Weekly revelation: Missed runs equal cranky Monica

Apologizes for being a total slacker at posting over the past week. A manic week at work devoured all free time and any motivation to even look at a computer at night after living in front of one at the office. Promise to inundate y'all with my word vomit at least a few times this week.

So. About that running. Forced myself to take last Monday and Tuesday off after the back-to-back races. My knee has been acting up a bit the past couple weeks so I figured it was best to give it a little rest before throwing myself back into training. 4 weeks till the 15K and given my recent times I think it's totally possible to hit a sub-8:45 pace if I stick with the training plan. Oh and don't blow out my knee. Last thing I need is a case of ITB syndrome. Unfortunately, speaking of injuries, Smithies was taking it easy last week and sat out Sunday's 4 mile race in Prospect Park as it's looking more and more like he's got a bad case of planters fasciitis, which does not bode well for his running mission. Hopefully with a little more R&R he'll be back out on the road! I don't know how he's holding up - literally two days sans running had me going bat shit psycho. More so than usual.

Fast forward to Sunday, which was the NYRR Al Gordon 4 miler in Prospect Park. Great turn-out with over 9,000 runners braving the cold and icy paths. Luckily no falling tree branches (several people were killed in Central Park this week...) but the sidewalk and asphalt were definitely slick with black ice. The race route followed the same loop from last weekend's 10 miler, but rather than starting on a slight downhill, the 4 miler threw us smack onto the steepest incline for the first mile. Didn't mind getting it out of the way early on, but probably started out a bit fast, especially for uphill, clocking ~8:10 for at the first mile marker. Mile two was a series of undulating hills and by that point my right knee was being pretty vocal that I need to start doing freaking FLAT RACES. No more of this hilly crap - Comrades, what? Pretty much straight downhill for the third mile and then climbed a long gradual hill to the finish line. Finished in ~35 minutes at a bit over a 8:45 minute pace. Not too shabby and my best race finish yet for a 4 miler!

After the race, my legs were feeling pretty fresh so I decided to go on a scenic tour through Brooklyn and run home. Not that I exactly knew where I was going or anything as is pretty clear from the meandering route on the map... Only intended to run 7 to 8 miles back, but I got slightly detoured on Vanderbilt Avenue so the long run came out closer to 10 miles. Oops? Had fun exploring Prospect Heights though and discovered some super yummy looking restaurants that need to be tested (Le Gamin anyone?). Of course by this point, everything looked tasty because I was STARVING. Really should have eaten more of the post-race bagel since I was definitely not fueled up enough to run 10 miles. Minor details. It was my first time running across the Manhattan Bridge - lovely view up the river of Manhattan and luckily the bridge wasn't too swarmed with touristas since it was still pretty early in the morning. Once back on the island, just popped over to my standard running path along the East River, waved goodbye to Brooklyn and pushed the last couple of miles up to 10K pace (~9:00mm). All in all, almost 14 miles for the day so more than made up for the missed runs during the week!

Later in the day, I definitely made up for the lack of food with two lunches and then the Taste of 7th Street, where I snagged some arepas, a porchetta sandwich, lobster roll, two cupcakes, and a few beers for just $18. Amazing! If you haven't explored the ethnic culinary greatness of E7th St between Ave A and 1st Ave, do so immediately! It is a foodie's dream. And apparently a great place to get your eat on after long runs.

Up next: no races this weekend! Will do a long run on Saturday or Sunday and a few tempo runs this week to keep whittling away at my times. I have no doubt that work will give me plenty of frustration to pound out on a fast treadmill run...

Yes, we're just that hardcore

Overheard in Prospect Park
Random runner guy: So are you running the 3 mile relay or the 10 mile?
Spandex clad runner girl: Oh, just the 3 miler. I ran the Run for Haiti in Central Park yesterday so didn't want to overdo it.
Random runner guy: Good call. I saw the NYRR email about the Run for Haiti but didn't sign up since I had the Cherry Tree today. You'd have to be an idiot to do two races in a weekend.
Spandex clad runner girl: Absolutely - who would be that stupid?

Answer: Greg and I. That wasn't necessarily the most inspiring conversation to eavesdrop on as we waited in the cold to start the Prospect Park Cherry Tree 10 mile race this morning. 14 miles and a few minor/major injuries later, I'd say they weren't TOTALLY correct. Yes, I'll be quite sore tomorrow and probably should take the next two days off from running, but these were two of the most fun races I've ever done, not to mention both PBs.

Started off the weekend with NYRR's 4 mile Run for Haiti in Central Park on Saturdayy morning. Ah-mazing experience: 10,000 plus runners and walkers pitched up and raised over $400,000 for the Haitian Relief Fund. Smithies and I met up with Kristy to complete the GTS runner's trio. With lovely unseasonably warm weather and great energy from the crowd, it was hard not to get pumped up for the race. We all clocked in at a comfortable 36 minutes for the 4 miles. Despite being sick with NAIMUN plague, legs and lungs felt really solid and I'm sure I could have gone faster if the route hadn't been so packed with runners and I wasn't running another race the next day. Minor details.

Sunday morning brought far less running enthusiasm but a substantially longer goal. Total MTA malfunction meant that it was huge pain in the ass to get to Brooklyn. No F train equals 2 hour trip to Prospect Park. Not okay. Was definitely feeling more than just a little under the weather this morning and Smithies was sporting a very painful heel injury. Strike two. Of course, we were running the self titled "Race for the Hardcore" and the 900 runners out at the start line looked like they ate 10 miles for breakfast. Understatement of the week to say that we were feeling just a smidge intimidated.

Despite our trepidation, the race turned out fantastic! Neither of us had run in Prospect Park before so we were taken aback with the very hilly course. Let's just say by the third loop on the never ending stupidly steep hill, I had practically sworn of running for life and was intensely questioning why on earth we'd consider running 56 miles of hills at Comrades. I just concentrated on maintaining a consistent pace throughout the course and assumed that a great time was probably out of the picture given the course and my utter exhaustion.

False! Greg crossed the finish line at 1:32 (pace of ~9:11) and I followed shortly at 1:36 (~9:40 pace). Personal bests for both of us and also received super cute goody bags from the folks at Prospect Park Track Club. Very excited about Cherry Tree running cap and complimentary yoga class at Lulemon. Sadly we didn't stick around for the free massages since Greg had to go get his AYCD on and I had a bake-a-thon date with the girls. Perfect post race refueling :)


You can see us crossing the start line around 4:19. Wooo!

All-in-all, a fantastic weekend with a some pretty sweet running accomplishments. Definitely feeling much more confident that I'll be able to run March's 15K at a sub-9 minute pace and looking forward to next weekend's low-key 4 mile in Prospect Park.

P.S. photos of today's races are here!