Monday, October 15th, 2012
Central Park East - 7:25am

Good morning!  A nice warm yet refreshingly breezy morning in the Park.  Georgeous sky, as well.  The interesting part that I'm not showing you in these pictures, is that on the other side of the bottom shot, the sky is entirely dark and cloudy & looks like rain.  In doggie-land my little Bear has officially ripped up (meaning destroyed), 4 pairs of my underwear and a pair of shorts.  Sorry - I know this is gross but most of you are dog-owners so you know how they are (disgusting).

In human land, Brian and I ran a half marathon yesterday in honor of the late, great, Grete Waitz.  Grete died of cancer last year at the age of 68 after winning the NYC marathon a record 9 times (more than any man or woman ever), the London Marathon twice, and a handful of World Championships, an Olympic silver medal, and various other big deal things.  She was an incredibly prolific runner (one of the best to ever live) and also championed running for women at a time when the sport was not really a "woman's game."  Her own parents thought it was insane for her to pursue professional running.  She promoted and founded various organizations for running and health and truly made the world a better place during the time that she was here and after her death.  After she died, her husband founded the AKTIV foundation - to raise money for cancer research.  I'm proud to say Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center now has a partnership with this organization.

It was great to go out and run to remember the legacy of this incredible person.  I had trained for this race since I was out in Oregon in August, so it was pretty happy for it to finally come to pass.  I finished in 1:49:44 (a few minutes ahead of Brian ;).  It was a tough race - felt very hilly and at mile 8 I really wanted to be done.  By mile 11 I knew I could do it and mile 12 to 13 I just toughed it out.

I think the best part about running long distances is being able to eat whatever you want so I finished an enormo bagel with cream cheese after I finished and then a gigantic choc. chip cookie that Brian got me after I got home from work (yes, I had to work yesterday after I finished my run - believe me - I did NOT want to).  I'm shocked that I'm not even a bit sore today - feel great as a matter of fact.  I think it's the carbs that refueled me (wink wink DAD).

When Brian and I returned home from the race, we found that our runkies had chewed up 2 highlighters and a chapstick.  Thanks for the support, pups.

Anyway, I'm off to work.  Have a great day!!