NYC Half Marathon training week 1 + a trip to the clinic

Well, this Sunday didn’t start off the way it was supposed to.  First, it’s the day before we have to go back to work :( and I was supposed to meet my cousin for lunch over in Orlando.

On Friday my ear and jaw started hurting, I thought maybe allergies but the pain hasn’t subsided yet so I knew this morning I had to make my way to the walk in clinic knowing I had to go back to work tomorrow.  It hurts to open my mouth, to chew, drink, sleep, talk.. I love to talk and well, tomorrow we begin reviewing for finals.  I hate going to a doctor I am not familiar with, especially a walk in clinic.  When I walked in I thought I was going to leave with more than I came in with.  Oh Well!

I started my morning with my 2 mile recovery run and it was drizzling, windy, and a but chilly but I warmed up by mile 1.5 and then I was done, showered and off to the clinic.  

They prescribed me the same medicine my cat is on, we are twinzies!  While I was waiting I bought some potato chips and when the meds were still not done, I decided it was after noon and I needed a snack!

Keeping it classy!

Today completed my first week of NYC Half Marathon training and here is how it went:

Monday: 4 miles - 1 warm up, 1 cool down, 2 at tempo  (We don’t have a tempo pace yet because I have no idea where my fitness was

Tuesday: Rest - DONE, like a BOSS!

Wednesday: 3 Recovery

Thursday: Orange Theory Fitness, I almost died

Friday: I recovered and rested like a boss, again!

Saturday: Long Run 6 miles in the wind, and rain.  11:41 pace which was almost 50 seconds faster that last weeks long run (Last week was miserable)

Sunday: 2 mile recover

Overall: This week was a nice training week, especially with being off from work.  I managed 17.3 miles (Which include my miles at OTF)

How did your weekend go?

Any great plans during the week? - I just have a few doctors appointments and getting acclimated to work again.

happy new year!

Happy New Year!  

Are you tired of hearing that yet?  We are constantly being reminded on all our social media sites, Facebook, twitter, instagram, but I guarantee I will be writing 2015 for a few months.

How was your 2015?  How was your New Years?  

I have to say my 2015 was pretty spectacular.  My students are wonderful, we adopted 2 beautiful kitties, I got married, and during the last week of 2015 I finally found my running mojo.

It has been so long since I've been here, to be exact it was October so I should catch everyone up on things that went on.

August I had my bachelorette party that my best bridesmaids planned and threw and it was so much fun!  It was great to get to see some friends I don’t get to see too often and wear tutus and party :)

The girls relaxing poolside with a selfie stick

My amazing sorority sisters

In October, I went up to New York and my aunt threw me a fabulous bridal shower!  it was great to get to see family since many did not come to the wedding.

Not the best but sister, mom, me, and aunt in NY

No caption needed

November,  My mom, sister, and a few bridesmaids threw me my bridal shower and the day was absolutely perfect!  We are so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives. 

Bridesmaids

Behn and I got married and it was perfect!  Well marrying him was perfect but the actual day was a HOT MESS!  We are still talking to Carnival Cruise lines about so many of the wrongs and all I want is for them to take some responsibility.  Yea, I would not recommend going that route for a wedding but it did come highly recommended to us.    With that we also went on a cruise, it was a blast.

Surprise cake for hubby

Welcome dinner...

In December, I was accepted to run the NYC Half marathon again and I am so excited about that.  I lost my running mojo back in February after running the Gasprilla challenge and getting into this race was just what I needed to get my up and going.  I hired Abby as my coach and I am looking forward to working with her.  (I'll talk more about that decision on 

another post)

We also celebrated Joey's birthday and tomorrow we will have had him for exactly 1 year

We also adopted our Toby to make us a family of four.

Just chillaxin at the vets

That purse is mine?

I really cannot wait to see what 2016 holds for my little family!

I will certainly go into many more details about all that is gong on but wanted to give you a quick recap of the last few months.

What resolutions or goals have you made this year?  

Mine is to be happy and healthy

How was your 2015? 

Goals for the NYC Half 2014

I can't believe I head to New York tomorrow and my last half marathon of the season in Sunday, just 4 days away!

The Weather

The weather forcast is something I am not used to: A low of 25 and a high of 43.. I am not sure if this is something I am supposed to be happy about or not.  My last race was 70 degrees and 100% humidity at the start.  I am looking forward to not sweating before I cross the start line.  I am nervous for how to dress.

I just packed mot of my stuff and I have pants, capris, short, Procompression socks, tank top, tshirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, gloves and a tiny hat.  I will be walking from my aunts Apartment on W 75th to W 59 to the entrance.  That is actually what I am most nervous about.  I am hoping the weather helps with making me a little faster.

I am excited about this run to be here and I am also excited for it to be done with.  I entered the lottery so long ago and wasn't accepted.  NYRR changed the route to allow for more runners and I accidently pressed the button to allow me to re-apply.  I got it.  I am using it to go up and visit family.  I am excited to see family and hopefully friends but I also would love to lay in bed and relax the rest of spring break.

While training for the NYC Marathon my speed did not increase, it may have stayed the same or decreased actually.  A few weeks ago I started working on speed but nothing major.  After the Gasparilla 15k which I ran with Behn, I set a time goal for this race.  I really surprised myself at Gasparilla.  I hardly give myself enough credit.  Then I got a cold.  I am still battling with the aftermath of a cold; the cough, headache, sinus..No fun.

My Goals

But here are some of my goals for you *Knowing this may be a challenging course with hills* My current PR is 2:12:11 and when I signed up for this race, I wanted sub 2.  I also plan to have my camera out because after all, I will be running through my favorite part of the world, Times Square!

A Sub 2:16  Not sure this is possible, but I will try!!!

B:( This was my original A goal but I think I can do a little better if I really push it )Sub 2:20:  This allows be right over 10:30 miles.  This is a hilly course and I have not been training on coursed.  This is very doable as long as my snottiness goes away and I am not too effected by the cold.  (last time that happened I peed 9x during a marathon)

C: Sub 2:30  I went 2:26:XX at the Best Damn Race and I was hurting for days afterwards.  Maybe it was due to the humidity, lack of training, but anything really.  Getting to that pace was damn hard!


I really am looking forward to seeing how far or how close to my PR I can make it.  I want to see where I stand in terms of last year.  My PR is exactly a years difference in time.

Questions for you:

How do you determine your goal time?

Are you running the New York City Half?

Have you tried the new Ben & Jerry's Core flavors?  I tried the Karamel Sutra Core and I am obsessed!

Have you donated to my fundraising page for my first triathlon?  It's quickly approaching!