Healthy Life Happy Wife

LIEBSTER AWARD!

I was very excited to see that I was nominated by Zero to Twenty Six Point Two and Burning Babi Fat for the Liebster Award!
Thanks, loves!  I really appreciate it!

So now you all get to hear eleven random facts about moi AND 22 answers to 22 questions!

Some random facts:

1.  I have a large tattoo on the small of my back (technically, a tramp stamp.  yup.  I am a classy broad).  I got it when I had just turned 18 and hid it from my parents for a year.  Luckily, BLC doesn’t mind it and I can’t see it.  I basically forget about it at all times.  BLC actually had to remind me I had one for this random fact.  It is a lotus flower.  Sorry no pic

2.  I hate bikes and umbrellas (more like afraid of them).  I am so afraid when I am on a bike that I am going to crash (which was not that unfounded since I crashed twice during my triathlon.) or someone is going to crash into me.  Also, when I’m just walking I’m so afraid of a biker running into me (it would most likely be my fault, of course) and/or someone poking me in the eye with an umbrella.  Totally rational fears, right?  Good thing I moved to NYC.

3.  I have severe road rage.  I don’t know what comes over me but when I am in the car, I become the devil.  It’s not cute.

4.  I have super curly hair but I get it straightened every 3 months or so.  Always want what ya can’t have.

5.  I have ridden on a camel in Egypt.  Yup.

6.  I love Bloody Mary’s in the morning and tequila in the evening.  I would much rather a spicy drink over a sweet drink.  & if we are day drinking, I will have a Bloody Mary in my hand.  Done.

7.  I have read Fifty Shades of Gray.  It was okay.  Entertaining but nothing crazy good.  I have been trying to finished Fifty Shades Darker since our trip to Aruba…so over a month.  Just not interested anymore.  That makes me the 1% of people who didn’t love it.  Guess I’m just a weirdo.

8.  I carry around toothpicks because my teeth attract food particles.  I honestly can get a piece of food stuck in my teeth after drinking juice.  I don’t know where the food comes from but it gets stuck in my teeth no matter what.  Toothpicks are my savior of life.

9.  I despise squirrels.  Yes, to you they may be cute and cuddly looking but to me they are walking rabies carriers.  Plus, when I was in college we lived in a run down house with squirrels living in the walls.  We could hear them running in the ceiling and walls constantly.  There was even an instance where one fell through the ceiling into my bathroom, ran around in there all night knocking over shampoo bottles and pooping in the shower.  Then my roommate let it out into the living room…and we never saw that squirrel again.  Shudder.

& as my girl Carrie Bradshaw has said, “They are just rats with cuter outfits.”

10.  I was in a sorority in college and I loved every second of it.  I am actually heading to the beach this weekend with about 16 of them.  I’m super excited!

11.  I am a diehard Penn State Nittany Lions and Philadelphia Eagles fan!  I absolutely love football and AM SO EXCITED FOR THE SEASON TO START!  I could talk your ear off about football…so I’ll just leave it at that

So now that you know SO much more about me – how about some questions?!

Burning Babi Fat’s Questions:

Spring!  I love the transition from winter to summer – the flowers are blooming, the weather is not too hot and not too cold & every one is just in much better moods! Plus, my birthday and our wedding anniversary is in April

Sorry it has taken me so long to write my recap but I was hoping I could wait for some race pictures to add. But no such luck!

Anyway – I ran the NYRR Mini 10k on Saturday. It was an insta-PR (because this was the first 10k race I have ever run). But let’s start from Friday.

On Friday afternoon I went to the NYRR office to pick up my bib. Just an FYI, it is not very easy to get to for me. I have to transfer twice then walk about 6 blocks – not complaining, just kinda explaining why I waited until the last minute to go pick up my bib.

So I got there at around 6:15 ish (they close at 7 – way to cut it close, Alex) & it was pretty packed. I went upstairs, got my bib & came back downstairs to get my shirt (which I was very excited about because it was in women sizes!!!). I got in line & realized they only had large & extra large left. Bum City. So I got my shirt & swag bag & moved on. They had Lara bars (love – grabbed 2 cashew cookies) & they had samples of the new Über Lara bar (pretty excited to try them!)

Freck wanted in with all my Lara bars & large t-shirt…there was a progression…

All up in my grill like usual…

Finally, a good pic…but wait!

Freck left her bone! Obviously, that was too important to leave…

Getting sick of this, yet? Me, too.

Well, Freck is only finished when she wants to be finished. It’s Freckles world, we’re just living in it.

But I digress.

Once I left NYRR I checked out my bib…& was pretty disappointed. I was in the 10:44 pace corral. Bum city numero dos. I knew that they had gotten my pace from my Brooklyn Half time but this was one day after my super amazing sub-9 minute 10k so I was bummed. Plus, I know a lot of people were put in corrals based on 5k paces or the pace they estimated themselves. But I’ll stop bitching now

I met up with BLC after my bummer of a trip to NYRR & we wandered around Central Park for a minute.

Gorg.

Unbelievable that this is in the middle of NYC. <3

Then I kinda did exactly what you are not supposed to do the night before a race.

I went out with BLC & a girlfriend. We went to Boukies in the East Village for some Greek food (really, really good! Try it if you are in the area!) I had lots of bread & one wheat beer. But then…we went to International Bar (my new fav dive bar in the city). We had a tad too much fun, drank a little too much (don’t I always say this?) & didn’t get home till about 2:30a. Eek. I am quite the party animal.

Set alarm for 6a. Slept for about 3 1/2 hours. Smart, real smart.

But I got up! Made some coffee & put it in a water bottle. Classy.

BLC woke up for 5 seconds to take a pic and wish me luck then he went back to bed & didn’t wake up till I got home. Lucky.

I ate my Double Latte Gel because I felt like I needed a little bit more caffeine and I didn’t have a banana to bring with me. (I was really prepared.)

I will reiterate even though I’ve said it before, I am not a fan of the Double Latte flavor. Blech!

So my subway transfers went pretty smoothly & I got to the start at around 7:40a. I bought a water from the bodega at the start & waited in my corral with my tunes blasting.

At about 7:55a ish, there were a few speakers (all of which inspirational & amazing – one of which was my run-crush, Desi Davila). I honestly got a little teared up during the speakers considering what a lot of them helped to do for women’s running.

The race started right on time which I loved because I was the loser standing by herself. I didn’t actually cross the start line till about 2:50 in.

The race was hard. I actually overheard Desi saying it was a “tough course” when i saw her sitting at the end of the race. There were rolling hills throughout most of the course & it probably didn’t help that I only slept for less than 4 hours & ran a very fast 10k (for me) only two days prior (legs weren’t exactly fresh). But I ran that sucker, didn’t stop and passed quite a few runners.

Plus, I had originally wanted to finish under an hour & guess what?! I did! Even without a Garmin to tell me my paces.

Official time: 59:48
Pace: 9:38
Place: 2820/6122

Insta-PR!

At the end of the race, they had bagels, plums &…wait for it…Popsicles! What a great idea, right?

So as I was eating my Popsicle, I saw Desi & all of the other winners near the stage so I went over to see the award ceremony & kinda stalked Desi from a far.

Then I decided to head home to the hub. But I felt great, the weather was perfect running weather (overcast with a slight occasional drizzle) & I didn’t feel like transferring subways. So I ran to the 14th street L stop from the middle of Central Park. For those of you who don’t know, that’s about 4 miles. I figured I would round out the day with a solid 10 miles. Why not?

I took the miles slow (about 4 miles in a little over 40 minutes), took in NYC & grabbed a giant iced coffee at the end.

All in all, a pretty amazing day before the time of 11a.

Then we did what I absolutely love to do after a race – gorge

We had lots of pizza, Stella’s & water. Then, I laid around with Freck all night.

She acts like she ran 10 miles…what a little princess.

But she’s cute, ain’t she?