NYC Marathon, here I come!

On November 4th, I will be traversing the five boroughs along with 40,000 of my closest running friends. New York is a city I have known and loved for years; it is where my parents were born and where I spent many of my weekends with my grandparents.  I knew that I wanted to do this race and hopped at the opportunity to run it this year.

Although I missed the lottery, I was invited to run as a member of the Blue Card team.  A bit about the Blue Card: the fund was established in 1934 in Germany to assist families who have lost their livelihoods as a result of the Nazi regime.  In 1939, the original founders of The Blue Card reestablished the organization in the United States to help those individuals who survived the Holocaust to start over their lives in the new country.  Today the Blue Card is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing direct financial assistance to needy Holocaust survivors who live at or near the Federal poverty level. For more information about The Blue Card including description of programs, testimonials and articles, please visit www.bluecardfund.org.

As you may have realized at this point, I am a proud (and loud) Jewess. But what you may not know is that I am the granddaughter of two wonderful and brave Holocaust survivors. It was their strength and perseverance that paved the way for my family. They are by far two of the most influential individuals in my life. It will be an honor to run in their memory and to help support others who survived.

To guarantee my entry into the race I am required to fundraise at least $1800.  I recognize that there are many worthy causes out there, but I appreciate every donation that you amazing folks can provide. I am also hoping to have a blogger bake sale and a super bad ass raffle to help me raise money.*  More information to come.

In other news, things in my part of the world are going well.  Classes are almost over for the quarter which means I am officially half way through with my program (as long as I finish my research proposal).  Being a bit foolish, I decided I wanted to start my internship almost immediately, so I won’t have any time off between the end of classes and work, but I couldn’t be more excited for this summer.  I’ll be moving into San Francisco for three months and plan to spend as much time outdoors as possible.  May all your summers be sunny and beautiful!

What are you running these days?

*If you would like to help support me in the bake sale or have an item that you would be willing to add to my raffle, please let me know.  All offers will be greatly appreciated

Big Sur Marathon Recap

I’m not completely sure how I got it in my mind that I wanted to run Big Sur, but October of last year I took the plunge and signed up.  According to the amazing Bart Yasso, this is one of the most beautiful marathons in the world so how could I miss out on that?  It didn’t really hit me until January that I should probably pick up my training again so I could run another marathon.

Unfortunately, due to my ridiculous schedule, I wasn’t able to train perfectly.  Classes were hectic and I didn’t get in all of my runs.  Fast forward to last week and I finally sorted out my schedule for the race (nothing like saving things to the last minute…).  No, I wasn’t trained properly, but I knew that I could finish within the six hour time limit.  As Saturday morning approached, I gathered a large pile of running accessories and began to pack.

While there was a slight snafu as to where I would be staying Saturday morning, I was able to find room and board to guarantee I wouldn’t have to crash on the floor of someone’s hotel room.  (Thank goodness.)  So I traveled down to Monterey for the expo where I thoroughly enjoyed Bart’s seminar (we’re besties now) and started to get properly nervous.  Somehow it didn’t occur to me that I had to wake up at ungodly early to get down to the start line, something to take note of before race day.

After a fantastic dinner with some great runners, Layla and I returned to our quaint hotel room and proceeded to get ready for bed.  I attempted to fall asleep at 9pm, but that just wasn’t going to happen.  Eventually I fell asleep and just as quickly got back up at 2:30am to prepare.  An hour long bus ride later, Karin, Layla, and I found ourselves hanging out in a ridiculous crowd of people at the start line.  And it was still way too early to be awake.  Check out one of the awesome port-a-potty signs.

It wasn’t until I crossed the start line that I realized what I was about to do.  Alright, maybe that is a lie, it probably wasn’t until mile five or so that I fully understood what I had gotten myself into.  The first few miles were great, my legs were feeling wonderful and I felt on top of the world.  That is until we reached mile six and the wind began.  It was truly a wind tunnel between miles six and nine.  Then at mile ten we started another windy two mile ascent to Hurricane Point.

I think it was at this point that I started to slow down (for the first time at least).  The wind really attacked me and I couldn’t keep up the pace.  But I was enjoying myself.  I found some individuals on my path and used them as pace rabbits.  What I love about runners is how nice (most) are.  I began running beside two gentleman who were using the Galloway method and we discussed our marathon aspirations.  They were great to pace me for a bit, but then I left them on a downhill and never saw them again.

Most of the last ten miles was a blur, I was just enjoying the scenery and talking to random strangers.  The one that intrigued me the most was a gentleman following a 30 seconds running, 30 seconds walking Galloway strategy.  Somehow he was beating me and I couldn’t comprehend it.  This really made me reconsider my running technique, perhaps I’ll try walk/run while training for San Francisco in July.

And then there it was, the finish line!  As I approached the line I decided it was in my best interest to start sprinting, this didn’t lend itself well for finish line photos, but I did pass a few individuals in my final kick.

In retrospect I would do many things different with my training.  I know that I can run a marathon faster than I have these past three times, so I need to rework my strategy.  My goal for May is to focus on speed work.  I’m going back to the track and doing HIIT workouts at least two to three times a week.  I’m hoping to PR at San Francisco in July and potentially do even better in Philadelphia in November.

Sorry about my hiatus from the blogosphere, I’ve missed you all very much.  Now tell me, how is your running going?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.