Daraitan attracts trekkers year round but summer is the time to go frolicking and explore the boulders and the rushing stream of water that passes through the Daraitan and Tinipak rivers.
The trails are paved with stone slabs, dirt and more stones embedded on the earth and the moving film of water that runs along its trails are mesmerizing. If bird watching is your thing, there are different variety of birds that just appear and skydive from nowhere as you observe the many wild orchids and other fauna that are perched atop rocks and boulders.
I’ve received e-mails and text messages inquiring how to get here. If traveling by car, from Cubao just head straight to Marikina towards Marcos Highway passing by SM Marikina straight towards Masinag Market all the way to Antipolo, San Mateo and Tanay.
In an hour, you would have passed the Sierra Madre Resorts and a few minutes later, the Pranjetto Hills Resort. After about 3 kms, you would have reached a cross-road that is bounded by Sampaloc town on your left and the town of Baras on your right. The Tanay Public Market is just on the right side road. Just drive straight the main highway (towards Infanta) and after 2 kms, there’s a street sign that points towards Daraitan. Turn left and it’s another 7-8 kilometers of rough roads before you reach the entrance to the village.
By public transport, there are jeeps from Cubao and Crossing in Edsa, Mandaluyong that ply straight to Tanay Public Market. From there, take another jeepney ride to Daraitan.
The people at the village are very friendly and hospitable. Don’t be alarmed if you see them carrying bolos or machetes. They use these for chopping wood for fuel.
Here are the rest of our pictures:
The Tinipak River
We had all the place to us
That's Darryl giving the thumbs up
With June
The run continues
Noel and June atop the boulders
Finding my step to the top
The tiny spec on the right sitting is Noel
Nice surface trail, this time
Letting a horse with its load pass
Just a passing shot
The white marble stones are nice to see
I was wondering how Noel got there without wetting his shoes
After running NY, I decided I wasn’t going to have a target for Boston. I wanted some down time and decided I would just maintain my base and get in my quality miles at leisure. I’m glad to have done this since training was tough this winter for various reasons, mostly snow and ice, making my long runs difficult. But, out of habit, or ritual, I did everything I could to get the long runs in, mainly because I enjoyed getting them done.
Then I ran an entire 20 miles at 7:11 pace to see where I was at. This was a pace that I found to be comfortably hard for the distance and wondered if I was going to be able to hold it the entire time. I thought my marathon pace would be 7:26 at best. I am extremely pleased to have been able to do this. But, most importantly, it was the feeling I felt during the run which pleased me most.
As a result, I began to think I was more ready for Boston than I realized. I figured a 7:11 pace for a 20 mile training run could realistically be stretched to 26.2 given a proper taper, and bring me across the finish line in under 3:09.
I’ve given thought to others who have been training for Boston and who have come across bad luck and are now unable to run the race they worked so hard far. They’re missing out. Meanwhile, I have no excuses. I’m starting to realize I have some potential to do well in Boston, yet I never really made a mental commitment to race it. I feel somewhat guilty about that when thinking of others who have committed to race, but can’t.
I just don’t want the pressure this time around of having to live up to a defined goal. And now, when people ask me about Boston, I find myself telling them 3:10. What am I doing I ask myself? With these time goals comes worries. Worries about all the other variables that can affect a race, some of which I cannot control. But, the ones I think I can control screw with my head even worse. I begin to over-prepare and overcompensate all to reach a goal. I lose perspective.
To add insult to injury, I ran a long run last weekend and struggled just to maintain my easy pace for the entire time. I cut it short and did 15 because I knew I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of it. It was just a bad day. I have plenty of reasons without looking to make excuses. I spent the week drinking almost every night. That was unplanned, but obviously effected me in terms of fatigue. I also had an issue with a blister, and an issue with my lower calves. Not much sleep the night before. I had to start this late in the day at 2:00pm. It was warmer than expected and I need time to acclimate. I normally would dismiss this run, and chalk up to being a crap day. But with a goal of 3:10 now in mind, I worry about the timing of this. I only have another long run to do before the taper and I may be less prepared as a result. Ridiculous!
So, April 19th, I’m going to run the best I can according to how I feel. No time goal. Don’t expect 3:10. I’m not. I’m going to go out and try to capture some of what I experienced two weeks ago. If everything comes together I may have a great marathon. I may be able to pull off that pace again. I hope I do. But, if I don’t for whatever reason, I don’t really give a shit.
Cancer can have a way of waking us up to living our best lives.
This was a comment made in response to a story that my brother shared about me and my mom on the Susan G. Komen forum website. In my case, it pisses me off to admit it, but yes, cancer is one of the big things that woke me up to living my best life. I think those of us who are cancer survivors know in our soul the secret to life- we really only do have the moment we’re living in right now. There is no guarantee for any person what tomorrow will bring, and there’s only one life per customer, so why not live our best lives now?
The moments I lived in today were amazingly fun! Today was the first day of both biking and running. We met early again for a Saturday (8 am- who gets up this early on a Saturday?!) at Alton Baker Park. This was the first time our team has ridden together.
Getting Ready To Ride our team has ridden together, and it was fun!!!
Cold Morning!
It was a cold, clear morning and as usual, the atmosphere in the parking lot was festive and upbeat with all the different teams meeting for their various trainings. If anyone is ever in need of soaking up some positive energy and being in the presence of great people, come down sometime and see what it’s all about!
Riding Through The Woods
So, we took off on our ride and I was cruising along, chatting with a teammate, when one of the team leaders rode up behind us and suggested that we ride at a “race pace”, as opposed to a cruising pace. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t just out for a Saturday morning bike ride, I was IN TRAINING! I picked up the pace and did the 10 mile loop in under an hour- yipee!
Back in the parking lot, I was feeling great and ready for my 30 minute run. I jumped off the bike all ready to go and the damn arimidex-afflicted joints froze up in my ankles and I had to hobble around for a bit first until the stiffness let up some.
The Boswellia is working, but I still get stiff when I remain in one position for a long time. I think I need to figure out a way to flex my feet some while riding so I don’t freeze up!
Loosening Up To Run
Dropping Off Bikes, Getting Ready To Run
After leaving the bike on the rack and taking off the bike shorts, I took off on the run with 2 other teammates. Aside from the stiff joints, I felt great! The temperature was much warmer by the time we were running, and the day was one of those perfect spring days that I long for all winter. The run was made especially nice by the company of my teammates.
Goal for tomorrow: Planning. The girls and I are on Spring Break! They’re off for 1 week and I’m off for 2. I get to just have fun and train without the stress of how to work it in to my busy work days. I am hoping to get in a swim and a bike ride tomorrow because we’ll be away all next week and the nearest swimming pool will be a half hour drive from where we’ll be staying and I can’t bring my bike.
Today was not an exercise day. It was a rest day for me. The only thing is I had to put together a swing set for my children. I would have rather exercised. I took my wife (reading the directions and getting the next step ready for assembly), my father-in-law ( giving his own directions and assisting in assembly), my father (telling us how he thinks it should go an talk over my wife giving the real directions), my brother-in-law (voice of reason, 2nd reader of directions and assembly worker), my mother-in-law (she took the kids out to get them out of the way even though they came back half way though completion), and me (praying it all went together and we did not kill each other). The task took us 9:30 hours. That’s right 9:30 F’n hours. We all worked great together. There were a few times that I had to tell my Dad to slow down and wait for my wife to read the directions. We all did a great job the swing set is put together and my little girl and boy are going to have a blast playing on it.
What I learned today was to take things slow, get it right the first time and it will all work out great. I thought about my exercise routine and life in relation to today’s adventure in swing set building and how I can apply what I learned. I basically have started out my running and weight lifting programs with the same approach start out slow, focus on technique, and doing it right the first time. That way my technique will become second nature and make my exercising that much easier.
As for the life lesson. It was great to work with my family, have fun doing a task, and enjoy the fact that we all accomplished a goal together. Now when I take pictures of my little ones enjoying the hell out of their swing set, we can all remember a good time and know we all contributed to their joy.
I want to give a HUGE shout out to all that helped on the swing set project and this song is for all of you.
It’s the end of the work week. Perfect time to hang out with friends, catch a movie or spend hours and hours over coffee.
Unfortunately, Friday is also a quality workout day for me. Hay! Hello 800s, mile repeats and compound sets. Hello Pain.
I’ve been skipping Friday workouts for 3 weeks now and I’ve been feeling mighty guilty about it. I couldn’t wake up early enough to visit the track and better alternative activities always pop up for the evening.
I thought I would miss it again yesterday. I woke up at 4am but couldn’t peel myself off my bed so I ended up going back to sleep. With RadioBossLady birthday party in the evening, I was ready to say bye bye to the 800s.
At around 12nn, I figured if i cut down on my rest intervals I could do the 800s in the gym and still have a quickie lunch.
I dragged myself to the gym. It took me forever to convince myself to hop on the treadmill. *grumble grumble* After the 2nd repeat I was glowing and smiling widely. Not too bad. I was hitting my pace and I even the plantars are cooperating.
I honestly didn’t expect to go to work today. I figured that I’d be placed on call because that has seemed to be the Friday trend lately. So I went to bed without a shower last night expecting to be able to sleep in a little later than usual and then shower and piddle around the house. Nope. So that means I had to drag my rear out of bed that much earlier to get all cleaned up and ready for work. I usually take my showers at night so I have more time to sleep but every once in a while it is nice to start off my work day with a hot shower to get me going.
I quickly threw together my breakfast since I hadn’t prepared the night before. (I didn’t get to bed until after 11… eek!!)
My favorite cereal concoction. Kashi H2H and Special K Granola.
A match truly made in cereal heaven.
Then they were going to send me home at 11 due to the calmness and low census of patients and then the floodgates broke loose so I ended up working all day.
Good thing I had my tasty lunch that I had packed to eat yesterday that I didn’t get to eat due to food being catered in.
Whole wheat tortilla stuffed with flank steak, topped with homemade salsa, shredded cheese and spring mix. So good!
A couple tablespoons of homemade salsa with some chips? Yes, definitely.
The salsa is pretty spicy so I ate 4 saltines afterwards to keep my mouth from burning off. Worked like a charm. And my tummy was completely satisfied.
A pear for an afternoon snack.
Right after work I drove to a church that the hubs was leading Disciple Now for a youth group and ate dinner with him and enjoyed watching the youth worship.
Pizza was served.
Not my first choice of dinner since I feel like I’ve had so much Italian food type items this past week but it’s a good carbo loading meal nonetheless for my 10k tomorrow morning. And it’s free. Can’t beat that!
Well, I have my 10k in the morning and will not be getting as much shut eye as I’d like but I’ll sacrifice to support the hubs in his endeavors too!
Thank goodness one of my friends picked up my race packet for me today so I don’t have to be up at the butt crack of dawn to go get it and then wait around for the start of the race.
I’ve got the anxious/nervous/excited jitters but in a good way. I’m excited for this race! I just hope I’ll make good time and push myself. I’ve got everything ready!
I’ll pin my number on tomorrow morning when Glenna brings me my race packet.
Whew. I think that’s it!
I’m setting my alarm to wake up at 5 a.m. so I can eat me a breakfast and go back to bed until about 6:30 so it will digest. I’m thinking whole wheat toast with a spread of peanut butter and sliced banana will be sufficient for fuel.
I’m really hoping that my funky mood will go away after my race tomorrow morning. I’m thinking that running is my natural Xanax. Those endorphins are good for me and since I haven’t ran since Tuesday, I’m feeling the major itch to get those flowing again!! So adrenaline+other runner’s energy+completing a race= a great sounding endorphin boost! Can’t wait! Hopefully there will be sunshine!!!
I’m off to try and get as much rest as I can! Wish me luck! I’ll write as soon as I can after the race!
What is your natural Xanax? Food, running, working out, love, walking, laughing, etc?
Lecturing for ninety minutes in three-inch/ four-inch heels in a sweltering classroom without ever sitting down knocked off some fifteen pounds beginning June of last year. I’ve been losing weight for the last four, three years.
I guess it’s because my lifestyle is only limited lazy-ass and pig-out weekends. Five days out of seven (actually, six if you count my three hours-long Spanish class on Saturday which just wipes me out), I’m moving. Really moving. Commuting, inconvenient as it may be especially now that it’s summer, has benefits: you do a lot of walking and sometimes, sprinting. That results into a healthier and more bad-ass you.
However, I lost the fifteen pounds due to the stress of my new academic life. That isn’t good. I used to play badminton and worked out at a gym before but when (my old) work started taking too much of my time, I had to stop.
When I think of losing weight, I don’t like to think about it. Loony, I know. The moment you stop thinking about something, that’s when it happens.
For example, I see this fantabulous dress. I make the mistake of trying it on. The color is great against my skin. I look like a goddess in it. It’s the last in my size. However, the price requires me to fork over the plastic. Which isn’t happening because I only use it for emergencies and for buying home appliances. What happens? Despondency of the greatest magnitude.
I let go. It’s not meant to be, I think. At least I got to try it on. It will look fantabulous on someone else (just a sec, do people still say fantabulous?). Life goes on. I focus on the things I have and consider myself lucky. I’m thankful. I’m happy.
A week later, the dress goes on sale. I get it and wear it.
I stopped thinking about having to lose weight. I swear, I thought the washing machine was making my clothes loose. It wasn’t until a friend saw me and went, “Whoa! What happened to you? You’re thin!” I waved it away. My mother confirmed it when she said, “Why are you wearing your sister’s clothes?”
“These are my pants, Ma,” I retorted.
“Better shop for a new wardrobe,” I was told.
I would like to lose more weight. That’s why I started running again towards the end of January. I started by doing it three times a week, then four times a week. If running is something you’d like to do to lose weight/be healthier, remember that you have to build up your endurance. I started by running for three kilometer for a few weeks, with lots of brisk walking in between.
Now I can do five kilometers running straight! I’m very proud of that
I haven’t been really good this week, however. Finals and finishing grades kept me chained to the desk until the wee hours of the morning. Then my m.a. requirements and yeah, migraine attacks. Three times.
I compensated by jogging for half an hour in the neighborhood. It isn’t the same, though. I like to run in tank tops but this is the Philippines. Unlike in school where nobody gives you a second glance if you run in a tank top, I got a couple of whistles. Gross.
Yesterday, I picked up Haruki Murakami’s memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
Murakami is one of my favorite writers. I’ve read mostly his short stories and zero novels (bad, I know, I would as soon as I finish my novel backlog that goes all the way to 2004). I love this guy. I’ve often found his stories funny. I’ve been meaning to read his memoir eversince it came out in 2006 and, honestly, forgot about it until a serendipitous stop in a booksale by Zeitgeist in Ateneo’s Dela Costa Hall.
Haruki Murakami has run in marathons. Yes. MARATHONS. The New York City Marathon, among them. I was worried for a teeny-weeny bit that this might be a pontifical memoir. Of course, it isn’t. Murakami is probably one of the most self-aware writers, meaning he believes that most people wouldn’t like his personality. What I like best: he doesn’t justify, he doesn’t apologize. It is what it is.
I’ve only read the first chapter and my respect and admiration for him grows with every word. Yeah, no exaggeration. It doesn’t grow page by page but word by word. It’s just a relief to read someone who doesn’t deliver the usual bull of running or doing anything in order to win or compete. Or how wonderful or exhilating it is and because being a runner leads to a healthier self, you get sick at the thought of steak. While it’s true that what Murakami writes isn’t an entirely new banana, the approach is refreshing and more than a couple of times, got an, “Oh yeah!” exclamation from me.
I intend to participate in a marathon this July. My running buddy Deeji wants us to reach the 10-kilometer mark soon (how, oh how? waaaah). I don’t aim to win, only to finish.
But if there’s a hottie who could drive me to run faster, I just might make it to the finish line first.
And I’m #20043. Wow! And the race is only 4 1/2 weeks away now.
So this week: So far, Monday and today ( Wednesday) were our hard, track workout days. We switched the 2nd hard workout to Wednesday because both Coach E and I have to be home early tomorrow! So I got to do both hard workouts this week afterall . Yay. ( can you tell I’m really tired right now!) Monday’s workout wasn’t too bad, I ran about 3 miles beforehand, then we did 12 200s, divided into sets of 4, with a 30 sec recovery after each 200, and 3 minutes in between each set. First set was at goal 3200 meter ( 2 mile) pace, second set at goal 1600/mile pace, third set at 800 meter pace ( i.e., the fastest!). My times all ranged from 46-49, not much variation unfortunately!
Tuesday was a recovery run for the team, I again put in some miles first, then about 40+ minutes with them. So my total was almost 8 miles.
Today. My legs are still quivering! I ran 3+ first, then the warmup with the team. It was a beautiful day, a chilly breeze, but bright and sunny, around 56°. Shorts and t-shirt weather, although when you stopped running, it was cold in that breeze. Our workout: 3×1000, then 2×800 meters. Coach E figured paces based on Coach Roy Benson’s paces for the team’s 1600/mile times. I stayed with one of the girls, MS, for most of it – she did great, and I was working hard to stay with her! I think our times were 4:19 for the first 1000, but then I got my “legs” (it takes me one rep to get the speed back) and the next two were right around 4:12. Three minutes rest in between each, and then a slightly longer rest before starting the 800s. MS was able to go faster on the first one, but my time was around 3:21 on the first, 3:22 on the second. Then a nice, easy cooldown.
During cross-country practices I can usually hit these kinds of times with no problem, but right now, coming after a winter with a lot of slower running, my legs are having a hard time adjusting! So when I do my extra running before practice, I am trying to go nice and slow, a sort of extended warm up. I would like to do more after practice, but no time! I need to get home and make sure dinner is started, then get youngest DD to her track practice at 6pm! We are having busy days until taper time – then it should ease up a bit. :)
I was filled with concrete joy to be in my beautiful park this morning. It looked different and more alive since I saw it last, when there was still snow coating the roads and the fields. There was change, too. I’m not usually a sound sleeper, but for some reason I missed the storm that hit Brooklyn on Saturday night and downed dozens of trees in the park. At the top of Lookout Hill, branches were lying askew across the paths and I could see the jagged edges of the breaks where solid tree-trunks came crashing to the ground. I saw the morning all around me, through the living trees, and over the trees that were alive but not for long. Oh, and there was green grass everywhere, and tiny mushrooms and crocuses emerging through patches of ivy. I saw a forsythia bush, which reminded me of a strange and compelling dream a friend related to me in which all whips were forsythia branches, and all wounds were simply streaks of yellow pollen.
Also, I found a shell on my hill this morning, which I carried home in my pocket.
Much to my dismay, I’ve actually started to like (gasp!) running and have gotten pretty good at it (double gasp!), so this past weekend I decided to go to Fleet Feet to get fitted for a pair of running shoes. I didn’t have any expectations, but at the very least I’d walk away with some new shoes, which I needed anyway.
The whole process began with a measurement of my feet and arches — while sitting and standing. A test run determined how my foot comes in contact the ground and how the power was being redistributed. It turns out that I tend to land on the interior of my foot and push off with the exterior. With that in mind, three pairs of shoes were selected for me, along with insoles to help support the arch. This shoe + insole combo helps position my foot to land correctly and redistributes the power in a way that’s more effective (aka: uses less energy). I was instructed to try on each pair and to take them for a test run — narrowing down the choices as I went along. They have a good description of the process on their website, too.
I decided on the Mizuno Wave Inspire 6 Road Running Shoes and a pair of Super Feet insoles. The whole thing only set me back $150, which is less expensive than I anticipated. All in all, a good experience — but do professionally-fitted shoes really make a difference?
Fast forward to this morning. I wake up feeling pretty shitty, but decide to lace up my new kicks anyway and jump on the treadmill. As a test, I boost the speed to .2 MPH faster than I normally run. I hit the 2 mile mark and realize that my legs aren’t sore. Cool. Even more surprising, my Polar watch is reading a lower BPM than usual for this distance, even though I’ve been running at a faster speed. All things said and done, I ended up shaving aboutt 2 minutes off of my usual 5k time, all without breaking 185 on my heart rate monitor.
Could it be the shoes? Could all the salesy marketing talk the rep at Fleet Feet was giving me really be true? Sure seems that way.
I’ve been doing a fitness program for the last 7 weeks and I am proud to say I’ve religiously attended my workouts 3 times a week at 6 … yes, that would be 6 am. I am feeling that I’m getting stronger and about 3-4 weeks ago I felt like running, so I started running again.
I talked to a friend and decided we would aim to run a 5K in May so after a few days of running after my bike ride home, we went out for a 2 mile run around the lake. It felt good… except for the last bit of it. My hip started acting up. This a recurring problem I’ve had for a long time, partly a result of a couple of accidents where I landed right on that hip.
The next day I went to my workout and it turned out that the plan was to run… so my hip problem extended to my knee and to my foot. It sucks. Anyway, I decided to shell the money to get it dealt with before it got worse so I started seeing a chiropractor/sports medicine doctor that has been adjusting me and giving me physical therapy. Again, it sucks. It is still bugging me and after not quite following his instructions and working out and running until it started hurting for two weeks he had a serious talk with me and told me I can’t run until my hip (and knee) heal. So now I am trying to do other things to continue the conditioning without aggravating the hip but it is not quite working. The truth is the bike riding is not helping and even swimming made it a bit worse.
It is really frustrating to actually feel like excersing, to feel like running and not being able to do it because it will make things worse. I feel like a wimp although I know I am not. The doc keeps telling that all athlets, like me, have these problems and that I just have to work with my body, let it recup, find other ways to excercise while I can’t run.
Tomorrow I’m going to try an elliptical machine and hope that that works. I really, really want this to work. I want to feel good, I want to work hard and increase my endurance and be ready to start running again so that I can do that 5K. I know it’s not a lot but it is big for me.
I’ve always liked to be active but it doesn’t always come naturally. I have to push myself to get in to the habit of really excersicing. For the last year and a half I’ve been commuting by bike. It’s not a huge ride (3 miles 2x/day) so I finally decided to join this 12 week fitness program to increase my physical activity. I’ve been working hard to get stronger and I don’t want to loose the momentum. I want to continue the pattern that I have established in the last few weeks. I feel so much better both physically and mentally. It does wonders for my confidence to feel that I’m taking care of myself but I guess that I have to accept that right now, taking care of myself means protecting my fucked up hip but it’s not easy to have to walk when you feel like running.
I got a great birthday package from Sara with an awesome workout gift…and after a month of half-iron training, I could use a little boost! Sara sent me an awesome SweatyBand for my hair. She included a sticky note telling me it would not budge, even on ‘our’ super fine hair. I tried it out while I was on my bike trainer and it really didn’t move. Then I sported the orange, yellow, and red band during a run; again, no slipping at all.
Zoe thinks I'm beautiful in my SweatyBand!
The bands are made of ribbon with a velvet-y backing and elastic that goes under the base of your head for a comfortable fit. I’m going to have to stock up on these, because I love wearing headbands during workouts to keep my hair off my face. Testimonials on the SweatyBands.com website include a girl whose band stayed in place even when she took a helmet on and off! Amazing.
I used to be genre specific. Well, I’m definitely not anymore. Thanks to my best friend, I’m really into country; a genre I used to put away in disgust. Now, I’m open to anything. Except Nickelback, of course. *shudders*
For example, I have 114 songs in my iPod’s “Recently Added” playlist. Therein lies the art of some more Vitamin String Quartet, The Beatles, Thomas Newman, Inara George, Psapp, Feist, A Fine Frenzy, Miike Snow, Snow Patrol, Au Revoir Simone, Bishop Allen, Architecture In Helsinki, Taio Cruz, Rihanna, Timbaland, Regina Spektor and Boys Like Girls. I don’t care anymore. Give me something, and I’ll listen to it.
For track practice the yesterday, we had to go out on a long run. Since I seem to be lacking in the running partner department, my best friend gave me her iPod Touch (knowing that taking my 160GB on a run with me would kill me and that I didn’t bring in my old 4GB nano), set me up for her playlist to play and then sent me off on my way.
She’s country (like Jason Aldean’s song). Downright country. She lives on a farm and in their barn, the radio is always attuned to the country radio station. In the morning, she watches music videos on CMT, when she comes over to my house she switches our kitchen radio to 106.5 and in the car she always changes it to her station. She’s the reason why I am into country music now, but my run with her iPod surprised me even more. I listened to every song on her playlist of choice that played, and found that I could tolerate – and even possibly liked – every song that played. It carried me through what would otherwise have been a long, lonely and painful run (let’s just say that Emily needs new sneakers). It was still painful, but it didn’t seem nearly as lonely or long.
I’ve got artists like Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Sarah Buxton and Lonestar on my iPod. At this point, I can go from Marilyn Manson or Every Time I Die to Lady Antebellum on shuffle without even blinking an eye. I uploaded every CD I owned from when I was little onto my computer and now have all of them on my iPod (yes, this includes Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Avril Lavigne, Nelly Furtado and Dixie Chicks).
I honestly just don’t care anymore. Music is meant to bring people together, not tear us apart. I will always love bands like Escape the Fate, Bullet For My Valentine and AFI, but they are taking the backseat for a little while. I’m busy exploring other genres and broadening my taste in music. It’s a wonderful thing.
I’ve done it! I’ve finally crushed my invisible 150lbs barrier. If I had known that I just needed to whine publicly about my (over) weight in order to finally get a breakthrough, I would’ve done so months ago! As usual, I got up this morning and hopped on the scale, not expecting anything really. And there it was: 149.8lbs. At first, it didn’t register with me, I stepped off the scale and was about to go on and get breakfast ready, but then… WAIT A SECOND! I hopped back on the scale and there it was again: 149.8lbs! I ran to Ninja BU (he was showering in the other bathroom) and made the international sign for GOAL! (both hands up the air like you just don’t care!) and announced that I finally was below 150lbs. He wasn’t as thrilled as me (give him a break, he needs at least 2 cups of java before he can actually form words without sounding like a grumbling bear. At least I got a good grumble out of him!), but who cares, I’ve finally done it! I don’t care that I’ll probably be over 150lbs tomorrow, just to know that I am (extremely) slowly shedding off my blub feels great. I can do it and I will do it! I will be one hot bride on the beach of Mexico!
You have to understand that I started running for me. Yes, I am overweight and I’d like to shed some fat, but to me, it is all about being healthy. Most of my superfluous weight is around my waist and THAT is scary. Extra fat around the gut is a risk factor for heart disease and heart disease is alarmingly on the rise (and the main killer) for women. When I started becoming more active, that’s what I had in mind. I have a history of diabetes in my family. If you pair that with potential heart disease, you have a very lethal combination. I knew that if I became more active, I could at least cut down a bit on my risk-factor potential.
I won’t lie and say that I never thought about the weight-loss itself and that I could maybe regain my dancer’s body (yeah right, that was 16 years ago!), but it wasn’t the main thing driving me to be active. I still struggle with running, it is still not easy for me to get out there and run the trails, but at least, it’s better than NOT doing it!
I was on the phone with MiniMe yesterday and we were discussing my 1st (and last) attempt on the dreadmill. You can read all about it here. At one point she said to me: “I never pictured you as the hardcore type” (meaning that I would rather run in the rain than repeat an encounter with the torture machine dreadmill. I couldn’t believe my ears. MiniMe had just called me hardcore. This coming from the girl who eats, live and breathe for her triathlons/Ironman. SHE called ME hardcore. Me, who is still not fully running a 5k! You have to understand, this woman is my inspiration. She is who I look up to when my motivation is low. When I don’t feel like going on the trail, I keep telling myself: MiniMe has probably already run your distance TWICE today and she swam (or lifted weights, or biked) on top of it all so take your jelly bum and go traipsing on the trail! She is amazing! I would put up a picture of her during one of her event, but I haven’t asked her permission to do so. SHE is an athlete! And to top it all off, she let’s me ramble on and on about my experience in the running world, doesn’t get annoyed and supports me in my endeavours. Don’t get me wrong, Ninja BU is a tremendous support too, but he just wants me to do whatever it is that I want to do. MiniMe inspires me to push myself just a bit further. And she is there for me no matter what (heck, if I haven’t scared her away yet, she’s here to stay!). Let’s just say I am glad to have her as a sister friend. Sniff! Anybody else getting moved by my slowly increasing sappiness?!?
As for my run today. I decided to go run around the golf course. The trail is made of cedar wood chips, therefore, very nice for my shins. There was no way I was going back to the treadmill (sorry Mat, I know you want me to give it another try, but today, I just couldn’t). I am still stuffed up, but a got dressed and armed myself with a baseball I hit the chip trail. This trail can be brutal depending on where you are. I started off with the Killer Hill from Hell. Here is a pic:
Doesn't look like much, but there is more behind the trees...
I had forgotten how hilly is the trail around the golf course. It nearly killed me. The only interval I couldn’t complete was #7. I stopped running with 10 seconds to go. It was either that or I was going to puke on the trail… I had made some modifications to Milo and he wasn’t happy with me. He kept on yelling at me to “Go Faster”. We had a few arguments, I threatened to shove him at the bottom of the lake on the golf course if he didn’t shut up and in the end, I just ignored him. I would only pay attention to him when he would tell me to either run or walk. Here’s a pic of some ducks napping in the sun along the trail:
Napping? Seriously? I am working my butt off here and you're napping?!?
Then after a few more annoying gruesome hills, it was time to go downhill. I loooooove downhill!
TK recently posted about a journey into Brooklyn that included her running in Prospect Park for only the fourth time ever. Brooklyn’s important to me. We’d often drive to my mother’s parents in Bay Ridge and my father’s mother (his own father died long before I was born) lived either at our house in Tuckahoe or in a small apartment on Clark Street, close to the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights (whence I took my first subway ride, the A train from the St. George Hotel, at who knows what age). (Bonus theatrical reference: A Hare Grows In Manhattan. What an ending!)
That’s all well and good. Brooklyn has running significance to me as well, in particular Prospect Park itself for it is there that I ran my first road race. It was entirely in the Park and was either a 5K or a 5-miler, 1978 or 79 and we drove out with my oldest sister’s boyfriend at the time.
I mention this race as a proxy for how things have changed. It was a NYRRC (as it was then-known*) race but none of the madness or corrals or shoving at the front. In those days, especially for races outside of Central Park, you could have a race where you registered at a table near the start, got your number, not get a t-shirt, and put your bag somewhere. In other words, you had a race set-up much like the local races we have now in Westchester.
The Way We Were
Races in Central Park, except for the big ones, were not so different. Before it moved to East 90th Street, NYRRC held court at the West Side Y in the West 60s near the Park. Many if not most races did not have a t-shirt. In December there was a 6-miler and a 10-miler then a “season opener” 5-miler in early January followed by a 6-miler and a 10-miler. At these and most other races you could warm-up and do some strides before sauntering to the starting line about a minute before the gun and then, after John Lennon’s murder, the horn sounded. As suburban races still do.
The vast majority of the races finished at 90th Street, going counterclockwise. (There was a “Reversible 7-Miler,” so-named because it went clockwise.) The mile-to-go was at 72nd; up Cat Hill and then a slight downhill final quarter.
Then, as now, though, the big races finished at Tavern on the Green, going clockwise. The one race that finished in neither place was the annual Club Champs. There was no season-long competition then, just this single race which was, as it remains, the single fastest non-pro race of the year. It finished a counterclockwise loop at the Daniel Webster statue. There were not so many clubs then. Warren Street, Central Park, Millrose, Westside Y, Westchester-Puma, NYAC (then, as now, chiefly really fast). Those are the ones I recall.
And I recall only a few big races. For women, of course, there was the L’egs Mini-Marathon, usually won by Grete. Otherwise we had the Trevira Twosome in May (which was enlightening and sobering in that I could start right behind the top runners in the world and they would disappear into the distance well before we hit the first mile) and the Perrier 10K in April. There may have been more (excepting, of course, the Marathon) but none come to mind.
And there were other races outside of Central Park. NYRRC put on the Pepsi Challenge at least once on July 4 (in 1983), starting on the Jersey side of the GWB and finishing in Inwood Park after a run up the Henry Hudson Parkway (remembered because Paul F., a clubmate, was pushed to the bridge roadway by someone after he, Paul, made a snide remark (as Paul was wont to do)). I ran the first Brooklyn HM in the early 80s, down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island, a left turn for a few blocks and to Prospect Park for the finish. The New Rochelle HM, of course, was a NYRRC event as was the older Westchester HM, which went from White Plains to New Rochelle for many years before some local opposition put an end to it in the mid-80s. For several years there was a Turkey Trot in Prospect Park, a 5-miler on Thanksgiving morning and for several years a Halloween Run in Central Park itself. And the Midnight Run,at which I grabbed “water” and discovered it was champagne at 90th Street.
We were talking about charity runs on my last WSSAC Saturday run, and I noted that in those days there were charities putting on races everywhere. If memory serves, though, Fred Lebow was insistent that NYRRC would not put on races with charities, which would fundamentally alter the club’s purpose, which was to put on races. Ironic, then, that people invoke his name — as someone did on a RunnersRoundTable episode — as justification for using road races as a vehicle for raising money. Times have changed in this as well; NYRR now has numerous races affiliated with charities, Healthy Kidney and Run as One among them. I don’t object to them, however. They don’t seem to interfere with the core function of the NYRR, to put on road races, a function it handles as well as any other organization in the world, so far as I can tell.
Once you get going the races now are pretty much the same as the races then. There are now digital clocks at every mile instead of someone calling out splits (as I often did when I wasn’t racing) and I’m further back than I was then and we have the season-long Club series and the things on our shoes to avoid staying in line (which even a NYer had to do in this context) until the end of the chutes.
All I ask is a loud horn and a clear path to run upon.
Shootout in the Blue Corral
Speaking of which, SB just posted on Facebook that he “is watching the video from the Coogan’s 5k and is wondering when the NYRR will decide to clean up the front of the starting lanes from all the ‘losers’ (always the same ones) who have no legitimate reason to stand in the front of the start.” Alas, I’ve gotten to the stage in which I am as likely to be too far up than too far back, careful as I may be. I do try to be careful. The use of the corral system is helpful, but the range for blue numbers (i.e., the first corral) is too broad (except for the Club Champs, when I was relegated to red, and in which they had a much smaller group for blue).
One way to address those who line-up too far: Analyze the first 500 finishers. Average the spread between gun and chip time for 96 to 104, 196 to 204, etc. to get baselines. If the first baseline is 8 seconds and 108th has a 2-second spread, it’s safe to say she started too far up. Issue a warning. Use a three-strikes-and-you’re-out approach. If the spread is abnormally high for three races, relegate her one corral in future races, subject to an explanation. If it happens consistently for a club, dock it points.
S suggested making the corrals smaller, as was done at the Club Champs. Say sub-5, sub-5:30, sub-6. I haven’t earned the right, nor am I fast enough, to be at the front, and I have no difficulty being placed where I belong, however far from the front it may be. Although I would miss the pre-start hors d’œuvre we get in the blue corral.
Mandatory Brooklyn/Marathon Reference
Speaking of speaking of crowds in races, and this cannot be said too often, the crowd along Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn is the most-dangerous mob any of us is likely to encounter. Tread softly as you pass it.
* The story I have is that the word “club” was removed because too many people were listing, quite logically, NYRRC as their “club” on race applications. Return
So I wanted to get in a double digit run sometime this week over Spring Break, but I was slowly running out of time to squeeze one in! Since I’ll be gone Thursday & Friday to Charlotte, NC to visit a law school, that left me with today and Saturday…and Saturday is my 21st birthday! I had no intentions going into my run…the weather was sooo perfect, 70 degrees and no wind…and I just wanted to enjoy it. But as I started running, I felt really good and decided I would aim for a double digit run. Its a challenge to measure the exact distance since my Nike+ chip isn’t working (and its a brand new replacement!), so I guesstimated most of the time. I have measured out 7 miles out and back, so I just ran farther and hoped it would add enough mileage! Well, I checked mapmyrun.com when I got back and I actually did 11 miles! Unfortunately, today’s run wasn’t as lovely as my eleven-miler two weeks ago. But I got in the miles, so that’s all that matters. I probably won’t do another double-digit run before the half marathon on March 21st…I’ll keep my runs under 8 miles most likely.
I’ve been helping cook dinner since I’ve been home this week, and tonight I’m actually getting my parents to eat tofu. My mom doesn’t mind it, but I don’t think my dad is a huge fan of it…haha. I made healthy Spinach-Tofu Lasagna, so I doubt he will even know there’s tofu in it! I still need to pack for the trip to Charlotte, because we’re leaving early tomorrow…gotta get in all the shopping time I can while I’m there! Haha, of course I would think of shopping…even though that’s obviously not the reason we’re making the trip there. I was accepted at the law school in Charlotte, and they do tours and info sessions on Fridays only, so this was the only time I am able to go. I know for a fact that I love Charlotte…so hopefully I’ll like the law school as well!
Well I guess I better start packing…you can never take too many clothes when you travel!
Happiness!
I still need to pack for the trip to Charlotte, because we’re leaving early tomorrow…gotta get in all the shopping time I can while I’m there! Haha, of course I would think of shopping…even though that’s obviously not the reason we’re making the trip there. I was accepted at the law school in Charlotte, and they do tours and info sessions on Fridays only, so this was the only time I am able to go. I know for a fact that I love Charlotte…so hopefully I’ll like the law school as well!