've loved to do that before I got really into my run, but I sucked it up and kept going and started my way up Park Ave.  This was an AWESOME run!!  I loved it. It went by so quickly.  There were so many people out taking advantage of all the free stuff going on and the goodies being handed out.  It was so cool to see all the runners running up and down Park Ave to get their runs in for the day.  I took a few pics along the way and my Pace ended up being better on this 10 mile run that it has in a while.  I couldn't believe it!  The whole time I was thinking my app had to be wrong, but I'm just goin w/it and saying it was right.  I ended in 1 hour 43 mins with a 10.20 pace.  WHATWHAT!!!   I ended up in Central Park feelin' good, got my stretch on and relaxed by a little pond for a while.   Little duckies came by to congratulate me on a job well done.  Took my shoes off and enjoyed the beautiful day for a while.  Afterwards, I got back on the subway and headed back home where I chowed, napped, painted a little bit, watched TV and chilled for the rest of the day.  For some, it might not have been too eventful, but my cup runneth over right now.  I'm feeling good and feeling positive.

I was thinking and telling LL the other day that I can't believe we just might do this.  You mean, I'm gonna follow this schedule every day for the next 3 months until the marathon!?!?!?  I'm pretty hyped right now.  I gotta stay positive, stay healthy, and motivated.  This week's gonna be a tough one.  I've got 32 miles ahead of me.  That means 6 miles on Tuesday and 16 MILES on Saturday.  I'm gonna hit up the NYC City summerstreets again and gonna get me some of that free stuff this time.  I missed out on Saturday b/c I was starving and all I could think about was getting home and eating.  :). Ahhh...the life of a runner.  j/k.

I got in some yoga today to stretch out my old lady muscles and now I'm ready.  I've got some things to do this evening which include Eating, bubetube and getting ready for the week.  Oh yeah and washing my stinky ass running clothes.  Sometimes I'm afraid I'm gonna get kicked off the train due to my stench, but I guess it's not as bad as others.

I'll catch ya on the FLIP SIDE!!!!

P.S. Make sure you check out Bigdaddy's blog from yesterday. He's got some good stuff in there!!! I posted it on fb and TWITTER!

P.P.S....Share my blog on your page. I'd love to get some perspectives from other people w/fitness goals, how they handle everything and what they do to stay inspired. Just hit the Share this page to FB or TWITTER on the right hand side.  Let's get this partay STARTED!!!!

KC
xoxoxo

One Race...OneLlove. "3 for the 26.2!"

   So... a 30 something, fearless white girl who moves from Okc to Nyc, because she could.  A 20 something spunky Columbian latina, code name Dirty Diana who loves Ludacris and dancing at wedding receptions and a 40 something black guy from oklahoma who loves HipHop decide to run the NY Marathon...

  "Whats the punchline?" you may ask...because I know it sounds like the beginning of some off color joke...But alas there is no punchline. Its the result of 3 friends from very different walks of life unexpectantly coming to the same point at the same time in their lives, Week 4 of 16 week marathon training!! And on Nov, 4 in 12 short weeks they will be standing at the starting line (and then hard part...) 5 hrs...5 boroughs later at the finish line of New York Marathon!! Go Hard or Go Home right?

So let me start of by thanking my best friend Kyndra for letting me guest blog for her and adding some testosterone to her page. If you havent guessed it yet...I'm the black guy. Lol!..Heres a brief synopsis of me and my journey to SMASH 26.2 mi.thru the streets of NYC!!!

My name is Lloyd and my story is one of Llife. Some of the lowest lows and some of the highest highs....Sort of like when running long distances. Running has got me thru some really tough times since I started a yr and a half ago. I wont bore you with the lows I'll just dazzel you with the highs.. because theres been far more of those! :-)

Febuary 6th 2011!! my first race!! Yes thats SNOW!!! Crazy right? It was a 4 mi race through Central park. Yeah it was pretty cold, but by the end I was warm for sure. I ran an 11min pace exactly, 44.mins. I was 4940 out of 5813..that means I beat 873 New Yorkers!!  2725 out of 3006 males, so I left 281 men in my dust!! (Stats provided by the good folks at New York Road Runners)

   That's who I qualified through. I had to run 9 races and volunteer. Races ranged between 4mi and 9.3 (15k), to my longest the Staten Island Half Marathon.

    13.1 mi ran in 2hrs and 24min and 46sec! MAJOR!!!!  It was an Amazing feeling needless to say I was hooked! I was 4493 out of 5304, 811  runners smoked!!! Okay im done bragging..cause I got dusted too by 4492! doesnt quite have the same ring to it does it? Lol..

   I've been lucky to not have had any major injuries, thank God. Altho I do have my occasional ache and pain, I try to just take it easy and run at a low impact pace. My last race in New York was the Scotland 6 mi run. Finished in 57mi.41sec.

   It was a really fun race, people had their face painted like Mel Gibson in Braveheart! I mean face fully painted one side white, the other blue!  Crazy!

   I left New York and returned home to Oklahoma and have been training daily. getting up at 5am to beat the heat.

Which is very hard to do, but I have a goal to accomplish so theres no choice. Plus I really love running...and Im a lover of music so Its nice to find different songs to run to. To me music has a different effect on me when Im running, Its like its my own little soundtrack to my journey. I ran to a Kanye and Jay "Watch the Throne" mix today for my 10 mi run...and it was so perfectly fitting.

   I started w/ "lift off"!! Man, its like pure energy!!! The horns and Beyonce goin off! It really set the the tone for a good pace.

   "No church in the wild" kept me amped and at mile 3 when "N----s in Paris" came on I was warmed up and ready to pick up the pace. Then it would switch from a slower tempo track to a faster uptempo track. Around mile 5 "Murder to excellence" comes on...So appropriate, I'm starting to labor a little but the beat is Crazy and the drums get me pumped! Jay and Yay are goin off on the rhymes the beat breaks down to bongos and the the drums come back in at just the right time and Im in my Zone! Energy!! I feel the endorphins kick in and I feel like a machine...until the song fades...I'm reminded that I am not and slow my pace as a slower track comes on. Around mile 7 I go straight to H.A.M (hard as a mutha) to get that last push of sonic energy from my headphones. I ended mi 9 to 10 with track 15 "the joy" a nice slow Curtis Mayfield / Pete Rock sample. A slow soulful track, cause my pace at this time was slow and soulful..lol  I finished at a 11min pace, not too bad.

   Well, I could go on but I'll stop there. 3 mi tomorrow will make a total of 24mi this week. Next sat 16mi!! The saga continues...

Thanks for taking the time to be a part of my journey. See you at the finish line.

.Llove-Llife.

I'm no Olympian, but......I got 30 MILES in this week!!!

So, the week started off a little iffy on Monday.  I invested in my new amazing Brooks Glacier 10's last Sunday and I was determined to break to those babies in.  I didn't know if I should or not considering my week off I had due to the soreness on the side of my footsie.  So, I went to the gym and was only going to do the bicycle but DAMN they were all full.  I moved on to the eliptical and that just wasn't doing it for me.  Still trying not to get on the freakin' treadmill, I started to lift some weights.  I did arms, legs, and abs, and the treadmill was just calling my Name..KYNDRAAAAAA COME OVER HERE!!  TAKE THOSE NEW PINK EXPENSIVE SHOES OF YOURS ON A RIIIIIDDDDE!!!!  I could NOT resist the temptation.  I got on and was feelin pretty effing good.  I told myself only to do 2 miles @ only a speed of 5.  And..that's what I did.  It was so slowwww and felt like the longest 2 miles EVER!!!  But, that's all I did and I still felt amazing after.

I decided on Tuesday morning to get up and do what was on my marathon schedule and did the 3 miles.  I did it and did it very slowwwwww.  Trying to keep my pace barely above 12 mins.  That's kind of a hard task.  But, I'm now using the Map My Run App because I don't have Nike shoes anymore to use my sport band.  It's a great app.  I started using my headphones and listening to music again on my runs because the app has a little voice that comes on and tells you your progress throughout the run.  It's really cool and allows you to keep track of your pace.  Actually, it's heaven sent to me because it's keeping me in check w/my pace and not allowing me to act like an Olympian and run any faster than I should be.  Again, trying to keep the injuries close to 0 going forward and this is going to help.

Wednesday morning came around and I decided to rest.  It was a day for 5 miles.  Decided again to go to the gym.  I lifted and ran 3 miles on the treadmill and counted my 2 miles from Monday towards my 5 for that day and BAM I was caught up in miles for the Week!!  So, when Thursday finally got here I went on my morning run for 3 miles and was feeling good so far this week.  I took advantage of the rest for the evening and was feeling even better

After much indecisiveness and going back and forth in my head I decided on a little happy hour to let loose.  Went for drinks with Q & Patricia and we had dinner @ this amazing burger place in Midtown called RARE.  Burger & sweet potato fries were delish.  Stuck to just a couple drinks and a glass of wine @ dinner, as promised, and headed home early so I could get some rest and get up the next day for the HUGE LOOOONGGG run on Saturday morning.

Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And Long Run it was!!!  It was 14 freakin miles!!!.  Considering my last long run was 2 Saturdays ago and it was only 10 miles I was quite nervous and didn't know what to expect out of my body and my mind.  I missed the 12 mile long run from the Saturday before due to my foot issue.
I wanted to miss the heat, so I was on the road by 745a on Saturday morning.  Since it was such a long run I needed a change in my usual scenery and opted for the East side of Manhattan.  There's a beautiful view of the East river and the bridges.  Not to mention being so inspired by all the runners out getting their long runs in for the day too.  There was so many people out that day and I was so glad I showed up to be a part of it.  This run took me on an adventure and I had no idea I was going to go so FAR UP!!  At one point during the run I decided I wanted to run in Central Park so I started making my way west over to the park and wound up entering @ 59th & 5th.  You guys!!  That is so crazy!!  I ran all the way from the Staten Island Ferry which is as Far South as you can go in Manhattan!!  That's a LONG freaking way!  The whole time I just kept saying I can't believe I've gone this far...I can't believe it.  Then!!!  I ran through the park up and around the reservoir.  OMG!!  This was CRAZY and I still had like 7 or 8 miles to go!!!!!!  Finally finished where I began in the park after running a street repeatedly the last 1.5 miles to get to the 14!   I struggled, I walked, I drank water and THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!!!!  Right there in the park trying to get to this 14 MILES!  Around 12 miles, I just kept telling myself to keep going, I'm almost there, I can do this!
After my run I made sure I walked the recommended 10 mins after my run to get the blood flowing again thru my body.  After 14 miles my legs felt like cement.  I stretched twice as long as usual to make sure my legs were not going to tighten up.  I did some push ups (well, kinda), I do the push ups on the bench.  I hate push ups, so I like to modify.  lol.  I did some crunches just to keep my body moving.  Then I stretched again and drank lots of gatorade to recover.  I didn't really know what to think about myself.  I was kind of scared of myself that I actually did it and wondered if I could do it again!
I met this older man after I stretched and he asked me what I was training for.  We ended up chatting it up for a while and come to find out he's such an inspiration.  He's 61 years old and has ran 9 NYC marathons, beginning in 1998 and has done 5 others outside of the county and w/in the country.  His goal is to get to 20!!!  He's gone through injuries and ups & downs through his journey but man he's a freakin' soldier!  That's one thing about running is you always meet these people that have done things you think are impossible.  I'm always finding someone who has done amazing things.  People love talking about running and telling you their story.  I want to have THOSE stories to tell and be an inspiration to somebody also.
I picked up Runners World magazine this week and it's an amazing issue.  Here's one of the quotes from the magazine that relates to people who run (it's kind of funny and so so true).  "We runners talk about having fun, but I don't think anybody believes us.  We talk about discipline and endurance, we take care, we exercise caution, we watch our diets and monitor our pace.  We are ascetics who talk unconvincingly of the bracing enjoyment of self abuse."  
Aside from this quote in the issue, there are some really great stories about regular people who run and stories about Olympians who run Marathons in crazy RECORD times and just keep doing it.   I haven't even ran my first marathon yet and I'm all of a sudden wanting to run more.  I want to run SF Women's Marathon, the Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon (@ night on the strip), Boston, and Philly.  Could just be a phase.  I'll keep you updated on that after NYC.  This could change before then!  You never know!

So, now that I've rambled and probably lost you about 4 paragraphs ago.  I just want to tell you about my last run for the week, if you're still reading.  I got up and ran another 5 miles this morning.  I started to feel some tightening in my hip last night and HAD to go to yoga this morning.  I know I'm not injured but just need to stretch it out.  I went to the 90 minute class and felt amazing afterwards.  My day was a sweaty/stinky mess, but after this weekend I feel accomplished, pretty amazing, and pumped for this week!  I'm ready for my morning runs and gym nights this week!  Let's get it going!  Get through the work day and get down to business.

I'm starting to feel pretty good about this and still taking it easy.  I'm not trying to beat any records, I'm just trying to get to the Start line.  This is for me and I just want to complete it!  I feel like I can do anything @ this point.  I just need to stay healthy, uninjured and motivated.

Thanks for reading this one!  I had a lot to say today.  I hope I motivate and inspire, as all of you out there doing things for yourselves and your families inspire me!  I see so many people on fb back home and here in New York that are doing so many great things to get healthy.  Keep it up and never let anybody say you can't get there.  We can do it and feel good about it!  We are fabulous!!!  xoxoxo

P.S.  I'm going to have a guest blog this week!  One my motivators, inspirations, and the reason I'm even in NYC...He once told me I had nothing to lose and still continues to this day to motivate me and get me through some really tough times.  I llove him to deffffff....

Pease and I'm out!!