E-mail I sent to my Mentees on Monday

Thought you, loyal blog reader, might find this interesting:

Dear Diary,

Marathon day is coming up quickly! I can't wait for Sunday, but there's so much to do before then.I am stretching so much that people at work look at me funny. I feel a little achy and my 4 mile EZ run yesterday was anything but. My left knee, which has been hurting all season, was fine, but now my right one hurts! I know what that means, ice and REST this week (along with the aforementioned stretching).

It's ridiculous how much water I drink lately. I always have a bottle of water handy and I'm constantly refilling it at the water cooler. The more I drink, the better it tastes and the more I start to crave it. Even though the weather has cooled down lately, it could get pretty hot on marathon day...I might sweat more that usual it's crucial that I hydrate now. I'm also putting extra salt on all my food so my body can retain as much water as possible.

I also stopped by Times Square to get some throwaway hat/gloves/long-sleeve-T for before the race. It's important not to waste calories trying to stay warm at 6 AM. And I found the perfect throwaway track pants ($12.99 at Filenes) and shirt ($10.50 at Uniqlo, they swear it's "heat tech"). I plan on wearing all this until the start so I can take them off and throw them away. We sit around in Staten Island for 3+ hours before the race starts.

Send Off is this Tuesday (October 28). It's mandatory because there is a lot of important info and good advice. 7pm at University Settlement at 184 Eldridge Street between Rivington and Delancy. I'm going to make sure to collect $5 from each of my mentees so we can thank our coaches!Oh and don't even get me started Don't forget about nutrition and hydration! The course preview tells me a bit about what to expect. Water and Lemon-lime Gatorade Endurance Formula will be available at official fluid stations every mile beginning at mile 3. That sounds ok to me, but I might also consider bring my fuel belt because you know what they say, "Nothing new on race day!." That would also give me a place to store my nutrition! At this point, I won't try anything new…I'm just staying with what I've been doing for all my long runs. Anything that won't fit in my fuel belt/pockets, I will safety pin right onto my clothes. Now I just need to find time to run to GNC and pick up those vanilla powergels!

I've told my friends about Athlete Tracker so they can see where I am throughout the race! They only notify via e-mail but most cell phone companies have a way that you can convert cell phone numbers to e-mail addresses and get texts. For instance Verizon is Ten Digit Phone Number (##########)@vtext.com. Mom and Dad are all hooked up!

You should see me pathetically dropping hints about the marathon to anyone that will listen! You know, just so they know how important I am this week (and how important I will be next week too! I think everyone in a 3 block radius of my work and apartment is fully aware, so that's good :)

Finally, I gotta remember to LOOK UP, LOOK AROUND AND SMILE during my race. We are doing an incredible thing. Every mile, we should be reminding ourselves to stay in the moment and be proud and excited. And, it's relaxing.I'm so proud of all my friends, teammates and mentees who are running this race (or who have trained so hard for almost 6 months only to be plagued by injury!!!).

Send them my best wishes, Diary!
Carissa

P.S. I hope my mentees will call me if they need anything! (thanks, Eric)

Daily updates?! So not my style!

But then again, neither is the spandex I'll be wearing on race day and we all know that will be happening so I say screw it!

T minus 3 days and you better believe I'm chugging water out of this Ethos bottle from Starbucks like it's my job (I'm sure you all don't need me to ask the obligaroty rhetorical question: "why don't they just send the WATER to the children instead of having us buy the perfectly good water for $2.50 and sending a "portion"? I think it's because they're building water infrastructure, but still...it's kinda funny).

Tonight, I plan to go to the marathon Expo which is where I'll get my race number, timing chip, goody bag and (most likely) an unnecessary amount of race-related purchases. I know I won't be able to help myself so you better believe I'll be buying some ING NYC Marathon paraphenalia as well as some running gear. Good times and don't worry, I'll make sure to model it for you :)

Here's my race registration card. It's got all my vitals. I'm so excited!

So that's it. I'm Wave 2 Orange, runner number 29058!

Bring it on!

Less than 4 days!!!!!!

Last night was "send-off" for the New York City Marathon, which is where our coaches and the Team In Training staff get us together to give us all of our goodies for the marathon. Let me tell you, I was the giddiest I've been in a LONG time just thinking about how soon the marathon is!!!

We got our singlets (the pretty purple tank I'm wearing on my TNT fundraising page). Don't know what that looks like? Then you should check it out and donate while you're there!!

Now, it's time to HYDRATE, STRETCH, CARBO-LOAD and REST in anticipation of 26.2 miles and 2 million spectators through the 5 NYC boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. I'm having some issues in my knees which I'm really hoping don't creep up on race day, but other than that, I'm READY!

Tonight, I'm making a big plate of pasta with bolognese sauce and ground turkey. Mom, aren't you proud? :)

Well, I gotta get home but please leave me a note of encouragement for this Sunday!

Say Hello

to ING New York City Marathon runner #29058!

Yay!! That's right, I am running the NYC Marathon and it's official now, I have a race number and everything. I will begin the race at 10am on November 2, 2008!

A great fall weekend

This past weekend really was all that Fall should be in New York (and beyond). As you probably know, the New York City Marathon is less than 2 weeks away (AHHAHAHAHAHAHH!), so we had our last long-ish run on Saturday. We ran the last 10 miles of the actual marathon course (a wonderful benefit of living in the same city in which you will be running). My IT band in my left knee has been acting up during all my long runs. This run was no different. My only saving grace was that my knee did not get any worse after about mile 4. So the pain stayed the same and it was bearable.

After the run, I did one of my FAVORITE things. I put on my UGGs, walked to Starbucks, and had a coffee :) Good times. Then, I went home to shower and get ready to go watch the Vanderbilt football game! We played Georgia, who is a fairly highly ranked team and lost decidedly. But it was still fun to watch part of the game at a bar with a couple of friends (who I just randomly ran into there).

About halfway through the game, I had to go to my friend Amanda's Bridal Tea at Alice's Teacup. It's this sickeningly cute little place on the Upper East Side where you can choose from about 100 different kinds of tea and then we ordered the "Mad Hatter" service which also included some yummy sandwiches and pastries. It was a blast. Here's a picture of all of us at the place:

On Sunday, I had an equally wonderful day. I went to an apple orchard in New York State (that's what we call anything in NY that isn't "the City") with a few friends! We took a train to the tiny town of Croton Falls and then walked to the apply orchard. It was a little harder than it sounds to walk the 2 miles becuase we basically had to walk on the side of some country highways, but we made it there and had a blast using our pole (and some expert "pole control" on my part, if I do say so myself) to get apples from the trees. We also sampled the apple cider donuts and pumpkin cheesecake, purchased some delicious farm-fresh spreads, and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors! Here are a few photos:

A house in the country that we patronizingly referred to as "precious"

All of us with our pole :)

Getting serious about apple-picking!

BEAUTIFUL!

I hope you enjoy :)

My new job

So, as many of you know, I lost my job last month (a month ago today actually). Well, I have been lucky enough to have a decent temp job for the last 3 weeks at a great organization. I just have to show you the type of work I'm doing. My manager doesn't type much, so she gives me handwritten sheets and asks me to make them into PowerPoints. Here's one such sample of handwriting:

:) Good times deciphering that!

I'm going to ASIA!!!

Well hello friends. So I know the New York City Marathon is looming over me like...well, like a 26.2 mile jog on a beautiful fall day in NYC. But I have chosen to cast my vision beyond New York to my next big adventure (that's right, the fun never ends with me!).

So...as you probably know (but people seem to be fond of forgetting, ahem BECCA and NANCY! :), Taylor is in Indonesia for 10 months teaching English. He's having a great time and I hope to keep you updated on his adventures once the marathon is over (since he has done a SUBPAR job of updating the blog I made for him: http://www.indonesiasmith.blogspot.com/, I wrote that post from e-mails he wrote me).

But the biggest news today is that I bought my ticket to go visit him!! I leave on December 30 at 12:30pm and actually get to Singapore at 12:30am on New Years Day. As in I'll be in flight during the new year (in Asia). But it was a great deal on a flight that costs about $5,000 more a week later, so I jumped on it!

It's actually very poetic. Dec. 30 will mark 5 months since Taylor left to go to Indonesia. Today is October 15, which is exactly the halfway point between July 30 and December 30 (halfway through the third month or 75 days, notice the countdown on the right!). And I am so excited that we will literally start off the year that we get married together in Indonesia! We still haven't ironed out the details. I'll be landing in Singapore and then either taking a flight from there to Surabaya or Bali or Taylor will meet me in Singapore and we will spend a couple of days together in Singapore before heading back to Indonesia.

Regardless, I am SO excited that the countdown can begin and I am actually going to visit him! Until now it's just been a massive amount of money that I knew I had to spend but now it's a real thing!

Yay.

4 weeks until the marathon!

I'm training for a MARATHON?! Did you forget? Because I almost did...well, until I had to run 18, 19, and 20 miles in each of the past three weeks. That jogged my mind (pun intended) a bit.

So I thought I owed you a little updated on my training for the New York City marathon. Like I said, I have done my three longest runs the past few weeks so I thought I'd give you the low-down on these ridiculously long runs :)

The 18 Miler
Our coach basically told us that in order to feel comfortable about the marathon, we should try to do 3 runs of MORE than 17 miles including a "good" 20-miler. I'll tell you what that means in a minute, but this 18 mile run was the first of my three. Now, I'm used to doing long runs with fellow Team In Training folks, but since I was home two weeks ago, I didn't have much choice but to do it alone.

As you might imagine, it takes a lot of water and food (well, goo, to be exact) to run for 3+ hour straight. So, the night before my run, my Dad and I went out in the car and placed water bottles every 4 miles along my route. I decided on an out-and-back from our house in Perrysburg to the Toledo Zoo, so I hid water in the bushes at 2, 4, 6 and 8 miles (which became 4, 8, 12, and 16 with the out and back) along the route so that I could pick one up every 40 minutes during my run and carry it with me. I also carried three PowerGels with me. They're these yummy (sarcastic) little packets of vanilla-flavored goo that give you cabs for your run.

So the run was really good, actually. It was a beautiful day and the weather was cool, the route tree-lined and my attitude surprisingly good. Unfortunately, my IT band in my left knee and my right hip both started hurting at about 12 miles. I slowed down a bit, though and was able to make it home in time for church. I got a lot of confidence from this run because I realized I could run through pain even by myself!

The 19 Miler
So last week I had to run 19 miles after I came back from my trip home. I wanted to do the run on Sunday (I got back Saturday night), but I didn't have the aforementioned goos and so I decided to wait until Monday and bought the requisite goo on Sunday.

I planned for this run to be a little more exciting than an out and back just to keep it interesting. So, what I ended up doing was running a 6-mile loop of Central Park and then I left the park and ran to first avenue which actually put me at about Mile 16 of the New York City Marathon course. I ran the last 10 miles of the marathon course which was REALLY cool except for the fact that, unlike marathon day, I had to navigate vehicular and pedestrian traffic all the way when I was outside the park. Nonetheless, it was really cool to run into the Bronx and all the way down 5th Avenue just like I will on race day. My knee was acting up again and I felt worse at the end of this than I did yesterday (but again, I'll get to that). I was in a lot of pain all over by the end of this run. I think I was also just sick of running alone!

THE 20 Miler!
WHICH brings us to yesterday's mammoth 20-mile run. Team In Training has a tradition of doing the 20 miler at a magical place called "The Trails." The trails is a long running path between two creeks in New Jersey. It is completely flat, gravel (which is much more gentle on your legs than the pavement of the city) and surrounded by some really pretty scenery (I know, you're surprised that it's in New Jersey!).

We had to rent a car to drive to the trails, which was an adventure of itself. Basically I ended up renting a car and driving 4 other people out there. I had to pick the car up after work on Friday and find a place to park it overnight. Then when we got to the car at 6:45 on Saturday morning there was INEXPLICABLY a bunch of fish guts smeared all over the back window and the top of the trunk of the car. I have no idea how it got there, but it was absolutely disgusting...that's New York for you.

We arrived at the trails at about 8am and began our run at 8:30 or so. I was worried all along about my knee acting up, especially since this route, too, is an out and back. That means that I could get up to 10 miles from the car and if something goes wrong, I'm in trouble!

Well, this run went by really fast I have to say. The entire way out there, I kept up with a few people who were going a little faster than I typically go (I usually do 10 minute miles, they were doing 9:30 or so). At about mile 8 I took a spill and actually heard a crack in my right ankle. I kept running and luckily it didn't get any worse. It's a little swollen and sore now, but somehow I managed to run another 12 miles on it so I can't complain.

At the 10-mile mark where we turned around, I decided to let my companions go ahead of me and slowed down to give my increasingly painful knee and possible hurt ankle a little break. I think that favoring my right ankle was exacerbating the problem in my left knee. I was a mess!

So I did almost the entire 10-mile return trip by myself on some really aching joints! I slowed down quite a bit for a couple of miles and then stopped for some water at about mile 12. Now, there's something you should know about IT band issues (the problem in my left knee). Once your IT band starts hurting while running, stopping for any length of time seems to just make it worse, so I had to make it snappy when I stopped for water, lest my knee get worse. At mile 6, I stopped to have my second goo of the run. I stopped for probably 30 seconds but when I tried to start running again, it was absolutely excruciating! I could barely walk let alone run after I had just been running 30 seconds earlier! It was insane. However I am so proud to say that I did NOT give up. I started running REALLY slowly and somehow within a couple of miles I was feeling almost no pain. It was probably the single best display of willpower I have displayed in all the time I have been doing distance running.

In fact, by about mile 17 I was actually speeding up my pace because I was feeling better and just wanted the run to be over with. It was amazing. By the time I got back I felt probably 80% physically and about 150% psychologically! I am SO confident that I can finish that marathon, even if I have to endure some pain to do it. Oh and that's what I meant when I said a "good" 20 mile run. Our coach says that if we have a 20 mile run where we finish feeling confident about the marathon, we should not do another long run until the race. However, if we finished feeling like crap, we have to do it again next week. I'm SO GLAD I finished feeling good!

Next weekend, I'm going to Orlando with some friends and we're going to run a 10K race on Sunday (a walk in the park!). I can't wait!

Thanks for reading this far! Time for bed!!