A story of going from being a non-runner to planning for a marathon in three years...

Monday, March 19, 2012

New York, New York

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On Wednesday I flew to New York City to meet up with Kim who was already out there for work. We were only there for a few days but we packed in as much as we could. Kim wore her Garmin on our all outings and we walked at least 4 to 5 miles every day.

But on Friday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed early after a late night on Broadway and took the subway to Central Park.


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Hip injury be damned! I wanted to run in Central Park! As we were leaving the hotel another woman on the elevator looked at us in our running clothes and said, "Uh, you know it's raining, right?" Kim replied with "Cool."

Well, the weather certainly was cool! I was chilled during our entire one-mile warm-up walk. Thankfully Kim had an extra pair of gloves she let me borrow and taking in the sights of Central Park kept me distracted.

Finally, after walking for a mile, we started running. My hip actually felt pretty good although it took a bit for my left glute to start loosening up. Also, I could tell that I wasn't in the best running shape. But, even though we had several opportunities to cut the run short, I wanted to keep going.

I kind of regretted that decision when we had to tackle "Harlem Hill" which just keeps going and going around curves so you have no idea when it's going to end. But we kept up a pretty good pace and the run got easier after that.

Central Park is so beautiful. I wondered if I would get tired of running there day after day if I lived in NYC. We only ran the outer loop, though, so I'd like to believe I could make up different routes that would keep me interested. I'd love to spend more time exploring the Park in the future.

I was actually a little sad when our run came to an end! It was one of those runs where it took me 5 miles to really feel warmed up and get into a groove. But, we had places to be. Still, although my left illipsoas area felt sore afterward I felt good otherwise.

And I especially felt good after a chai latte and a New York bagel.

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I'm so grateful I was able to run with Kim again and especially in such a great place. I'm still not 100% in terms of running but sometimes you can't can't pass up a run. Or a bagel.

Central Park Warm-Up Walk by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details

Central Park Run by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details