This weekend, I learned that I’m not good at taking spontaneous pictures. I think I get too wrapped up in the moment and then I kick myself for it afterwards.
It was definitely a social 20-miler on Saturday. Our plan was to run a 4 mile warm-up before the Scotland 10K, 4 more miles to cheer Tania on for the finish of the race, and then another 6. It didn’t quite work out that way.
I’m good at stealing Julio’s pictures
By the time we picked up our bibs, shirts, and dropped off our bags, we met up with a couple more teammates. Then the line to the porta-potties were really long. At that point, we barely made it to the back of the corrals before the start of the race. We did enjoy each other’s company huddled waiting for the start though. It was windy and I was testing out my London Marathon singlet (ahem, vest) so I was pretty cold.
My mileage for the race was almost over 0.5 miles off, probably due to the dodging in the first couple of miles. My watch showed an average pace for the 10K around 8:50 but the official time is 9:07 pace. Tangents, gotta to stick to them or they’re going to get the best of me. Regardless, I ran the first 6-7 miles at marathon goal pace which is what I was aiming for.
After the race, I found Julio and we were going to run to meet Tania. We saw Toni and Maria again, chatted a bit and said our goodbyes and ran about a mile back into the race. It was pretty neat because as Tania was coming into the finish, I was standing right in the finish area. Now if I only had my phone out to take a picture!
I can only run with friends who take pictures
We ran into Coach Brian next. We figured that would happen at some point on Saturday. He has a tendency of showing up when you least expect it. Finally, we picked up our bags (we were the last of 10 bags left) and they already dismantled the bag check area. After that, we walked with Tania to Starbucks since she was so kindly going to watch our bags for us while we finished the run. What was supposed to be 6 miles left turned into over 10.
While at Starbucks, Julio saw our teammate, Libby walking by and ran out to say hello. Libby came in and we all chatted for a bit. She is 9 months pregnant, just came back from a barre class, and looks amazing. After an hour break, Julio and I finally made our way back out to Central Park to finish our 20 miler.
I had no time goal for the last 10+ miles. I just wanted the run over at this point. It had gotten windier outside and if I could, I would probably would have just finished the run on a treadmill. I was that wimpy and lazy. About a mile into run, I ran into Amanda and her friend, Holly. We caught up for a couple of minutes and unfortunately, I was on my way again. I ran the next 7 or so miles at long run pace – 30-45 seconds slower than goal pace and the last 3 (surprisingly) at sub-marathon pace.
Despite the breaks, it was a successful run. I still didn’t manage to find a way to fuel without stopping, though hopefully I’ll figure that out on race day. It’s amazing how my fueling strategy has been different in each marathon (more to come on that topic). However, my legs felt great and they still do, now 3 days later. I loved seeing so many friends on the run and wish I had captured all the moments.
My lame picture of my legs
We had a relaxing rest of Saturday which included compression sleeves, foam rolling, a trip to Target, making matzo ball soup and Passover cookies, and watching Into the Woods (which I didn’t like as much as I did the Broadway play).
After a recovery run on Sunday, we took a road trip (pretty much any time we drive it’s considered a road trip) to meet up with my friend, Stacy, Adam and their baby, Dylan for lunch. We did our best to order Passover friendly meals at Cheesecake Factory. I think we were fairly successful though Josh was still pretty hungry after his salad. I wish I had pictures to prove all of this to you, but another fail.
My PicStitch creation of Coco
We spent the rest of Sunday hanging out with my family. I seem to be good at taking pictures of our dog, Coco, but not of anything else. I even got to climb on a ladder (I don’t remember the last time I did that) to help my dad with something, and no one took a picture of that!
And since I didn’t take enough pictures this weekend (though I did use PicStitch for the first time), that was the long-winded, very wordy recap of the 20-miler and weekend.
What did you do for the holiday weekend?
It started with a 5K run on Saturday morning. I signed up last minute to run the local Hoboken Catholic Academy 5K. There’s something to be said about running small, community races. I picked up my bib Friday after work, left the apartment 25 minutes before the start of the race to jog down to the start and had 10 minutes to spare before the start. The race was timed but the start was based off of gun time and a chip finish. I made sure I was at the front of the start and with the road closures, there was no crowd issues. Josh walked a few feet outside of our building and was able to see me run by a little before mile 2. I’m not convinced the distance was exactly a 5K though. My watch shows 2.96 miles (there’s no way I’m that good at tangents!) and my pacing definitely didn’t feel like it was PR worthy especially given the humidity. However, the official results show 24:42, average pace 7:57 minutes/mile (18th overall female and 4th in my age group) which would be a 5K PR (note: I am putting an asterisk next to this race in my race resume given the doubts I have about the actual distance).
This weekend was our 10 year Stevens reunion. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since we graduated from college. Where does time go? Josh received the alumni achievement award that I also got 5 years ago. We got to see college friends that we haven’t seen since we graduated and some that we get to see regularly. It was a great time reminiscing on college days and visiting our new sorority house (the chapter has had 3 different houses since I was a student). So much has happened since graduation. In the last 10 years, I’ve worked at 4 different companies, married my best friend, traveled all over the world, lived in 2 different cities, ran 7 marathons, 9 half marathons, and numerous other races. It’s been a pretty amazing 10 years and I’m looking forward to what the next decade brings.
