3 Mile Puppy Power Walk

I don't normally consider walking exercise but since Cookie has entered my life, I haven't had much time to do much else. On Monday night the 34 year-old and I walked from Madison Square Park to the east 80s. Tonight I did the walk with her by myself. I had to bring my computer home from the office and let me tell you, that was not fun. Cookie was like, "Really? Stop dragging that bag around and walk me properly!" We ran into BrissK and she pointed out that I make my dog exercise as much as I do. Yup. We're an athletic bunch.

How can you say no to that face?

I took Cookie for a short run last night in the rain after obedience training, but we're still working on running with the leash.

Cookie is super tired after our 3 mile walk.

On an unrelated note, this is the salad I picked up from Fairway Market today. Look at that price! It was delicious.

Do you have experience running with a dog? Please share tips below!

Puppy Love

The 34 year-old and I rushed back to NYC yesterday to officially adopt our puppy Cookie. We are over the moon! Cookie is a pit bull terrier mix and a very sweet little girl. We owe the ASPCA a special thank you for taking such good care of her and letting us adopt her.

Look at that face!

The paperwork was signed and filed by 3:30 PM and we took Cookie over to the East River Esplanade for a nice long walk. For about 2.5 hours we walked and played and met other dogs. Cookie handled it like a champ.

I can't even explain my outfit so I won't even try.

We made a visit to our local Petco and then brought Cookie to her new home. For a six month old puppy, she's incredibly well-behaved. She LOVES tennis balls and we played fetch until she the 34 year-old was tired.

Puppy kisses!

After a few more walks, it was time for me to go home. We brought Cookie over to see where I sleep. She thinks I live in a kennel because it's so small. Cooks did pretty well in the small space. I'm glad because sometimes I'll need to watch her over there.

We need to practice smiling for the camera.

This morning I went over to the 34 year-old's at 7 AM to wake them up as planned. Cookie was good about getting out of bed. The 34 year-old, not so much. We went for a nice walk by the river and met other dogs. Cookie was very polite to everyone she met and even shared her tennis ball. I hear that the 34 year-old and Cookie are now back in bed taking a nap.

Champion C9 for Target Shorts

Approaching the ING NYC Marathon finish line in Champion C9 shorts.

I am a big fan of Champion C9 for Target shorts. They are comfortable, affordable, and machine-washable. I've run both of my marathons wearing a pair and I do most of my training runs in them. If you travel light (I do not), you can stash your keys in the small inside pocket located near your right hip. These shorts are also good for kickboxing and boot camp classes.

This is me running the Brooklyn Marathon in my C9 shorts.

The thing I like the most about these shorts is that they are unobtrusive. I don't have to constantly readjust them or fight a recurring wedgie the way I do with other shorts. I have a black pair in a size small, but I usually run in a size medium. I like baggier shorts for running.

Champion C9 for Target shorts come in a variety of colors and new styles (same shorts, different prints or color variations) are updated regularly. To order online, click here.

Coco's Cardio Knockout

Today I drove over to the Equinox in Great Neck for Coco's Cardio Knockout class. Now that I am officially done with marathon training (for this year at least) I don't have to worry about overexerting myself in gym classes and messing up my running. Good thing because my lower back is killing me. This class is very much like Yves Maco's cardio kickboxing but with Coco's special flair.

I found my old Nike crosstrainers. I love them but sadly they are a little too small.
My feet grew two years ago, or maybe they just flattened out.

There are absolutely no breakfast foods in my parents' house at this moment. My mother tried to pass off a sugar-covered donut in the shape of a muffin as breakfast, but I declined. The day after Thanksgiving you are supposed to at least attempt to eat healthily. They were giving out Clif Bars after the race yesterday so I packed one for the gym. Mr. Mink grabbed it out of my bag and took off with it in his mouth.

Busted, red pawed.

I am faster than my cat, and mildly more intelligent (no really, he's a genius), so I was able to get the Blueberry Crisp bar back. It was pretty tasty and only 100 calories. I have a few more flavors to try.

2011 Garden City Turkey Trot

Today I ran the 34th Garden City Turkey Trot. The five mile run started at 10 AM, allowing me to sleep to a normal hour. My mom and my sister accompanied chauffeured me to the race. Garden City is a mess on Thanksgiving morning, with people wandering around and roads blocked. Unless you can run to the race, I highly recommend coercing your family to drive you.

This year was the first year the Garden City Turkey Trot used a bib timing system allowing runners to get a net time instead of a just a gun time. This means that we cross a starting line and a finish line, and your time is the time it takes you to get from one to another. Last year runners were shoving each other to get closer to the front, so this is quite an improvement.

I tried to take it easy and run at a strong, but not overly taxing pace. Knowing the route really helped. I don't feel like I raced this race, but I'm happy with how I did.

I picked up the pace for the final mile. This is a lovely shot of me that I illegally screenshot found on the Internet.

Repping my Brooklyn Marathon shirt.

 My mom and sister found me after I used the porta-potty. I had been waiting in line for one when I got nervous that the race would start without me. I spent five miles really having to pee. My mom thought that this photo would be particularly fitting because she said I "spend a lot of time porta-potties." It's true. I always have to pee.

After the race we came home to sit on the couch. One of my family members (whom I may or may not be speaking to at this time) was in my bathroom, so I put off taking a shower to eat Italian meat products instead. It was delicious. (Good thing we have two more of these bad boys in the refrigerator.) 

My sister was appalled that I took a photo
of myself eating a container full of meat.

Then I took a long nice nap on the couch and played with my cats. Around 3:30 I finally took a shower so my family wouldn't have to smell me during dinner. We had a typical Thanksgiving feast.

A "personal-size" apple raspberry crumb pie from Jericho Cider Mill

I am thankful for a lot of things this Thanksgiving, including but not limited to Brooks running shoes, frozen golf balls, my sarcastic sister, overweight cats, and 34 year-olds who date younger girls.

Did you Turkey Trot this year? Post your run and photos below.

The Brooklyn Marathon

The Brooklyn Marathon was on Sunday morning. I planned poorly for this race, starting with a happy hour on Thursday night that lasted into Saturday afternoon. Dinner plans fell through for Saturday (I tried, I promise), and I ended up at a bar in Alphabet City with the 34 year-old and his spectacular friend who was visiting for the weekend. I restricted myself to only two jager bombs and was home by midnight. But then I couldn't sleep. Then I couldn't sleep because I was hungry. Then I couldn't sleep because I was hungry and scared out of my mind by the one scary episode of Psych (the one where the creepy chick is killing off the sorority girls and Jules is undercover.) It was 5:15 AM before I knew it.


I woke up bleary-eyed and starving. And pissed off. And the light was still out in my apartment. (Don't worry. I  have since climbed up on top of my kitchen table and replaced the burnt out bulb with not one, but two 60 watt energy-saving light bulbs.) I really didn't want to run this race. I wanted an effing bagel.


Fortunately the Professor and his lovely wife had the car in town. T also got up at the crack of dawn to come to Brooklyn with us, which I thought was exceptionally nice of her. We managed to get over the bridge and onto Flatbush Avenue with minimal rerouting, and got a quality parking spot right near the park.

BEFORE the race.

The course was made up of 2 little loops, 6 big loops, and 1 little loop. The little loop was less than three miles and the big loop was about 3.25 miles. I got confused and it was tedious. The Professor and I took off together but I stopped at the first porta-potty, which was no joke, less than 500 feet into the race. When I exited, everyone was in front of me. I have never literally been the last person. It was creepy. I was able to catch up with the Professor before the first mile.

We had a really good pace going. I think we were maintaining 9:40 minute miles. I was really hungry though - the KIND bar I had eaten wasn't holding me over. My feet were killing me (I think I tied my shoes too tight) and I felt queasy. I had to make another pit stop at mile 9, but when I came back out I couldn't see the Professor. He was too far ahead and I didn't have the energy to sprint and find him going up this never-ending Prospect Park hill. What the hell is this hill? Shouldn't we have realized something was wrong when all the other runners were running down the hill?

I ran alone for the next 11 miles. The going was tough. I felt like garbage. I was wearing my watch, but something was up with my heart rate monitor, so I wasn't sure how much effort I was exerting. Parts of the race were boring and others were lonely. This idiot woman kept telling me to drop my water bottle every 3 miles. I can't drop my water bottle. I get thirsty. I take a lot of Ritalin. EFF YOU!

I caught sight of the Professor at mile 20, so I picked up the pace and managed to join him. I found my energy to push through and make it. But this is when I had to make a serious decision. The Professor wanted to walk portions of the final 6.2, and I believe him when he said he needed to. I was feeling pretty damn crappy, but I only walk through fuel stations. Months ago (in early September), I had promised that I would complete the Brooklyn Marathon with him. Our ideas of what that would look like had changed over the past eleven weeks, and I admit that I thought this was going to be my opportunity to shave some time off my last marathon. It's a small race, no elite athletes, minimal crowds - this was my time. Of course I thought it was appropriate to drink and eat crap (even worse than usual) for the days up to this race, but I still had a chance of PRing. But a promise is a promise, and so we walked.

I don't want anyone getting the idea that we had suddenly given up, or that we were the slow people hobbling in the back who didn't belong in a marathon. People walk portions of marathons all the time. Jeff Galloway even has a trademarked RUN-WALK-RUN™ method. I'm just not comfortable walking in races. We managed though, and I think we ran most of the final 6.2 miles. We reached the final fuel station (which looked drastically different with only two people managing it the 9th time around) at just shy of 26 miles. We needed to pick up the pace because we were so close. I said something that I will not repeat but that I knew would fire the Professor up.


Our finish was impressive. One we had dressed alike and that looked cool. We ran as fast as we could across the finish line and I kept on cheering and then raising my arms to get the spectators (i.e. finished runners) to cheer too.

I think we look a lot better AFTER.

I had called the 34 year-old at mile 11 (I know, I know - it's weird that I make phone calls during a race. I was also e-mailing about writing a recommendation for someone) and he was supposed to meet me at the finish line with a bagel. He got lost in the park (I mean, it could have happened to anyone...) and I tried to go look for him - and ended up running an additional 2 miles. Technically my inaugural Brooklyn Marathon was an ultra.

The unofficial results:

Place	Name	City	Bib No	Age	Gender	Age Group	Chip Time	Gun Time
196	The Professor	NEW YORK	96	31	M	55 30-39	4:29:00.0	4:29:24.4
197	In Shape Out of Mind	NEW YORK	83	25	F	21 20-29	4::29:00.4	4:29:24.2

How did he beat me if I have a faster gun time?

Packet Pick-up and Early Morning Slurpees

You know you are going to have one hell of a successful day when you wake up at 6 AM and ask, "Where am I?" and "Who are you?"... out loud. I was at the 34 year-old's and the 34 year-old was next to me. I was also fully dressed, including my contacts and shoes.

I definitely should have thrown up before going to work.

Obviously I decided it was time to hightail it out of there (because at 6 AM you really only see runners and crackheads on your way home) and go to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee. I seriously struggled to get the top onto my Slurpee cup and that's how I knew I was still very drunk.

6 AM Slurpee run

Last night the Professor and I headed out to Brooklyn to the Gibson to pick up our race packets. We were concerned about making the round trip in under and hour because of Occupy Wall Street taking over the bridges, but we managed to pop in and out.

The prettiest race bib I have ever seen.

Awesome tech shirts. I can't wait to wear mine.

The back of the shirt and the Brooklyn Marathon sponsors.

This timing chip system is worn on your shoe.
You must return it to receive an official time.

Does Anyone Ever Truly Run Alone?

So T and I are back to running in the morning. We met at the park at our usual spot but tried to try a new route. Unfortunately the Conservatory Garden was locked up at that hour, but we did run up to the Harlem Meer. I had no idea this body of water even existed until T sent me a map of it on Monday. It was beautiful, but I swear on my Body Glide, if a muskrat made himself visible, I would've killed it or died from a heart attack. There is so much to see in Central Park up in Harlem. Who knew?

I understand that this picture is hard to see because it's dark.
It was hard to see this boathouse/bathroom when I saw it because it was dark.

The Brooklyn Marathon is fast approaching, so it's about time I finish answering ING NYC Marathon questions.


Samantha asked:
3. did any running buddies from your blog run the marathon also? did they run with you?


T also ran the marathon and we traveled over to Staten Island together. I grabbed a taxi (which is normally so easy by my apartment, but was an effing hassle and a half on race day. I had to get one to make an illegal u-turn and scoop me up!) and met T by her place. Then we took the taxi down to Whitehall Station to catch the Staten Island Ferry.


I highly recommend having a friend to hang out with in the runners' villages at Fort Wadsworth. It would have been really lonely if I hadn't had her to chat with. T and I chose to run the marathon separately and were in separate colors. I hung out in the orange village with her until it was time for me to head over to the green village. I would've been happier if we were in the same color.


The Professor is running The Brooklyn Marathon with me on Sunday, so get excited for that tale.


6. how long did it take you? (is that question poor runner etiquette?) are you happy with your time? do you feel like you were well prepared?


I completed the marathon in 4:21:47 and I think it is perfectly acceptable to ask that question. If you are unsure of how a person has run, you can ask, "How did you do?" instead of "What was your time?" I absolutely hate when people ask if I finished. What the hell kind of question is that? If I didn't finish, I would be either be dead or hiding in shame.


I am happy with my time because I didn't really know how I would do. My initial goal was to finish in under five hours so I could get my name in the paper on Monday morning. Once I realized that I was going to reach that goal, I decided that I wanted to come in at under 4:30. I reached both of my goals, but I wasn't tired enough. I think I could have started out faster, or at least picked up the pace at the halfway point.


I want to set a new PR on Sunday.


My best friend littlefishie asked:
What was the best part of the marathon?


The best part of the marathon was running through Brooklyn. There were a lot of funny signs and the spectators were handing out food. I felt really positive about the whole experience.


The worst part of the marathon was running on the 59th Street Bridge. There was this weird noise that sounded like machines, and I kept feeling like I was in a film that was a cross between Tom Cruise's version of War of the Worlds and The Dark Crystal. I also got boxed in by a bunch of foreign runners in weird team uniforms. I get annoyed when I properly pace myself and the people who don't create massive packs/solid chains of tired, slow runners. Get the eff out of my way!


Another best part of the marathon was running along Central Park West. I had the energy left to spring it in and I could tell my parents were really proud of me.

Toma!: I Think I'm in Love

Did you think this post was about the 34 year-old? Try again. My boxing gloves have been sitting in my desk since I took my new job, but I finally got my ass out of work and into the gym on a Tuesday night. I went Toma! at the Equinox on 63rd Street.

About this class: 

Experience the Sweet Science of Boxing. Developed by Angel Alicea, train basic/advanced punching combinations on the heavy bags & develop speed, accuracy & defense with focus mitts. Conditioning drills challenge your ultimate fitness level. Handwraps/gelwraps are mandatory, boxing gloves available.

This class was great. I have been wanting to get into real boxing for a while, and it is not easy. I need remedial help, especially since I can follow verbal directions. We warmed-up and then rotated through stations. Two stations were on the bag, the next station was mountain climbers and plank ups, and the last station was focus mitts with Angel. To finish up the class we all worked on the bags and then did these things where we quickly hit a partner's gloves. And I can't forget the partner plank thrusts. One person gets in a plank (wearing gloves mind you), and the other person jumps over them, does a push-up, stands up and jumps over the planking person again and then goes into his push-up. You keep alternating and jumping over each other. It's nuts.

Gloves, hand wraps, water bottle, sweat-soaked towel.

I actually can't lift my arms right now and it sucks to type.

I'm Too Young For This

This morning I woke up, energized for my trail run, ready to take on the world, when I saw it. I was aggressively brushing my teeth (as usual), telling myself how great I look, when my eyes zeroed in on the most frightening thing I've seen in the mirror since I noticed the broken blood vessel beneath my right eye after three years of living the life in college. Smack dab in the middle of my forehead, sticking straight into the air, is my first grey hair. And by grey hair, I mean a white, wiry, somewhat shiny piece of hair.

WTF?! I'm only twenty-five!

Needless to say, I am horrified.

White hairs, and getting old for that matter, are no excuse to give up on trail-running, so I hopped in Petunia and drove to the Greenbelt Trail. Brooks has sent me another pair of trail shoes to test wear, and I did a nice 4 mile run. There was a lot of walking in my run. I'm not sure if it's because I ran a marathon a week ago or because I hadn't eaten breakfast, but running up those hills was effing tough.

Thank goodness you can't see the grey hair..

I was definitely overdressed. I assumed that it would be cold on the trail because it was cold in my parents' house, so I wore C9 running tights, a long-sleeved cotton shirt, and a sweatshirt. I could've worn a tech t-shirt and been fine. Has anyone else been thrown off by this wonky November weather?

My favorite part of the trail.

I had a half comp day today and needed to be back in NYC to work from my apartment at 1 PM. I think I got more done, and worked longer hours, working a "half day" from my princess desk than I ever do at the office. Perhaps it has something to do with working in my underwear... or the lack of noisy distractions.

The more time I spend working in the "real-world" I find that I did my best work in college library conditions.

I didn't do this, but these are the 34 year-old's and my initials.

Come Home > Homecoming

So I decided to visit my parents instead of returning to the Hartbeat for Homecoming. I woke up at 8 AM over at the 34 year-old's, and while I had more than enough time to get to CT, I decided to watch DVR'd episodes of One Life to Live in bed. I'm now on the train heading out to the 516 and a tasty chicken and artichoke pasta dinner awaits me.

I didn't do much working out this week, but I did do some more walking than usual. My favorite office friend and I went to High Gear spin class at the 50th and Broadway Equinox on Thursday. Super fun. I almost never go to the gym with a friend (although I used to have gym friends when I worked out at Great Neck) and I would love to workout with Favorite Office Friend (FOF) more often. She just needs to join Equinox (and get me my $125 referral credit.)

Last night I went to a party with one of my buddies from home. I haven't seen him in months and I haven't been to an apartment party in years. It was a lot of fun, got to see home friends, Hobart friends, and then my sorority showed up, no joke. Seeing all those girls then made me happy... and let me off the hook for Homecoming.

Me... and my 2 massive bags of laundry.

Motivation When Running a Marathon

Welcome to Day 2 of answering your marathon questions. I really love this format, so please keep the questions coming.

Jenny of Lovely at Your Side (an awesome blog she runs with her sister Olivia) asked:

How do you keep yourself motivated on such a long run? Do you create awesome play lists? 

This is a major question, so I will begin with the easier part - I don't create awesome play lists because I don't listen to music when I run. I find it distracting, and I refuse to do it during races. I tried once and it ended badly. I will listen to music if I am running on a treadmill (almost never), or if I am having serious trouble motivating myself to get outside and run at all. I do listen to music for the mile between my apartment and the park on the mornings I meet T, but that's more to keep myself from getting scared of bumps in the night. I put on a loud, high energy song (frequently Duck Sauce's Barbra Streisand) and just haul ass over there.

You also don't need music for the marathon because of all of the live entertainment. Bands and performers of all genres were out on the sidewalks playing their music, and when there wasn't live music, someone kindly blasted music from speakers. There was a band playing near Kent Street in Brooklyn that was good enough that I wanted to turn around and go back to listen. I love Caribbean music (I know, you learn something new about me everyday on this thing) and there were a variety of bands that reminded me of my travels. Not every performer was any good (I'm talking to you disgruntled pianist with a voice of an ice pick on a chalkboard), but I appreciated the effort nonetheless.

Staying motivated on such a long run can be hard, but the ING NYC Marathon is an incredibly motivating experience. First of all, you're running THE NEW YORK MARATHON, and there are a bajillion people cheering you on. You never run the same portion twice and it feels like a journey through New York City. As a NYC resident who lives on the Upper Eastside, and has taught in both Brooklyn and the Bronx, I felt a connection to the route. My grandmother lives in Queens and my dad works there so I knew where I was when running miles 13-15. The best food is in Astoria and I got psyched to run in a neighborhood I frequent often with my dad. I have no connection to Staten Island except for that one time I brought my students there for a lame-ass rendition of Stuart Little, but we only ran the Verrazano Bridge anyway.

Before the start of the race, standing on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

We listened to Frank Sinatra's New York, New York while waiting for the race to begin and throughout the first mile. It was a special moment.

My all-star reader Samantha asked some questions that I found relevant to this post.

Samantha asked:

2. did you ever feel like you were going to stop? at which mile mark were you feeling the closest to stopping?


I ran the race very slowly by my standards because I simply wanted to enjoy the experience. I am crazy competitive and once I get a time goal in my head, I don't focus on anything else. When I felt like stopping, I got in line for a porta-potty, which is a convenient way to stop for a reason other than tiredness. So, I went to the bathroom six times...

I felt closest to stopping around mile 19 on the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx.

Who doesn't love a good bagpiper?

5. did you really read and respond to my fb post comment while running through the bronx? do you always type on your iphone while running? does that slow you down?


I really did read and respond to your Facebook post comment while running over the Willis Avenue Bridge. I was tired, grumpy, and in desperate need of a cigarette. The crowd had really dwindled (but the crowd in the Bronx is awesome!), and I needed some support. I pulled out my phone to take a picture of the bagpipers when I saw that I had a lot of messages. I was so happy to read that my friends were thinking of me, but I only responded to yours. Feel special. I don't usually type on my iPhone while racing, but I have been known to tweet and respond to text messages on training runs. I do pull out the iPhone to capture good blog photos on longer races, but during a 5K I am too busy kicking ass to record anything.

I loved these t-shirts and had to snap a photo.

4. did you see any of the people who came to cheer for you and did you feel annoyed or motivated when you heard them cheering?


I saw my parents at 65th and 1st, and on Central Park West. I was annoyed with my parents for not understanding the vibrate functions on their phones and not answering when I was trying to call them. They had moved locations from where I had expected them to be and I got confused when I couldn't find them. My mom had my Ritalin. I needed to see her. 


The 34 year-old was MIA when I tried to call him from the 60s to let him know I would be passing our hood shortly. Although I was hoping to get a drag of his cigarette, I wasn't too upset. I also missed my co-workers who were watching in Queens and my friends watching in the 70s and 80s. It's really hard to spot people in such a dense crowd.


I saw a sorority sister of mine who was an alumna when we joined IVY when I was running down Fifth Avenue towards the park. She called out my name and I felt excited to see her. There were times when I was jealous of the people who had friends and supporters all over the race (you spend four hours with these people, you know), but overall I was happy with my experience. I'm kind of a solitary creature when I run anyway. If I run next year, I would consider putting my name on my shirt because random strangers cheer for you, but this year I was afraid I'd get annoyed and hit someone.