The Epicurious Runner

I went home real quick this past weekend. It was my mom’s birthday on Friday and I wanted to surprise her so I didn’t let her know I was planning on being around. My sister planned an amazing dinner celebration for us on Saturday night and I ended up getting there just in time. I hit some traffic on the way home on Saturday, which was expected because it was Labor Day weekend after all. I have to drive through 4 states to get to NH. I always can’t wait to get out of NY, then I reach CT, which is the longest state ever and definitely takes up a good chunk of the traveling time. I am happy when I eventually reach the Mass Pike and even happier when I finally reach NH!

It was so nice to relax with family and I hope I surprised my mom! She did see my car in the parking lot on the way inside, which was kind of a bummer, but I’m pretty sure she was happy to see me! We enjoyed a delicious Zucchini and Quinoa lasagna with a side of Chicken Sausage and Pumpkin Garlic Knots! The Garlic knots were amazing and I could’ve eaten ten thousand of them. For dessert, my sister also made a Kabocha Squash Cake, which was freakin fabulous! I need that recipe and I must make it ASAP. A perfect Fall dessert.

I spent the night full of food, which was good because I was planning on running 16 miles Sunday morning. This was the best couch sleeping I’ve ever experienced! Also sorry for all the not so good photos, they were all taken with my phone.

Kerri and I went to Mine Falls Park for our run, she ran 3 and came back for me when I was done with my 16, such a nice sister! The weather was also absolutely gorgeous! I was super nervous about my run for some reason, every week that I tackle a new number, I tend to get butterflies in my tummy!

My run was amazing! Mostly due to the fact that it was a trail run. It was soooo nice to run through all that nature and not have to see any cars at all or have to stop at any traffic lights. Mine Falls has several different trails and I definitely covered every inch of the park to rack up the mileage. Before I even hit the 2 mile mark I was stopping to take pictures.

1. 10:33
2. 10:27
3. 9:45
4. 10:04
5. 10:33
6. 10:29
7. 10:22
8. 10:31
9. 9:51
10. 10:06
11. 9:52
12. 10:23
13. 10:35
14. 9:47
15. 9:43
16. 9:36 <– Love that my last mile was the fastest!!!

So I came home to my feet looking like this! Disgusting, I know, but also pretty hardcore, ha! How did all that dirt even get in there? I also had a really disgusting blood blister that I took a picture of, but you probably don’t want to see that.

I can’t wait to run my marathon!!!!

Where was the best run you ever had?

There was a chance I didn’t have to go into work tonight because of the said hurricane, but looks like it’s not going to be so bad and now I have to go in. Oh well, today feels like a Saturday so hopefully that will make it feel like an even longer weekend.

I have to somehow squeeze in a 6 mile run sometime today, but I am having a hard time finding the motivation.

This is what I am going to be doing in only 2 weeks!

Yep, the Warrior Dash is finally almost here! I cannot wait to participate in this, it’s going to be a blast! Too bad some of my friends dropped out, they will be missing a great experience. Okay, they are going to a bachelor party instead, but you know they won’t be covered in mud!

I feel kind of crazy because I signed up for another race. Not only will I be doing 2 races in one weekend, but the second race is an 18 miler!!!! So in two weeks I will be doing the Warrior Dash on Saturday and then an 18 mile race on Sunday, kind of crazy right?

The race is perfect timing too, it’s about when I have my 18 mile run planned, so I figured I might as well take the opportunity to run this with all of the amenities like water on the side of the road and thousands of people to run with.

I better get to that run!

…and the chafing begins, but I will get to that later.

I was getting a little worried because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fit my long run in this weekend. Working the night shift really throws off my running schedule. It was nice and cool here in NYC for a few days and it was definitely welcomed, but we are up for another scorcher this week, starting today.

Before I continue on, I missed writing about my long run last weekend. I had 14 miles originally planned, but my body could only manage 12, so stopped there. The run itself went really well physically, but it felt like it was going on and on forever. This was my first successful 12 mile run yet. I have run this distance, I believe 3 other times and I’ve injured myself on every one. I was so happy to come out of that run injury free. Looks like I broke the curse of the Unlucky 12.

Note: To break up this long post, I am going to intersperse my after run breakfast photos.

I love pancake & cheese sandwiches! My dad used to make these when I was little. So good.

I was nervous about this run, I had a real hard time getting to bed early last night. I had so much on my mind. The alarm went off at 6:30 and I was so tempted to just roll over and say screw it. But, then I thought about how awesome I was going to feel after running the longest I’ve ever run.

My clothes were already laid out since Friday night so I was just about all ready to go come this morning. I decided last night to skip on Central Park and stick to Astoria. I have a good 6-7 mile loop that I normally run, so I figured I might as well just run that twice. I hid an almost frozen bottle of gatorade in my front yard so that I could refill my water bottle halfway through my run.

No camelbak today. Unfortunately I left gatorade and water in it for several days so it started to growing funky stuff inside of it. Gross, I know. I need to get some sanitizer and a brush to give the hose a good cleaning.

I started out pretty slow on my run, well not super slow, but I knew I needed to pace myself physically and mentally. I broke my run into 3 – 5 mile segments and thought of it as the beginning, middle, and end. I ran into a small race going on around mile 11 and I cheered for a few of the people and a kid running by. It made me feel good and it also gave me some unexpected energy.

The last two miles were TOUGH! I had to keep repeating to myself, less than two miles or less than 1 mile. I made it though and I evened out with a 10 min/mi. average pace!

It’s supposed to be at least 90 degrees here today, so that is why I headed out so early. I definitely never wake up that early, not even to run. It’s a good thing I got out there when I did though because it was really starting to heat up by the time I finished. For some weird reason I had the Spanish alphabet stuck in my head for the last two miles and I couldn’t stop singing it. Random.

I realized recently that I haven’t been eating enough, not only after my long runs, but in general. This has never happened to me. I’ve been getting really light headed at work around the same time every night and I think it’s because I don’t eat enough in the evening. I really hate this schedule, but thankfully I only have one more week of nights and then I am FINALLY moving to the day shift, thank god!

But, yes like I said, I have not been eating enough, so today I came home with a goal. EAT! I have trouble eating after a long run, my stomach never feels up to it right away. I spread these 3 small meals out over 2 hours.

I also experienced some minor chafing on my run, between my knees and under my left armpit. I think I’ll need to purchase some body glide.  

Here’s the proof:

First of all, this completes one Fitness Resolution for the year! Only three more to go.

This race, even though it was a big half marathon, didn’t have as much hype or significance as my first half marathon did. Even though this wasn’t a huge race for me, I was still super excited for it. This was my rebuttal race for having to drop out of the 13.1 Marathon Series race in Boston. Also, like I mentioned above, it helped me to complete one of my fitness resolutions for the year.

Unfortunately, Derek was unable to come with me to the race because he had to work. I figured since I would be heading up there on my own, I asked my friends if I could stay at one of their apartments for the night because they live a lot closer to the Bronx than I do. I ended up staying at my friend, Megan’s place, she lives on 116th street so I would already be half way there by the time I left in the morning.

Let me tell you, it’s kind of stressful having to pack up everything you could possibly need for a race and then leave for the night. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to travel far for a race, I would be so worried that I would forget something.

I even got to sleep in Megan’s super comfortable bed, it was like a cloud, I loved it! I, of course did not sleep very well though. Mainly because I am not used to going to bed so early. I probably got a good 4 hours of sleep. I woke up at 4:30, hopped in the shower, put all of my gear on and was out the door by 5:05, not bad!

I got to the race 20 minutes before my planned time. I was meeting up with Adriana from work and we had planned to meet for 6:15. I went to the bathroom, stretched and waited for her while she parked her car.

We took some before pictures, of course.

My Garmin time and my ‘official’ race time are way off, I’m partial to the Garmin time

I signed up for a last minute race last week and never really got around to telling anybody about it. I made a goal to run 12 races this year and I’m a little behind, so I’m trying to catch up! This was race # 5 and next week’s Bronx Half Marathon will be # 6. I will be halfway there. I’m also signed up for the Warrior Dash on September 18th and of course, my marathon on November 7th. So that leaves me with 4 more races to sign up for and complete.

I especially liked my number for this race. So simple and such a low number! I woke up around 6:40 on Sunday morning and was out of the door by 7:10. I almost forgot my sunglasses and my Garmin, I had to run back upstairs for them! I wasn’t taking this race super seriously, it was more of a fun run, especially because I ran 11 miles the day before. I was sore on Saturday, but felt pretty good Sunday morning. I more tired than anything else.

Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long for the subway and I got there with enough time to spare. It wasn’t a huge race, but it still had about 750 runners. The race starts on the manhattan side of the bridge and we ran on the path that goes right through the middle of it.

Image Source

This is basically the amount of room we had, but only half of it because there was a turnaround point at the end. The second half wasn’t so bad and I had a little more room, but I felt like I was basically fighting for my space the whole time. There were 2 good hills, but if I had the space, I could’ve done better, but it really didn’t matter. I was running this race for fun and not for time

I would just like to point out my matching race gear! hahaha, I feel like I never match my clothes at all when I run and I purposely saved this clothing to wear at my race.

The one thing I was really impressed with at the race was that the distance was spot on! My Garmin never matches up to the actual race distance, most of the time it’s usually longer than the actual race. But, this time I finished right at 3.1, it was pretty awesome. I guess there wasn’t much room for error though. We basically ran over the bridge and back over and then through a small park until the finish line.

The course wasn’t chip timed or anything, well we got chips, but basically whatever time was on the clock when you finished is your official time. They didn’t start it at any specific start line, when they said go, the time started, no matter how far back you were in the crowd.

I was very happy with my negative splits! Here are my stats:

• Distance: 3.1
• Duration: 28:43 – Garmin / 29:11 – Clock Time
• Pace: 9:16

Mile 1: 9:45

Mile 2: 9:23

Mile 3: 8:45

.1: 50 sec. (8:34 pace)

It was a fun race overall. I ate a bagel and an orange slice after with some water. Then I hopped on the train, got home in about 40 minutes, then went back to bed for 2 1/2 hours! I was exhausted from the long weekend of running! I haven’t run that much in a long time, it felt great, but it was definitely tiring.

I ran 17.1 miles in 3 days, that’s a lot for me! But, it’s nice that my body held up with out any kind of injury or real soreness. I feel so good about my marathon training and I am really looking forward to the Half Marathon next weekend. Stay Tuned!

New York City may be over crowded, dirty and filled with millions of cars and even more people, but every once in a while the city gives back to the people and I must say this is one of the coolest things I’ve yet to experience here.

I ran the route, down and back and racked up a total of 11 miles. It was a beautiful day out with perfect weather, I couldn’t have asked for more! I was supposed to meet up with my friends at 8am, but I got out of work really late on Friday night and there was no way I would’ve been able to get up that early. I ended up getting there around 10:15.

I finally feel my speed coming back. Every week my long run pace is coming down significantly.

• Distance: 11 Miles
• Duration: 1:50:11
• Pace: 10:01

Splits:

1. 10:12
2. 9:44
3. 9:29
4. 10:01
5. 9:32
6. 10:35
7. 9:50
8. 9:14
9. 10:42
10. 10:01
11. 10:45

I had to stop a lot on my turnaround trip, there were a few intersections that were still open, so when the light changed they had people standing there with stop and go signs and I managed to hit a lot of stops on the way back. Either way, I am very happy with my run because I felt great the whole time! I feel like this is my first run since being back where I felt like myself. I’m really looking forward to the Bronx Half Marathon next week.

After my run, I had plans to meet up with Derek and Dave at Shake Shack. I was a little late, but they sat and had a beer while they waited at a nearby bar. Shake Shack was amazing of course. I made sure not to eat too much, because I didn’t want to feel overly full the rest of the day. I got a double Shack Burger and a Concrete. My concrete was full of calories, but I didn’t care, it was worth the splurge. It was called: Jelly’s Last Donut and it had donuts, cinnamon, raspberry jam swirls inside of vanilla frozen custard. Mmm, it was so good.

For some reason, 10 miles is my favorite distance to run. It’s a pretty long run, but it’s doable, I just love being able to say I ran 10 miles today, what did you do? haha, just kidding. Anyway, I woke up later than I had planned, which is usually what happens because I am not on that early morning schedule anymore. I went to bed around 11:30 last night, but probably didn’t actually fall asleep until closer to 1.

I woke up around 8:30 and decided that I would go to Central Park to do my run, I just wasn’t looking forward to running 10 miles in Astoria, where I would have to stop frequently and would have to wind up and down roads just to get my mileage up.

The weather wasn’t too bad today. It was probably 74 or 75 out, but the sun was shining strong. I was faster this week in my long run because I haven’t been wearing those arch supports that I bought. They made my feet feel like bricks when I wore them last weekend on my 9 mile run.

Though, I wasn’t very fast either.

Unfortunately that is what happens after you don’t run for 5 weeks and it is the middle of the summer. I’m sure time will heal my slowness and until then I will keep on trekking on.

Here are my splits and stats:

• Distance: 10 Miles
• Duration: 1 hr. 42 min. 45 sec.
• Pace: 10:16

1. 10:46
2. 10:02
3. 9:40
4. 10:34
5. 10:07
6. 10:22
7. 10:05
8. 10:07
9. 10:35
10. 10:22

After I got home, I stretched A LOT! Then I ate this delicious egg sandwich with tabasco sauce.

I set out this morning, not only on my first long run for the marathon, but my first long run in over 6 weeks! I knew it was going to be tough, but I certainly didn’t think it would be the slowest run of my life. Okay that sounds dramatic, but it was a really tough run and I ran really slow comparatively. I’m not focusing on speed, at all, endurance is key this time around.

Let’s start from the beginning though. The woman I went to see that fixed my foot suggested I get some shoe inserts to support my arch. She suggested the Spenco brand, so that’s what I ordered. I ordered these last week and they came three days later! I was excited to try them out because they got really good reviews. I also got them for a great price thru Amazon.com

Let’s just call this my official review for these Spenco Orthotic Arch Supports. These are the 3/4 length and as soon as I put them in my shoes, I knew I should’ve ordered the full length. They obviously don’t go to the top of the shoe and if I only have these inserts in there and I take out the insert that comes with my shoe, I can feel the edge of this insert underneath my toes and it drives me crazy! So, what I did was take out my shoe insert, put the Spenco supports in and then put the shoe insert back in over these, so that I would not have to feel that gap. My feet were a lot higher than normal, which didn’t seem so bad, but they were also a lot wider. I have narrow feet, so it was odd to have my sneakers look really wide and to have really short shoe laces.

I tried these out for the first time today on my 9 mile run. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have used them on such a long run to break them in, but I don’t know how they work. Shouldn’t they automatically be comfortable or do they need to be broken in like shoes? Anyway, they felt all right in the beginning, but as the run went on, my feet felt heavier and heavier. Seriously, the last 2 miles, I might as well have been wearing bricks on my feet, they felt so incredibly heavy and terrible!

I honestly think these played a big part in why I ran so slow today. I didn’t think I was going to run very fast today, but I know myself and my running to know what I can and can’t achieve. I’ve never had a run like this and most importantly, my feet have never felt like that and I did not like it.

• Distance: 9 Miles
• Duration: 96:10
• Pace: 10:42
• Calories Burned: 908

Splits

1. 10:16
2. 9:39
3. 10:20
4. 11:08
5. 10:51
6. 10:53
7. 10:56
8. 10:58
9. 11:07

I’m not embarrassed to run slow, but this just didn’t feel or seem right to me. I’m not convinced I need arch support. I never thought I had high arches, until a few weeks ago. Granted, I haven’t been running 10 years, but I have been running 2 years without any major problems. All I know is that this was a tough run where I had to walk a lot! It was warm out and the sun was shining, but again it wasn’t that HOT comparatively, it was actually kind of nice and breezy. I’m not sure if I’m going to wear these inserts again, they add way too much weight to my shoe and if for some reason I do need arch support, I may as well find a whole new shoe that can support me in that way.

This was kind of a test run for me, but unfortunately I didn’t learn what I wanted from it. I wanted to test my body to know what it can still handle and at one pace. I never doubted myself being able to handle the 9 miles, but I didn’t see this coming. I guess I will have to wait and see what a real run will feel like without any inserts on my 10 miler next weekend. Sure, I will be doing shorter distances during the week, but like I said I need the longer runs to really test myself.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to run before, but my foot is finally healed and I can run again!!! I went to see someone last week and luckily it was a simple fix. It was actually my calf muscle that was super tight and stuck in the wrong position, so it was therefore making my foot curl inward. She stretched out my muscles and after a few minutes, I heard and felt it release! It was crazy to be able to feel it, but once I did, I knew right away that had to be definitely what the problem was. I did a few more exercises there and she showed me how to stretch properly, overall it was well worth the visit and I wished I had gone sooner!

I’ve officially started training for the Manchester Marathon! I am a week and several miles behind, but I feel confident enough that I will be able to catch up and move forward successfully. The first run I attempted after I was healed, was a 5 miler up at Squam Lake. I didn’t realize until I was done that it had been the longest I had run since the 12 miler where I hurt my foot. I was so happy to end that run with no pain at all! It was amazing. I also ran 4 miles yesterday and other than the heat, I felt great!

Now it’s time to catch up with my long runs and to really finalize my training plan for the next few months. I am going to try and run 8-9 miles this weekend, I have a half marathon coming up on August 15th so I have to at least be ready for that. I’m not going for any kind of time, just endurance for now. 10 minute miles would work fine for me

I’ve had a fun, but also stressful past couple of weeks. I’ve just been real busy and I’m ready to settle down and catch up on lots of stuff.

I took 5 weeks off from running, I am so ready to be back in the game! What’s the most amount of time you’ve taken off for an injury?

Image Source

So glad it’s Friday, I am really looking forward to the long weekend. This morning, or rather this afternoon I did a 2 mile run and my foot felt amazing! There was no pain at all so I couldn’t be happier. I am very much looking forward to the 6  mile run I have planned for Sunday. After the run, I did four sets of lunges so I’m sure my legs will be feeling those tomorrow.

Breakfast was a 2 egg omelette with feta cheese and Tiger sauce on a plain bagel. It was delicious, but it wasn’t spicy enough so I also added a little tabasco sauce and that did the trick.

Okay so I’m going to try again with the half marathon. This time will HAVE to be a success because it is right smack in the middle of my marathon training plan so hopefully I will be feeling and doing great.

Just signed up for the Bronx Half Marathon on Sunday August 15th. I’ve never actually been to the Bronx, so I guess why not make my first trip there for an awesome race, sounds perfect to me!

Headed to work early today, see you over the weekend!