An artistic interpretation of running in Cape Town:

UphillUphillUPhillUPHillUPHILLflatflatflatdownnhillUPHILLUPhill

(car exhaust)

repeat.

We tried to run' away' from the Mountain, as it is 'flatter'.  Most of the area near my hotel is quite similar to San Fransisco in the lay of the land and the grade of the streets (we ran in the Southern suburbs of Newlands/Claremont/Rodenbosch).  However, I have to admit, the hills are not CLOSE to as bad to the Kloof's Neck Section, which is WAY WORSE than San Fran.

We did 2 nine-mile loops so we could regroup at the hotel for bathroom break, refuel, water, etc- so the hills could not be avoided.  It was just one of those runs when I kept wondering how we could keep going UP without hardly ever doing DOWN!  I am so happy I got it done, I was pretty miserable by the end, but each long run has taught me something different.  

Some lessons from my first 18-miler:

1.  I like the solitude of doing my long runs alone.  The first 9 miles with my running partner were great, but when I started hurting and she started pulling away, it got me down mentally, even though I only had slowed down about 5/sec per mile (because of tummy issues, see #2).

2. Luna Moons=the devil.  I will not be touching these EVER again.  I had a package at mile 9, and was not able to eat anything else the entire run, and had pukey-burps for the next hour and a half.  NOT good at all.  Going to stick with the Gu (Chocolate and Espresso Love, to be exact).

3.  More reinforcement that my body can handle more than I give it credit for.  My long runs fell in the same week last week (Sunday, then Saturday), putting my mileage at 47.6 for the last 7 days.  And yes I am SORE, but not in PAIN, which is a key distinction that I am beginning to be able to make.  

This realization has also made me more confident that I am 'doing enough' for the marathon, in running just about every other day.  Sometimes I worry because that works out to only 3x per week, but that is OK. I am getting the mileage in, and being smart about what my body needs and can handle, and I need to be confident in that.

Jet lag sets in....

After our first clinic visit today, I was happy to see my favorite poster still remained:

(I am SO sad it came out a bit blurry, make it big to see the detail of the poor little man who didn't use his 'helmet' when 'diving'....)

Top 30 at Western States? Yeah, I can hang...

First of all, I honestly believe flying into Cape Town is one of the most beautiful views anywhere in the world.



My colleague, who is also a running buddy, has been in Cape Town for a few days now. There are multiple huge HIV-related meetings going on, and she met a lovely Tanzanian man, Simon, who is with his wife at one of the meetings. Turns out, he's a runner. Which is actually an understatement; Simon is a RUNNER. As in, top 30 at Western States for the past 7 years. As in, world record holder as the fastest man to ascend Mt. Kilimanjaro. And he is the most lovely 6'5, 150 pound man you've ever met. So we ran this morning.

And when I say 'we ran' I mean, he went for a nice morning jog and didn't even break a sweat, and I cursed the hills in Cape Town and hoped for traffic lights to turn red so I could catch up to him :) It was great.

Simon will race the 18-mile trail race around Table Mountain on Saturday morning. My colleague and I tried to enter this race, but it was sold out. Simon called the Race Director yesterday and got in, because he is special. We are not, so we will jog our little selves around Cape Town for three hours on Saturday morning.

I love it here.

Tomorrow: Africa

Ha. I leave tomorrow. In 48 hours I will get to swim-out my plane legs here (if it is warm enough!):


And haven't even dusted off my suitcases. At least I am still laughing about it at this point.

As I sit at my desk, my legs are throbbing. But in a sorta-good way. My hip is a bit sore, but it is to be expected. Yesterday's run really helped the confidence in a faster-paced long run. I am glad I went with it, and I am almost sure it was the copious amounts of wine last night that has made my neck and back a bit stiff today, not the run.

I just made an ART appointment for 6pm to force me to leave work by 5:15. I am also hoping this appointment will hold me over for my biggest week ever of running this week (!!), and a haf marathon the following week.

So maybe I should be working instead of catching up on weekend blogs? ehhh

Weekend Roud-up

Not much posting last week- a bunch of same-old, same-old going on in these parts.

Work is stressful, which in turn caused my stomach to revolt most of the week.  Did get in two great runs, one marathon-pace (the new 'tempo' run to see if my hip handles it better), and a longer, easy run in the park where I just set my watch and ran around with no agenda other than not running in circles.  Ran a bit in the trails in the north end of the park, a bit on the bridle path, down Cat Hill, it was nice.

Also did a short 2miler on Friday b/c I was feeling like a fat sloth after taking the day off work to let my stomach not hate me.

I tried to motivate to do something Saturday, but the air was thick and gross and they were calling for awful weather, so I did more sloth-like things, which amounted to a lot of nothing.

Got another 16 miler under my belt this morning, although this was my first long run that I decided to run with some friends.  Wasn't sure how I would like it, as I have gotten quite used to doing my own 'thang for my long runs (IE water stops when I want, bathroom stops when I want, the pace I want, etc).  It went pretty well, was MUCH faster than my last 16 miler (almost 1 mile/mile faster!), but my body held up well and we will see how I feel tomorrow.  The miles did seem to go by faster with company.

Spent the rest of the day in Queens celebrating my old roommate's birthday with a mimosa-brunch, a Patriot's win (he's a fan, not I), and then some nice drunken Taboo and Wii Bowling.  Then I had to sit in the subway for 30 minutes waiting for an R train back to the city.  Not too fun.

I have less than 48 hours until I leave for two weeks of work in South Africa.  I am very excited for the trip, and it has seemed to sneak up on me a bit.  I have my first ever 18 miler to get done next weekend, which I am doing with a colleague who is also training for the NYC marathon and has done some long runs in Cape Town last year, and I am really looking forward to it (will carry my camera if I can to document).

Then the following weekend I will be running a half marathon in Pretoria, which is about 45 minutes outside Johannesburg sans traffic, which should be an experience.  I have my favorite driver to take me out there at 4am (the race starts at 6:30am and I have to register before), and he is great.  When I was at this hotel in the spring and asked to see some of the soccer stadiums for the World Cup 2010, he literally broke me into the largest soccer stadium in Johannesburg and was just a riot.  Can't find any info on the course, so i think I will use it as just a way to get in the miles rather than to 'race'.  I have another half marathon planned a few weeks later that I think I will target to race to get a good estimate as to where my fitness is before the marathon and set some realistic goals.

So now I will watch the end of the VMAs rather than pack, b/c it's the wise thing to do.

Evidence:

For my love of Vermont:

Total seclusion.

What more do you need: sunset, good book and a growler of Magic Hat?

Pure perfection.

Labor Day 2008

It was an overall amazing and relaxing weekend, and I begin to worry that my days are numbered being able to survive in the concrete jungle of NYC. I absolutely love my life and living in New York City, but continue to discover gems of places a stone's throw from the city that I can easily imagine myself falling into a completely different lifestyle without hesitation. So, yeah, when I no longer need to work, I will let you know where I relocate :)

Friday, we rolled into Lake Placid about 6:15 and were in Mirror Lake by 6:45pm, racing the sunset. We quickly realized we had both forgotten wetsuits, but the water was pleasant enough for 1 loop. Finished in 31:55, which was more than enough time to justify beers at the Brewery across the street.

Mirror Lake, Lake Placid

Saturday, a 7-hour ride was on tap for my Kona-training friend. We figured the full Lake Placid course would put her close to that. As much as I wish I could have ridden the entire thing with her, I knew I was not in that kind of biking shape. If it had been a flat course, I would have gutted it out, but there are no detours around the climbing in Lake Placid. So I settled for 1 loop. Well, almost one loop, as we were too busy chatting away and missed the turn-off for the out-and-back section of the course (14miles). By the time we realized, we decided not to back-track, but I was sorta bummed to not ride the entire course. So I ended my day with 42 miles. The course is absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. I really wished I was in the shape to ride the entire thing, but it will come with time. My hip was ready to call it a day, so I hung around downtown Lake Placid while my friend finished her ride.

After a quick gas station clean up, we were on the road with 1 destination in mind:

My happy place.

We loaded up on beer for the weekend, and headed to the house our friends had rented on Lake Champlain. To reach the house included a bit of off-roading and 10 miles on a dirt road, but it was worth it. The cabin was completely secluded, right on the shore. I spent the day Sunday here:

We got drunk, played Yahtzee and Rummy, and went to bed at 10pm. Girls Gone Wild, Vermont-style :)

Monday, my friend had a 2 hour recovery ride on tap (she ran 3 hours Sunday, as I coached her from the hammock ha). We decided to ride into Burlington, as we were about 15 miles north and figured it was a perfect distance for the recovery. We arrived in Burlington to eat the WORLD'S BEST SANDWICH*, to be greeted by this:

A 4-day stage race in Vermont over the weekend was culminating with the crits in downtown Burlington. Such a fun surprise! We sat in the sun and didn't complain as the Men's Master's 30 year old division passed us 15 times. We rode back to the house, climbed the steepest hill I have ever biked on, and swam a bit in Lake Champlain. After that we packed it up to head back to NYC.

Back to reality, GWB

Today is back to reality. NYC is crowded again after an empty August. The subway was packed. The line for the bus was long. But I had a glorious Marathon-Pace run this morning after the week off running, and all is well.

*I'm not joking that this is the best sandwich I have ever had. Every year we go back, and every year this is confirmed. If you are ever in Burlington, or even within 60 miles, the trip is well worth it.