I Go...On and On and On

Its been a while since I've posted, but I've been running! Promise! I figured it was time I highlight some of the fun things that have been going on since I last blogged. I will make a goal of blogging at least once a week as I work towards my next big milestone . And, since we're on the subject....

I'm running my first-ever HALF MARATHON!! *cue reggae airhorn*

It wasn't that long ago that I nervously prepared for my first 5K and now I'm crazy excited to train for my first Half! While I did not consider the fact that I'd be training during the coldest months of the year (womp), I'm up for the challenge. This particular race only accepts a limited number of people so I felt quite lucky to be picked.

I've been fortunate to meet and run with some pretty cool folks who happen to be affiliated with Nike. When they were having a New Year's Eve party and run (read: run in 30 degree weather, 25 with windchill) my otherwise logical self thought - "Wow, this seems like fun!" Note - you be the judge over the next few months, but I think running clouds logic.

Anyway, I decided to go for it. My grandmother always told me to bring in the New Year how I plan to spend it and I knew I wanted to up my running game this year so I was in! Here are a few pics:

When we arrived, DJ Mode was transitioning from All Gold Everything to Pour it Up  which meant I danced the entire walk from the front door to where we were told to pick up our bags. Bags? Umm yes! When we RSVP'd we were asked our shirt and shoe size so when we arrived, they had a backpack with our names. Stuffed inside was a cute Running Vest, LunarGlide 4s and our Race number. Score! (Sidenote: This is New Year's Eve. A day when we usually shell out a bunch of money on an outfit we'll wear once, go to a party to do exactly what we did 2 weekends before, and probably pay way too much to be at said party. Here I am in the most comfortable shoes & clothes I own, haven't spent a dime...and they are giving ME stuff! Mind. Blown. 2013, I already love you.) 

After receiving our bags, we were asked to wear the vests and we went to the dance floor. The time I spent dancing got me to my Fuel goal in no time! Oww!

This is my absolute favorite pic of the night. (And apparently it was everyone else's too since we made the Top Ten. Oww!)

The photog just started snapping pics during our trial and error for the jumping pic and I thought this candid was funny. (And yes, this is a real candid as you can see by my full Cheshire grin; not one of the fake instagram 'candids.' lol) 

After a few hours of dancing, eating, toasting and photoboothing, we grabbed our stuff and headed to Central Park to kick off the New Year with a run. I wish I'd gotten photos of all of the crazy costumes, but there were people wearing Christmas lights, Santa suits, pimp coats - you name it, it was there. The race kicked off with midnight fireworks. My friend Ann implored me to start with the 7 min mile crew. Ha! That lasted about half a mile. lol (One day!) Here's video from the start of the race:

Finally, a friend asked me to gchat with a fellow runner for his new site Eavsdrop! It's definitely the best update of what's been going on since I last blogged. Eavsdrop our convo here.

The new year is off to a great start!

Keep Running!

#RunRoRun #MakeItCount

The Color Run - Done.

This whole thing started when a friend invited me to The Color Run and I accepted. Well, that day finally came and I am officially a Color Runner. Woop woop! The run itself was an absolute blast, but definitely not one where a) most of the people were running or b) time was kept for the race. I made it a personal point, however, to run the entire time.

For some weird reason, I would open my mouth when we ran through the color. Without fail. Every time. 

 And as a result, I had blue teeth. The color, by the way, does not taste like kool-aid. It tastes like baby powder.

It was a morning of fun. Most importantly, I'm pumped up for my next challenge - 4 miles with the Bridgerunners!

Luckily my Running isn't as MIA as my Blogging

#RunRoRun is still alive and well!

Update: I've been consistently running 2 miles for the last week. At this point, I know I can run much longer (OK, "much" may be a stretch but there's probably at least a mile or 2 left in me when I stop), but I occasionally have roadblocks (err excuses?) like time restraints, mental distractions, etc. I will certainly have to overcome those before race day.

Speaking of race day...it's only 4 weeks away!!! Yikes. I am yet to run outside again, but I suppose it's about that time! I plan to take my talents to Central Park this weekend. Many of my running friends say that running outside is easier because there's so much to look at. What they don't understand is when I run at the gym, I look at music videos; Beyonce, Drake, Rick Ross and Kanye are plenty to look at.


I just wanted to poke my head up to say I'm still at it and will check-in more frequently moving forward.

xoxo

#RunRoRun

My First Outdoor Run

For some crazy reason, I had a fear of outdoor running. I'd only recently started running on the treadmill and a friend invited me to run with her running club. In the past, I'd turned her and other friends in running clubs down because "I didn't run"; after my couple of weeks on the treadmill I was feeling ambitious so I figured...what the heck? For full transparency, I was told it was only a mile and a half and there would be free food and drinks after. :)

I was nervous before we got started but it ended up being a blast! Shoutout to NYC Bridgerunners and Nike+ Running Tribeca Store.

Quick Snapshot before we started. I don't actually know this girl, but when Erin pulled out her phone to snap a "candid" we just posed. Anyone who knows me knows that posing for a pic is a reflex for me. Oh, did I mention we got those sweet Nike Dri-fit shirts for free?! I love free swag. :)

Here's the back of the sweet shirt. #GameOnWorld

So, the Bridgerunners are pretty cool. So cool that Nike likes to take their photo and make videos of them. There was a van that followed us the entire run with a camera and mic.

The tricky thing about having a camera follow you is they get caught at lights in the NY streets. So, when there's a break....pull-ups!! haha Shoutout to the lone girl who also did this.

After the run, Nike had Jamba Juice, soda, water and wait for it....burgers and fries for us!!! Yes, burgers and fries. I guess since most of these people are running bridges several times a week, a burger doesn't really matter. For context, I overheard a girl talking about her 100 mile race the weekend before. 100 miles! That's 99 more than I was nervous about running that day.

Despite my face of disapproval here, I I ate that burger. And those fries. And they were good.

Then, we danced it out with DJ Mode in the front of the store. If outdoor running ends like this every time, I'm all about it!! 

In the end, I ditched my walk/run training since it was obvious I could run longer than a few minutes. I'm now doing 1.2 miles and plan to get to 1.5 by the end of the week!!

Small steps, man. Small steps.

'til next time.

#RunRoRun

I am a runner.

I have to keep telling myself this because my default is "I am not a runner". But, for the last month I've been running. Sort of. Here's the quick and dirty on how things went down.

4 years ago: I moved to NY and thought "Runners look cool. I want to do that." I didn't.
2 months ago: My friend Muna emailed me about the Color Run and I naively said "Sign me up!"

She did.

1 month ago: I got on a treadmill for the first time in over a year. I'd never seriously run and the few times I'd run on a treadmill were because a trainer pushed me to do it. This time, I was alone and had to fight my own "you are not a runner" mentality. The Color Run had posted a Facebook workout that you could follow that was essentially, run/walk for a few minutes. My gym's treadmill only had a 2 minute run/2 minute walk setting, so that's what I used.

And that's how #RunRoRun was born. I'm a month and a half away from my first 5K and will take you along this journey with me as I transition from walk/runs to short runs to long runs.

#RunRoRun