The Holiday Marathons: Thanksgiving Edition

I did it. I woke up extra early on Thanksgiving morning, I went to the Bronx and ran through the woods for the Thanksgiving marathon. And I got my fork.

Can we talk about what a cool concept this is? It's a free race supported by runner's donations. They have a race for every holiday. I think I might run the Labor Day one so I can get a hammer. . . only if they change the course.

It was a gorgeous day for running. The sun was out and it was a little too cold not to have a throwaway but I survived. After getting into the groove, I was warm enough in what I was wearing but I did wish I had long sleeves for a good portion of the beginning of the race.

Now can we talk about what's not cool? Trail runs. This race taught me that no matter how cool a trail run sounds, never ever sign up to run one again. My god. Why did no one warn me about Van Cortlandt Park? Those hills nearly killed me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of hills. Harlem and I are BFFs. I just wasn't ready for the challenges these insanely steep inclines were giving. Plus, I'm still injured here. I did not want to risk it. . so I walked a lot of it. It took me a long time to finish and I'm ok with that.

Another not so cool part? The course map online said the 10K (or 6.5) was supposed to be one loop. Apparently they didn't mark it that way and it was actually two loops. I am not a fan of that. Why? Because it's too easy to quit, which I almost did after the first round of inclines, wet leaves and mud. I wanted to finish it out by doing 2 loops of the 5k course, but I didn't know how strict they'd be if I decided to make my own course. I mean, granted, this race wasn't timed and everyone's bib read "1". oh well. I survived.

On to the photo tour!

 The Tortoise and The Hare statue: The meeting point.

 Slow and Steady wins the race.

More runners showing up. There ended up being a nice size crowd.

 

The Start Line.

 The start of into the woods.

 Lots of the path was covered with wet leaves, which = slippery.

 Some parts had slippery mud, too.

 But my favorite part was the unexpected hills.

 I really hope you got that as sarcasm.

 But I got my fork! (Who else thinks this is the opposite of safety?)

I was a little disappointed it wasn't engraved. Oh well.

 And I made my traditional photo.

And I used it for Thanksgiving dinner.

Kidding.

The End.

How people can still vote for a bill banning this is beyond me.

Brilliant speech.

Awesome or disturbing?

I can't decide but I'm leaning towards the later. I think I've seen Toy Story too many times.

Don't worry, I bring my own fork.

My "medal" from the quarter marathon this morning.

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday!

God's love we deliver 4M

This would be my first time running in two weeks. For the record, don't do this unless you have to. Those 4 miles felt like 26.8. my god. What happened to my endurance?! Is it really that easy to lose? But the good news? No inner hip pain and I got to run in this:

 Nun for you!

Which of course prompted my mother to ask if I burned. Honestly, it was a little hot running in a non-breathable cheap polyester costume, but I survived. And because I ran in that? I get tickets to see Sister Act on Broadway. What a great promotion which will lead to a great date night!

Holy water. Amazing.

Strawberry Fields.

I always walk past it to get in and out of the park, but I've never taken a pic of it.

What happened to the Coney Island Turkey Trot that was supposed to happen after this, you ask? Yea. About that. What the hell was I thinking? 

In all fairness, if I was not just coming off of an injury, I could have done it. But I didn't want to push myself, get hurt again and be super pissed. I did map out exactly what would have to happen in order for me to make it to the race on time, just in case I felt good enough. When it took 20 minutes to cross the start, I gave up that hope. As I was walking back to the train, I noticed the time was a minute before the downtown train was scheduled to arrive. I could've made it. oh well. I enjoyed morning snuggling instead :-)

Falling into a drinking cliche

In case you don't already follow me on twitter, today has been a very very bad New York day. That one little tweet had to be written and re-written about 5 times because I was so upset. I assure you, it does not accurately portray how close I truly was to committing a crime, being able to plead insanity and get away with it. Within the past few months, my already very low opinion of the human race has plummeted even farther into believing it the cesspool of inequity that it is.

I am bitter. I am jaded. And I'm ok with that.

Today was a perfect day to drink a glass of wine to relax (and maybe do some yoga. . b/c that's an excellent combination if I do say so myself! I kid. I kid.), and in thinking that, I wanted to share with the world my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner:

 Picked solely on their label's design because seriously? Who would trust me with anything else?

How amazing is this?! Is it wine? Is it Coconut water? Does it even matter?

Unfortunately, I do not have an extra bottle of wine in the house to pop open for this very special occasion of drinking my sorrows away. Instead? I have left over hard liquor from the hurricane party.

 and no mixer.

It should only hurt the first few sips, right?

Let us pray. . .

For no pain.
Hallelujah!!

Amen.

Nun for you.

Yes, that is a nun costume next to my bib and race shirt.

Yes, I will be running in it.

Yes, you can be jealous. Apparently Sister Act on Broadway is sponsoring the race. This is going to be amazing.

Quality. Sometimes confused with quantity.

Rock-n-Roll,
Please stop adding races and focus on making the ones you already have better. I know it's the American mentality to conquer all but haven't you heard: it's always quality over quantity.
Just sayin.

Reporting for duty!

I think I'm the only person on the planet excited about this. Wish me luck. I want a nice long trial!

More like "So What It's Heavy".

I already have to worry about a hat, a headband, ear warmers and sunglasses. Now you want me to put my water on my head too?

My iFitness belt works just fine.

Size always matters.

A comparison.

Damn you, adductors.

What I also forgot to mention about Savannah, and the weeks previous, was my inner hips were giving me trouble again. The first time was during the last 3 miles of the NYC Half. That was seriously the most painful 3 miles I have ever run in my life. Anywoooo, the pain came back. It usually shows up around mile 10, but it's been known to show up sooner. In Savannah, the pain started around mile 7 or 8. It was so bad, I had to change my stride drastically and that made my knee hurt. I decided to take this week off from running to see what happens.

I finally got around to looking it up because saying my hip isn't accurate. Little did I know, it has it's own name. Adductor. .  .which I want to call it an aBductor and many places on the internet say that too but Wiki says adductors, so I'm going with that.

So guess who's going to take a couple more weeks off from running?
This guy. I can't afford to injure myself too bad. Disney is coming up. Luckily, I don't have any races for a second, but then I have the 2 races in one day situation. I might have to only run the NYRR one- slowly. We shall see.

I'm sad that this happened, but I'm hoping I caught it early enough for it not to be serious.
Pray for me and everyone around me. It's only been one week without running and I already feel itchy.

Super Hero Status.

RnR Savannah Half

As soon as I got off the plane, Fred was there to meet me at baggage claim. Can I just say Savannah's airport looks like a resort hotel, and about the size of one. It was quite comical to me. I exited on one end and Fred was on the other. It took about 50 steps to get to him.

The expo's traffic and parking situation was a joke. We were jerks and cut through (Sorry, people! I had to pee) but it was still a wait just to park a mile away. I don't think I would've been as upset if I didn't have to pee so bad, and then add to it there was a huge line for the bathroom, I was over it. The convention center was super tiny and crowded. The only reason we stayed for a minute was b/c Fred was starving and I realized I forgot a hat to run in. He grabbed handfuls of Snicker samples while I shopped.

Dinner was originally going to be our traditional Outback, but there was a Logan's across the street. We literally called them as we were walking up to Outback to see if there was a wait. They said no, so we got back in the car and went there. What can I say? Their bread is amazing.

After dinner we went to Target, where Fred refused to let me buy anything followed by crashing early in the hotel.

The next morning came quickly. Even though we had a parking pass to park at the Convention Center and ferry across to the start, we were still scared from the expo experience, so we opted to take the free shuttles from the Savannah Mall. I don't know if that was a good plan or not, but by the time we got onto the bus and to the start, the race had already started and they were on corral 13. Did I mention when we left the parking lot there were 7 different lines of people spanning the length of the lot? Yikes.

So this was out attempt at a pre-race photo as we ran to get into the corrals.

 Fancy. I should've gone to photography school.

 The traditional start line photo

 View of the dreaded bridge everyone was stuck on to get to the expo the day before.

 Pretty cool uphill.

 Post race concert. I loved that I could stretch and watch Carolina Liar. I would've loved it more if I wouldn't have missed the first part of the show, though. Seriously, RnR. The concerts right after the race are too early. 

 Pretty trees. Reminded me of City Park in New Orleans.

  That famous fountain that's on the medal. 

 Another traditional photo.

Just in case you forgot ;-)

Oh, Savannah.

Because I am procrastinating work, I don't have time for an actual race recap, but I will give you some fun pics from the Savannah weekend to keep you entertained until I do have time.

The whole reason we signed up for this race was because Fred wanted to go to Lady and Sons, Paula Dean's restaurant. While we waited to eat (at 9:45 PM!) we walked around the downtown we barely saw during the race that morning.

Lady and sons Restaurant.

 All the stores in the downtown area had these in their windows. There were also banners on lampposts. Apparently this race was a big deal.

 Clever, SCAD. 

 SCAD. An art school smack in the middle of downtown.

 The talking walk sign.

In order to get the walk signal, you had to hit this button (which is weird for me. They automatically change where I come from). There was also a sensor on it. If you walked in front of it when it wasn't time to walk yet, it would tell you to wait. Every time. You can imagine the fun I was having at every corner.

 The perfect souvenir no one would let me have. It was only $5!

Things I forgot to mention about the MCM weekend.

 When my face looks like this the morning of the race, I should've known better. 

The people's marathon should stay away from cheese-whiz embroidery and bad fraternity graphics on their shirts (A few posts back has the back). Then maybe then they can spring for a tech tee?

Fred PR'd. He wanted me to mention this. If he thinks I will be joining him to defend his PR next year, he is sadly mistaken. He also wanted a picture put up, but the only one we took together was before the race and I was trying to save the few readers that I do have from that scary sight. .. but since it was requested:

The End.