My Year So Far

My last was post was a quick entry explaining where I’ve been for the past nine or so months.  This one is a recap my year so far.

I spent much of the year (with all apologies to Stella) trying to find my groove.  In January I worked on shedding honeymoon weight (what can I say those Royal Caribbean buffets pack a punch).  After a few frosty January training runs, I felt some soreness in my heel and made the classic mistake — I ignored it.

     After a few slightly painful and annoying weeks I took the next step in my quest to become a more complete runner, I had a classic runner’s injury – Plantar Fasciitis to be exact.  This annoying injury effected my training  more than late night trips through the White Castle drive-through and McDonald’s bringing back the McRib – but that’s another blog post (about the injury not the McRib).

Proudly wearing my bling at the New Jersey Marathon in May

Despite the soreness I ran.  I was busy in May finishing the New Jersey Marathon in 4:26:23, (I was happy with that one), the Brooklyn Half in 2:04:45 (not so happy here).  Esther and I finished the month inBuffalo with for a long weekend and the Buffalo Marathon. Niagara Falls was beautiful but the 84 degree heat on race day wasn’t.  I ran 4:55:47 and never felt so wiped out after a race than I did in Buffalo.

After Buffalo I took time off to heal my sore foot, and the spent the end of the summer into the early fall looking for a new job, it was a stressful time. I did use some of the time off for training runs, but not enough.  I ate too much junk food and quickly gained weight.  When it was time for the fall races, I wasn’t ready.

I struggled in the fall races — the races used as preparation for the New York City Marathon. I put up horrible times in the ING 18-Mile Tune-Up, Grete’s Great Gallop and the Staten Island Half Marathon.  After each race I limped home with a sore foot and a head that wasn’t right.  Running is as much mental as it is physical so I was not in a good place.

I knew I wasn’t properly trained to put up a good time in the New York Marathon but since the race is such a one of a kind experience, I decided to run it and enjoy the thrill of running to the cheers of millions of New Yorkers along the course.  On Marathon Sunday I lined up with my teammates and ran, and did well – for about 10 miles – that’s when I started to struggle.  I went out too fast in Brooklyn, faster than I trained for, for the last 16 miles, I did a steady walk/run — walking up the hills and running the flats and down hills.

The highlight of this year’s race, for me, was finding Esther at different parts of the course, in Brooklyn, Long Island City and at the Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, each time she gave me a bottle of coconut water (it’s much better for quenching thirst than Gatorade).

With the last four miles left, I figured I could run at least a 4:50 marathon, which was my focus as I struggled with cramping as I ran down Museum Mile before entering Central Park.  Once in Central Park, I knew the way home, it was just a matter of riding the down hills and letting gravity do the work for me.  I ran a 10:27 split for the last mile and finished in 4:48:23.  While I was a little disappointed in to matching the 4:35:02 I ran last year, I remember that finishing a marathon is achievement in itself.

Team Never Quit, Artie, Leo, Linda and Me at JP's celebrating finishing another marathon.

After the race at the celebration dinner at JP’s on City Island with my Team Never Quit Teammates, Leo and I were talking about the uneven year I had.  I told him the injury was a problem for most of the year, so was the extra weight I gained.  I told him my goal is to get back to the gym and focus on light easy runs to lose the extra weight I gained. So as I am about the start training for next year, I remind myself, it’s a process, just keep moving forward, one step in front of the other.