I will not be running the NYC Marathon this year…

img_6164I will not be running the NYC Marathon on Sunday, November 6th. When I signed up back in the beginning of the year and even after Charlotte was born, I had grand plans to find a way to make it to the start line. The NYC Marathon will always be a special race for me starting with the failed attempt in 2012 due to Hurricane Sandy followed by 2013, 2014, and 2015 when I ran it 3 weeks pregnant.

However as I started to settle more into the motherhood routine – you know the lack of sleep, constant schedule of pumping breast milk, and very little running or physical activity, it became more and more apparent that attempting to run this race may not be a good idea. I am still convinced that I probably physically could have completed the race with some kind of run/walk strategy especially after having a somewhat successful Bronx 10-Mile race experience but the thought of sitting in Staten Island for hours and then the hours it would take before I could make it home seemed too daunting.

From the time I leave the house until the time I make it back home later that day would easily be 14 hours or more especially since I was in no way going to finish around my previous times. I know that I could have found a way to pump before the start but once I started, there will not be much of an opportunity. Yes, there has been a lot of press around the woman who used a handheld pump during a half marathon and kudos to her for doing that but for me, it just didn’t seem practical.

So unfortunately, this year I will be deferring my NYC Marathon entry and proudly cheering all the runners from the sidelines. Since I will not be crossing the finish line on Sunday, I will be running the Dash to the Finish on Saturday morning so I can say that I did cross the NYC Marathon finish line every year since 2013, just not actually run the full 26.2 distance. I will be sharing recaps of the Dash and spectating the NYC Marathon next week.

Good luck to all the runners this weekend!

I’m lame and HoBOOken 5K

Just stopping in to say hello and wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

img_6151I signed up for the HoBOOken 5K, which was on Saturday, over a month ago with friends. I haven’t run this race in years since it always falls on the weekend before the NYC Marathon but this year, I was in the spirit especially with a baby and my plans to likely not run the NYC Marathon (more to come on that).

I was planning on dressing up as a fairy with a running skirt and wings and Josh and Charlotte (to be dressed as an elephant) were going to come out and cheer. However, when my friends couldn’t make it in for the race and Charlotte decided to take an extra long morning nap, I bailed on the race. I’m lame, I know.

img_6140It didn’t seem exciting to dress up in costume to run a race by myself (even though I would be running with hundreds of other costume-wearing runners). So instead I went for a run without costume on the reverse route of the course. It was fun to get out there and see a lot of the runners dressed up. It was interesting to see that some of fastest runners weren’t even dressed up. I guess Halloween costumes can really slow you down!

The HoBOOken 5K is a great local race on a very flat course and unlike some of the smaller races in town, the roads are closed off to traffic which is nice. The race benefits the Hoboken Shelter so even though I’m lame, I’m glad my race registration went towards a good cause.

img_6149Anyway, hope everyone is having a great Halloween! I’ll be checking in again later this week as one of my favorite days of the year is on Sunday – NYC Marathon day!

And a belated congratulations who raced this weekend — Marine Corps Marathon, RnR Los Angeles, HoBOOken 5K, Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5-Miler, and more!