New PR’s Part 2: Staten Island Half

Happy New Year! There have been a lot of changes in my life, thus the lack of updates. But what has not changed is my PR status due to the fact that I haven’t raced for a long time now and my temporary emergency work with Ebola at UNICEF, and quite frankly am coming up on 3 weeks of not running at all (winter storms, and the hellish process of moving!!!) so no PR’s to come anytime soon. But that’s ok, for once in my life my legs aren’t tired when I walk up the escalator to get out of the subway!

So back to my glory days….Staten Island Half!!! I don’t remember much of the race except that I felt GREAT. The morning required a super early wake up, a subway ride and a cold ferry ride, which ended up very scenic.

Downtown

Manhattan from Staten Island Ferry

We met up with our fellow runner friends and shuffled off to our horsie corrals.

Me, Mari’s bf, Mari, Danny, Kim, and FBa behind the camera

New PR’s Part 1: The Bronx 10 Mile

It has been so long since I have updated! Since Zambia, I have run a handful of races, and I did MUCH better than that darned Brooklyn Half 2014 which was obligatory and somewhat torturous given the lovely 2 weeks in Africa. Now I can boast 2 new PRs, one for the 10 mile distance and the other for the half marathon distance…one sorta out shines the other but let’s start with the Bronx 10 Miler!

Last year I did this race a part of my marathon training. It was a ‘tempo run.’ This year I did some proper pre-race resting. I’ve upped my rest days from 2 to 3 days prior to the race which has been successful thus far. I also participated in the marathon training runs hosted by NYRR, including the 18 Mile Tune Up. So come race day, I was ready to run! Well, once I woke up…

Post Zambia adventure blues and Summer snails

Petting a cheetah

Finally got back to running after a 2 week break in Zambia which included petting a cheetah. And it turns out that I’ve transformed to a snail.

After a long needed adventure vacation in Zambia (where I saw Victoria Falls in all its glory! And exotic animals like never before in South Luangwa National Park!!!) I came back to running without much gusto. The weekend that I flew back I had to run the Brooklyn Half Marathon, which was nice except I was super tired and we had to wake up extremely early to get there on time to not repeat the NYC Half debacle…not to mention the fact that I hadn’t run one step except to maybe get the camera from my tent to take a pic of some elephants wandering through our camp. So it was a pretty run around Prospect Park, and then a pretty tiring run down Ocean Parkway. I clocked in at a 1:44 and change, slower than my first half marathon, but I wasn’t too upset since I had not trained one bit…and I’m not talking about the “oh I didn’t train…I only ran a few long runs the weekends before…” No Training, I am talking about lying in a hammock, drinking beers every night and sitting in vehicles Oooo-ing and Ahhh-ing at giraffes for 2 weeks No Training.

Giraffes to Ooooh and Aaaaah at in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

Flying down the runway: JFK Runway 5K recap

A few weekends ago, Fernando and I participated in a very unique race – the JFK Runway 5K race. The venue: John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York. How awesome is that!

I had heard some of my former colleagues had done this race last year and it looked pretty amazing, but unfortunately I had another commitment that day. So this year, no matter how early we’d have to wake up, we were determined to do it! It was also going to be Fernando’s first race of 2014. He has been doing a lot of physical therapy to get his glutes and IT band and everything strengthened so he can run without fear of injury. 5K is a good distance for a person  making an injury comeback!

Going for a PR at the NYC Half Marathon

Last Sunday I received the latest edition to my medal collection and with it, a new personal record. I am giddy with joy!

The time was a mere 37 seconds faster than my last record half (Brooklyn Half Marathon 2013) but for me it is a WHOPPING 37 seconds. And it all started off so badly!

First of all, as you are all aware, this winter has been quite drastic to say the least. With the weather being so…wintery…it was hard to get out the door and run. It was dark, icy, dangerous and bitter, bitter cold. And of course, riding off the high of achieving my first Full Marathon (blog post to come!) last November, I wasn’t super motivated to go out and kill myself in the park in 6 degree Fahrenheit weather over black ice with frozen toes and nose and burning red legs (even with the running tights) so I did a little relaxin’ and allowed myself to skip runs (which was probably a good and safe idea most of the time, but probably not all of the time…)….