Last year I registered for this race – the Philadelphia Rock n’ Roll Half marathon, that is – but didn’t make it because of a change in plans. So I’m really excited to participate this year with Kristine, my one of two friends who will run long distances with me! The race is sold out so it should be pretty crazy!
The race is tomorrow morning, so I’m hopping on Amtrak with Kristen (our official running cheerleader!) this morning.
Will post tomorrow night, post-race!
I woke up yesterday and got right into some of the errand running I had to do – before I went running-running. Usually I go running first, before any to-dos, but yesterday my body just wasn’t ready to move in the early morning.
So on my list of errands – drop off dry cleaning, stop at bank, make some copies of documents, blah, blah, blah… When I completed round one of errands, I thought I would be making an excuse not to run, but as it turned out, I was ready.
My thoughts as I walked were unnecessarily busy of course. I was thinking mostly about the paper work that needed to be completed and the documents I needed to track down.
Once I started to run, I started to relax right away.
En route I did my usual observations of sights, sounds and smells around the park. Play groups, soccer, horses, pedi-cabs, bag pipes, bubbles, the zoo crowd.
When I was about 3/4 done my route, I noticed that my overloaded, boggled mind had become uncluttered. I felt relieved and lighter. My mind felt medicated. I realized that I didn’t even notice when my mind became present. Being present and staying present is tough in a busy place with a busy life, but running does that for me.
I’m telling you, running is mental medicine. I just wish I could bottle that.
Yes! I am a half-assed runner! I have NO problem admitting it! I have no problem not really wanting to improve my time or change routes too much. I’m fine with taking it a bit slower if I want to run longer… if I can mentally make myself that is…
Is that bad? Should I want to run a 9:00 minute/mile rather than a 9:30-9:45min/mile? Should I be more competitive? How much do I push myself? Don’t worry, I already know the answers. But I want to hear yours too.
Well, I’m not completely half-assed I guess. I do have a purpose for running:
And some goals:
What kind of runner are you? Regardless, keep running!
I’m struggling people!
I’ve used 3 running apps and all seem to start well but end up not working out. I’ve tried:
Endomondo – Decent app, might go back to it, but it’s quite a battery drainer. Hopefully an update fixed that…
RunKeeper – Loved this one until the GPS went crazy! It had me running 7 minute miles! I wish! I really really want to use it again because it’s exactly what I wanted in an app. I loved the pause feature. I’m not super crazy about having exactly precise stats, but let’s get real, I don’t run a 7 minute mile.
Runtastic – Highly rated but I hate the constant advertisements to upgrade to the gold app. Leave me alone, I don’t want it. You can’t pause your workout either and that drives me crazy. If I want to stop for a picture I have to stop the workout and start another. Boo!
So I googled the best running apps… Number 1 comes up as RunKeeper! What??? Others have had the same GPS problem so I don’t trust the list…
Suggestions?
My weekend was really quite satisfyingly relaxing and moderately productive which made me pretty happy. But of course amidst the happiness, there were a couple of thumbs down moments which is bound to happen with so many people living in the same space as I do. And I have to say, my thumbs down moments are pretty lame. That’s why I can’t and won’t really even file them as complaints because no one was injured, thankfully, only minimally traumatized.
Weekend smile 🙂 moments:
– good run Saturday morning
– started watching New Girl from the beginning which made both my husband and I laugh
– finished reading my book
– nice weather on Saturday
– made a decision about the appropriate curtain rods we needed for the windows (which I had been putting off for months), bought them AND put them up
– cleaning nooks and crannies
– cooked a yumm-alicious dinner for hubby
– got a call from a special friend
Weekend thumbs-down moments:
– scarred by the ridiculously expensive and mediocre breakfast at Ben Ash after my great run (booooo!)
– near collision on the CitiBike by a delivery guy speeding around a corner into the bike lane and another dude going the wrong way in the bike lane (I hate – and rarely do I use that word – but I hate bikers who break the rules of the road!!!)
– lots of dog poop on the sidewalk (grrrrr!)
Words of advice to myself and others who get annoyed by these little moments:
– take a breath
– think of something to smile about 🙂
– be thankful for those who make you happy
If you haven’t smiled about something today, there’s something wrong with you. Turn that frown upside down.
Go out and get a cupcake. Come on, who doesn’t love cupcakes 😉
I usually have pretty good timing for getting to races at just the right time. I don’t like to hang out too much before it starts because then I obsess about stupid nonsense like getting too hot or if I’ve got all my tinkles out. This morning was no different. Started out well – walked to the downtown 6 which was just pulling into the station as I walked in, planning on transferring to the Q at Union Square then off at Prospect Park stop. Google maps told me 50 minutes.
I’m waiting on the platform with a bunch of people, runners included, when an N train pulls in on the opposite track of the Q track. I already know the N DOES NOT go to Prospect Park but I saw a few people get on and so I quickly ask what stop they are going to. The super-smart looking guy, but I gathered not so common-sensically smart afterwards (as I become at this moment) says that they are going to get off at Atlantic Pacific station then walk the rest of the way. I have no idea the distance from Atlantic Pacific to the Nethermead area of the park obvi, so I jump on anyway. They must know what they’re doing right? Wrong! I found out once I’m ON the train that they don’t know either…
We hop of the N at 7:36 – the race starts at 8:00…
So the one guy and the girl say they are going to do a ‘lite jog’ to the park, obviously me and smart/not-smart guy decide it’s a great idea. Well, their lite jog was my running pace! We ended up being late because we had to ‘lite jog’ a distance of 2ish miles to get to the bag check and then head over to the start line…. In the end my 50 minute trek to Prospect Park took 1 hour and 25 minutes and my 5K for Sandy turned into an unofficial 8-9k… Not complaining! My own stupidity! I already knew that I should have stuck with my original travel plan the second I stepped on the N train.
At least I wasn’t one of the dummies who was late because they didn’t use this for bag check! Come on… we all know why these are used now. #BostonStrong
By the way, the race was great! #MLBAllstar5k
Jibber Jabber & Happenstance 