Favorite Hometown Races

This week's prompt for Tuesdays on the Run is your favorite hometown race. But favorite race? As in singular? Oh gosh, that's a tough one!

Big City, Big Races

While I live in CT, mileage wise, the closest city to me New York City.  Therefore, the New York City Marathon is my hometown marathon!  Because of NYRR's amazing 9+1 program (run 9 other races throughout the year, volunteer for 1, you're guaranteed entry for the marathon),  I've had the opportunity to run New York 4 times so far.   And every time I run, I am completely blown away by the absolutely incredible crowds that come out.  As soon as you turn off the Verrazano and head into Brooklyn, the cheering begins, and there is just not on quiet spot on the entire course, with the exception of the rest of bridges, of course. Yes, the race is a pain to get into.  Yes, it turns into an entire day production.  Yes, it's crowded.  Yes, the course can be challenging. But yes, it lives up to the hype.  That is why I am coming back for round 5 this year!

After my first New York in 2010

After my latest New York in 2016

There is also another very famous marathon that's a few hours up the road from me that I've never had the chance to run - but spoiler alert: that's about to change very soon!

Aside from the marathon, NYRR also puts on many other great races throughout the year.   Some of my other favorites are the NYC Half Marathon, Brooklyn Half Marathon and Mini 10K  - but none of them hold a candle to the marathon. The majority of NYRR's races tend to be held in Central Park, so I do my best to seek out the ones that have more interesting courses to fulfill my 9+1 requirements. After all, you can run in the park for free almost any day in the year!

Finishing on the boardwalk in Coney Island is one of the best half marathon finishes

Country Livin'

On the flipside to the big city races,  there are some fantastic races right here in Fairfield County.  In the past few years, there seems to be a half marathon (my favorite distance) practically every month.  The most well known of them is the Fairfield Half Marathon and 5K in June.  This is the race every local loves to hate.  It's a gorgeous course and has a fantastic beach finish, but not only is it pretty hilly, it also is typically hot as Hades! While I don't see this race working as anything but a summer race - after all, a beach finish in October wouldn't be nearly as fun - I wish it would start much earlier to try and beat the heat a bit. 

This year, the organizers moved up the date, so while it may be a bit cooler in year's past, it also competes with our biggest hometown triathlon - Quassy Rev3. Why the organizers could not avoid this, I have no idea.   If Fairfield is "pretty hill" then I would rate Quassy as "giant mountains of death", especially on the bike course.  I did the Olympic distance last year, and in some ways, I think it was tougher than my first half iron.  On the biggest hill climb on the bike, I actually contemplated pulling my bike over and pretending I had  mechanical issue so I could be done LOL. Quassy also offers a 70.3 distance, but I can safely say I will NOT be participating in that distance anytime soon.  But whether I run Fairfield or the Olympic distance at Quassy in the coming year, I do not know yet. It's a tough choice!

Surviving the crazy hills at Quassy last year

Finally, I have to give a shout out to the SONO Half Marathon in October - which is literally in my backyard.  It is so close to me, I've considered running to the start if I needed extra miles! The race will be in its third year, and the race directors, James and Shannon, have done an amazing job bringing a first class event to South Norwalk.  I had to skip last year since it did not fit in my schedule, but I hope to be back this year.

Celebrating my friend's first half finish at SONO in 2016

What are your favorite hometown races?  I'm linking up with the lovely ladies on Tuesdays on The Run

2018 Running Predictions

While the new year has been in swing for a few weeks now, I feel like my year is still first starting.  I kicked off the new year running 4 races in 4 days in Disney as a part of the Dopey Challenge, and now I am taking some time off to recover from surgery.  Since I'm forced to take the extra time off (which is probably not the worst thing in the world, considering I finished Ironman 70.3 Maine in late August, Philly Marathon in late November, and now Dopey in early January), it's a great time to sit back and try and set some new goals for the coming year.

Marathon PR or ER

Guys, I was so close to this in 2017.  Currently, my marathon PR is 4:26 from 2013, but my half marathon PR of 1:56 is from last fall, so I know I can at least edge closer to the 4 hour mark.  When I was training for the Philly Marathon, I was using NYRR's Virtual Trainer program.  The selling point of this training plan to me is that the plan is dynamic, meaning as you input your training runs, the program adjusts your mileage, and predicts your marathon time.  At end of the program, it predicted a 4:05-4:10 finish for me.  While I thought that was a little ambitious the program was on drugs for thinking I can run a marathon that fast, I did feel confident that I would be able to smash my old PR.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for me on race day.  Winds were gusting at over 50 mph, and I had to run into crazy headwinds for the majority of the race, which of course made the race that much more difficult. I finished in 4:29, which is still my second best marathon time, but not the time I thought i was capable of running.  I also managed to run the marathon during Dopey in 4:31 - which is my 3rd fastest time - which I think is pretty promising considering I ran a 5K, 10K, and half marathon consecutively the days before, plus walked an additional 8-10 miles a day in theme parks. 26.2 in 2018 - I am coming for you!

Ready to run Philly!

Get My Nutritional Act Together

From late 2014 until mid 2016, I sort of let my weight slowly get a bit out of control.  I would never say I was overweight per say, but my weight was the highest it's ever been in my life.   Most of my clothes did not fit well, my running was really suffering,  and I just did not feel good about myself.  Training for my first half 70.3 helped snapped me out of it that (have you seen how unforgiving those tri suits are?!) along with very diligently tracking my food using My Fitness Pal and cutting back on my wine.  I sort of let that slide in second half of 2017, and while i haven't gained back all the weight, I have gained back a decent amount.  I'm hoping to find that balance this year between not having to track every little crumb I eat on an app for the rest of my life, but still being able to look and feel good.

Right before Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City, where I felt best

Find a Strength Training Program I Can Stick With

Ask me to bike or run for 3 hours at a time - sure, no problem.  Ask me to lift a few weights for 20-30 minutes, and I can't seem to get it done.  Strength training is something I always seem to struggle with.  I generally do not enjoy it, I do not feel like I know what I am doing, and I don't think I am very good at it (although in full disclosure, I am not a great runner or triathlete either, and that hasn't seemed to stop me, either!) But I do understand the important of weight lifting for overall fitness and in maintaining my weight, so I need to figure something out.  I am hoping to find a class or two that I enjoy enough to be able to incorporate into my weekly routine.

What are you hoping to achieve this next year? I'm linking up with the lovely ladies on Tuesdays on The Run

Life Update

Wow - it's been a long time since I last updated.  Last time I posted, I had just finished the first race of the BAA Distance Medley.  I am happy to report that while I did go on to finish the other two races (including my first sub 2 half at the final race), I've also run a ton of other races, too! Here's a quick synaposis of what's been going on the past years.

 I got married!  

This is probably why I fell off the blogging bandwagon to begin with - wedding planning is a ton of work! My now husband proposed not too long after aforementioned BAA 5K, and then my life became a whirlwind.  We got married on October 6th, 2013 at the Water's Edge in CT, and it was absolutely perfect.

Our wedding day

I became an actual triathlete!

While yes, at the time when I was first blogging, I was dabbling in triathlon.  I had completed the New York City Triathlon twice (once in 2012, and then once again in 2014) but truth be told, I had no clue what I was doing.  I was using regular running shoes on the bike, and relied on the super fast current of the Hudson to push me through the swim.  That all changed in late 2015, when Atlantic City announced they were hosting a new Ironman 70.3 race the following year. No hills on the bike? Sounded good to me! I learned how to become an actual cyclist (err - still working on that one...but hey, at least I can clip into my bike so I look like i know what I am doing) and learned how to swim for sport (errr...still working on that one too...but hey, I can make the swim cut offs!) and became an Ironman 70.3 finisher.  I would love to make the jump to a full Ironman one day, but in the meantime, I am doing my best to keep swimming and cycling in the mix, so I can complete one 70.3 a year in the summer in between marathon seasons.

Finishing my first 70.3 was as fulfilling as my first marathon

I ran all the races!

While I would love to to recap all the races I've run since I last started blogging, it is simply just out of control! When we first left off I was training for my third marathon.  Now, I just finished my 12th marathon last Sunday, during the Dopey Challenge (more on that later.).  My half marathon count has also gotten quite high - I hit 69 during Dopey last weekend. Although I haven't hit a new marathon PR since 2013, I did just run a half marathon PR in September (1:56), so I am hoping that elusive new marathon PR is on its way this year.

Four days, four races, 6 medals - definitely Dopey!

I lost my father.

Not exactly the happiest of updates, I know.  But, if you ever read my "about me" page, you know he is pretty much the reason why I started this whole crazy journey, so it would be negligent to not talk about this on my running blog.  He passed away very suddenly this past April, and it was by the far the hardest thing I ever had to face in my life.  Perhaps later on I will have the courage to write a more detailed post, but for now, I will just leave it as I am still missing him very much, every day.

The last race my dad ever ran, and we ran the whole thing together - the 2015 WDW Half Marathon

 

I underwent a septoplasty. 

 My most reason adventure has not been to a new finish line, but to the OR. For years I have been delaying with horrible congestion, partially because of allergies, and partially because I have a deviated septum.  I finally decided to do something about it, and opted to have it surgically correct this past week.  While it is too soon to say as I am still recovering, I am very much hoping it gives me a significant quality of life update (and if it helps me run a little faster, I won't complain, either!) 

Pre-operation in my hospital gown splendor