My name ended up being in the paper after all (27F, at the end)!
Steven and I headed to the marathon store in Central Park yesterday and I decided to pick up a paper even though they said only finishers under 4:30 would get in. I was really surprised to see my name! Gina shared this article with me about fitting names in the paper.
The marathon store was crazy! We waited in line outside of Central Park to get in to another line inside the park… to get in to the store. But I was very excited to pick up a few souvenirs for my spectators.
And you know what else was exciting? How many freaking people there were walking around wearing their medals! And not just around Central Park, but all over Manhattan (we got around quite a bit yesterday!). I wore my marathon shirt on Monday and my medal when I was in Central Park. People were congratulating me all day, everywhere. The city really does get pumped about the marathon! So very cool.
Do people in other cities wear their medals like that the day after? I even saw people wearing their medals today!
We’ve been going all over the last two days. Lots and lots of stairs. I have swollen feet, a sore right quad and a left heel that sometimes has stabbing pain. But other than that I am doing good. All this sightseeing is wearing me down, but the weather is perfect and we are having too much fun not to go out and about! So far we’ve seen the 9/11 memorial, been to SoHo, spent a ton of time in Times Square (did the CSI experience thing) walked up most of 5th Avenue north of Times Square to Central Park, and been in a lot of cool shops. And a ton of other stuff I am not mentioning. And there is still a ton of other stuff we want to do.
Maybe I will post some overall pictures of that stuff later if people are interested?
Also, guess who my sister met today, for reals! Do you know who this is?
I don’t feel like I am in NYC to run a marathon. I feel like I am here to spend time with my awesome friends Gina and Steve (and Luca and Manny!) and bonus – spend time with my sister and her boyfriend who are also here! I better get my act together, because I do have a marathon to run!
And a 5K too! Gina and I will be doing the Dash to the Finish Line 5K tomorrow!
Our flight was a bit late today so we immediately booked it to the expo when we got in. I think we were cutting it short with getting our bibs for the 5K, but we were successful.
I also was really interested in the marathon themed orange arm warmers, so I had to get them. Along with a pair of gloves I thought were silly until I saw them in person, a tee, and gifts for two friends.
We didn’t spend too much time at the expo though. It was in the middle of nowhere and we (Gina, Will, Christina and I) made the trek back to Gina’s for pizza…
And Gina and Steve surprised me with a marathon goodie bag! They are too good to me! How did I get so lucky? This is going to be a great trip!
I just need to make sure not to have too much fun tomorrow and wear myself out for the race on Sunday!
- The sleep support helped with my plantar fasciitis! I woke up with no pain and have felt great so far today! I did have to figure out how to adjust it so my foot didn’t go numb, but I didn’t mind sleeping in it once I figured it out. Hopefully I am on the road to recovery.
- The women’s bathroom on my floor at work is being remodeled so I have to go one floor below (or two above) mine. Apparently this means I wait until the last minute to go, then I quite often get stopped by someone to chat on my way down there. Pretty soon I am going to be doing the “I have to pee” dance in the hallways if this keeps happening.
- I’ve had a $200 Banana Republic gift card for two years and had only used $15 on it! Who does that?! Do you have any really old gift cards? We still have some from our September 2007 wedding! I decided it was a shame I hadn’t used the Banana Republic one and asked Erin to help me pick out some new clothes (Thanks a million to Erin!). Ta da:
- Does anyone else have a million and one mosquito bites? Wah, I am so itchy.
- We booked our November flight to New York City last week! We were able to get (imo) a very decent price on the flight, and because we are staying with friends, we can stay for quite some time. And my sister and her boyfriend are going to be there as well (but staying in the city). Can’t wait!
- Speaking of travel, my passport is not up to date (it has my maiden name on it) and it makes me feel so trapped. Not that I travel out of the country much, but that’s how it makes me feel! Steven and I plan to renew our passports this fall.
Apparently, my birthday present is in this big box. What do you think it is?
I am being good and not peeking.
I was so sad coming home from New York yesterday. Even though we got to spend a lot of time with our friends, it never feels like enough. And I kept thinking about how much bigger their son (Luca) is going to be when we return in November! We are going to miss out on so much by being so far away!
But, there is a chance they may come visit in October. Yay!
I feel so frickin’ lazy today. I must go for a run, NOW, before I waste the entire day!
The iTunes Giftcard Giveaway winners are:
Lauren @ Lauren Runs and RunningLaur! Please send me your mailing addresses, ladies, and I will put these in the mail.
Yesterday we spent the day in Long Island checking out a few towns on the water and seeing where Gina and Steve grew up. We’re having so much fun! I don’t want to go home! At least I know we will be back in November.
This week’s long run will be in Central Park! With Tracy! In the 95°F degree weather (<– ugh, let’s try to ignore that part)! It’s an organized long run, so I have a bib!
The bib says I can run 9:00 minute miles! Ha ha ha.
Ha.
Yeah… I can run that – in the fall! Lately, I am lucky if I can get in under 11:00 minute miles. That works for me! I am just happy to be running injury-free.
Where are you running lately? Do you like to try out new courses/trails?
I love checking out new running places – I just found a new (to me) trail in Indiana this week. And I have not seen much of Central Park OR run in it so it should be an adventure. Especially if Gina comes with me and we go get bagels afterward.
Ha! Another week of random thoughts:
- Yesterday when Steven was picking me up at the train station, a man approached him (as I was walking to the car) and asked Steven to help him with directions to a nearby hospital/clinic. Steven told the man how to get there, then he said thanks, and that he would walk the 3 miles to the hospital. We got in to our car and I said, “Don’t you think we should offer than man a ride?” It seemed risky (since we had no idea who he was), but with the temps near 100° and it being so frickin’ humid, I thought we should offer. We did, and he accepted. It’s a good thing we helped him because he had the address wrong anyway! If he would have walked, he would have gone a mile or so in the wrong direction. So, this guy took Metra 20 miles north to visit his friend who was ill, and was going to walk to the hospital. My oh my. I could tell he was European by his accent. He is probably used to public transportation being more readily available (or just used to all that walking) – I know I relied on it when I lived in Italy. Anyway, would you have offered him a ride?
- Okay, me telling that story totally reminds me of the time I got me and a friend from Verona to Paris with very little planning except having plane tickets. We ended up riding from the airport (60 miles away from Paris) in to the city with a man and his wife that I met on the plane. Wow (You can read about that adventure here, Feb 3 post) would you have done that (got in the car with two strangers)?
- I got my hair cut yesterday. When I sat down and the stylist started combing my hair she asked “Do you straighten your hair?” I said I used to, but haven’t for months. Then she said “Do you dye your hair a lot?” And I said “No… why?” “Well, your hair is incredibly dry.” Great. Thanks. I don’t even do damaging things to my hair (straighten it, blow dry it, or dye it) and it still looks like crap. Wah wah wah.
- Brian had to cancel our strength session today. I am bummed! That was going to be my only strength workout this week. I look forward to them. Wah.
- I read Dead Until Dark while I was on travel (Erin loaned in to me in the winter). Look at me, reading books – woo hoo (it takes me forever to read a book these days)! Anyway, it’s the first in the Sookie Stackhouse books that the show True Blood is based on. I thought it was a fun read, and interesting (but I am not in love with the book or anything). Anyone else read the books or like the show?
- Oops. I should have read the instructions to my antibiotics before taking them (I didn’t read them until last night). I was totally out in the sun for a long time on Tuesday and have been taking the meds with my vitamins. Antibiotic FAIL.
- Anyone else running in this heat? I went out on Tuesday night in Louisville and put in 5 fun miles. I’ll probably be out there today too.
- I saw this note (below) where I started my run on Tuesday. It was on this plaque about Lewis & Clark. I almost feel like I should submit it to passiveaggressivenotes.com (does someone want to for me?).
- This is the first post in a long time that I have had ready to publish the night before! All of my posts used to be that way. Now they all seem to be on the fly. Do you have your posts pre-written and scheduled to publish?
I’ve been trying really hard lately to not be such a little piggy – I told Steven it was less about eating healthy all the time and more about just eating LESS (at least for now). Anyway, I am traveling, and have been doing pretty good, but damn, I ALWAYS clean my plate! I NEVER seem to leave food on my plate (well, you know, a few onions with my fajitas yesterday, and a bit of sauce with pasta – you get the idea). How do people do it?!
It was really hard last night because my coworker and I finally went to Ramsi’s Café on the World – a restaurant in Louisville that Erin recommended to me a long time ago. They have a huge, varied menu, with a lot of different cuisines, and I had so many vegan options I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head. I was so excited I was giddy.
I ended up selected the Egyptian Kitchen, which the menu described as “Traditional dish of Egypt: ditalini, lentils, chick peas, toasted angel hair, white rice, fried onions. Fiery harissa on the side.”
Oh my gosh, it was so good. And just what I love – a bowl full of carbs! It had a very unique taste (some cinnamon in there) and I totally finished it.
And you know we had to try a vegan dessert (sorry for the bad picture):
My coworker and I split the carrot cake (it’s from a local bakery – Sweet Surrender – I must check it out!). We couldn’t finish it but we both left very full, and very satisfied. She wants to go back (they had a lot of meat friendly options too and she got some prawn dish).
Yum yum yum. I wish I would have gone to this place sooner, but we were always looking for food in downtown Louisville before (now we are staying in Indiana, and this place is in Louisville but not downtown). Anyway… it’s back home this afternoon… and back to trying not to be such a little piggy!
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