10 Miles - Across the Brooklyn Bridge

This weekend was a recovery run. We only did 10 miles. "Only" 10 miles. It is hard to believe that 10 miles isn't really that long anymore. It snowed a lot of Friday (pretty), and the Manhattan team canceled their practice. Wimps. The Brooklyn team was out in force! We usually meet at the park, but this week we met at Gina's apartment. That way people could leave their bags inside instead of out in the wet snow.

There are 3 different marathons that our group is training for. The first one is in Paris during the first week of April, the second one is in Nashville the last week in April, and the third one is in New Jersey the first week in May. Most of us are doing New Jersey, but there are some for Nashville and Paris also. The Paris runners are sort of freaking out, because they have 4 weeks less of training than we do. We all started training at the same time, and their marathon is coming up fast! The Paris runners didn't get a recovery week like we did. I think they ran 15-16 miles. They have to get up to a 20 mile run soon so that they have time to taper their training in the last few weeks leading up to the marathon.

The coaches gave us our little cheat sheet so we would know the route we were supposed to run. The fun part for me was that we ran right past the building we are moving into. It was fun to show my new neighborhood to Elizabeth. I still don't know when we will be moving there, but someday...

It was kind of slushy out, so it wasn't ideal running conditions. Really most of the snow was gone, but there were some piles near the curbs and on the streets. We ran through downtown Brooklyn and over to the Brooklyn Bridge.

I was "on call" for work, because a news station we work with sometimes was going to be shutting down their editing rooms for the weekend. They needed to have a place to edit in case there was any breaking news. Because I had to be available, I had to bring along my cell phone on the run. I also had the key to my office and my work ID. I figured if they called I would just run all the way to the office. I might be a little sweaty, but what do you expect on such short notice? Of course 5 minutes into the run my phone rang. I pulled it out of the pocket of my fuel belt and answered it while still running. It was the girl from the news station telling me that they weren't going to need me for the weekend. That was good news! That is the first time I have talked on the phone while running. I don't plan on making a habit of that.

OK, I didn't take these pictures. I found them on the internet, but this is pretty much what the bridge looked like. There was a crew of men who were clearing the snow on the bridge, so one half was snowier than the other.


It took us FOREVER to run those 10 miles. It took so long that I didn't believe that it was only 10 miles. Last weekend I did a 10 mile race in 1:29. This one took us 2 hours. Crazy. We had to stop at traffic lights and run slower because of the snow, but an extra 30 minutes? I can't figure out what we did with that time.

Elizabeth and I enjoyed the run on the west side greenway. That is where we ran all last summer, so it felt very familiar. Of course we never ran there when it was less than 50 degrees out, so that was different! Once we hit Houston Street we turned around and headed back to Brooklyn. When we were crossing the bridge, we realized that we hadn't eaten yet. I had one last Gu (I need to buy some more), and it was vanilla flavored. It tastes a little like store bought frosting or vanilla syrup in a coffee. Not too bad. I think I would choose the fruity flavors over the vanilla, but I could tolerate it.

I was happy to get back to Gina's place at the end of the run. One of the coaches had made a joke before we left about bagels for when we got back. Well, Gina's husband actually went out and got a huge spread of bagels, cream cheese, and butter for us. So sweet! They were all set up in the kitchen. Yum.

The physical therapist recommended I try some inserts in my shoes. She thinks the pounding of the pavement is what is causing the knot in my calf after long runs. I tried them out today, and my calf did not hurt. I did take Advil though. However, I did get the IT Band knee thing. It is a kind of hard to describe discomfort on the side of the knee that almost feels electric. I can run through it, but it isn't ideal.

I bought one of these foam rollers, and I started using it this weekend. It is supposed to really help with the IT issues. I hear that it is painful at the beginning (true!), but you soon start getting good results with it. I'll report back.