In one of the sessions following the Frostbite 10 miler that I ran in January 2006, I told Lee I decided I wanted to try a half-marathon and asked when he thought i'd be ready to do one. He looked at me like I was nuts. He responded something to the affect of "You've already done 10 miles - you could do a half-marathon next week. What you should be focusing on is preparing for a marathon". I thought he was crazy. A week earlier my longest distance had only been about 5 miles and I suddenly jumped to a 10 miler. Now he's talking about 26.2? I have to admit, as impossible as it sounded to me, it also sounded intriguing.
January 2006 I faced a huge turning point in my life. With the support and encouragement of my mother, I decided to quit my job so I could focus on my Graduate school studies full-time. The goal was to complete Grad School by May, put my apartment on the market, and move out of New York. I was contemplating moving to several different places - Las Vegas, Tampa, and Philadelphia were the top three. I actually came close to chosing Tampa when a few job offers came my way. But at some point during the spring, I decided it was time to return home to Philadelphia to start the next chapter in my life.
I have been a member of New York Road Runners since 2004. Having been a member long enough, I was eligible to run qualifying races to be guaranteed entry for the New York Marathon. The catch is, I had to run 9 qualifying races in one calendar year in order to be guaranteed entry for the following year's marathon. Knowing that I was only going to be living in New York for 4 more months, I had to pack nine races in during the spring. When Lee and I had this discussion of me running in a marathon, I had already had 2 qualifying races under my belt in 2006 - a 5 miler the first weekend in January and the 10 miler I had just completed. Only 7 more to go.
The Gridiron Classic race on Superbowl Sunday 2006 was a 4 miler in Central Park - since the Eagles were forced to play their practice squad the majority of the season due to injuries, it was the first time in 5 years I was free from the playoffs in January, so this worked out well for my running strategy (ok - I know what you're thinking people. I have to find someway to comfort myself about last season!!). On February 18, I participated in the Community Heat of the Cross-Country Championships in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx (not too far from my home in Inwood). It was just 6 days after the record breaking blizzard that hit New York. The snow had been cleared from the field and trail in the woods - but I started with 600 other crazy runners in the mud in 18 degree weather as snow flurries started coming down. This was only a 4 k race, and I was cold - so I had to push it to stay warm and really, just to see what I could do. This was the first race where I actually started to see that I could maintain some kind of speed. I finished in 21 minutes - about an 8:30 MM pace. It made me happy. 4 races under my belt and 3 more to go.
All the speed sessions I was doing in my running class seemed to be paying off. Lee began talking to me more about my running, and while he let me be happy about the progress I was making, he wanted me to do more. "I've watched you run - I see your gait and your form - you're going to be running 7 minute miles in no time - you're capable of it". I was struggling to get to the 8:30 mark and he's talking 7 minute miles. "When doing a race, start out slowly - it should feel like you're running to slow - gradually pick it up but conserve energy so that you can sprint in that last mile or few miles" he would tell me.
So the following weekend, February 25th, I ran in another 4 mile race in Central Park. Keeping what he said in mind, I started off at a 9:30 MM pace, which felt slow - the next two miles were in the 8:30 - 9:00 MM range - then, when I hit the final mile marker, I switched gears. It was cold, but I was sweating like a banshee. I was breathing heavy, feeling a little nauseous. The tears in the corner of my eyes began to freeze. I was weaving in and out of runners as I passed them, which took more effort and careful footing. I started to doubt myself. I wasn't prepared well enough to gun this. I didn't look at my watch. I was heading south on the west drive in the park and about to turn left onto the 72nd street transverse. As soon as I made that turn I saw the finish line. Just a little more - I had to push myself - finish strong. As I crossed the mat, I felt like I wanted to vomit as I tried to catch my breath. I looked down at my watch. My mind was a bit disoriented so it was a little difficult to do the math in my head. I was in disbelief at first. 7:22? That could be right. Did I really run that last mile in 7:22? I repeated the math in my head a few more times. And again, did it on paper when I got home. Sure enough - 7:22 was my last mile in that race. Maybe I did have this in my. Lee was right after all.
In March I ran in a 5K in a neighborhood just south of mine in Manhattan called Washington Heights. The highest elevation point in Manhattan is in Washington Heights around 184th Street. This race would start at 168th street and Broadway and head straight up (and down) Broadway into Fort Tryon Park. I met up with Elaine at her apartment in Washington Heights that morning. We were running a bit behind, so much so that as I was running to the start line, the first runners passing me as they had already begun the race. I had to jump into the back with the 11 minute milers and walkers. This was frustrating - I had to weave in and out of all the people - it took me close to a mile to get in with a group of runners that were running about the same pace I wanted to. But all the weaving as well as the hills took it's toll on me.
I knew the course headed into the park but I wasn't sure how far into the park we would go before we turned around. Coming from the south and heading north into the park, we're heading down hill. This was fairly steep grade. We were running, and running, and running - when the hell are we going to turn around? As i'm running down this hill, the faster runners were already running up the hill, breathing heavily. I think we ran a good half mile in this downhill portion before we turned around. What goes down, in this case, also goes up. About halfway up the hill, I was reduced to a shuffle and I desperately wanted to stop and walk the rest of the way. I had burned myself out too early and was not prepared for these hills. But I kept running and I finished and reminded myself I couldn't ignore hill repeats in my workouts anymore.
I ran in 2 more 4-milers in Central Park in April. The Thomas Labrecque run was for cancer - 7000 people showed up that Saturday morning for this race. The Adidas run for the Parks 4-miler weathered a huge rain-storm. I'm not talking a drizzle or even steady rain - the entire 4 miles took place during a downpour. It was chilly and I was soaked - but I had so much fun splashing in the puddles, trying to wipe the water from my eyes so I could see in front of me. Race numbers 7&8 were completed. My last qualifying race would be the last weekend in April and it would be the Queens Half-Marathon - my first and longest race to this date.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
This Just In...
I have official confirmation - God is indeed an Eagles fan. Thanks for the Christmas present to Philadelphians and fellow Eagles fans around the world Jesus! I think it all has to do with T.O. being the devil incarnate (with that moron Michael Irvin being the devil's cousin).
Merry Christmas my friends! The Running Retrospective will return later this week.
Merry Christmas my friends! The Running Retrospective will return later this week.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Running Anniversary Retrospective - Final Days in New York
To bring in 2006, I went in on a shore house down in Ocean City, NJ with a bunch of my friends from high school. New Year's Eve day I decided to go for a 5 mile run on the boardwalk. It was a time to reflect on the past year and mostly, get my head in gear for the upcoming year. I was confused and unhappy at this point in my life. I felt trapped in a job I didn't like because I had a mortgage. I felt trapped because I was just a bit more than halfway through the amount of credits I needed to graduate from Grad school at NYU - and I was very much over New York at this point in time. 12 years had been long enough. I was going to be turning 30 that year - where was I going in life? What do I want? During this run on a crisp morning with no more than a dozen other people on this boardwalk, with the salty sea air, the white crests on the water and the gentle crashing of the waves washing up on shore, this is what I was sorting out in my mind.
I wanted it to be a comfortable 5 miler - the goal was to pace myself. I had never really gone any longer distance than this so I didn't want to burn myself out too early. This was easier said than done. With all of these thoughts running through my head, my adrenaline was pumping and I realized I finished the first mile in just over 8:30, which was fast for me at that time. I was aiming for more of a 10 minute mile pace. I did slow down, but not on purpose. I wasn't at the level to sustain that speed for long. Still, by the end of the run, while it didn't solve my problems or give me any answers, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle whatever was to lay ahead for the next year.
January 3rd, I was back in NY. It was a cold Tuesday night with some snow/rain/hail mixture coming down. It was also the first night of my running class with NYRR. Lee had urged me to sign up for the 10 week running class New York Road Runners offered. I would meet this group every Tuesday night after work on the Upper East Side to do various drills (mostly speedwork) in Central Park. Another one of his clients, Janet, was also in the class. The first drill was about a half-mile warm-up, then a faster tempo mile, with a mile and a half cool down back to the gym. I kept pace right behind the instructor in our mile tempo - it felt ok at first but about a half mile in, it became a bit laborious. I was breathing heaver, squinting my eyes with the rain drops falling off my eyelashes and tiny pieces of hail pelting my face. I had no idea how fast we were going, but I knew I wanted to keep the tempo up, just a few steps behind her the entire time. Lee told me I don't push myself hard enough - that i'm much more capable of what I think I can do and what I actually do in performance. I thought about it, and he's probably right. So even though he wasn't there, I wanted to make him proud.
We turned the corner going up the drive on the west side of the park and would be finishing our tempo mile in front of Tavern on the Green (a famed restaurant in the park). I was running the last few hundred meters of the official New York Marathon - the same one that hundreds of runners and winners had run in the 30 year history of the race. It's pretty cool to think about that in hindsight, but at that moment, I just wanted to finish that damn mile. My lungs burned as I breathed in the cold air, the rain on my face had begun to freeze. I don't think it was any warmer than 30 degrees if that in this dark, blustery night, and all I was wearing were my running tights and mock turtle neck under armor technical shirt - with a hat a gloves. "8:49" one of the coaches yelled out to me as I passed her in front of Tavern on the Green. That is a respectable tempo mile, I thought to myself, considering I was still new to all of this.
The next day I was training with Lee at the gym, telling him about my New Year's run and my first running class. I thought he'd be proud of me, which he was - but it true Lee fashion, he pushed me even harder. He'd tell me I was capable of running 7:30 or 7 minute miles - maybe even sub-7. He also urged me to sign up for a 10 mile race he and Janet were running in three weeks time. 10 miles?!?! I had only done 5 and all of the sudden he wants me to double that in just 3 weeks? He must be insane!! I must be insane, because since he believed in me, I signed up.
It was the third weekend in January, temperature in the 30s. I was about to attempt to run 10 miles for the first time in my life - and in a race situation no less. There were probably about 3000 people there for this two-loop course that ran through central park. I lined up with Lee and Janet and another girl, Elaine, who I had just met on the NYRR website. She was a fellow runner in Washington Heights that I was hoping to be able to meet up with whenever we could to get some runs in together. So the four of us start out at a nice and comfortable pace - probably over a 10 minute mile. This is what Lee kept preaching to me - to start at slow, to feel like it was too slow so that I would warm up and conserve energy to have more of a punch at the end. Well, I got impatient and about 2 miles in, I started to run ahead of the three of them.
"She'll be back" Lee said to Janet - thinking that I was blowing it by picking up the pace too soon. It was pretty amazing - at mile 5, I was feeling great and hadn't let up - and I was about to surpass the longest distance I had ever run. Just past mile 7, I started feeling a bit tired. I hadn't drank or eaten anything during the run - I hadn't tried to eat or drink during a run ever, so now wasn't the time to experiment with it. I would later learn the importance of rehydrating and refueling. I probably slowed down a bit at this point, but oddly enough, Lee and Janet hadn't met up with me or passed me at this point. Janet and I would run about the same pace in our running class, and we were both capable of running in the 8:30 range (for shorter distances). Lee, of course, could be a 6 minute miler if he had been training harder. He was focusing on his cycling at this time, training for century rides - but regardless, he's in top form and fast. But he wasn't doing this for time - he was doing this to run with us.
Before I knew it I was at mile 9 - just 1 mile left to go. Even though I had slowed down a bit - I was still running. Didn't stop once. I knew Lee said to pick it up at the end - but I had to choose the right moment. Too soon and i'd burn out and not finish strong. There was no way I could accelarate for the entire last mile. So with a half mile to go, I started to pick up the pace - which took a bit of effort. But once you spot that banner and the finish line mat, you bolt for it. Well, I did the best kind of bolt of could at that time. I was pretty tired - but still felt elated afterwards. And I was amazed that Lee and Janet never caught up with me. When I met up with them afterwards, it turns out Lee's legs cramped up - to the point where he made Janet move ahead without him. But regardless, he was impressed that I picked it up and never came back. Not only could I pick up speed - but I found I had endurance. The following session in the gym I would have with Lee would have a conversation that would begin to change my whole way of thinking and my life.
I wanted it to be a comfortable 5 miler - the goal was to pace myself. I had never really gone any longer distance than this so I didn't want to burn myself out too early. This was easier said than done. With all of these thoughts running through my head, my adrenaline was pumping and I realized I finished the first mile in just over 8:30, which was fast for me at that time. I was aiming for more of a 10 minute mile pace. I did slow down, but not on purpose. I wasn't at the level to sustain that speed for long. Still, by the end of the run, while it didn't solve my problems or give me any answers, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle whatever was to lay ahead for the next year.
January 3rd, I was back in NY. It was a cold Tuesday night with some snow/rain/hail mixture coming down. It was also the first night of my running class with NYRR. Lee had urged me to sign up for the 10 week running class New York Road Runners offered. I would meet this group every Tuesday night after work on the Upper East Side to do various drills (mostly speedwork) in Central Park. Another one of his clients, Janet, was also in the class. The first drill was about a half-mile warm-up, then a faster tempo mile, with a mile and a half cool down back to the gym. I kept pace right behind the instructor in our mile tempo - it felt ok at first but about a half mile in, it became a bit laborious. I was breathing heaver, squinting my eyes with the rain drops falling off my eyelashes and tiny pieces of hail pelting my face. I had no idea how fast we were going, but I knew I wanted to keep the tempo up, just a few steps behind her the entire time. Lee told me I don't push myself hard enough - that i'm much more capable of what I think I can do and what I actually do in performance. I thought about it, and he's probably right. So even though he wasn't there, I wanted to make him proud.
We turned the corner going up the drive on the west side of the park and would be finishing our tempo mile in front of Tavern on the Green (a famed restaurant in the park). I was running the last few hundred meters of the official New York Marathon - the same one that hundreds of runners and winners had run in the 30 year history of the race. It's pretty cool to think about that in hindsight, but at that moment, I just wanted to finish that damn mile. My lungs burned as I breathed in the cold air, the rain on my face had begun to freeze. I don't think it was any warmer than 30 degrees if that in this dark, blustery night, and all I was wearing were my running tights and mock turtle neck under armor technical shirt - with a hat a gloves. "8:49" one of the coaches yelled out to me as I passed her in front of Tavern on the Green. That is a respectable tempo mile, I thought to myself, considering I was still new to all of this.
The next day I was training with Lee at the gym, telling him about my New Year's run and my first running class. I thought he'd be proud of me, which he was - but it true Lee fashion, he pushed me even harder. He'd tell me I was capable of running 7:30 or 7 minute miles - maybe even sub-7. He also urged me to sign up for a 10 mile race he and Janet were running in three weeks time. 10 miles?!?! I had only done 5 and all of the sudden he wants me to double that in just 3 weeks? He must be insane!! I must be insane, because since he believed in me, I signed up.
It was the third weekend in January, temperature in the 30s. I was about to attempt to run 10 miles for the first time in my life - and in a race situation no less. There were probably about 3000 people there for this two-loop course that ran through central park. I lined up with Lee and Janet and another girl, Elaine, who I had just met on the NYRR website. She was a fellow runner in Washington Heights that I was hoping to be able to meet up with whenever we could to get some runs in together. So the four of us start out at a nice and comfortable pace - probably over a 10 minute mile. This is what Lee kept preaching to me - to start at slow, to feel like it was too slow so that I would warm up and conserve energy to have more of a punch at the end. Well, I got impatient and about 2 miles in, I started to run ahead of the three of them.
"She'll be back" Lee said to Janet - thinking that I was blowing it by picking up the pace too soon. It was pretty amazing - at mile 5, I was feeling great and hadn't let up - and I was about to surpass the longest distance I had ever run. Just past mile 7, I started feeling a bit tired. I hadn't drank or eaten anything during the run - I hadn't tried to eat or drink during a run ever, so now wasn't the time to experiment with it. I would later learn the importance of rehydrating and refueling. I probably slowed down a bit at this point, but oddly enough, Lee and Janet hadn't met up with me or passed me at this point. Janet and I would run about the same pace in our running class, and we were both capable of running in the 8:30 range (for shorter distances). Lee, of course, could be a 6 minute miler if he had been training harder. He was focusing on his cycling at this time, training for century rides - but regardless, he's in top form and fast. But he wasn't doing this for time - he was doing this to run with us.
Before I knew it I was at mile 9 - just 1 mile left to go. Even though I had slowed down a bit - I was still running. Didn't stop once. I knew Lee said to pick it up at the end - but I had to choose the right moment. Too soon and i'd burn out and not finish strong. There was no way I could accelarate for the entire last mile. So with a half mile to go, I started to pick up the pace - which took a bit of effort. But once you spot that banner and the finish line mat, you bolt for it. Well, I did the best kind of bolt of could at that time. I was pretty tired - but still felt elated afterwards. And I was amazed that Lee and Janet never caught up with me. When I met up with them afterwards, it turns out Lee's legs cramped up - to the point where he made Janet move ahead without him. But regardless, he was impressed that I picked it up and never came back. Not only could I pick up speed - but I found I had endurance. The following session in the gym I would have with Lee would have a conversation that would begin to change my whole way of thinking and my life.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Running Anniversary Retrospective - the pre-race era
New Year's 2005, I attended a formal gathering in my best friend Joe's friend's brownstone apartment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. I knew a few people and had heard of others, but one person that I met that night really made an impression on me. She was a 40 year old woman who was a body builder. A few years back, she had gone through a rough patch while going through a divorce and this is when she turned to working on her body physically which helped her find peace of mind. She had no intentions of becoming a body builder at that time - but she found something she loved and felt good about. She became a certified trainer and now helps others. She inspired me to get back out there and run again. So New Year's Day 2005, it was an unseasonably warm 60 degrees - a beautiful day for a run.
January was an incredible month in 2005, mostly because my beloved Eagles FINALLY became NFC Champions! It had been 24 years since they'd been in the superbowl when I was 5 years old. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go and my Eagles buddy Joe jumped on board for the Superbowl adventure with me. Just before we headed to Jacksonville, I went to the gym one day after work. My contract with the gym was about to expire, so they tried to persuade me to sign a new contract and part of the persuasion was to get a free session with a personal trainer.
I had worked with a personal trainer for about 2 months close to 2 years beforehand. They asked me a bit about my interests and I mentioned running. So they scheduled a session for me with a trainer named Lee who was a big runner and cyclist. Little did I know then that I was to meet the man that would be instrumental in helping me change almost every aspect of my life.
My running was sporadic the first several months I began training with Lee. I started to feel better and feel stronger, but it wasn't as noticable to the naked eye. Lee explained that I had to do more cardio to shed some fat in order to see the muscles I was building. In the fall of 2005, I started running more consistently. Lee kept urging me to sign up for a local NYRR race - they had shorter distance races (around 4 miles) almost every weekend in Central Park. So finally, I bit the bullet and signed up for the Holiday 4 miler the first Saturday that December.
My Eagles buddy Joe had also recently taken up running and I urged him to sign up for the same race. I didn't sleep that much the night before - I was anxious - not knowing what to expect. Would I know how to lace up my chip (the timing device used to track net time for each runner, not the time from when the gun goes off - comes in handy if you dont' get to cross the start line until 10 minutes into the race because you're in the middle of a crowd of 10,000 runners). How would I do?
I met Joe and his friend at NYRR headquarters to pick up our bibs and chips the morning of the race. It was a 13 block walk to the start of the race. I couldn't believe how many people were out there this cold, Saturday morning. It was about 32 degrees and sunny - a crisp cool morning. Race time was 9:30 am - a later start than usual because of the winter temperatures. Joe and his friend lined up in a faster pace group. I decided to line up in the 10 minute mile pace group. The 4 miles that I ran in Central Park that morning is a bit of a blur - All I remember is I ran a comfortable place the entire time and that I felt a huge adrenaline rush when I crossed that finish line. From that moment on, I was hooked.
January was an incredible month in 2005, mostly because my beloved Eagles FINALLY became NFC Champions! It had been 24 years since they'd been in the superbowl when I was 5 years old. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go and my Eagles buddy Joe jumped on board for the Superbowl adventure with me. Just before we headed to Jacksonville, I went to the gym one day after work. My contract with the gym was about to expire, so they tried to persuade me to sign a new contract and part of the persuasion was to get a free session with a personal trainer.
I had worked with a personal trainer for about 2 months close to 2 years beforehand. They asked me a bit about my interests and I mentioned running. So they scheduled a session for me with a trainer named Lee who was a big runner and cyclist. Little did I know then that I was to meet the man that would be instrumental in helping me change almost every aspect of my life.
My running was sporadic the first several months I began training with Lee. I started to feel better and feel stronger, but it wasn't as noticable to the naked eye. Lee explained that I had to do more cardio to shed some fat in order to see the muscles I was building. In the fall of 2005, I started running more consistently. Lee kept urging me to sign up for a local NYRR race - they had shorter distance races (around 4 miles) almost every weekend in Central Park. So finally, I bit the bullet and signed up for the Holiday 4 miler the first Saturday that December.
My Eagles buddy Joe had also recently taken up running and I urged him to sign up for the same race. I didn't sleep that much the night before - I was anxious - not knowing what to expect. Would I know how to lace up my chip (the timing device used to track net time for each runner, not the time from when the gun goes off - comes in handy if you dont' get to cross the start line until 10 minutes into the race because you're in the middle of a crowd of 10,000 runners). How would I do?
I met Joe and his friend at NYRR headquarters to pick up our bibs and chips the morning of the race. It was a 13 block walk to the start of the race. I couldn't believe how many people were out there this cold, Saturday morning. It was about 32 degrees and sunny - a crisp cool morning. Race time was 9:30 am - a later start than usual because of the winter temperatures. Joe and his friend lined up in a faster pace group. I decided to line up in the 10 minute mile pace group. The 4 miles that I ran in Central Park that morning is a bit of a blur - All I remember is I ran a comfortable place the entire time and that I felt a huge adrenaline rush when I crossed that finish line. From that moment on, I was hooked.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Running Anniversary Retrospective - the embryonic stage
Yesterday was the official 1 year anniversary of my very first race I ever ran (excluding some of the track meets I participating in during grade school). In December 2005, I ran in New York Road Runners 4 mile Holiday run in Central Park. I was registered to run this event again yesterday (which became a 5 miler due to construction in the park), but found myself as a spectator instead due to an injury i'm sustaining from the marathon. I awaited for my trainer to finish and had a bitter-sweet conversation with him over breakfast about where I came from, how I got there, and what my future holds. I'm going to take the time and through several posts, reminisce and share this part of me with all of you.
The Embryonic Stage of my Running Career
March 2004, I was sitting in my apartment in Inwood, NY, IMing with a friend in my neighborhood who is a personal trainer. I was in my 2nd semester of grad school and despite having a June performance to choreograph for, it was starting to become clear to me that my dancing days were numbered due to my work and school schedule. I was actually ok with this realization because I felt that I had done what I wanted to do with dance in my life. But having danced my whole life, i've always been an active individual. All of the sudden, I was spending the majority of my time behind a desk, in front of a computer. I needed to do something to release all the pent up energy and stress I was enduring. So during this IM conversation, I told my friend Rob that I decided I wanted to take up running.
I lived a few blocks from a park that bordered the water and a forest like setting - flat stretches across fields and killer hills in the woods - a tranquil place for running. The first time I went out there I laced up my crosstraining shoes and majorly overdressed with about three layers of clothes on. Out the door I went and walked 3 blocks to the park. Once I stepped foot in the park I began more of a sprint than a trot. It took about 30 seconds for my lungs to start burning as I was breathing in the cold air. 8 minutes later, I was done - completely out of breath. I just couldn't go anymore. This was going to be much harder than I thought.
The first few months into the spring my running was a bit sporadic. It took me a bit of time to learn to slow down a bit in order to run longer. I made small bits of progress, ran for 10 minutes - then for 15. That May an Inwood resident, 21 year old Julliard student Sarah Fox, was murdered in that park during one of her daily runs. I didn't know many other people who liked to run or who lived by me, so it was somewhat frightening to head out the door alone. They never caught the murderer due to lack of evidence, although they did have a suspect who lived just two blocks from me. At least I knew who to look out for.
By the summer I was running 20-30 minutes comfortably about 3 times a week. It was during this time that I discovered, with the help of my doctor, that I was lactose intolerant. She gave me orders to cut all products out of my diet that contained dairy or lactose for six months. It was difficult but a relief at the same time because I had been feeling sick for so many months. I started reading labels on foods - you'd be surprised at how many processed foods contain some kind of dairy or lactose. All of the sudden, I was only eating vegetables, fruit, chicken, whole wheat pastas and breads - no junk food or drinks what so ever. Between my diet and the running I was doing, my weight dipped down into the 120s which was my weight during my peak dancing days (at 5'8" being around 130 is actually healthier for me).
The summer of 2004 was good for me - I felt great, I found a new job with a hefty increase in salary, I took the summer off from grad school to regroup, and I really enjoyed running. The summer ended and so did my good fortune. A new school semester kept me busy as did the stress of working for a less than pleasant new boss. As the stress piled on, the running become a bit more infrequent. I was agitated and feeling unhappy - a somewhat promising long-distance relationship fell sour. The biggest blow of all was receiving a phone call from my OB/GYN telling me I had cervical cancer. The late fall and winter days were dark, both figuratively and literally. I was exhausted. I felt so alone. The early days of my newfound love of running came to end and for the next few months, it was difficult enough just to get myself out of bed in the morning, let alone get out there in the cold for a run.
The Embryonic Stage of my Running Career
March 2004, I was sitting in my apartment in Inwood, NY, IMing with a friend in my neighborhood who is a personal trainer. I was in my 2nd semester of grad school and despite having a June performance to choreograph for, it was starting to become clear to me that my dancing days were numbered due to my work and school schedule. I was actually ok with this realization because I felt that I had done what I wanted to do with dance in my life. But having danced my whole life, i've always been an active individual. All of the sudden, I was spending the majority of my time behind a desk, in front of a computer. I needed to do something to release all the pent up energy and stress I was enduring. So during this IM conversation, I told my friend Rob that I decided I wanted to take up running.
I lived a few blocks from a park that bordered the water and a forest like setting - flat stretches across fields and killer hills in the woods - a tranquil place for running. The first time I went out there I laced up my crosstraining shoes and majorly overdressed with about three layers of clothes on. Out the door I went and walked 3 blocks to the park. Once I stepped foot in the park I began more of a sprint than a trot. It took about 30 seconds for my lungs to start burning as I was breathing in the cold air. 8 minutes later, I was done - completely out of breath. I just couldn't go anymore. This was going to be much harder than I thought.
The first few months into the spring my running was a bit sporadic. It took me a bit of time to learn to slow down a bit in order to run longer. I made small bits of progress, ran for 10 minutes - then for 15. That May an Inwood resident, 21 year old Julliard student Sarah Fox, was murdered in that park during one of her daily runs. I didn't know many other people who liked to run or who lived by me, so it was somewhat frightening to head out the door alone. They never caught the murderer due to lack of evidence, although they did have a suspect who lived just two blocks from me. At least I knew who to look out for.
By the summer I was running 20-30 minutes comfortably about 3 times a week. It was during this time that I discovered, with the help of my doctor, that I was lactose intolerant. She gave me orders to cut all products out of my diet that contained dairy or lactose for six months. It was difficult but a relief at the same time because I had been feeling sick for so many months. I started reading labels on foods - you'd be surprised at how many processed foods contain some kind of dairy or lactose. All of the sudden, I was only eating vegetables, fruit, chicken, whole wheat pastas and breads - no junk food or drinks what so ever. Between my diet and the running I was doing, my weight dipped down into the 120s which was my weight during my peak dancing days (at 5'8" being around 130 is actually healthier for me).
The summer of 2004 was good for me - I felt great, I found a new job with a hefty increase in salary, I took the summer off from grad school to regroup, and I really enjoyed running. The summer ended and so did my good fortune. A new school semester kept me busy as did the stress of working for a less than pleasant new boss. As the stress piled on, the running become a bit more infrequent. I was agitated and feeling unhappy - a somewhat promising long-distance relationship fell sour. The biggest blow of all was receiving a phone call from my OB/GYN telling me I had cervical cancer. The late fall and winter days were dark, both figuratively and literally. I was exhausted. I felt so alone. The early days of my newfound love of running came to end and for the next few months, it was difficult enough just to get myself out of bed in the morning, let alone get out there in the cold for a run.
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