Tag Archives: Central Park

My Phone!

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I thought it was dead. A goner. When I left home this morning it was fully charged and when I took it out of my laptop bag on the bus to check the time, it was off. I pressed the power button obsessively. Nothing. Held the home button. Nada. Held both together. The screen remained black. Crap!

How would I scan the QR code to know when my transfer bus was coming? Crap! I guess I would just keep turning around to check for the bus as I walked along 86th Street. As I walked, no bus approached. So I started walking through the park.

Now that I was making my way through the beautiful park, how would I capture all the beauty I was seeing? Well… I just looked at it with my eyes, instead of through a phone. Did I really need to capture every flower or tree bud on my phone and post to my Instagram? Of course not. As much as I love sharing photos, it was lovely to enjoy the experience alone.

As I exited the park, I knew I was nearing the school location but couldn’t remember the address. How was I going to confirm the location? Shoot! I crossed Central Park West and walked down 87th Street, where I thought the school was located… but I didn’t see it. Damn! Now what? How did we survive without Google maps? Thankfully there a dude walking toward me with his phone in his hand… so I asked him if he knew where the Dwight School was. He didn’t… Damn. So I asked if he minded checking the address for me… No problem! Turns out I was two blocks away, no big. I thanked him and was on my way.

As I arrived at the school I wondered: how would I tweet photos for EdCamp? Ok now this was getting to me… Once I signed in and found a place to sit in the common area, I plugged my phone into my computer, sure that it would vibrate as soon as I plugged it in. Nope. What the?

So again I obsessively pressed and held the power button. Nothing. I decided to try a wall plug. Nothing. And then another, nothing still. I was convinced my phone was, in fact, dead. So as I sat back at the table, I plugged my phone into my computer one last time, wondering why I’d even bother, but then… it buzzed.

It was alive! And 94% charged.

The Wall

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We encounter obstacles and “hit walls” in many parts of our lives, running is no different.

Normally when running a half marathon I can be pretty mentally sound until about mile eight or nine. Normally…

Well, today was not normal for me. I hit my wall right at the beginning of the run. Yeah I was excited Hoda got us on our way and that I knew the route inside and out, but I was battling many mental demons this morning – mostly because of how my body was feeling physically.

First, I knew I didn’t eat enough this week, particularly yesterday. I blame that on the workshop I attended and the allergy problems I’ve been having this week. Who feels like eating when you have constant nasal drainage, you’re perpetually sneezing, and your head and body just hurt? I don’t. So I tried to drink lots of vitamin water, camomile tea, and water – but, not good enough.

Second, good luck running if you haven’t had a good sleep in three nights due to the nasal drainage and coughing.

Third, I was worried about my IT bands. I was afraid of having horrible pain like I did last week in DC, so this week I bought a compression brace for my knee and wore it most days. I also bought a foam roller to roll out my legs. Yesterday I even picked up some K tape and watched a video to learn how to apply it.

So last night I taped up one knee and taped the other this morning. I put my brace on my right knee, ate my usual half bagel with peanut butter, drank some vitamin water and got ready. As I walked to the park I started feeling a little better, getting my body moving. Then once at the park I started absorbing the energy of the event – a few thousand women ready to run, flowers blooming and trees budding!

As I lined up in the corral and walked toward the start line, I just didn’t feel like running. My legs felt fine, my body felt reasonable, but my mind was already telling me that I didn’t want to. The whole first six mile loop, my internal monologue was me telling myself to walk after the first loop. I didn’t want to run past that same spot an hour later. I just didn’t want to. My thoughts were barely about my knee not hurting (yay!), or that I wasn’t sneezing or coughing – I just wanted to go home.

But as I completed that first loop, and came around location of the finish line, my wall began to disappear. I knew at that point, there would be no walking, there would be less mind games. Maybe I would stop for some Gatorade or a pee, but that’s it. Physically I was still okay at that point, and mentally – finally getting past the brick wall of the first six miles.

So I kept running, grabbed some Gatorade at mile nine and peed at mile 11 – finishing the run in decent time, strangely.

Once I crossed the finish line, got my medal and apple, and headed for home – the journey home was hard. Hard to walk because my left knee decided to pain me and hard mentally because I just wanted to be in my bath tub! That was the longest walk home but, once again, I did it. Yes with lots of complaints, I apologize, I know life could be worse.

All those complaints though, are always worth the satisfaction of the finish.

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(Note: I won’t be signing up for any more half marathons in Central Park – the repeated scenery and anticipation of those freaking hills sent me into the abyss!)

 

Stay Tuned – NYC Half Tomorrow!

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I’d say the NYC half marathon is a good choice for my first half of 2014. Excited to meet early in Central Park with about 30,000 other runners to spend our Sunday morning running through the park, through midtown, then toward downtown on the West Side highway. Will just have to watch out for poor road conditions on some streets due to crazy winter weather fluctuations this year… nbd.

Last night I completed my 9+1 volunteer at the Expo at the Metropolitan Pavilion. I really enjoyed taking on this role (after the “training” of course) of giving out bibs. This was a different perspective for me – checking IDs, confirmation sheets, and handing people their bibs. Then being thanked, and watching those runners walk away with a smile, checking out out their bibs and the number they are attached to for this race. I could so relate. Every time I pick up by bib, I smile. I’m excited for the upcoming race I’m about to participate in with thousands of people who enjoy running as much as I do.

So stay tuned for tomorrow’s update!

Day of Discovery

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Sometimes a semi-unplanned day turns into an eventful one.  I was quite delighted to find that although I pooped myself out today, I had a pretty good time making some discoveries on this semi-unplanned day.

Discovery #1: I love Central Park more each time I go.

I planned a slightly different route today, starting up at the Jackie Onassis Kennedy reservoir and thought I’d end somewhere by Victorian Gardens at the south end of the park.  Although the heat wasn’t in full effect yet, I just found I couldn’t quite fulfill my planned route today, which is a rarity for me.  It’s usually more a mental preparation for me to run than a physical one so I thought it would be no problemo.

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Not so today.

My body and mind were ready to be done at about 2.25 miles.  At first I struggled with this idea of stopping before I reached my destination, trying to will myself to go on since I didn’t have much farther to go.  But I just stopped and walked and discovered I was really happy to do it!

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The park was not full of tourists yet; but nannies and their charges in their little toddler groups singing with a man and his guitar, park workers watering the grass, people walking their dogs, birds and insects making their sounds.  It was beautiful.

Discovery #2: The Rain Room installation was not where I thought it was, but in fact where it should have been.

Good thing I teach grade 3 because apparently I cannot read functional/informational text well hahaha!  I read in not one, but two magazines that this quite spectacular installation called the Rain Room was located at the Museum of Modern Art’s PS 1 location in Long Island City.  I guess I couldn’t distinguish headings in the magazine, no big deal.

When I arrived at PS 1 at 11:30am, a half hour before the site opens, I was stoked that no one was there.  I had my book and a shady spot to stand to kill the mere 30 minute wait.  Although I was super excited no one was there, I thought it was really weird considering I kept hearing about these 6 or 8 hour lines to get in… Whatevs.

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Well, when I walked up to buy my admission I asked the girl where this amazing installation was located and she simply said it was at MoMA in Manhattan. Um, what?!! Okay…so… I was already there and PS 1 had been on my list of to-go for the last few summers.  So I went in and saw some crazy weird contemporary art (me don’t get modern art).

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Discovery #3: There is in fact a piece of the Berlin Wall not so far from where I live and no idea.

Is it a somewhat random area of the city like the other parts of the Wall I’ve seen?  Probably.  It’s not near the German consulate or mission, it’s in a lovely little public rest area with a waterfall, near a restaurant (not German), in between two buildings.  I discovered while walking to the correct location of the Rain Room 😉

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Discovery #4: The hype for something is usually over-hype.

The Rain Room is pretty cool but would not wait 6 hours to experience.  I don’t do lines generally, but thought I should wait since I had already waited the 30 minutes earlier at PS 1.  I was happy with the general viewing , which was a 20 minute wait. It was enough for me to see how it worked, but didn’t need to be in it.

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I hope you’ve made some of your own awesome discoveries today (besides the fact that I like writing in lists and short paragraphs!)… and if not today, then tomorrow. Cheers!