I Miss Running

It's been two weeks since I've been able to run. I think I'm going insane.

My last race was the Boomers Run to Breathe Cystic Fibrosis 10k on July 9th. Since then, I've only run 11 miles.  According to my training plan for the NYC Marathon, I was scheduled to run over 100 miles during the month of July. As of right now, looks like my total will be a measly 27 miles. And all because I'm a BIG, GIANT, STUBBORN, DUMBA$$.

My hip has been aching for weeks, maybe even months. I had a feeling I had bursitis but I've had it before and I figured it was no big deal. So instead of going to the doctor and getting it checked out, I ignored the pain and kept running. Like an idiot. I didn't ice it or stretch more or anything; I just kept running. In fact, I even started running faster and added hills to my routes. I made plans to run over bridges and to add speed work. And then the week after my last race something bad happened. I left my apartment that Thursday night, started to run and didn't even make it to the corner. My hip was on fire. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and I've run through plenty of it. But I found myself unable to take another step that Thursday night and I went home devastated.

That weekend, I skipped the Central Park Conservancy 4 miler. I've never skipped a race before. But it gave me the opportunity to cheer for some pretty special folks, and I had a great time watching instead of running. Of course, I toted my camera along and took some great shots. I waited at the beginning of the race, and then at the finish line and it was incredible to watch everyone push themselves as hard as they could. You can see the determination in so many of their faces in the pictures. I love that feeling of pushing it hard, giving it everything you have to cross the finish line strong. I miss that feeling be it at the end of a race, or even just at the end of a training run. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that race. You can also see a slideshow of most of the pics here (I took over 500 but narrowed them down).




Monday morning, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bursitis. But on top of that, it seems there's some pretty major calcification in my hip from the injury. I got a shot of cortisone, some anti-inflammatory patches and blew off the idea of PT. Once again: STUBBORN IDIOT. I figured I'd pop lots of advil, ice it, stretch, and rest it for a few days and then be back out running again. I waited a whole week, headed out last Thursday night and went for a test run. And yes, that was the Thursday that it felt like 110 degrees in Central Park. I ran a total of 2.89 miles but by the first mile, I was once again in excrutiating pain. It seems I never learn my lesson. So now a whole week later, I've hit the elliptical a few times (it doesn't hurt my hip), and have been practicing hot yoga but no running. The NYC Marathon is about 100 days away, I can't run and I'm totally freaked.

The last three years of running have been awesome and I've accomplished so much. But my main goal, the big accomplishment I've always had in the back on my mind, has been to run the New York City Marathon. 2011 is supposed to be my year. I'm not giving up yet. As this post publishes, I'm hanging with my doctor trying to figure out the best course of action to get me back on my feet again. In the meantime, I'm going to keep at the yoga, elliptical, and I've taken up swimming which is kicking my butt and keeping me strong, if not making me stronger.

So, that's where I've been and why I've been a bit cranky. Stay tuned... and send some positive healing vibes. Pretty please. But please no pity cause that's not my style. I didn't write this post for pity or for attention. But maybe next time you have an ache that just won't go away, you'll get it looked at instead of being a BIG, GIANT, STUBBORN, DUMBA$$ like me.

Monday Mantra

365: Week 27

Monday Mantra

Boomer 10K Race Recap

On Saturday, July 9th, I ran the inaugural Boomers Run to Breathe Cystic Fibrosis 10k. What can I say, it was hard. This race was my second attempt to break that 9 minute mile pace for the distance, the first being the Mini 10k on June 11th. I have no idea what my official time was because my D-tag wasn't captured, but I definitely know that I ran this race even slower than the Mini 10k and although I was disappointed at first, I'm actually pretty ok with it, maybe even happy with my performance that day.

Race weekend began with a delicious Mediterranean meal I prepared for myself and a friend, and then I hit the sack early at around 11 pm. I usually go to sleep well past 1 am, even on race nights so I was pscyhed to actually get some serious zzz's before this race. I decided I would try to run a total of 8 miles that day, 1 before the 10k and 1 after, so I woke up extra early to give myself plenty of time for breakfast, bathroom, showering & stretching, and that one mile run to the start line. 5 am wakeup, I ate a small bowl of oatmeal with half a banana for breakfast and washed it down with a cup of coffee, hoping it would get my intestines moving. No such luck; my stomach refuses to cooperate on race mornings as of late. Instead of switching to water to hydrate, I continued drinking coffee hoping it would bring me blessings from the bathroom g-ds. This was probably a major mistake.

I headed out the door at 7:40 and began my slow run to the start line, not keeping pace with my Garmin but just trying to stay slow and steady to save up my energy. I ended up running just over a mile, saw Baker & got a high five as I was passing the first corral, and entered the lovely orange one. I had hoped to find a water fountain before the start to rehydrate but no such luck. Even though I'd only run just over a mile, sweat was literally pouring out of me in the 93% humidity. Another big mistake. I glanced over to see my dailymile friend Schiff, whom I've never actually met before, called his name & introduced myself. We chatted it up for a bit and then the race began & we were off.

Mile 1: 9:09 pace Heading up the east side if Central Park, my legs feel strong even as I climb Cat Hill, but I just don't feel 100%. Just after the half mile point, we approach the first water station. By now I've run over 2 miles in 93% humidity and I'm sweating buckets. I quickly make the decision to give up my sub-9 minute goal and walk through the water station to properly hydrate. Trying not to be disappointed, I continue.

Mile 2: 9:06 Felt strong heading into mile 2 as it's the downhill portion of Harlem Hills... but I knew what was coming next. At around mile 2.5, did my best to focus on pushing through as I ran up the west side of the hill, my least favorite portion of the Central Park loop. I had my headphones on, was trying to stay in my head and let me music keep me focused but these two girls next to me were yapping away really loudly and it was driving me nuts! I might have said "Shut the F up!" out loud... not my proudest moment. If you heard me, sorry ladies. What can I say, it was struggling and frustrated.

Mile 3: 9:11 Harlem Hills complete and reminded myself the worst was behind me. But this is where the really bad headache started and my skin began to feel prickly. Yup, I was dehydrated. Walked through another water station and although I usually avoid the sprinklers during hot races, this time I not only ran through it but stopped for a moment to let it soak me.

Mile 4: 10:05 Heading up the rolling hills of the west side and slowed it down to just keep myself going. At this point, my goal was really just to finish. Knew that G was waiting to cheer me on at 4.5 so at least I had something to look forward to. Heard his cheers and felt that extra push from his energy that I needed to keep going- love that! And then about a quarter of a mile later, I got a bad cramp and had to stop to walk a bit. So I stop, try to breathe through it, look up and see this guy looking straight at me. He cheers "looking strong Erica!" and I'm confused. I look down to see if I wrote my name on my bib or something... but nope. And then I realized it's my friend Yehuda from summer camp and I got really excited! Haven't seen him in years.... crzy cool & coincidental that I just happened to have to walk right where he was standing to cheer on his wife at her first race!

Mile 5: 9:44 Tried my best to pick up the pace.

Mile 6 + .32: 9:33, 8:52 Just wanted it to be over. And then it was.

Just after I crossed the finish line, I spotted Abbe who I was happy to hear had a great race. I grabbed some water & Gatorade, Abbe treated us to some bottles of water from a nearby vendor, and we walked to find Baker who'd also had a strong race. Always grateful to see my friends after a race, especially when I've had a tough one. Once again, Brighroom's pictures are stunning (sarcasm).... but here's the best one of me I could find. Take a look at my flushed, red, sweaty and exhausted face. Perfect poster child for dehydration!

For about an hour after the race, I was really disappointed. And to be honest, I've been so freakin disappointed in my performance at the last few races and it's been getting real old, real fast. But then I sat down to a brunch with G and re-evaluated my performance and my goals and I realized I'm being way too hard on myself. It's been really hot and I need to learn to adjust my expectations; I need to become a smarter runner and with training for NYCM just beginning, now is the time to do it. All the recent PRs and encouragement might have gotten to my head and I wanted to be faster now, but realize I just need to be patient with myself and work towards it. Once I realized this, I was ok with Saturday's performance and was excited for my next race, a 4 miler this upcoming weekend.

Now, when I set out for last night's run, I had my entire evening planned out. I would run between 4 & 5 miles, do about 30 minutes of core, shower, eat, and write my race recap from this past weekend's 10k. The recap would describe how difficult the race was, how I might have to re-evaluate my goals in the NYC heat, but how excited I am for my next race, a 4 miler this weekend. You know, sort of what you just read. Unfortunately, that's not exactly what happened; I ran out the door and didn't even make it to the corner before my right hip caught fire (well not really, but felt like it) and I couldn't take another step. So, now I'm injured. My hip has been acting up for a while but I've been ignoring it like a bad little runner because I'm been enjoying my running too much to stop. So I've been an idiot and now I'm limping and can't run. I'm going to make a Dr appointment asap to make sure there's nothing seriously wrong but right now, I'm sidelined. Ugh.

I took last night off, and am planning on taking today & Friday off. Saturday, I'll wake up and see how I feel. I'm hoping to run. I'm hoping this is just bursitis and that a few rest days will do the trick as it has in the past. No worries, I'm not going to be stupid this time. If it hurts, I won't run because my ultimate goal is NYCM 2011 and I want to be able to resume full training asap.  Crossing my fingers...

Back to the Kitchen

I miss cooking. I've been eating out a lot lately and don't get me wrong, it's been wonderful. But I miss creating in my tiny NYC kitchen. Time spent focusing on flavors, letting my mind wander, sometimes with a great soundtrack playing in the background; other times in complete calming silence. Aside from the actual experience of cooking my own meals, I love deciding what I'm going to put in them; the clean, fresh & whole fruits, vegetables and grains that make me feel incredible and give me awesome energy. So I'm making a strong effort to get back to my kitchen and creating the meals I love.

Friday was my first day back in that happy space and it felt pretty darn good. I was cooking dinner for myself and a friend and since I was racing the next morning, I wanted to make sure it was food that would give me energy but that I could easily digest. And although I'm a vegetarian, my friend is a major meat lover and I knew I'd need to prepare something heart enough to satisfy him. I love dishes that are simple but have lots of fresh flavors so I decided on a Mediterranean menu:

Quinoa Taboule Salad with Chickpeas

Beets with Dill and Toasted Walnuts

Greek Olives

Stuffed Grape Leaves

Grilled Artichokes

Cubes of Feta Cheese

I began by preparing the quinoa, placing the raw grains in a bowl of cold water and leaving in the refrigerator while I prepped some of the other ingredients and placed the beets in the oven. In case you've never made quinoa before, or need a reminder, I wrote a post all about it which you can find here. I find that soaking it in cold water for a few hours before cooking results in the prettiest fluffiest quinoa you could imagine. Once the quinoa and beets were ready, I allowed them to cool and ran to the market to pick up the grilled artichokes, olives, stuffed grape leaves and feta. Yes, sometimes I mix homemade with prepared but I can admit I'm not superwoman. I have a business to run and couldn't find the time to stuff my own grape leaves on Friday!

I completed the salads, left them in the refrigerator so that the flavors could develop and looked forward to a delicious dinner which was a success! My meat eating friend had two servings of quinoa, which it turns out he'd never had before, and admitted that eating vegetarian was actually pretty good. Bonus? He called me yesterday to tell me that he hadn't eaten meat in three days and it was the first day in forever he could remember that he didn't feel like he needed a nap. How cool is that?

So here they are, the meatless Mediterranean recipes that could quite possibly convert a carnivore to veggie (ok, maybe I'm dreaming but would be cool).

Quinoa Taboule with Chickpeas
1 1/2 cups of cooked Quinoa
1 1/2 cups of minced fresh Flat Leaf Parsley
3 tbsp of minced fresh Mint Leaves
Juice of 2 large Lemons
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 bunch of Green Onions, bottom white portions only, minced
1 can Chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 large Tomato, seeded & diced
1 large Cucumber, peeled, seeded & diced
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl & season with salt & pepper. Cover & let refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. The longer it hangs in the fridge, the better is tastes!

 

Beets with Dill & Toasted Walnuts
adapted from Williams Sonoma 

3-4 medium sized Beets
1 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh Dill
1/4 cup toasted & roughly chopped Walnuts


Preheat your oven to 375F. Remove the beet greens, if attached, leaving about 1 inch of stem attached to the beets; reserve the greens for another use. Place the beets in a baking dish and cover with water by about 1/4 inch. Cover the dish tightly and bake until the beets can be easily pierced with a knife, about an hour or more, depending on the size of the beets.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel and cut into cubes. Place the beets in a medium bowl, add the vinegar and toss together gently. Let stand for 30 minutes. Add the olive oil, dill, garlic and salt.  Stir in the walnuts and serve.

 

I have another race this weekend and am already working on my Friday night menu... can't wait to tell you all about it!

Do you love to spend time in the kitchen too? I'd love to hear some of your recipes so don't forget to comment and post some links to your favorites!

365: Week 26

Monday Mantra

Things That Make Me Go :)

So much good stuff going on, where do I begin? In no particular order...

1. New York City Marathon training has officially begun! Yes, this marks the first week in my 18 week training plan. In exactly 122 days from today, I will take on the streets & bridges of NYC for 26.2 miles. Seems so far away but I have a feeling it'll be here before I know it. I'm still working on my training schedule, trying to fit in all the miles without having too give up too many Refine Method, kickboxing or yoga classes. I'm hoping to post it within the next few days and would love your feedback when I do so stay tuned...

2. I love a good blog post that cracks me up. I mean who doesn't love to laugh? So when I read Claire's post from late last month, I knew I had to share. Although it's likely to appeal most to runners, her writing style is hysterical so I think all of you would enjoy.

3. About two weeks ago, Theodora hosted an Erica Sara giveaway on her blog and I had the opportunity to work with the winner to design her piece. The best part of what I do is hearing from the people who wear my jewelry. I love it! Congrats to Laura on winning! I'm about to work with another blogger on another giveaway so stay tuned for details.

 

4. I love watching my friends succeed, especially when their hard work pays off and their dreams come true. Last week, Brynn of Refine Method was featured on Inc.'s website as one of the 30 under 30 in 2011! Check out the video in which she explains the Refine Method workout and philosophy. And yes, that's me in the turquoise tank top- does this count as my 15 minutes of fame?

5. And finally, this weekend I'll be racing the inaugural Boomer's Cystic Fibrosis Run to Breathe 10k in Central Park. This is my first 10k since my disappointing, although still funtastic, performance at the Mini 10k last month and I'm hoping to redeem myself by running that sub 9 minute mile I've been working towards. It's been hot & humid here in NYC and I have no reason to believe that Saturday will be any different. But I'm doing my best to stay positive, hydrated, well rested, well fed and stretched out until then.

So folks, what's making you :) these days? Leave some ink & let me know!

365: Week 25

Monday Mantra