T minus 6 days

New York City Marathon is coming up in exactly 6 days, and I’m very excited.  Got a 4 mile run on Saturday at East River Park.  Yesterday I got to the gym and had a nice workout, including lots of sit ups (trust me, need lots of work there).  In the morning, I also got in a little hard labor raking leaves and planting bulbs at my New Jersey weekend house.  Also, even though I’m eating like crazy, my weight is very stable.  All very good signs.  Also did some toenail maintenance on Saturday – little too gross to describe here, but better to get those things out of the way well before the day of a big race. 

Yesterday morning, though, woke up with a little tickle in the throat.  Seemed to get progressively worse during the day.  So far, just seems like a cold and not an all out illness.  Went to sleep at 9pm last night and got 9 good hours of sleep in.  Still bothering me this morning but will try to get rest, rest and more rest this week.  My business trip may actually be a blessing in disguise.  At home, I’m lucky to get to sleep by 11 (my kids are usually up till 10:30) and need to be up by 6 to start the get-ready-for-school routine.  Middle of the night nosebleeds (or other such interruptions) are not uncommon.  While away, I should be able to get a good, uninterrupted, 9 hours each night!

I’m on the upper east side quite a bit, and last night I was looking for the giant banner they usually hang up on the Queensboro Bridge, and the blue line.  Not there yet, but should be very soon!  Forecast for Sunday looks OK – 30% chance of showers and temps in the low 50s.  That would be fine with me.  While I would have gladly taken yesterdays weather, 50’s is definitely better than 60’s.

Definitely will be focused on rest today, but may still try to get in an easy 3-5 miler later on.

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Pinch of this, dash of that…

Not quite sure how it happened, but I caught the cross training bug this week.  Coming off the Staten Island Half Marathon on Sunday and preparing for a 20-22 mile run this weekend, I didn’t want to overdue anything.  When getting this close to the marathon I start getting paranoid about every little ache and pain, and especially nervous that I’ll throw out my back.  Better to be safe than sorry and take an extra day or 2 off.

Monday was simple enough.  I’m on a softball team and our fall season is in full swing.  While we lost 6-4 (bastards) but I did a lot of running around the outfield and base paths.  By the end of the game, felt like a nice workout.  We have a few weeks off now and don’t play again until mid-November.  Won’t have to repeat last years debacle of playing a game the day after the New York City Marathon.

Tuesday, at around 9pm, I actually found myself walking to the gym.  Not sure exactly why Tuesday was different than any other day since July 9 (last time I went), but it was great.  Kept the workout real light – some good upper body workout, bunch of sit-ups, and some leg exercises.  It simply just felt great getting out there.  Need to figure out how to get there twice a week around the running schedule.

Last night, the weather was great, and I decided to go out on my bike.  Biking at night can be a challenge and slightly dangerous in New York City, so it requires a little extra effort to be careful.  The path up the Hudson River was mostly empty and even the streets had less traffic than in the daytime.  Only did about 11 miles, but at a hard pace – it was enough to feel like I’d gotten in a nice little workout.  I even experienced a little taste of unexpected New York City compassion.  On 21st St, crossing the 3rd Ave intersection, my front headlight flew off its restraint and clattered to the street.  I stopped the bike right away but the light was about to change.  Fearing the worst, I was hoping none of the cars going by would destroy it.  I noticed the big van at the front of the line was not going through the light.  The guy yelled out his window for me to hurry up and get it from the street.  So, I did, as the cars all around started honking.  It was quite surreal.  The light was fine – no damage at all.  And I really needed it as the lighting between 59th st and 72nd st on the Hudson River path is really horrible.

Anyway, even though I have not yet run since the race Sunday, I feel like I’ve been nice and active and have been able to keep the metabolism going.