The Slowest 6 Miles I've Ever Run: Brace Yourselves, Pictures are Coming.

This past Saturday was a GLORIOUS fall day.  Perfect in every way weather-wise and topped off by one of the best weddings I've ever been to in my life.  Since this wedding took place in my hometown of Ewing, NJ, I was fortunate enough to run with Ewing resident, running partner, and FiveHundredandTwelvePointNine blog staple:  sister Alison.  We started out early-ish for a Saturday, about 7:45am, where Alison picked me up from the hotel I was staying at for the nuptuals.  We got approximately three tenths of a mile down the road when we saw this: 

This picture is from Google Maps, I did NOT think that this overcast

 disgustingness was a perfect fall day.

That picture depicts a 4 lane busy road, an off-ramp, a complete lack of sidewalk, and way in the distance is a very large and foreboding hill.  NOPE NOPE NOPE.  We turned right around, got in the car, and and drove off to greener (and redder, and yellower, and oranger... you'll see in a minute) pastures. 

Take 2 of this run started at about 8, and this time we kept going.  The point of this post is that being outside is awesome.  Being outside in the heart of fall when the temperature is right and the leaves are changing is phenomenal.  About a mile in, we saw this tree:

Looks like it's on fiya.

Had to stop and take a picutre of course.  Then we realized that the entire street was really pretty and we should probably get some action shots:

Goooooo Al!

We were only about a mile and a half in by this point, mind you, and it's like 8:20.  So we kept running to pick up some time.  We then turn onto the canal path, and somehow ended up in what seemed to be Narnia, Terabithia, Middle-Earth, or maybe it was a serial killer's dreamland, who knows.  But this is it:

The Instagram filter was just too good to pass up for this one.

Goooooo CQ!

By this point we're REALLY losing time, so we put our camera phones away and make it a good three more miles before we pass this beauty:

Gate to the Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf.  Would be a real shame

if it was a school for the blind, cuz that scene is gorgeous.

Picked me up a nice phone background, too.

Soon after leaving this lovely scene, we were running along, phones away, chatting it up, when suddenly Alison screamed, jumped, and made a horrifying face.  She nearly curb stomped a dead deer with her Mizuno.  (If you don't know what a "curb stomp" is, I do not suggest you look it up, horrifying images may be found).  Anywayyyy, since we were rapidly approaching 9am and NOT so rapidly approaching 6 miles, we took one last picture of a pretty awesome tree against the sky, picked up speed for the last mile, and finished at about 10 after 9 in the morning.  Said tree:



Glorious.

When all was said and done, it took us an hour and 25 minutes to complete a run that should've taken roughly 55 minutes.  But these pics are pretty sweet, and considering we ran 13.1 relatively fast miles last weekend, I'd say we still did good.

Please never leave us, fall,

CQ

The NJ Side is Pretty Too

I ran 4 miles after work yesterday along my usual path, the Hoboken/Weehawken Waterfront Walkway.  It was a REALLY nice fall night (the kind that makes you want to sniff burning leaves and beat a chainsaw-wielding actor wearing a mask in the face with your purse on a haunted hayride).  The sun was just setting and let me tell ya, it was definitely picture taking time.  Considering I live on the banks of the Hudson River, my camera lens is usually pointed due East toward the Manhattan skyline.  But yesterday I swung it around and pointed West at the state I've lived in my entire life.  The view wasn't too shabby.

Taken with an iPhone, no less.

This morning I showed my coworker/bestworkfriend (heyyyy KimboSlice) the pictures I took last night.  She said she was jealous that I get to see the sun after work, as she works 9-6, and I work 7:30-4:30.  Made me realize that training this winter is gonna be brutal.  I wake up, it's dark, I leave work, it's dark.  I had best invest in some reflective gear and/or a headlamp.  Boooooo.

Winter, you're a jerk,

CQ

PS:  Admittedly, the NYC side got some documentation as well:

First Half Marathon: Check.

Well, I did it (we did it, actually, as Alison ran with me)!  And it went better than I thought it would.  Yesterday morning was the Seaside Half Marathon.  It was a very flat out and back along the ocean in Seaside Park, NJ with a little over 1000 participants.  Apart from a fairly boring ~7 mile stretch along a tree/dune lined road in Island Beach State Park, it was pretty enjoyable.  I felt good the whole way and only slowed a little at about the 7 or 8 mile mark, but never walked or stopped.  I call that a win.  I also call finishing under my goal time of 2:10 at 2:08:35 a win.  So yayy for my first half completed.  Boo for the fact that my watch has been off distance-wise this whole time I've been training.  When I finished it had the mileage at 13.97, not 13.1, so that sucks.  But at least I know now to tack on an extra bit to be sure I make the required mileage for training runs.  Oh well.  Happy to have finished.  Ecstatic to have beaten my goal.  Petrified to run twice that distance in January.  I leave you with this Instagrammed-up picture of my bib from yesterday.

Trenton Half Marathon is next!  26 Days until then, 89 days until Disney!  Oh, also registering for a little Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning.  Chances of running hungover and/or still a a few sheets to the wind from the night before:  high.

Races=Fun,

CQ

The Fear has Arrived

So the other day I ran a super crappy 5 miles for my last "long" (but seriously, 5 miles isn't even close to long anymore) run before the Seaside Half Marathon.  It did NOT go well.  It was the exact opposite of my run the previous Saturday when I ran 13.1 miles and didn't even look at my watch until I had already gone 7.  This time I set out from my apartment and made it an entire 1.73 miles before I started staring into the face of my Garmin like it was the friggen aurora borealis.  I might be in trouble.  I mean, I'm GOING to run this full race this weekend regardless of how I'm feeling, but my less than ideal run this past weekend makes me wonder my attempt on Sunday will look something like this:

"Ok.. here I go!  Nope."

T - 5 days,

CQ

Documentation of a Long Run

Long runs are so great.  Nothing like going outside on a Saturday morning, running for a couple of hours while seeing sights, listening to some great jams (Mumford & Son's new album Babel is on repeat on this clown's iPod), people watching, and burning enough calories to shovel copious amounts of the abdominal region of your favorite porcine beast into your maw upon your return to start your weekend.  But lateley I've picked up a new habit of taking pictures while running.  Usually only 1 or 2 per run, but it's kind cool to go back through my photos and realize that I wouldn't have some really cool pictures if I wasn't out stomping on the sidewalk's grill.  The following is a collection of some of these snapshots:

Running the Party with Purpose 5k.  I think Sam and Drew might be in this one somewhere, but it's like Where's Waldo.

Early morning run in Seaside Heights.

Instagram-filtered pre-work 8 miles. 

 Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges on what was supposed to be a 10, but turned out to be a 12 mile run with Emily.  We ran to brunch.

 

This past weekend's 13.1 miles.  Running Level = Half Marathoner (finally).  Bring on the races.

(Note:  please ignore the litter/pollution.  I didn't do that)



I'm now officially "tapering" for the Seaside Half Marathon, which is in 11 days (excitement level = high), so I only have short runs from now until then.  But I will definitely be taking a picture or two during the race.  Although last night I had a dream that I was running this race. I tripped over some loose planks on the boardwalk, slammed my face into the ground, and crossed the finish line looking like this chick.  Here's hoping that dream does not become a reality.

I'm a crappy photographer,

CQ