Weekend recap

We had a great weekend!

IMG_3212.JPGIt 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).

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IMG_3219.JPGThis 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.

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How was your weekend?

Did you run a race? Or attend reunion events?

Happy National Running Day!

blank-logoHappy National Running Day everyone! In my opinion, this is the best holiday next to Thanksgiving. What’s more important than eating as much as you want, being grateful for your loved ones and then a day focused everything running (well, that’s almost every day for me!).

Anyway, I celebrated the day by dialing into the kickoff call for the Athletes to End Alzheimer’s 2015 NYC Marathon team (more to come on that in a later post) and then ran for 30 easy minutes.

In honor of the day, I wanted to share 10 things about running for me (don’t I do this enough already?)… I run…

  1. 2012-10-07+Staten+Island+Half+2Because I can. When I was down on myself around mile 23 of the Chicago Marathon, I saw a woman holding a sign that said something along the lines of run because you can because one day you can’t. Talk about a big reminder and a push in the last stretch.
  2. To meet new people. Runners are amazing people. Just look at Harriette Thompson. Okay, I haven’t met her yet but I would love to.
  3. To celebrate the love of running with friends (and maybe through more runcations). I have met some amazing people through running and have been fortunate to rub off my love for running on some others as well.
  4.  To make me a happier person. There is no doubt that I am a happier person after I exercise, but I am even happier person after I run.
  5. For the accomplishment. I grew up hating exercise and physical education class. I’ve come a long way.
  6. To inspire others. I am your average runner running at an average pace but I am firm believer that if you want to, you can. Anyone can a mile or a marathon, as long as you want to.
  7. So I can buy an obscene amount of running shoes and clothes. Someone has to support Garmin, Saucony, Brooks, Lululemon, Athleta… and every marathon expo.
  8. To honor the memory of my grandmother. She is the reason I want to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s and she is the reason I make it through any tough run.
  9. To put Josh, my family, and friends through torture every time I train and run a marathon. What is more annoying than hearing about how many carbs I need to eat or having to trek through different cities trying to watch me pass over a couple of minutes in a race that takes over 4 hours?
  10. To make me a stronger person. Physically and mentally. And this, I promise will make the world a better place, at least for those around me!

Now it’s your turn.

How did you celebrate National Running Day?

And tell me why you run.