Ben showing how he hails a taxi

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

Ben’s latest trick?  Wiggling his little fingers in the air and yelling “Tax-EE”  Yes, emphasis on the EE.  He cried last night because I wouldn’t let him go outside and do it.  I love my little NYC boy.

5K PR

Two weekend ago while we were in Chicago I dragged Josh out of bed Saturday morning after a night of drinking to run a 5K in Chinatown.

My biggest issue with running consistently is I am never going to win.  It doesn’t matter if I practically half my current mile time, I am still not going to win.  I am slow.  Very slow.  Because I lack complete motivation if there isn’t a possibility of winning however, I have to come up with other reasons to run.  Right now, new courses and races are motivating me.  Give it six months and I may need to find another angle.

Josh was a trouper and while I had laid off on the drinking the previous night, he had not, yet still got up at 630a with me and cabbed over to Chicago’s Chinatown.  It was a hot morning with the sun beating down but anything* compared to NYC in the past month feels cool.  We arrived on the early side because we needed to pick up our race packets and I am used to NYRR craziness when it comes to same day packet pickup.  NYRR this was not.  There was nobody there picking up their packets.  We were first, and only, in line. In our race packets we were delighted to find Oyster Sauce!  Yes.  Oyster Sauce.  Odd, but also awesome all at the same time.  Because we were so early, we had the opportunity to check out the competition.  Apparently,  this was the first year the race organizers were using D-tagsand Josh was gracious enough to help a few fellow runners out with putting them on their shoes.   There were also water coolers with cups so you could hydrate pre-race along with bananas and apples in case you had forgotten to eat.  When it was finally time to line up, we realized there were only about 400 racers.  400 racers!?!  I have NEVER run such a small race!  We actually got to start at the front of the pack!  Usually we are in a corral system based on speed and based on OUR speed, end up crossing the starting line 1-5 minutes after the actual start of the race. Here, we crossed within seconds of the gun…err, the women with the bullhorn who yelled go.

The go was sounded and off we went. Josh and I separated immediately because we like to run at our own pace.  Also, only recently have I actually begun to have a shot at beating Josh while racing and that in itself motivates me. The course was an out and back with a water/timing station at 1 mile, 2 miles and then the finish.  It was extremely well organized for being so small and the 8 or so blocks in Chinatown proper were lined with shopkeepers watching us run.  The actual course was pretty blah besides this stretch though and we ended up running along side the highway with virtually no shade.  We were passed by three jogging strollers confirming just how slow we actually run.  I had the luxury of running with my Garmin so was able to keep pace quite well.  I also could see where Josh was at the turnaround and that pushed me to stay ahead.  My first mile was close to 9 minutes, I slowed down on my second but picked it back up on my third and actually passed about 10 runners.    I finished strong although the final runner I had to pass was a girl who was running with a prostheticleg and I debated if I should or shouldn’t pass her.  It was awesome to see everyone cheering for her and their cheers definitely energized me and in the end I did pass.  I crossed the finish line in 29:12 which for me was a PR.  This is only because it was my second 5k ever and the first was run last year in the middle of the summer with a 6pm start.  Ugh.  Pace wise, it’s actually my fastest pace since a race I ran in Feb ‘05.  It was 5 seconds faster than I ran the Tufts 10k last year and although that was double the distance. it was also in October so significantly better weather thus a faster pace. 

All in all, I was happy with my performance.  And I beat Josh.  And really, that is all that mattered.

*(Not India Cattobes.  India still wins.)

Congratulations in Order!

A belated congratulations to one of my dearest friends:

Beth was one of my closest friends in NYC from about the moment I moved here in 2002 until we both decided it was time to check out new cities in 2006 (I headed north while she headed south to Washington, DC).  Beth was such a huge part of my New York City experience. She was always the organizer coming up with fun events to check out, restaurants to eat at, parties to go to, trips to take, ect.  It was with Beth I experienced my first lunches in Madison Square Park, running in Central Park, the strange world of Hashing, camping in Shelter Island and breaking & entering (not really!) in Vermont.  She was always ready for a happy hour and was the first to arrive  and secure a table as she got out of work at 5pm on the dot and I did not.  She always hosted the pre-game festivities prior to going out for the night and was never mad when I arrived an hour late because the bus slow.

Beth has always been a true friend who picks me up when I need it. Once, after a not so terrible break up,(but at 25, all break ups are terrible…)she secured me a last minute Dave Matthews ticket by calling random Craigslist ads and then trekked with me to a random apartment building to pick up said ticket, all so I wouldn’t have to spend the day alone moping about how I couldn’t go on.  Did I mention I am dramatic? Beth was also there for me last year when I arrived unexpectedly in DC desperately needing my friends to be there for me.  She cleared her schedule for dinner and popped over to meet Ben for the first time.  When I dumped him on her lap to get ready she announced that this was possibly the first time she had ever held a baby!?!  WHAT??  Yes, Ben broke Beth in for baby holding and apparently was lovable enough that just last week, she (and her husband!) welcomed their own addition to the GW baby family!  Congratulations to Beth and Eric on one Miss Ellie Liliana! She is beyond beautiful and I can’t wait to watch her grow up!  I look forward to our future baby filled adventures and I am definitely holding you to Napa 2011!

The summer has offically begun

My posting has been sporadic because we are in the midst of travelling madness.  We have 3 weddings this month and a ‘surprise’ wedding next month.  Surprise because it was just planned about a week and a half ago!  Our travelling calendar is/was as follows:

July 2-5: Boston/Amesbury (Visit)

July 9-11: Chicago (Wedding)

July 16-18: Boston/Amesbury/NH (Wedding)

July 30-Aug 1: Cape Cod (Wedding)

Aug 13: Foxwoods for a concert (Yay Counting Crows!)

Aug 29-Sept 2: Idaho (Visit) directly to:

Sept 2-?? Boston/Amesbury/Salem (Wedding!)

Sooooo. Yeah.  The floor of our bedroom looks like a clothing hurricane has hit because I literally have been coming home, throwing everything out of a suitcase, sorting dirty clothes into the bag to be brought to the wash and fold, and leaving clean clothes on the floor to be picked through for the next packing.  Also, the coordination of flights, rental cars, changing flights (again, SURPRISE wedding!), hotels…has been never ending.  I think we are down to only needing a flight home from Boston at the end of the summer and a hotel room in Spokane for our last night out west and then the summer is completely planned.

Unfortunately for Ben, his 2nd birthday came and went with a mini celebration because we just couldn’t squeeze it in.  But, to make up for it, Ben spent a week with his grandmother in Boston while Josh and I trekked back home and worked for the week before flying out to Chicago.  There, Ben discovered his love of pools and we will put swimming lessons next on the list of things to schedule Ben for!  I think Ben is loving the attention of being in so many different places and although he doesn’t know it yet, after we torture him with the plane ride out to Idaho, he will be in for 4 straight days of running around with his cousins which will most likely be the highlight of his summer!  Open space, big kids, running?!?!  It’s pretty much Ben’s life dream.