New Apartment Project (Part 1): Before We Moved In

A while back I mentioned that I wanted to write about our recent move from the Upper East Side of Manhattan up to Riverdale, in the Bronx.  Well, here we go!  I am going to avoid talking about the trials and tribulations of actually GETTING this apartment, which was exciting and frustrating at the same time, because really, no one wants to hear another story about how tight the NYC rental market is right now (yes, even in the Bronx) or how awful brokers can be.

I'll start with the good stuff, from the point we signed the lease and started getting set up.

First of all, this apartment is enormous compared to our old shoebox - we really think it may be three times the size.  It is in a smaller elevator building (no doorman), and our rent is about 75% of what we were paying on York Avenue on the Upper East Side.  I thought we would save more than we are, but the money we are saving on rent goes to pay for our car.

People familiar with New York know that York Avenue is not exactly convenient, so before moving up here we weren't really worried about additional commute time or anything like that (my commute is about the same as it was, an hour each way on the subway, but it will probably get better once my office moves back to Midtown later this summer).  The neighborhood has tons of decent restaurants just steps from our front door, arguably closer than our old place.  I knew I would miss Central Park for running, but we are near Van Cortland Park, and I can always meet friends in Central Park after work or on weekends (not that I've been running much anyway, but I'm getting back on the wagon this week).  Riverdale is lovely, very friendly and safe, and so far we really, really like it here.

To get started, here are some pictures of the empty apartment, taken before we moved in!

This is immediately inside the front door, which is to my back.  On the left are two closets, one of which is a normal coat closet, the other a GIANT storage space - large enough for John's bike, our luggage, a storage rack, three sets of golf clubs, a bunch of baseball crap, and other miscellany.  You can see the little hallway on the right, which goes to the bedrooms and bathroom.

Stepping closer into the apartment, the kitchen is on the left, separated from the large living and dining area only by that weird wall.  It bothered me a lot at first, but now that all of our stuff is in here I don't mind it as much.  That door at the end of the room on the right goes out to the balcony.

Turning to the left a bit, this is the dining area, with the kitchen door showing at the right of the photograph. 

A closer look into the kitchen.  It is really nice to have the window there, and there is a lot of space.  It is fine.  The stove is brand-new.  The dishwasher and refrigerator are just OK.  It isn't my favorite kitchen of all time, but I am making it work.

Further into the living room, this is the view out the door to the balcony.

Here I'm standing with my back to the windows in the living room.  You can see the dining area, the front hall and closets, and the front door.

The little hallway that goes to the bathroom, there in the middle, and the two bedrooms.   The master bedroom is on the right, and the second bedroom is on the left.  

The (tiny) bathroom.  It is a little bit crappy, but at least the tiles are new, and the window is nice.  The toilet is SMALL.  

This picture does nothing for this room, which is the master bedroom.

I'm standing in the master bedroom in the corner pictured above.  From here you can see the windows on the right and the huge closet, which runs the entire wall, on the left.   This room is actually a little bit dark, because the windows are in a sort of indention in the building, but that's fine with us.  It is a bedroom, after all, used mainly for sleeping.  

 

The doorway into the second bedroom.  That closet on the right is a linen closet.

The other bedroom, which is really bright!

Looking back toward the door of the second bedroom.  You can see another closet on the left.

So, that's it.  A blank slate!  Stay tuned for additional posts as we moved in and decorated.

Books I've Read: The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine

by Benjamin Wallace

That's right! Another book update!

So, I have no idea why I downloaded this book into my Kindle, but it has been languishing there since June of 2011.  A year ago, I was inspired to buy this book, but I can't remember where I saw or read about it - maybe it was when we were in Newport?

Aside: I LOVE Newport.  I really want to run the half-marathon there this fall, but am having a hard time committing to a fall race, for a number of reasons.  One of those reasons is that my brother, sister-in-law, and cute baby niece are moving to Austin, Texas, and I want to plan a visit down there...and I just found out that Austin City Limits is the same October weekend as the race in Newport.  I am thinking I will go to Austin earlier in September, though.

Anyway, did you all know that I used to work at Sotheby's?  Well, I did.  I spent three years right after I graduated from college in the auction business, both in Chicago and New York, before I decided to go to law school.  Michael Broadbent, one of the main characters in this story, was a wine specialist at Christie's, so that may have been why I bought it.  I started reading it the other day in a valiant effort to read all of the books in my Kindle before I buy some more.  Honestly, I knew so little about it that I expected it to be fiction, only to realize straight away that sometimes, the truth is even better!

Because of my auction house experience, this book, about a counterfeiter of rare old wines and the eccentric collectors who bought them, rang very true to me - I know all about how, um, interesting collectors can be.  The story is fascinating, too, and well-told.  My one complaint is that it felt like it dropped off at the end before the tale was truly resolved.

Books I've Read: Zone One

by Colson Whitehead

I have a race report in the works from my incredible experience running the Ragnar Cape Cod relay lasts weekend, so I promise not all of my upcoming posts are going to be about books.  But, I also have a new commute that allows me to read a lot more; despite the fact that it doesn't take me much longer to get to work from Riverdale as it did from the Upper East Side, the ride is more peaceful and I can read without as much interruption, so I've been flying through books.  Right now, I'm enjoying the downtime, although I might tire of it eventually.

I was enthralled by this novel.  It is set in post-apocalyptic New York, in a world where most of the population has been turned into zombies.  A new government has assigned a group of survivors, including the protagonist,  to clear out lower Manhattan for rebuilding and future resettlement.

Before I read it, I knew it was supposed to be a "thinking man's zombie thriller," but it is much, much more.  First, Whitehead's use of language is masterful, and processing his sentences and descriptions is a joy.  I once heard him do a reading, around the time Sag Harbor came out, and his voice has stuck with me ever since - I could hear it in my head as I read, which perhaps made my reader experience even better.  Second, as much as the story is about surviving a zombie plague, it is also a clever criticism of the shallow consumerism of modern America, and a reflection on a way of life that, in the novel, is gone.  Another theme is "making it" in New York City, and what it takes to live and succeed here (and in life, generally).

I think the ending is perfect.

Some quotes I particularly liked:

"He remembered how things used to be, the customs of the skyline. Up and down the island the buildings collided, they humiliated runts through verticality and ambition, sulked in one another's shadows.  Inevitability was mayor, term after term....In every neighborhood the imperfect in their fashion awaited the wrecking ball and their bones were melted down to help their replacements surpass them, steel into steel.  The new buildings in wave upon wave drew themselves out of rubble, shaking off the past like immigrants.  The addresses remained the same and so did the flawed philosophies.  It was New York City." 


"Happy hour was impenetrable, as bedraggled drones convened on stools and soft, low-slung couches, whipping out the measuring tape to see who had the biggest complaint and trying to forget that the minute you bury the miserable day it rises from its coffin the next morning, this monster." 


"The dead came to scrub the Earth of capitalism and the vast bourgeois superstructure, with its doilies, helicopter parenting, and streaming video, return us to nature and wholesome communal living."


"She aimed at the rabble who nibbled at the edge of her dream: the weak-willed smokers, deadbeat dads and welfare cheats, single moms incessantly breeding, the flouters of speed laws, and those who only had themselves to blame for their ridiculous credit-card debt.  These empty-headed fiends between Chambers and Park Place did not vote or attend parent-teacher conferences, they ate fast food more than twice a week and required special plus-size store for clothing to hide their hideous bodies from the healthy.  Her assembled underclass who simultaneously undermined and justified her lifestyle choices."


"The world wasn't ending: it had ended and now they were in the new place.  They could not recognize it because they had never seen it before."

Books I've Read: The Expats

by Chris Pavone

I read this for a book club, and I could not put it down!  We haven't met to discuss it yet, so there are no spoilers here.

I love spy stuff (even sinking so low as to occasionally watch that Piper Perabo show, Covert Affairs), and this is definitely a thriller, complete with characters zipping around Europe, meeting in museums, and double-double-crossing each other.  It is good fun, and a welcome change from the types of novels I usually choose.  I really liked the twist at the end.

However, as I often find in books where the main character is a woman but the writer is a man (I Am Charlotte Simmons, by Tom Wolfe, springs to mind), Kate, the main character, acts and thinks like a man trying to act like a woman, so a lot of her decision-making felt off to me.  I also generally dislike when novels jump around a lot in time and place, and this one does too much of that.  I know that the purpose is to be intentionally disorienting, but I thought it was unnecessary and distracting - particularly the flashback portion about Kate and Torres.

But, it is still enjoyable, and I recommend it.  I will read the (obviously set up) sequel - one plotline was left unresolved, and the other one just walked away.  Not in an unsatisfying way, just kind of loosely-wrapped.

Books I've Read: The Sense of an Ending

by Julian Barnes

Whoa, it has been a while.

What's new here?  Well, I live in the Bronx now, so that's new.  I'm going to try to share some photos of our new apartment when I have time.  My commute is about an hour each way and not bad at all, which has been good for reading a lot.

I wanted to read this novella ever since it was short-listed for the 2011 Booker Prize.  I read the New York Times review last fall with interest; I do love a novel with an unreliable narrator, and I like to think about how history, reality and perception intersect.  I finally convinced one of my book clubs to read it, although we never got around to meeting about it.

I loved it.  The more I think about it, the more possibilities of the "truth" there are - in a novel specifically about how the mind rewrites history, this is fascinating.  In at least one instance, Tony remembers a repressed memory about his time with Veronica - who is to say there aren't more forgotten events that weren't revealed?

Some quotes I highlighted:

 “This last isn't something I actually saw, but what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.” 


"I had a friend who trained as a lawyer, then became disenchanted and never practised.  He told me that the one benefit of those wasted years was that he no longer feared either the law or lawyers."


"May you be ordinary, as the poet once wished the newborn baby."

Race Report: City Parks Foundation Run for the Parks (4 Miles)

Since the NYC Half a few weeks ago, I have had a serious case of runner's hangover.  I haven't felt like training, my feet hurt (I have a little plantar fasciitis, so I'm trying to stretch, ice, rest...it sucks), and I am very busy getting ready to move to a new apartment in a far-away borough.  Normally, I would just accept this as one of the normal down times in training cycles, except this time I find myself committed to running the Ragnar Cape Cod relay in May!  I'm looking forward to the experience, but I sincerely hope that my teammates believe me when I say that I will not be my speediest self.  I can do the distance, but it is looking more and more like it will be at my training pace, which is about 30 seconds/mile slower than the 10K time I reported.  Maybe, maybe not.  I'm trying not to worry about it.

As a motivator, I registered for this NYRR 4-miler, because without an obligation in place I have been having a hard time getting out there to run at all.  I was supposed to run with my friend V. from work, but she has an injury and couldn't do it.

In advance, I decided that I really needed to make some sort of effort to do a long run, despite the fact that my husband and I are moving on Wednesday and, by Sunday morning, our apartment was nowhere near ready to go.  I planned to add two miles before the race and two miles after, which would get me home in time to have breakfast with John and prepare to greet the remainder of the moving boxes.

Race day morning, I stumbled out of bed and over, around and through moving boxes to the coffee machine (which will likely be the very last thing I pack).  Rejoicing that the spring rainstorm that was predicted hadn't hit us yet, I had a little coffee and yogurt, got it together, and left to jog the two miles down to the start in the park near East 68th Street.  It was around 50 degrees and cloudy, so I wore capris and a long-sleeved tee.

Honestly, this race was more of just a part of a long run for me.  I kept my headphones on, and just ran along at a comfortable pace (about 9:10/mile).  It is always fun for me to be a part of a running crowd, though, so I enjoyed that part.  I didn't put the pedal to the metal like I did in the NYC Half, or even in the Coogan's 5K.  Instead, I just enjoyed the run and the folks around me.  It was a good, satisfying run, and I'm glad I did it, because otherwise I probably would have struggled to make it out that day.  Also, apparently the last NYRR 4-miler I did was in 2010, and my time was 42:02!  This time, I ran 36:40, and it didn't even seem that hard.

After the race I took a break to drink some water and stretch my feet and calves, then took off again.  I was feeling great, so I went up Cat Hill and around the reservoir, then home, adding three miles after the race for nine miles total.

During the run, I started to get a little sad that we are moving away from the Upper East Side and Central Park.  It no longer will be just a hop, skip and a jump (0.7 miles) to get to my favorite running route - I'll have to take the subway, or go after work, or something.  I'm looking forward to exploring new paths near our new (bigger! cheaper!) apartment, but I'll miss Central Park.  I am glad that my last run from our home on the Upper East Side was such a good one.

Books I've Read: The Paris Wife

by Paula McLain

I read this for one of my (two) book clubs, but also on my mom's recommendation.  It is a novel told from the point of view of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, who was with him when he was young and nobody, before he published The Sun Also Rises and got terrifically famous.

At first, I was sad to be reading a novel beginning with two people so dependent on one another, when I knew it wasn't going to end well (they divorced after five years, when he had an affair with a friend of theirs) - like watching The Titanic, or something.  The author calls a lot of attention to little negative signs that things weren't all sunshine and rainbows in Hadley and Ernest's relationship, which bugged me a lot in the first half of the novel.  I also didn't really think Hadley was a winning heroine, at first, but in the second half of the novel I grew to really like her.

I absolutely loved the ending.  The details of their break-up and what happened to her after their marriage ended made me equally sad and relieved, and I was thankful to read that she seemed content later in life.

Definitely recommended, particularly if you liked the 2011 film Midnight in Paris or Hemingway's novels.  I do, and I enjoyed this book.

Something new around here

Hi!

I have been thinking about mixing it up and doing something new on this blog, just for a break.  Now that I finished knitting my niece Millie's baby blanket (I actually have a post all about this that I haven't published yet - to come) and raced the NYC half marathon, I find myself in need of a project.  I'm still reading and running, but my husband and I are also MOVING!  We found a larger apartment in the Riverdale area of the Bronx, and we are excited about the extra space and the new neighborhood.

I think it might be fun to photograph and write about setting up our new place and some of the decorating we plan to do, so that will begin later this month.

Books I've Read: The Hunger Games Trilogy

by Suzanne Collins

I'm a sucker for peer-pressure, what can I say.  I definitely read these books because of all the hype surrounding the movie's release a few weeks ago, although I haven't seen it yet.

I thought the trilogy would be an easy vacation read while my husband and I were in Florida and South Carolina, and it was.  Violent, yes, but also quick, interesting, and completely engaging.  I enjoyed it.

I will say that at first I was critical of the author's choice to change the rules of the Hunger Games near the end of the first novel (when suddenly Katniss and Peeta were supposed to be adversaries again, after being told that they could win as a team), but I grew to understand why she did it, considering that she had the rest of the trilogy to build out.

I don't have many comments on this one, but I may try to update this post after I've seen the movie.

Race Report: Shamrock Shuffle 8K (25 March 2012)

My brother and I signed up for this race late last year.  The plan was that I would come out to Chicago to see my new little niece, who was born in January, hang out with the family, and run this race.  Fun, right?!  What I didn't know at the time was that my husband and I would be completely in the weeds of our ongoing apartment search and that last weekend would come at the end of a long stretch of housing-related stress (which is still not resolved, by the way, but that's a story for another day).

John did not come along for this quick weekend trip, and although I missed him lots, we are leaving today for another previously-scheduled vacation down to Tampa for Yankees Spring Training and then a trip up to Hilton Head, South Carolina for my dear friend's wedding.  I got to Chicago late on Friday night, hung out with my family on Saturday, and then got up on Sunday morning to run the Shamrock Shuffle 8K with Loren and our dad.

After my successful training season and improved speed in pretty much all of the distances I raced, Loren and I set a time goal of 46:00 for this 8K.  I thought this was absolutely possible after my recent 2:01 half-marathon, but Loren hasn't been running a lot lately and my dad is coming off of an injury, so we all thought 9:15 pace sounded pretty good and agreed that if we felt OK we would pick it up to 9:00 or so for the last two miles.  HA!

First of all, Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle is HUGE!  The expo on Saturday was as big as the ING NYC Marathon Expo, and Loren told me that they sell something like 45,000 bibs.  There were 34,301 finishers!  It starts near the Art Institute in Grant Park (in the same place as the Chicago Marathon start), and runs through downtown, over a few bridges and out by the Sears (Willis, whatever) Tower, then back east, finishing back in the park.

I had a high bib number, because I neglected to send in any kind of qualifying time, so Loren and Dad started back in Wave 2 with me.  We got there early to check out the crowd and get a good spot near the front of the corral, which ended up being great - we passed tons of people, which was excellent for confidence boosting purposes!

Loren with his serious race face in the start corral.

My dad does not normally wear green bandannas around his neck, I promise.  Bank of America had some sort of sponsorship prize for a random runner wearing that thing, but I don't think he won.  Bummer.

I was really excited about the beautiful day, fun crowd, and running with my runner family members, and the first mile of the course was less crowded than I anticipated.  For such a huge number of runners, we all had plenty of room - the road was much wider than those Central Park roads I'm accustomed to!  So, I accidentally pushed the pace - big time - in the first mile.  Plus, a big stretch of the course goes underground at Wacker Drive, so our Garmins were all screwy for the entire race.  I wasn't sure of our pace, but our first mile was under 9:30.  After that, we sped up!  We talked about it later, and we all thought we were running too fast to be able to sustain the pace for 5 miles, but each of us thought the other 2 were doing OK, and just thought that we would try to keep up with each other.  Haha.  The mind tricks of running in a group.

It was HARD to run that fast for so long, and I was huffing and puffing and feeling beat by the end.  Also, the race course went over the river three different times, and the bridge roadway is a metal open-weave surface - not uniform concrete.  Imagine running over a pointy chain-link fence kind of diamond-patterned surface.  It was awful.  Loren normally runs in Vibrams, and I think that would have been painful.  He chatted with a guy at the end who ran barefoot, and he said he stuck to the side (they had put down a narrow mat, probably specifically for those runners), and that it wasn't bad.  I don't know, though, I hated it and my feet were covered with normal running shoes.

After the first 5K (which was in around 27:00), I was hurting.  (We all were, but none of us knew that.)  I tried to slow down a little bit to gear up for the final mile and the little hill on Roosevelt near the end, but I don't know my splits so I don't really think we went that much slower.  Pretty soon we were at the 4-mile marker and I remember being thankful it was almost over.  I held it together until the end, went as fast as I could in the final stretch, and finished with a smile on my face!  Final time: 42.03!!!

42:03.   That's a bit under 8:30 pace.  I can't even believe it!  That's super fast for all three of us, and we all feel great about the race!  I finished in 7002 place overall, and was 1919th out of all of the women!  That's respectable.  But, more importantly, it was fun to run with my brother and my dad, and made me wish they lived closer so that we could run together all the time.

My next race is the Cape Cod Ragnar relay in May, so I'm taking a little breather this week and then will continue my training when I get home next week.  I see some two-a-days in my future.  Oy.
 

Books I've Read: The Secret History

by Donna Tartt.

I think I have had this paperback lying around my apartment for more than 10 years.  I remember moving it from my place in the East Village into the first apartment I lived in with my husband, and that was in 2005.

Why did I wait so long to read it?!  I don't know.  I know I was reminded to read it by Flavorwire's post last summer: "10 Decidedly Highbrow But Still Beach Appropriate Summer Reads."  I saw that and thought, "Oh! I have that book.  The author is friends with Bret Easton Ellis.  I think it is a thriller or something.  I should try to find it."   I found it, and it languished on my bedside table for months.  When it comes to books, I tend to over commit myself, always adding books I want to read to my pile and poking along through them.

I loved The Secret History.  You can read the summaries online for yourself, but I loved this murder mystery in reverse and its intimate, oddball group of characters.  I enjoyed how the author developed them, showing the reader bits and pieces of their personalities over time; carefully manipulating the reader's emotions about the story and the people in it, just as Henry and the other Greek scholars in the novel pulled in Richard.  I'm still thinking about their motivations.  Why did Richard trust them?   Did Henry only involve Richard to possibly have a patsy to take the fall?  They are all so passive and complacent about the horrible thing they did.  How?  A remarkable, powerful, clever novel.  Here's a link to the old New York Times review, always good for a read.

"Beauty is terror."

Race Report: NYC Half (18 March 2012)

I am so proud of myself for how I prepared for and raced the NYC Half.

In case you can't even see that because it is so tiny, here are my splits:

Negative splits!  Woooo!

Last year, I ran this same race with my cousin, and we were thrilled to run it in 2:23:11.  My previous personal record at the half-marathon distance was in the 2011 Fall Foliage Half-Marathon, when I was training for the marathon.  My time was 2:21:12.  So, I improved my half-marathon time by 20 minutes!  Also, those splits show my best times for both the 10K (PR = 59:46) and 15K (PR= 01:29:23) distances.  I know I've only been running for a few years, so as I stick with it longer and longer, eventually my gains won't be as drastic, but it is still a huge accomplishment.

Here I am at the finish with my friend V. from work, who raced with me.  Her previous best half time was  2:16.  She was a fantastic running buddy, and I couldn't have done this without her.

To prepare for this race, I signed up for a "Break 2-hour" half-marathon training plan from TrainingPeaks, which has a good iPhone app.  It e-mailed me every day telling me what I was supposed to do that day - distance, workout, pace, etc., and was really specific and helpful.  I think I paid $20 for it, and it was worth it!   I followed the training program pretty diligently, up until the end when I skipped one long tempo run because I had a plantar's fasciitis flare-up.  I may have skipped a short run here and there, but I committed to the mileage and did my best to do all of the workouts.  Compare this to, say, how I prepared for my first half (Philly, in the fall of 2010), when I skipped tons of short weekday runs, or how I prepared for the marathon, when I ran ALL of my "speed" or "tempo" workouts at the same slowish training pace I used for long weekend runs.

This time, I did the tempo runs.  I did mile repeats.  I did hills.  I practiced running faster and pushing myself, and it has been hugely rewarding.

Before race day, I was stressed about the weather forecast, as usual.  The non-existent winter departed New York early this year, and temperatures have been in the '70's all March.  I was afraid it would be freakishly warm and that I would wither and die in the heat.  Funny, those feelings were familiar...I had the exact same anxiety/weather-related freakout the day before the marathon last fall.  Eventually, the weather settled down, and it looked more and more like we would have high 40's-low 50's during the race.  Similar, in fact, to the race-day weather we had on marathon day!  I decided to wear the same outfit, but with my trusty pink marathon finisher's hat.

Light Lululemon long-sleeved tee, capris, cap, etc.

Does this running gear look familiar? From the 2011 ING NYC Marathon.  That's my dad. 

I only got hot once, on the West Side Highway, and by then it was almost over so it didn't matter that much.  In hindsight, I think I should have gone with a tee and arm sleeves.  Next time.

The day before the race was St. Patrick's Day, and John and I went out to run some errands including TEST DRIVING SOME CARS for our future life when we live in a place where people need cars.  I hate cars, but we had a pretty good time looking at them.  It took my mind off of how nervous I was, but then eventually all of the errands were done and all I had to do was sit around in the apartment while John went to the driving range.  This was a huge mistake - I wish I had gone out to do something fun.

Sunday morning dawned foggy and cool - perfect!  Cabs were few and far between on York Avenue at 6AM, but I eventually found one, sharing with a nervous runner guy I befriended on the street.  I met V. near the bag check for our bib number range, and we set out on a harrowing adventure to try to find a portapotty line that wasn't ridiculously long.  This turned out to be difficult.  Eventually we just went to our corral and waited it out, and in the end we had plenty of time, but when we finally got to the front there was no toilet paper.  Seasoned racer as I am, I had come prepared with a napkin, but I felt badly for this one Achilles runner (a blind gentleman) who, um, needed some t.p., so his guides had to run around asking people.  Embarrassing.

Anyway, it was crowded!  But everyone was in good spirits.  I love standing at the beginning of a race, surrounded by fellow runners, and just feeling like I'm a part of something.  I felt great and I was ready to go.

Earlier in the week, I told V. about my uber-ambitious race plan.  It went something like this (actually, it went exactly like this, because this is the e-mail I sent her):

Miles 1-6, which is the park loop.  Try to keep a 9:30 average pace, passing mile marker 6 in 57 minutes.  This will probably be hard because of the crowded course and all the hills.  I'm honestly not sure it is realistic.  I will probably plan to walk and take Gu/water in between miles 4-5. 

Miles 6-10, exiting park, down 7th, turn on 42nd, over to the WSH, turn south on WSH (fun and exciting part of the course going right in to the worse, most horrible dull part of the course, but at least it is flat).  Maybe get the pace down to 9:15/mile, hopefully passing the 10 mile marker by 1:34.  Probably grab water between miles 7-8 and walk/take Gu/water at the 15K stop.  

Final 5K.  If I can, I'm going to blow this out, and try to up my pace to 8:30-45.  If I can do it at Coogan's, why not after already having run 10 miles? (ha) If there is any wiggle-room time at all, this will put me on pace to break 2:00, which I really don't think I can do (but you never know!).
The quinoa will help us to accomplish this unimaginable feat, I'm sure of it.   

Even if it doesn't work and we can stick to an average 9:30/mile for the entire way, we could still break 2:05!!  I think the weather is going to be warmer than I'm used to, so I have my eye on the 2:05 prize goal, with 2:00 being if everything goes perfectly.

To explain, I ate quinoa salad with chicken for lunch almost every day last week.  I'm convinced it helped.

I have never even had a real race plan before this.  I usually just go out there and run according to how I feel, maybe trying to keep a consistent pace or with a certain time to beat in mind.  But I've never actually thought about breaking a race down this way, or had any notions about running negative splits or racing smart.  This time, I thought about how my training had been going and set goals for each part of the course, and it really helped me accomplish what I set out to do.

Anyway, as we were shuffling toward the starting line, the leaders ran by us!  It was cool to see them, very inspiring.  A few seconds after they flew by, though, it was our turn.

The first two miles were crowded, but not as bad as I thought they might be.  Once during the second mile V. asked me what my watch said our pace was, and she wanted to go slower, but I didn't really slow down that much (and I didn't tell her, haha).  The park was flying by.  We saw John and my sister-in-law at the Engineer's Gate, which was awesome, and then, after them, I had my friend Nina to look forward to at 96th Street on the West Side.  Even Harlem Hill was a blur.  Our pace didn't drop too much on the hills, which was part of my grand plan.

Around mile 5, I was ready to get out of that park.  My quads were already starting to tire from the pace and the hills, which worried me a little.  Plus, John and Tracy were supposed to be at 51st and 7th, so I was pumped to see them again.

Leaving the park and running down Seventh Avenue on the approach to Times Square, I just kept thinking, "THIS IS AWESOME."  I was getting a little emotional, which I guess was some sort of motivator, because V and I clocked an unbelievably speedy 8:09 mile somewhere in there.  Garmins were going crazy with all the Times Square stimulation, so I'm sure that was part of it, but still.  As I was so excited and thankful to be able to do what I was doing, I was busily scanning the east side of Seventh for my fans, but they weren't there.  John later told me that we were too fast and that they didn't get there in time!  Ha!  That was OK, though, I just kept churning along.

The turn on to 42nd Street was hairier than I remember from running this race last year.  Was the course much narrower?  It felt very crowded on that stretch, all the way to the turn at the West Side Highway.  I'll admit that once we hit Times Square, I was dreading that endless run down the West Side Highway.  I was feeling fatigued, and getting a little grouchy and hating on the race.  Just a little.  I run up that way sometimes on run commutes home, and it SUCKS.  Sure, it is flat and fast, but it is also boring.  But then, we passed the 8 mile marker a few minutes under my uber-ambitious race plan projection, and suddenly I felt great again!  I realized that I might - might -  have a sub-2 hour half-marathon in me.

I tried to pick up the pace, but the final 5K was hell.  It hurt, it really did.  But, the spectators and bands were fantastic, and distracted me pretty well until somewhere around Mile 11 when V said that she saw a guy, just a normal guy, running toward us on our right on the bike path.  Only, this guy was special in that he was wearing a bib and a medal, which meant that he had already finished and had enough time to get out of the finishers' area and back 2 miles the way he had just come.  Hate that guy!  I wanted to be finished, too!

The final miles definitely got into my head at that point.  I needed water, and there was no water stop anywhere to be found (we eventually found one, I think between miles 11 and 12).  Also, last year, the course was different, and ended around that point, so I wasn't exactly sure where we were going.  I was pushing, and then I glanced at my watch around mile 12 and it said 1:51 (I wasn't sure of the seconds, only the minutes), so knew I had 2:05 in the bag, and I thought if I dug deeper than I had ever dug before I still might be able to break 2:00.  Then, we entered the tunnel in battery park and my soul died a little.

I'm very, very thankful that I didn't know much about that tunnel in advance of this race, because I would have dreaded it and worried about it.  I knew it was there because I had obsessed over the race course in advance, but I did not realize it was like HALF A MILE LONG.  I had no idea when it would end, and then when I did finally see the light at the end, there was a nasty little hill!  What the hell?!  My running form was in shambles at this point, because V. said she was behind me and could see my shoulders visibly slump (even more) when I saw that hill.  But, I put my head down and did what I could.

V. caught up with me at that point, but then this jerk running in front of us stopped short right at the top of that damn hill, causing me to have to jump around him and V. to almost trip over him.  Who does that?  Who stops short in the middle of the course in the final 800 of a half-marathon, right when you get out of a the tunnel of hell and the end is in sight?  Jerk.  Slow down, move to the side, and THEN stop.

Anyway, I booked it from that point on.  My friend Kyle was spectating, but I didn't see him.  He said he saw me and I looked, as he said, "determined."  I was focused.  I crossed the finish line in 2:01, feeling like I left absolutely everything I had on that course.  I almost cried and almost puked, but did neither.  V. was right behind me, so we found each other and happily took some pictures and shuffled out of the finishers' chute to find our friends.

I have never run like that before.  Running the marathon last fall was an incredible journey, and I loved running with Tracy and my dad, but I had an injured hip haunting me for the final ten miles, so I really felt like I limped that entire stretch.  My marathon was not a race, it was a commitment to finishing.  This, on the other hand, was a race.  I ran hard, as fast as I could, especially in the final two miles.  I did everything I could do.

I keep thinking about whether I could have found a minute to shave off anywhere, and the only thing I could have done differently would be to pay closer attention to the tangents, because I did end up running 13.4 miles, according to my Garmin.  But, the course was crowded, and less dodging and weaving may have meant that I wouldn't have kept up the pace I did, so who knows.  I'm pleased with my result, and now I know I have that sub-2 hour half somewhere in my future.

I feel proud.  And, it is Thursday, and I'm still a little sore.  I haven't tried to run yet, but if I have time I might get back out there tomorrow.  I need to stay tuned for the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago this weekend!

The recovery beers we drank at Fraunces Tavern at approximately 10:30AM.  Mine is the oyster stout on the left, and it was necessary.   

Race Report: NYRR Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K (4 March 2012)

This is a bit late.  Whoops.

I signed up for NYRR's Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K back in January or whenever it went on sale, because I had never run it before and thought that the timing would be good for me.  It was in the peak mileage portion of my half-marathon training plan, right when I knew I'd be feeling run-down and tired, and I figured a fun, no-pressure sort of race would be a good thing to do.

After my triumphant PR in the Cupid's Chase 5K a few weeks ago, I was feeling fine for a 5K at 8:40-9 minutes per mile pace, but the Coogan's course is legendarily hilly.  My parents and I went to the Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park last fall, and I vividly remember that hill, so on the subway on the way up there I tried to adjust my expectations for the race accordingly.  Plus, I had a long run to do after this race and didn't want to blow it all out and have no energy left to complete my 14-miler.  I also realized on the way up that: (a) I had forgotten my running watch at home, which didn't bother me that much for the race, but did bother me during the miles I ran afterward (more on that in a bit) and (b) I probably looked like a total tool for wearing my water belt for a 5K.  I always mock those jerks who apparently need hydration for a 30-minute run, but that day, I was one of them!  Maybe I shouldn't judge so harshly in the future, because now I realize that it is always possible that people wearing water belts during short races are planning to take off and run for another 2 hours afterward!  It is also possible that they are just morons, but who's to say?  Anyway, I tugged my shirt way down over it.

I would have liked to meet up beforehand to say hello to some folks who I knew were running, but I got there just in time to get in my corral and get myself together.  No time, even, to use the porta-potty, which definitely haunted me for the next half-hour.  Anyway, in the corrals I happily bumped into a runner friend of mine from work, so I ran with her and her friend for a little bit, but eventually lost them in the crowd.  

The course goes up a long, gradual hill, then eases off for a while, then goes up the giant hill around the Cloisters museum, then down, but ends on another uphill.  On my way up to the Cloisters, I saw Amy speeding toward me on her race back to the finish.  I yelled for her, and she told me later she was so out of breath all she could do was wave!  She looked great, though, very fast.  I was taking it relatively easy, but I did feel fine on those hills, which I remember thinking was great considering the NYC Half course goes counterclockwise in Central Park (so up both Cat Hill and the worse side of Harlem Hill).

I loved all of the different bands along the course, and for this race, I actually liked the crowds of runners.  It was fun!  I wasn't really "racing," so it was a hoot to watch all of the different runners in costume, and only one little kid tripped me, so that's good.  I obviously didn't take the whole thing too seriously, but I still finished in a very good time for me, 26:49 (8:39/mile).  I think near the end I seriously picked it up because, by then, I really, really had to pee.  That's now my fastest pace on record for NYRR, so it should help me out by moving me forward in future races.

Afterward I hit the porta-potty (phew.), which was still amazingly clean and had toilet paper AND Purell in stock, then ate a few orange slices and chatted with my friend from work before heading over to the river to get on with my long run.  I had my iPhone, but no Garmin, so I tried the MapMyRun application just so I would have some idea of the mileage and pace.  I used that before I got my Garmin, but I hardly remembered how to use it and I think I deleted all the data.  Oh, well.  I also had no idea where I was going - I had mapped my planned route the day before, but didn't really remember the details.  No problem, though, I just followed Riverside Drive all the way down to the Fairway near 125th, at which point I knew where I was and hopped down onto the Hudson River bike path.

Here's a link to my route.

My friend Nina was kind enough to meet me for the final loop of Central Park, at which point I was SO tired and really on the verge of going home.  She was a little hungover, so we were quite a pair dragging ourselves around for 6 miles.  But we made it, and in the end I ran 14 miles or so.

That was my longest training run for the NYC Half, which is this Sunday!  Last weekend I had planned to run 11, but ended up doing 9 partly because I was low on time and partly because some dumb plantars fasciitis foot pain decided to spring up after this Coogan's/14-mile combo run.  I had been meaning to replace all of my shoes for a long, long time, but didn't get around to it, and so ran this in ancient, beat down shoes.  Huge mistake, because now my foot hurts.  I'm doing ice/heat packs, stretching the heck out of it and my calves, and hoping for the best.  I have the KT tape and an ambitious race plan, so think I will be OK for the NYC Half.

Books I've Read: The Privileges

by Jonathan Dee

I usually write these little blurbs immediately after finishing a book, because I like to capture my thoughts while they are fresh, but I didn’t get to this one until more than a week after I finished it.

I think The Privileges got on my reading list based on this New York   Times Book Review write-up, but I don’t remember exactly when I downloaded it to my Kindle. I do know that I tend to do this, meaning that I identify books I want to read based on things I read or recommendations from friends, then either download them to my Kindle or put them in an Amazon list. I usually leave them to languish in the Amazon list, and then download them only if I’m reminded again. The mystery of The Privileges is why I decided that I wanted to read it so badly (at some point) that I paid for it and downloaded it, and then let it sit around in my Kindle for, oh, about a year!

This was an enjoyable read for me. It is set mainly in Manhattan, which I always like, and details a young, attractive couple’s rise to the top. It is a story of morality, loyalty, and family, and it is captivating. The author writes these characters that you want to hate, but somehow, despite being generally unlikeable, they are sympathetic.

Untitled (Stack)

Donald Judd (American, 1928-1994)

Image from MoMA 

One detail that I particularly liked is that near the end, Jonah’s girlfriend is writing a thesis on the artist Donald Judd.  Bear with me here, because their art is not at all alike, but when I was working at Cheekwood in college, we did a small "Temporary Contemporary" exhibition of Donald Sultan's work.  Ever since, I get them mixed up, which is admittedly ridiculous.  

Playing Cards "Heart 2" (Aquatint)

DONALD SULTAN 

You could buy this for me, if you like.  Here's the eBay link.  How easy was that?

Anyway, when I read the part about Donald Judd, I got all excited and thought, "OOoh, I met him!" and then I remembered that Donald Sultan, who came to Cheekwood in 2000, is not the same as Donald Judd, who died in 1994.  Right.  Still a cool, arty part of the novel, though.

Some passages I liked:

"But there was always that moment when you fell out of love with a place, when you looked it over and asked yourself if it was so unimprovable that you wouldn't mind if you died there.  Once that thought lodged itself in your head, forget it, it was over."  (This one probably struck a chord because my husband and I are looking for a new apartment.)

"Jonas liked running too--he hated sports in general but there was something ascetic about running, something monkish--but there was no way he could hang with his father, who kept a chart of his own split times and was talking about entering next year's marathon."

"And the strange thing, even though she wasn't high anymore, was that the people in this fake space exhibited the most terrible intimacies--yelling into their cell phones, popping zits, putting on makeup, talking to themselves like maniacs--six inches from your face.  Their conviction that you could not see or hear them was so strong that, in fact, you usually did not see or hear them."  (This is SO New York.)