new york runner girl

“…however, you can’t help but love running when you watch the Boston Marathon. It is so inspiring to see everyone come out for the race, especially in 90 degree heat! It also reminded me of a moment while I was in DC. After I finished my half, I was waiting at the finish line for Paul to finish the full. I stood there and watched so many people finish, and to see their faces when it happened was AMAZING! Have you ever stood at the finish line of a marathon? I don’t think anything is more inspiring. I literally had tears in my eyes watching this at one point.”

I wrote the above one year ago. The morning of the Boston Marathon in 2012. Since then I have gone on to say multiple other times just how special the finish line of a race is.  I don’t have anything specific to say that people haven’t already, but I needed to write something. This day is too important to me and I have too many thoughts not to write.

The Boston Marathon is an amazing event. I have always loved it and one of the things I disliked about moving away from Boston was not having the day off to visit the race. During the race last year I made Paul promise that we would attend this years race. He agreed and up until last Wednesday, we were going to be at the race. Things happened and we were unable to attend. 

Marathon Monday!!! Good luck @bostonmarathon runners! Wish I could be there to cheer!!

— Amy LeBlanc (@amynicole10) April 15, 2013

I  went to work and cheered my ass off while I listened/watched the elite race from my computer. I left the live stream on after the elites finished as the camera’s stayed on a live stream of heartbreak hill. I listened to people cheering others on while I worked all day long. At some point in the afternoon I had to run to a quick meeting and shut the live stream off for maybe 20 minutes. When I got back to my desk I  got a text from Paul. “There was an explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon”. My initial reaction was just shock and my first (hopeful) assumption was clearly a technical accident, not something that was planned. Within seconds I saw more details and realized that wasn’t the case. This was planned. This was horrible.

I am lucky. Again. I am thankful. Again. Myself, my family, and my friends are ok. After a day like Monday, that is all I can ask for. So many others families and friends are not ok. Other than lucky and thankful, I am also sad, angry, and proud. I am so sad for everyone who was at the race, who witnessed everything first hand, who were hurt, and those whose lives were lost. I am so angry that this happened to the runners, people of Boston, and the people that went to SUPPORT AND CHEER at the marathon. It’s something that I still don’t understand. As someone who has done races, it is a heartbreaking scene to watch. I have been on both sides, as a runner and as a spectator. As I said above, the finish line of a race is the most AMAZING place to be. For someone to change that moment and ruin it, angry is just an understatement.

Finally, I am incredibly proud. I have always loved to tell people I am from Boston, but right now, I cannot explain just how proud I am to say it as well. How the people of Boston reacted in the moments immediately following, it is truly remarkable. Everyone stepped up and jumped into action to help one another, it is a place I am so proud to say I am from. Bostonians are people I am so proud to associate myself with. I am also proud to call myself a runner. People can go back and forth on what actually makes someone a “runner” for as long as they want, but this running community extends to people who go out for a quick mile run to those who go to races. Runners are fantastic people who came together yesterday in a time of sheer panic and confusion to help one another.

I don’t have much to say to make this better, and I’m not sure anything anyone said to me would make me feel better. I know for myself, talking about it helps. Talking to people who understand what this day meant to runners and to those in Boston, who know just how important this day is, that helps too. Some people say things far better than I do, this is just one of those examples. Do a little looking around and you will find hundreds of people sharing their stories and accounts of the day.

I only have one final piece of advice and a promise. My advice is the same I had after the last tragic event I wrote about, be thankful for what you have. Everything can change in a second.

My promise, I will be at the Boston Marathon in 2014. I will be there as a proud Bostonian and a proud runner.

Welcome to Monday everyone! After the snow storm of the year this past weekend (yes I’m deciding there won’t be anything worse this year because I refuse to deal with it), a crazy busy week has started. To kick it off today is Paul’s birthday. A HUGE shout out and happy birthday to the old guy (I’m 2 months older cooler than him). He gets back at me for having a birthday and Christmas within a week of each other by having a birthday and Valentine’s day within days of each other.

Sunday: 6 mile “long run“. I ran on the treadmill at New York Sports Club. The first couple miles were fine, I had the TV on and my music so I could focus on other things. The second half was just a struggle to get through. It was more of “is this done yet” than an actual “I’m in pain” run. My legs still need more work and aren’t 100% back in it from my time off.  I dislike doing anything further than that distance on a treadmill, so I planned to do any future long runs outside.

Monday: 2 miles. These miles were quick and easy. I was exhausted and in a food coma after the super bowl, so I skipped the run in the morning. I figured I could easily go at night, but after a long work day I just wanted to go home. I managed to pull my act together and told myself it’s only two miles, easier to do tonight than Tuesday morning. I got to the gym and got it done in a pretty quick (surprising) pace for myself these days. I was happy with it overall.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 3 Miles speed work. I dislike speed work. I really like the idea of being fast, I really dislike putting the effort into it. I did the run early Wednesday morning before work, so I was a little sluggish at the start just from being tired. I pulled through 3 “speedy” miles, even though 4 was on the schedule. (Revised schedule from original posting). It was tough to get through, but I’m happy I did it. I do like speed work on the track more than the treadmill, but not much you can do about it. One of the treadmills at the gym has a picture of a track and tells you which lap you are on if you were running on a track and where on the track you would be, so it is kind of similar. (Not really, at all…but that’s ok).

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Snowpocalypse: The snow started as I was leaving for work, you know just to be polite. I got to leave work early which was nice, but had no interest in going to run. I did shovel though, in compression socks even, so I get points for doing something.

Saturday: 7.5 Miles. This run was good. It was good to the point where I actually remembered why I enjoyed running and how good I could be if I just kept going. I know, nobody was more shocked than I was. I had been dreading the 7 miles the night before, especially since I knew they would be on the treadmill because of the snow. I managed to fly through it pretty painlessly and better than I could have expected. I plan to do the exact same thing the day of my race if I can pull through like I did on this run. Even if that means finding a place to shovel the night before at 9 p.m. Maybe it loosened me up? Who knows. It was an awesome run and I had a smile for the rest of the weekend because of it.

I’m carrying my long run happiness with me into the runs this week. Hopefully that will work. You all will hear about it either way.

Happy Monday everyone! Go wish Paul a happy birthday!

Morning everyone! Everyone still full from the super bowl? Just me? Sadly another weekend has ended and the week has started out freezing and with snow.

Just a small amount of the ridiculous amount of food at the super bowl party. Yes, there was frosting/cupcakes/marshmallows consumed

My running last week was surprisingly successful. I got all my runs in that I was supposed to, so I’m going to go ahead and call it a good week!

Sunday: 5 miles: Like I said last week, my long run got pushed from Saturday to  Sunday. I was aiming for 6 miles, and it just wasn’t happening. I went to the gym Sunday after I worked an event all day. My legs were TIRED. My head wasn’t 100% in the run, and it was just a continuous struggle the ENTIRE time. I got through the 5 miles and called it the end. I was happy to have it done.

Monday: 2 Miles: Oddly enough, these two miles went a heck of a lot better than my 5 miles the day before. It was the treadmill again for me (I dislike cold and ice… and I’m a wimp).

Tuesday: Rest: I gave the treadmill and myself a break.

Wednesday: 4 Mile Speed work: Speed work on a treadmill is far less fun than the track. I managed to get through my “speed” work while trying not to both throw up and hate myself all in one. At some point my old “normal speed” has now become my “I’m going to throw up speed”. Fun things to find out on a Wednesday night.

Thursday: Rest: My really awesome speed session happened late on Wednesday, so I chose to do nothing on Thursday. Then I worked late. Thursday was rough.

Friday: 2 Miles: The day that I physically did not need to wake up and go into work, that I basically could have slept and ran later, I was up at 4:30 a.m. Paul and I were at NYSC as it opened to get a run in before the day. I had my awesome day ahead planned (lulu warehouse sale/ work/ haircut/ play with Roscoe) and Paul had normal work day so we both agreed early was the way to go. Luckily it was only 2 miles cause I was mostly asleep during it.

Saturday: Rest: I was going to work on Saturday. Then I forgot my keys in Paul’s car, which was with him at work on Long Island. I ended up stuck in the house all day. I thought about walking to the gym to do my long run, and realized the miserable part would be walking back home after I was done and chose against it. Laziness ensued. Long run became Sunday, again.

Success for me last week was clearly measured just by getting things done, and not how well I did them.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

This is the second week in a row that I only have to be in the office for 4 days, and yet have worked for what seems like 10 days straight. I managed to get a half day off/half work from home day today. Win for Amy for today. That has really been what has pulled me through the week, but of course other things help.

Friday Favs! 

1. Lululemon Warehouse Sale-Yoga Bowl

Yoga bowl!! Credit

Seriously, insane place. I have a huge fear of stores and massive amounts of people, just one of the reasons I don’t do black Friday shopping. If it was any company other than lululemon, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t go.  I suggest everyone go, but put a serious budget in place ahead of time (and stick to it, that is key). They have great deals and a TON of stuff. I personally think it’s helpful if you come up with a small list ahead of time of things you 100% want to get from the day, and just stick to that. Otherwise, you will buy the entire store.

2. Haircut time! 

This is not me, sadly Josh and I are not friends. I will however be looking for this hair cut. Credit

My hair is longer (for me) than usual. It is past my shoulders. I’m over it. It takes so long to dry and straighten it. I have zero time for it. I was going to try and wait until I went back to Massachusetts in February to go to my usual hair dresser, but I’m too impatient. (SHOCKING!) I’m on my way to get it cut now.

3. Barre Classes

This looks complicated. Can I change my mind? Credit

There was a living social deal that cut more than 50% off barre classes. The huge plus is that they aren’t that far from me, and they have early morning classes that I can attend. I’m going to try it out, see how it goes. Pilates and spinning classes are on the list of classes I will be attending, but barre classes have been on the list of things I want to try for a while now. We’ll see how it goes since I only made it through about a week of ballet when I was 5 before being asked to leave.

4. I ran everyday I was scheduled to this week! 

Ok, honestly this is not me going running. I only ran at the gym this week. This is me standing in line freezing my ass off cause I wore crops out not pants

Everyone stop what you are doing and please give me a big round of applause! I stuck to a schedule for a whole week! Wooohooo. Thank you all!

Happy Friday everyone!!

I’m mostly certain last week was the end of week two of 1/2 marathon training. Which means it was the end week three that I should actually be training. I started my “get your shit together” plan on Monday, and I really think it helped. I also may have to start it over again.

Sunday: Rest. It was technically a scheduled rest day, and I wasn’t supposed to be getting my shit together yet. This means rest, relax, enjoy the three day weekend.

Paul hasn’t figured out the rest day concept yet, so I take advantage of it and watch trashy tv while he bike rides and I rest.

Monday: 2.5 miles New York Sports Club saw  a lot of me lately. This week was the start of an apparent freezing cold period that was going to happen, most of us call it winter, the weathermen chose to panic  everyone about it though. I agreed for the most part that it was ridiculously cold, and ran at the gym.  My run was only supposed to be 2 miles, but I didn’t realize I ran over it and took that as a good sign. I figured my extra half mile could make up for any missed mileage later in the week. It doesn’t seem to work out like that though.

Tuesday: Crunches.  At some point I got out of my 100 crunches a day and 30 pushups, or whatever ridiculousness I was talked into. Luckily, when I was crammed on time on Tuesday, I remembered it. While this was only a 4 day work week for me, I had an event to work on Sunday, which made this week still an over 40 hour work week within 4 days. Hence, crunches one night instead of actual pilates.

Sad lulu pilates mat

Wednesday: 4 miles (2 Hard). And back to NYSC for the night. This  run hurt. After what felt like the longest work day ever, I headed over to the gym to get my mini speed workout in. The idea was 5 miles, 3 half marathon pace. I haven’t 100% decided my goal pace yet, so I adjusted this workout. The fact that it was so late, I also cut out on some mileage. I ended up doing a warm up run followed by 2 hard miles and then back to a slower pace for the final mile. The two “hard” miles were interesting. The pace was what use to be closer to my “everyday’ run pace a few years ago. That was when I first started and had no idea what I got into. I wished I pained more attention/cared/planned anything then and tried to improve my speed. Anyway, this workout was hard, but I really pushed through it and so I give myself credit for that.

Thursday: Crunches. Yup, more crazy hours at work. More I don’t want to do anything when I get home. More crunches instead of a cross train day. Crunches counts as mini cross training right?

Friday: 2 miles. The work week was finally over, basically. I headed home, picked up Paul, and we went back over to NYSC. It’s a good thing this place is all of .3 miles from our house. I did two miles, Paul probably did 10 in that amount of time, followed by a cool down. I had all intentions of running  long Saturday morning, so I took it easy Friday. Then Friday night friends came over, I stayed up late. You can guess what happened next.

Saturday: Accidental Rest. I took a day off. Accidentally (sort of). I woke up early and then was exhausted and fell back asleep. Paul worked Saturday morning and we had talked about running after. By the time he got home we still had to have lunch, get groceries, run to target and it was already 3:30 (gym closes at 7). Long story (or excuse filled story, you pick) short, long run was pushed to Sunday. It ended up being heavy on the painful, short on the longness. More on that next week.

During my accidental rest day I also caught up on more trash tv. Vanderpump Rules anyone? Credit.

So there it is. I did my best attempt at sticking to a workout a day for 37 days and have already missed one. I’m debating on starting the whole thing over again, which Paul nicely pointed out would be the correct thing to do, or  just keeping it as is. It would give me a chance to play with my fun countdown app if I adjusted it…

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

It is FINALLY Friday. Someone on the news this morning said they felt they earned this Friday. I fully agree. I only have 35 days left in my “get your shit together plan”. Full update to come next week, but so far so good for the most part. On to Friday Favs!

1. Countdown + App

Carolyn’s wedding day-only 196 days away!

The countdown app is amazing. I’m counting down to everything now. From a lululemon sale (true story) to my marathon in November. It also pops up on your phone when you have a certain amount of days left (1 week till lululemon sale!). If you like counting down to anything, download this.

2. Starbucks Blonde Roast Vanilla

Ok starbucks, your marketing department wins again. Credit

Starbucks continues to win me over. Recently, they started new marketing for their Blonde Roast, which has been out for I think a year now. They had samples for people to try it with vanilla syrup, and increased the commercials for it. They won me over. When you add sugar free vanilla and soy milk, it tastes just like a latte with less calories. Amazing. Oh, and only $3. Win!

3. My Brooks Infiniti Shorts

Sorry, I have no pictures of me actually wearing these shorts. Credit

I run in all different kinds of shorts, I haven’t found a kind that I “just can’t live without” yet. Recently though, I started running in these brooks shorts. They are awesome. They don’t ride up, at all. I spent 4 miles on the treadmill the other day, and I was directly in front of a mirror. Other than that being the most boring 4 miles of my life, I also got to make sure my shorts in fact did not ride up. They are currently in the running for the “can’t live without” award. Will keep you posted if I find new ones.

4. Best Breaking News, Ever!

Puppy Bowl!!! Credit

The Today Show posted the best ” Breaking News” on twitter the other day. The new line up for the puppy bowl was released! Go look at all the puppies. They are all adorable, and I have at least 5 favorites.

Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy the weekend!

Getting back into working out has been, well, humbling. I’m not totally sure what I expected to happen, but getting use to things again is not easy. Running is harder than I remember it being and trying to keep on track with being healthy in general is also harder than I remember.

Who brings these delicious cupcakes to work? I mean come on.

Last week was rough, to say the least, and I realize I need something else to keep me on track then planning for a half. I’m really good at the “do x for y amount of days” when I need to really get something done.  That’s how I stopped drinking soda after not drinking it for 30 days. For whatever reason, thinking that after 30 days I could have it again, made it easier to get through. Once I hit day 30, I wasn’t interested anymore.

There is how much sugar in what I’m drinking?! Credit

I’m using this theory to go forward in getting myself back on track. I did some reading on how long it takes to make and break a habit. Oddly enough, most places say it takes longer amount of time to break a habit then to make one. I personally think it should be the same amount of time. If you are breaking one habit, you basically are starting a different habit, so shouldn’t it be same amount of time? No, just me? Moving on. People also disagree on how long it takes to make a habit. 21 days, 30 days, 50 days. How do you decide? Well I decided about 37 days.

Countdown+ App, it’s awesome.

I was going to aim for 40 days, but March 1 sounded better than March 4. I basically have 37 days to “Get my shit together”. For the 37 days I will be doing something, anything, that counts as some form of exercise  Yes, I do in fact count any amount of walking, sit ups, or pushups as an exercise that I can check off that I did for the day. Healthy eating is of course important and on the list as well. This does in fact mean I get to attack people who bring crap food to work. This is my warning to all people I work with.

I have already kicked off my days of healthy eating and running yesterday. Only 37 more days to go!

Happy Tuesday everyone!