As Seen On My Run: Update
Remember when I said I found this lost chicken?
Well turns out the chicken is not lost. She lives there. And she belongs to a very nice little old lady. Now, when I make the trek to the grocery store, I always make sure to stop and talk to the chicken. It's kind of cool. We live in a city. How many of us get to watch chickens scratch around and peck at things? And as far as chickens go, I think she's a very pretty chicken.
In other news, I went to a New York Sports Club to ask them about personal training. I went to them first, because you can buy a 30 day pass. I still don't really like gyms, and I don't want to buy an actual membership anywhere. Especially because in the city, most of them are around $70 or $80 a month. The personal trainer seemed really cool, but the manager did exactly what I thought he would: he tried to sell me on way more than I actually needed. I don't want to get a pack of 20 classes, Mr Manager. I just want to try out 3 or 4.
I think I'll keep looking for now.
As Seen On My Run
Found: This chicken
Found in Riverside Park near 137th St. Answers to the name "Here chicken, chicken!" If you or someone you know is missing a chicken, go get him, before some hungry person does.
Ok so I wasn't running. I'm still out with a hamstring injury. I was actually walking back from the grocery store with all my non-perishables. With all the hurricane prepping and the stress of the grocery store, I needed something to lighten the mood. This chicken helped.
My run this morning was pretty unremarkable. I was still sore from my Wednesday night run, so I set out for a nice, easy, short run. The weather was great and despite being stiff, it felt pretty good. Until I got to the end of my run.
As Seen On My Run: Poor Kitty
At the end of my run, I found a kitty. This one looked like Speedy, except it was older and had a red collar on, so it clearly belonged to someone. I approached the sleeping kitty, but it wasn't sleeping. There were no signs of trauma, but this cat was clearly dead. In the 15 minutes since I passed this spot, this cat walked to this spot and died. I was taken aback and finished with my run and stretches, but it was half-hearted. I kept thinking about the poor kitty. The thing that gets me is that this cat was someone's pet. Some kid or little old lady is probably out there looking for it. So for them, I want to say a few words for the kitty:
Dear Kitty, I hope you had a long and wonderful life, full of balls of string, cat treats, and lots of love. I hope there are lots of head scratches and cans of tuna in kitty heaven.
Here's to hoping the rest of my Friday is better.
Yesterday it was too hot to run, but somehow not to go to Bikram yoga. It was hot, but I survived. When I got home, I hydrated, ate cold foods (yay frozen grapes!), and hydrated some more.
The Queens half marathon is next Saturday (WHAT?) so this week was my down week. I was happy that my Saturday morning run was only 5 miles because it’s still crazy balls hot out. I drank a nice cold smoothie for breakfast, downed some water, and headed out. Yep. Still hot.
I met up with my DetermiNation group in Central Park for our regular Saturday morning runs. The coaches were all at a triathalon and I was somehow the unofficial leader of the run. We told everyone to go slow and drink more water than you think you need. I was honestly expecting the worst, like kill-me-now heat, but the run wasn’t that bad. There was a NYRR event so we “borrowed” some of their Gatorade, water and misting stations. Misting stations are THE BEST. I finished 5 miles in an awesome 58 minutes.
It was good to have my run done, but I think the heat is making people a little crazy. That brings me to my next As Seen On My Run.
As Seen On My Run: A Hot Mess
In all fairness, the following did not happen during my run. I was on the subway on the way home. There were some teenaged boys, a teenage girl, and an older lady in the same car with me. Out of nowhere the old lady started yelling at one of the boys “Don’t you fucking touch her! Don’t fucking talk to her! That’s my granddaughter!” She pulled the girl and they moved a few seats away. This upset the boy. He was curing and yelling “Can’t even pay someone a compliment. She’s beautiful. She has a beautiful face. Get off my fucking back. I don’t want people telling me what to do. She’s beautiful.”
He basically yelled variations of the above for at about 10 minutes. I blame the heat. It's clearly making New Yorkers crazier than usual.
I’m going to eat some more frozen grapes and stay cool.
Today was my first long run in the snazzy new shoes and I set out to do 6 miles in Central Park. Somehow I figured that I would manage to do 6 miles without hitting Harlem Hill. How silly of me.
The run began as any other Saturday morning run. I met up with my DetermiNation buddies at the mall in the park. There was a 10k this morning, so the park was a little crazy. On a side note, this race was a women’s only 10k. I got off the subway with hoards of other women runners, which was kinda cool. It’s great to see the ladies represent. Anyhoo, back to the run.
So I met up with my running buddies, we divided into pace groups and we were off. A few minutes into the run, the elite lady runners passed us. They really are a thing of beauty. They have such nice form. Back to my run again. There was only one other girl my pace that was doing 6 miles so we decided to stick together. Turns out she runs more like a 9 minute mile and she quickly left our group behind. Everyone else left me at the 102nd street transverse and I was left to do Harlem Hill- alone. Awesome.
For those of you that don’t know Central Park, Harlem Hill is a big giant hill at the top of the park. You stand at the bottom of the hill and you see this steep, twisting, never ending incline. It’s pretty scary so I try not to look at it. When I’m running alone, especially hills, I like to do two things:
1. I like to focus my eyes on the white lines on the road. It’s somehow very zen. It gives me something to focus on that is not the top of the giant hill. It makes me feel like I’m being led somewhere. If I just follow the line, I’ll be ok.
2. I remember from my previous hill training that we’re supposed to take shorter, quicker steps on hills. This helps to lessen the impact. To remember to do this, I always repeat to myself “Baby steps. Baby steps. Baby steps” over and over. Again, it gives me something to think about other than how much this hill sucks.
So using these two techniques, I got over Harlem Hill, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as the last time I attempted it. Running Harlem Hill alone also gave me some good thinking time. I’ve decided to add a new segment to this blog called As Seen On My Run. Why? New Yorkers are weird. They’re even weirder when they exercise. So here’s the first installment:
As Seen On My Run: People and their pets
I was coming towards the end of Harlem Hill and I’m approaching this woman from behind. This lady has a jogging stroller and I think “That’s pretty badass.” Harlem Hill is hard enough without pushing extra weight. I started to pass her and looked over to her stroller. I wanted to see if the kid was enjoying his ride. But there’s not a kid in the stroller. There’s a Chihuahua, just chilling. It’s nice that you want to take your dog for a run, but I think the dog should probably run. Otherwise, you just look silly.
I was laughing to myself about this crazy lady and her spoiled non-walking dog, when I came up behind another lady, this time on a bike. It looked like she was talking to herself, until I realize she has a green parrot climbing around on her shirt. She was trying to get the parrot to settle on her shoulder, but he was climbing all over her. I’m not really sure what to say about this one. I guess if bringing your pet with you will make exercise more fun, then who am I to judge?
This has been As Seen On My Run.
The rest of my run was pretty uneventful. I was getting a cramp in my foot around mile 5 so I decided to cheat a little and take a shortcut through the mall. I still did about 5 and half miles, so all in all. I say it was a successful morning.
Now I have to refuel and get ready for Amy’s bachelorette party tonight. That’s a totally different kind of adventure.
