2:23:33 My Official NYC Half Marathon Time

I did it! I finished the NYC half marathon!

Going into the race today I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. I hurt my knee four weeks ago snowboarding and it was horribly bruised and swollen. (Apologies to all the people I showed my knee to without warning.) It was so horrendous looking that even the doctor commented on it. I was afraid I had done something serious so I got an MRI to rule out any cartilage tears. Turns out it was just bursitis, which is inflamed bursa sacs in my knee. Nothing to do besides let it rest, ice it and and take an anti-inflammatory. The doctor said I could do a cortisone shot if the pain didn’t go away, but my friends who are doctors advised against it because 1. I am not 85 years old and 2. I am not a professional athlete.

So instead I rested, iced and ate Motrin like candy for 3 weeks. I debated a lot about whether to try and run the half at all because I didn’t want to make things any worse. I originally wanted to finish the race under 2 hours, but decided with the knee and lack of training, that I would still try to run it and simply crossing the finish line would be more than sufficient. I also read a lot of stories about how people who didn’t train at all managed to run full marathons, so there was some hope.

My plan for the race was to pace myself because it’s a (half) marathon, not a sprint. Duh. I honestly had no idea what to expect because the longest I’ve ever run is 6 miles. And I did that only one time. I don’t have a fancy GPS watch so I simply relied on the clocks at each mile marker. I drank some Gatorade at each water station and walked the big hills in Central Park.

After mile 5 my calves felt really tight so at each mile marker I would walk a minute or so and stop to stretch. At mile 7 I tried a tiny bit of PowerBar Gel goo stuff in strawberry banana flavor and it did not taste good. At mile 10 I knew there was no way I could finish in 2 hours so I set under 2:30 as my new goal time. Then it was mile 11 and just mind over matter at this point. Overall I felt fine except my calves were really hurting. I told myself that the faster I run these last 2 miles the sooner I’ll be able to stop.

I was ecstatic to see the “Only 800 meters” left to go sign. Even more ecstatic to see the “Only 400 meters” sign. The I saw the finish line and ran for it. A friend of mine was volunteering for the race and I saw her right after I crossed the finish line and gave her a big sweaty hug and basically cried in her arms. And if you know me, you know that I. do. not. cry. AT. ALL. But it was a strange cry.

It went like this:

“WAAAAAHHHHH”

“WAAAAAHHHHHOHMYGOODNESSIJUSTRANAHALFMARATHON”

“WAAAAAHHHHHHIMSORRYIDONTKNOWWHYIMCRYING”

And then it was over.

The tears disappeared and I was fine again. More than fine actually, I was feeling the runner’s high that everyone always talks about. Got my medal and took a photo. Still in shock that it all actually happened.

Now I’m going to sit for a long time and eat anything and everything. Happy that I’m done and have another thing I can check off my list.

New Resolutions For A New Year

1. Get a yoga teaching job.

2. Finish this list.

Anything else I should add?

Today Is The Day

Yoga teacher training starts tonight! I will have no weekends for the next 3 months. It’s going to be awesome! I also decided this would be a good time to start a self-imposed sugar ban. We’ll see how that one goes. I think I have a better chance of learning how to do a handstand.

Also, no half marathon for me. I decided it wouldn’t be worth it to trek all the way out to the Hamptons to run for a few hours just to rush back for yoga. I am disappointed I can’t do it all, but there will be more races.

A photo from yesterday’s rollerskating fun:

Good News, Bad News

Good: I put down a deposit and signed up for yoga teacher training! Another item I can check off my list. Training starts September 23rd and it will basically take up all my weekends and lots of my weekday nights until December. I can’t wait!

Bad: Remember that half marathon I signed up for 5 months ago? Well it’s now less than a month away and I am not ready AT ALL! I tried to go for a jog on Sunday and only lasted 15 minutes before I couldn’t jog anymore. Now I am scrambling to get in shape and hoping I don’t hurt myself on half marathon day.

DONE! To Learn #27: Acoustic Guitar

A long time ago my sister asked for a guitar for Christmas because she wanted to learn how to play. I never noticed her practicing but some years later I realized that she had somehow taught herself how to play! We started having mini jam sessions at home where she would she would play guitar and I would try to sing along.

Then 2 years ago she got a nicer guitar and I took her old guitar. (I think this is one of the few things that she got first and I got her hand-me-down, or I guess “up” in this case.) I wanted to be cool like her and play guitar too but I wasn’t as disciplined to look for chord charts online and learn on my own. So the guitar has been sitting in my closet collecting dust since I moved to NYC. Then I saw a Groupon for classes at NYC Guitar School and I took it as a sign to check another item off my list.

I ended up in Near Beginner class because over the years she has taught me 5 chords- D, G, C, F and E, which happen to be the most commonly played chords and easiest to learn.

Now I can play 10 more chords using 3 different strumming techniques. I’m basically unstoppable. It’s time to start a band.

DONE! To Do: #4 Take A Photo A Day For One Year

Now what should I do?

THE GRAND FINALE

Um, not really.

I thought a lot about what my last photo for my photo a day project should be. I felt all this pressure for it to be the best photo or the most interesting, since it’s the culmination of a year’s worth of pictures.

I considered a few options- a photo of all the cameras I own, a self portrait with my dSLR using my bathroom mirror, or a touristy night shot of Times Square. But none of them really appealed to me.

Then on my way home that day, an idea popped in my head and it made me laugh out loud. So here it is, the last one:

A Photo A Day 365/365: JUSTIN BIEBER IN DA HOUSE!!!!, New York, NY

Change Of Plans

Over the weekend KK and I decided that we are over trying to go to Mardi Gras. We’re too famous for that mess. Instead, we are going to Jazz Fest next year. Because the food is amazing. Oh, and there should be some good jazz bands performing too.

DONE! To Do #10: Play More Organized Sports

I put this on my list when I realized that I spent a lot of time alone at the gym. I wanted to interact with other humans and still get some exercise, so last summer I joined a dragonboat team. For those people that are not familiar with the sport, dragonboat is where you paddle in a boat shaped like a dragon. Pretty self-explanatory. It’s a good upper body workout, but since you only paddle on one side, I found that my body was totally unbalanced by the end of the summer.

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DONE! To Do: #1 Take A Pottery Class

I took ceramics class my senior year of high school because I needed an easy class and unless all the things you make look like pieces of poop, you cannot fail. I think of clay as a grown up version of play-doh. HOW FUN! We learned different hand building techniques but never got to use the pottery wheels.

So fast forward a bunch of years and I’m here in New York looking for activities to occupy my free time. A friend of mine mentions that she is taking pottery class at a studio near my apartment. It sounds just like high school ceramics class but this time I get to use the wheel!

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