Tag Archives: nyc marathon

The Best Part of Marathon Training

As I unlocked my boy Bruiser from the bike rack this morning and hoisted his bulky aluminum frame over my shoulders, I realized something.

I’m in the best part of marathon training right now.

Gone are the weeks where my long runs are still in the single digits. Don’t get me wrong, any run is still an accomplishment, but I found it hard getting excited for an 8-mile run. It was just long enough to feel long but not long enough to feel like I was really accomplishing something.

I wasn’t looking forward to training for this marathon when I started, but I was looking forward to the marathon itself. Over the past few weeks, as I crushed half-marathons and long runs, I started seeing my strength in a way you don’t see it in single-digit runs.

I look forward to my runs now. All of them. From the short three-milers to the long 20-milers that I know are coming soon, I’m excited. Each one of these runs has a purpose, and that is to prepare me for the NYC Marathon.

I realized that this morning as I cruised (by cruise, I mean pedaled as fast I could which is still not that fast) down the Hudson River Path and back for some cross-training. While triathlon training (and I use the word “training” very loosely to describe how I prepared), I would look at the runners on the path and be so glad to be biking. Today, it was the other way around.

Or maybe I’m still riding that post-PR glow.

What is your favorite part of race training? The beginning, the middle, or the taper? (If you say taper, you’re crazy. That’s the most stressful part of any race.) Also, what’s your favorite distance to run? I’m pretty sure mine is the half-marathon distance. But you knew that. My favorite short distance is 4. It’s a nice round number.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine, Beer and Running Buddies

Yeah. That pretty much describes all of my favorite things–and my night last night!

The Food Network is launching their own line of wines, and I was invited to a tasting event last night.

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The line, called Entwine, aims to make food and wine pairings less scary. They partnered with Wente Vineyards, and Karl Wente, whose family founded the vineyard more than 125 years ago, was there, and let’s just say, he’s not too hard on the eyes.

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Food Network star Anne Burrell was there, and she encouraged anyone scared of wine to just drink more of it. I can’t say I’m afraid of wine, but I can still get on board with that. She says when she was in culinary school, her wine class scared the crap out of her. She had no idea what any of those wine words meant, and couldn’t taste any of the notes she was “supposed” to taste in the wines. These Food Network wines use the language of food, rather than the language of wine, in their descriptions.

For example, the chardonnay, one of my favorites (and I’m not usually a chardonnay girl), is just described as “easy-drinking, with crisp fall fruit.” I know what that means. I can get behind that. The tasting notes say it pairs well with “potato chips; grilled cheese sandwiches; shellfish; goat cheese; cream sauces; roast chicken and hanging out with friends.” I can get behind that. Wine doesn’t have to be pretentious. (Really, nothing needs to be pretentious.)

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Our names and where we were from (it wasn’t just a blog event–there was tons of “real” media there, too) were written on our wine glasses–a really cute touch and something Ashley and I agreed would be easy to do for a party.

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There was also lots of great food.

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Chickpea fritters? Be still, my heart.

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Scallops? I was a happy girl.

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GRILLED CHEESE? OMG. I was in passed hors d’oeuvres heaven.

In our goodie bags, we got wine (score) and this cookbook, which I’m excited to try.

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After leaving this event, I headed downtown to Swift for a runner happy hour that Laurel put together. Have you joined the awesome NYC Marathon Facebook group? No? Do it. We talk about running together and getting beer together. We’re fun.

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See? Fun. And we even got a dude to come. (More dudes, please!)

So: wine or beer? And what’s your favorite wine or beer?