On the Last Real Weekend of Summer, I Ran Over the George Washington Bridge

There was a blogger I used to read who got a social media job. She was a wonderful writer, but she eventually quit blogging because she said the last thing she wanted to do was come home and blog after writing social media content for her clients all day.

I’m nowhere near quitting blogging, but after a long day at work trying to figure out how to optimize our clients’ content [insert more social media buzzwords here], sometimes I just don’t have the brainpower left to attempt to string together coherent sentences for a blog post. I’ve written some god-awful posts at 10:30pm when I am exhausted and go to sleep immediately afterwards, and I’m trying to save us all from that.

Or sometimes I’m just having too much fun to blog. Life’s too short to spend it in the glow of my sweet little MacBook after sitting at a desk all day.

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But I’ve had a fun past few days. Giants pre-season game the other night with Shannon and her husband in some snazzy club seats he got through work. (Also, it will forever be Giants Stadium to me, not MetLife Stadium.) The Giants were playing the Patriots, and won, of course.

I went to the 40/40 Club for Michelle’s birthday and managed to not take one picture. I’m okay with that.

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I went to Rockaway yesterday with Lacey for the last beach day of the year. Cue: smallest violin in the world.

Obviously, I didn’t pass up an opportunity for a chocolate-covered banana. And I played by the rules and didn’t drink and swim.

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I am not an empanada, either.

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I finally tried Rockaway Taco, which I’d heard so much about. I got a tostada, which was good, but I still like my Calexico taco cart better.

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But most excitingly, and most relevant to this blog, I ran 14 miles and over the George Washington Bridge this morning!

I ran with Margaret and she ran south, I ran north, and we met up around the 60s and headed off for the GWB. Growing up in NJ, driving over the bridge always meant an exciting day in the city with my family; or, one college summer, meant that I was coming in to take a photography class at NYU and pretend that I was cool and lived in the city. I’d always blast New York, New York while driving over the GWB and feel so happy to be driving into the city. While I always wanted to live here, I never thought I actually would, and I can’t believe I have lived here for four years now.

Anyway, having a destination to run to was such a welcome distraction from running endless miles up and down the East and West sides of the city or through Central Park. It was REALLY hard to find where to get up onto the bridge–and we had a little, um, adventure getting there–but so well worth it.

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It was a little foggy, and I was using an iPhone and not some fancy camera, but let me tell you, the view was well worth it.

14 miles, 9:40 pace. I’m happy.

How are you ending your summer?

First Marathon Story: Valerie

Happy Friday! I just got out of work, and I am SO excited for a long weekend.

Here’s another First Marathon Story, from another one of my gchat besties, Valerie. I will probably say this any time I post one of these, but I am SO excited for her.

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Name

Valerie

Blog

Zero to 26.2 zerototwentysix.tumblr.com

Years running

I ran my first 5K in March 2011 and have been running on and off since then, but only regularly since June of this year.

Marathon training for

Walt Disney World Marathon in January 2013

Why I decided to run a marathon

Other than because I’ve lost my mind? It’s something I’d been thinking about for a few years, and becoming friends with a bunch of runners only made the voice in the back of my head stronger. I’ve never been particularly athletic, and it’s something I want to prove to myself that I can do.

My fiance Kevin and I went to Disney World with friends a couple years ago, and ever since we’ve thought it would be fun to do the marathon there if we ever made the commitment to do a long race. With the Disney marathon’s 20th anniversary in January (and my upcoming 30th birthday later this year) I figured this year was as good as any to do it!

How is marathon training measuring up to your expectations? What’s better or worse than you expected?

First of all, running is HARD. It’s just not something that comes naturally for me. I started out with a nearly 17 minute mile and over 10 weeks have gotten that down to just under 15 on a good day. Thankfully we still have 4.5 months to go for me to get stronger and faster.

One thing that’s definitely easier than I’d anticipated is just getting out there and running four times a week. We just missed our first run this past week, and that’s because we were up in New York and our feet were worn out from all the walking. It’s been really great to have Kevin as my training partner and to help keep me accountable. As for anything that’s harder than I expected, I honestly expected this to be kind of awful and, well, it hasn’t been! It’s hard during, of course, but I always feel better once I’ve finished a run. We’re only up to 5 .5 miles, though, so I expect my feelings may change once we approach double digit mileage.

Number of days running per week

Four. We’re following Hal Higdon’s Novice Supreme training plan to the letter, except that I need to get better about doing cross training.

What are you most excited about for the race?

Crossing the finish line and having the volunteers place the medal around my neck! I have several friends who are also running the marathon and half marathon that weekend, so I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone down there. We’re making a vacation out of the trip and will spend the four days after the race hobbling around the parks, and yes, I will wear my medal every single day.

What are you most terrified of?

The sweepers. Disney makes you maintain a 16 minute per mile pace, or they politely escort you to the loser van. The idea of spending 7 months training, trying your best and then not finishing makes me want to throw up.

Do you think you’ll ever run another marathon?

Let’s see how I do with the first one before deciding! I’ve heard they’ve addictive, but time will tell.

Number of black toenails so far

Zero and I hope to keep it that way! But I have an extensive nail polish collection should the need arise.

Leave Valerie some love, tips or tell me about your first time. Running a marathon, that is.