NYC!

Recently Mr. B and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary. Our initial plan for celebrating was a road trip to watch the Packers at Lambeau. However, one morning about a month ago, I learned that Mr. B had booked us a weekend trip to New York City instead- over the weekend of the New York Marathon no less! Of course, the Packers would be fun...but a trip to watch the New York Marathon would be incredible!

Oh hey New York!

On Saturday morning I had hoped to catch the Dash to the Finish 5k, which included some of my favorite professional runners: Chris Solinsky, Shalane Flanagan, Molly Huddle, Ben True, Sally Kipyego, and Lopez Lomong (just to name a few). Unfortunately we got a little behind and missed the elite race (but Nick Willis won the men's competition in 13:47 and Molly Huddle won for women in 15:27 - interviews, more results, etc., are here ). I did get a picture of the masses running:

One thing you can't see in this picture is the ridiculous number of people running and taking photos of themselves! Some even had those things that you stick your camera/phone to the end of so it doesn't look like a selfie (like this thing)

 

Okay- I am all about documenting memories, etc, (even though somehow there are no pics of Mr. B & me together from our weekend) but seriously, why would you run 3.1 miles holding that thing?! Do you need that many photos, or worse, a video of just your face, bobbing in and out of the frame?!

Sorry. Rant over. 

Mr. B and I were staying in midtown, about 1.2 miles south of Central Park, so on Sunday we ran over the park. One thing we noticed on our way was how windy it was- just a stiff headwind until we turned for home. I have a feeling that contributed to the somewhat "slow" times. Anyway, we were at the park pretty early and if we had wanted to could have snagged a front row seat to the finish. Security was understandably tight- even with just our running clothes we got wanded by police before entering the park, and all bags were searched before people were allowed near the course. We finished our run down 5th avenue (I was staring so hard at the amazing displays in those high end shops that I was afraid I'd run into the glass like a little bird).

We went back to the park after changing into warmer clothes, and positioned ourselves near what I believe was about mile 25.5 (just an estimate). We arrived just in time to see Kim Smith, a runner from New Zealand, pass by en route to a 6th place finish. Here are some of the elite runners I was able to get photos of, including links to some articles about them:

Julia Stamps Mallon: Bad Ass.

Ryan Vail, top American man.

Never giving up: Meb Keflezighi- great post- race interview is here

Yuki Kawauchi- finishing marathon #9 of 2013, also works a full time job and is not a "professional" runnner

Wesley Korir- 2012 Boston Champion and maybe future president of Kenya

The environment around the race was really great- though some people were oblivious to the fact that a race was happening (I saw a girl try to just walk through the crowd of runners...um, bad idea), most people were super excited! I know it sounds very naive of me, but I just didn't realize how big this race is! I think I read that over 50,000 people started the race- almost 5x the number that start the Twin Cities marathon (12k in 2013). I can't even imagine dealing with the logistics of something so big. Personally, I'm not sure I'd enjoy a race that huge, though I'm sure it would be an amazing experience!
**
Running last week:
Monday: off
Tuesday:5
Wednesday:5
Thursday: off
Friday: 7.5
Saturday: off
Sunday:5.25

I clearly didn't follow my plan for running, so this week I'm not making a plan and am just focusing on getting 5+ miles in on at least 5 days (including a long run on Saturday).

Do you prefer larger races, or small ones?
Who is your favorite or inspirational elite runner? Do you follow elite racing at all?
-I love Kara Goucher of course, but I also really admire the runners who aren't "big names" or maybe don't have shoe contracts, but keep running and competing at a high level- Jason Hartmann comes to mind.

So many things...

So, this post will contain 2 race recaps, 1 track workout, 1 wedding, 1 vacation, and 1 new house.

Track workout: The Tuesday after Grandma's half marathon Meg, Larissa and I did 6 x 400m. We were shooting for 85s, but our first one was 83 and we felt good, so we just cut down a second or so on each repeat, with my last rep being 74. I don't know how my legs felt so good after a half marathon, especially since my training had been lackluster, but I'll take it.

New House: Mr. B & I bought a house! I never understood why people said that home buying was stressful until I did it myself...I will be fine if I never buy another house, and just add on to this one; that is how stressed the process made me. Long story short: after a roller coaster of paperwork/red tape, we got a house in one of our favorite St. Paul neighborhoods, in a great running area, and there are *no* major fixes needed! I won't lie, part of me was thinking it would be fun to get a house that needed some work...but I wasn't going to pass on a move-in ready place for one that had to get fixed right away!

Vacation: This happened right after we closed on our house and was partially to go to my cousin's wedding! It was held on the shores of Burntside lake and the weather was absolutely perfect-plus it is always fun to see family!!!

View from our cabin deck.

Chatting with our lovely Grandma after the wedding. 

As much as I wanted to come back right away to move into our new place, Mr. B. and I needed a nice long break so we stayed up north until after the 4th. And this brings me to race recap #1: The Janet Gensler Memorial Ely 4 on the 4th. This is a local race benefiting my high school track team, and it is a small town race at its finest. Last year Mr. B won in a course record (21:04) and the local paper featured him with a front page article and color photo. He did not race this year, but I needed to redeem myself from my 2nd place finish last year. I think my first mile was 6:40ish, and early into the second mile I took the lead for women. Mile 2 was 6:30ish, mile 3 was 6:51 (damn hills) and then mile 4 was whatever is left to result in a 26:41 final time. I finished first for women even though a local HS runner was coming on strong. I used to babysit for her too...so I felt old.

1.25 miles into the race. My foot looks giant.

Race recap #2 is from a 1 mile race this past Wednesday, the Richard Hoska Midsummer Mile. I was feeling a little apprehensive about this race- I really hadn't been running too much with my butt/hip pain, plus after the 6x400s one of my toes seriously felt broken....but I love running road miles, so I signed up on Tuesday. This was another really low key event, and I think there were less than 50 women competing. This race is much different from the TC 1 mile on Nicollet avenue. Obviously it is a much smaller race, and there isn't a prize purse or anything. But another major difference is that all women run together, and then all the men run. So you aren't split up by time. I wasn't sure I'd like this but it was great to see where the competition was the whole time.

The course was two laps in the State Fairgrounds. I lined up just behind the front crowd but was quickly up near the front after about 200 meters. It felt crazy fast- almost too fast. Larissa was about 10 meters ahead, and Meg was about 1 meter ahead, and we went through the clock at 2:30 (this cannot have been the halfway point, because I know I am not in 5:00 mile shape). I felt pretty strong on the second lap and ended up placing 4th, in 5:29.1, which is 15 seconds faster than my TC 1 mile! Larissa ran 5:17 and Meg ran 5:30.

Sprinting down the homestretch!

So awesome!!! Except.... something didn't seem right. While I think I am in decent shape, I don't think I am in 5:30 shape. A few other folks at the finish line were saying the same thing, and today we got the official confirmation from the race- the course was short! And not by just a little, but by over 50 meters! I guess the folks who set up the course didn't know which building the race was supposed to start by. So even though the course was USATF certified by a very experienced race certifier, the times don't count. To get a more realistic time, finishers are supposed to multiply their time by 1.036- meaning I actually ran 5:40. Oh well- it's still faster than the TC 1 mile!

Tomorrow instead of a track workout Meg, Larissa, and some other running friends are doing a hill workout! Who doesn't love running hills in 90 degree, 90% humidity??