The Things I've Seen

This weekend on my long runs I saw Jon Stewart and his son walking out of their home in Tribeca AND a guy proposing to his girlfriend on the Brooklyn Bridge!  What luck!  I was tempted to attack Jon with the news that we went to the same college and that I was the one squealing in the studio audience of his show when he talked about the W&M mascot, but I was really proud of myself for showing restraint and not saying anything beyond the "good morning" that we exchanged (!!!).  I did, however, hover awkwardly around the couple on the Brooklyn Bridge to see if she would say yes, which she did.

Also, Carrie and I registered for the Hamptons Half Marathon on October 2nd, and I could not be more excited.  I've never been to the Hamptons before and the half marathon course is supposed to be beautiful.

Power of the Cure?

Triumph over adversity, throughout the years:


Melinda and I ran/walked 3 miles yesterday on Wall Street, for Heart Disease.

Victorious race time?
...well, not exactly (too many people + hot and humid conditions = abominable result).

One step closer to the cure?
...every single day!

Running in Shanghai

I'm back in NYC after a great trip to China.  It was really difficult to find the time to go running, but I managed to squeeze in a few runs and did a ton of walking.  My favorite runs were in Shanghai, along the Bund, which is the name of the path along the Huangpu River.  One side of the Bund looks like Europe - with beautiful old looking buildings:

The other side of the Bund, the Pudong District, is ultra modern, with a unique skyline that includes the Oriental Pearl Tower:

I ran along the Bund in the early mornings, around 5:30am.  Surprisingly, there were always a lot of people out along the Bund at that hour.  Tons of people (mostly older folks) would be out flying kites in the misty morning sky, and I would have to dodge the thin strings that held them up.  There were running clubs of men dressed in matching outfits, who would shout "zǎo shang hǎo!" aka "good morning!" in Mandarin to me as I ran by.  There were girls in heavy makeup teetering on 4-inch heels, coming home from a late night on the town.  I never once saw another Westerner, and often people would gape and sometimes snap my photo as I trotted along.  Despite the unwelcome snapshots, it was peaceful being out in Shanghai in the early morning, before the hoards of Chinese tourists in town for the World Expo would emerge from their hotel rooms for a day of sightseeing.

I think going for a run is one of the best ways to explore a new city or town.  It was a nice change from my same-old run along the Hudson River Park, and now that I'm back my old path seems exciting again.  Which is good, because marathon training kicks into high gear next week. 

China

I just got back from a week in the Caribbean, and am leaving for China on Friday morning.  While googling around to find out good places to run in Beijing, I came across this information from a runner complaining of the smog:  "After your first few weeks here, you may start to develop a light cough/hack. Fortunately, once you go home it seems to go away after a few days"  Hmmm.  Even though I am only going to be in China for two weeks, I think I'll stick to the treadmill. 

Karaoke Fundraiser

I have never been a fan of karaoke.  I think my first real exposure to it was when I was living in Japan in high school and all my friends dragged me to a karaoke parlor where they made me sing all the American songs like Backstreet Boys and Britney while they chimed in for the chorus.  In college I was a waitress at a bar that had karaoke on Friday nights, but I never participated since I was always either working or avoiding the bar in order to go out elsewhere with my friends.  So when Steph Opitz told me her idea to do a fundraiser at a karaoke place, I was a teensy bit skeptical.  She assured me that karaoke is really fun, and that in Minnesota her friends do it all the time.  In fact, she was having a bunch of MN friends visit the city on June 5th, so why not do it then?

The karaoke fundraiser was this past Saturday, and I can officially say that it was one of the most fun nights I've had in awhile.  I learned that it's not a fluke that my friends Steph and Jenna, hailing from Minnesota, are so fun and beautiful.  There must be something in the water in the Land of 10000 Lakes, because every last one of Steph and Jenna's friends was as fun and beautiful as the two of them.  I was glad that so many of my own wonderful friends - and my big brother Jonathan - could make it out, too.  To my surprise, I found myself jumping up to sing some of the songs that DJs Steph and Jonathan put on the list, and by the end of the party I didn't want it to end.  The best part?  I made $400 for my cause.

Thank you to everyone who came, I hope you had fun.  I will post details soon about my next fundraiser - it's already in the works!

Catch of the day

You all are probably wondering how karaoke night went (and by "you all" I mean Amal and Carrie, since I don't think anyone else reads this thing).  I'll write about it later, but for now, I HAVE to tell you what happened to me when I was running this morning!  I was bopping along near the harbor, listening to the Top 40 that my brother had added to my iPod this weekend, when all of a sudden there were a THUNK on my head out of nowhere.  As I was processing the fact that I was hit on the head, my ponytail started to get yanked, and I realized that I was attached to a fishing wire that was being frantically yanked by a tiny Chinese man.  I must have run by at the exact second that he was casting his line, and his hook was stuck in my hair!  As I tried to gingerly remove the disgusting, fishy-smelling hook from my hair, the man continued to desperately yank at the line.  Then he started screaming at me in Chinese as he yanked.  It was ridiculous.  Finally I extracted myself from the hook, no thanks to my fisherman friend, but discovered that whatever he was using as bait was shredded into my hair.  From what was contained in the dirty bucket next to the man, I deduced that it was some sort of raw squid.  Believe you me, that was the fastest run home from the harbor I have ever done.  I didn't even stop to stretch, just ran straight into the building and up to take a shower.  GROSS!

National Running Day

I learned from the Runner's World blog that today is National Running Day. According to the official website, the mission of National Running Day is "to designate one national day to promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise." Which is pretty ironic because this morning I had an awful run. I woke up early to beautiful weather and was looking forward to going out for an easy 4 miler along the West Side Highway. My legs were feeling really sore from a difficult yoga class yesterday though, and they felt like lead for most of the run. I tried to focus on the beauty of the scenery as I ran - the yachts docked near the World Financial Center, the Statue of Liberty, the weeping willows by the Museum of Jewish Heritage - but nothing was working. Not even country music on my iPod could take my mind off the fact that my body just did not want to be running today. I struggled through the 4 miles, and limped home to stretch and take some ibuprofen.

Today, running certainly didn't feel "easy" as National Running Day would like to promote. In fact, it seldom feels easy to me. I love running, but I hate it, too. I hate when I'm training for a race how I have to wake up early on Saturday and go for a long run. Sure, I may feel good while doing the long run and accomplished when it's finished, but I'm complaining all the way from the time my alarm going off til about one mile into the run when I hit my stride. I hate having to wake up at the crack of dawn and climb out of my warm bed on workdays to go running. Sometimes I don't want to go at all, and I hate how I feel guilty when I don't. The New Balance love/hate running campaign perfectly describes how I feel. It may not be as positive a message as National Running Day would like to promote, but it's the truth about running. Running is hard, and sometimes it hurts. Sometimes I hate running, but honestly, I hate not running more. And that's why, bad run and lead legs and all, I'll be out there tomorrow to give it another shot.

Thank you!

Last week I reached the halfway mark of fundraising and am only $100 shy of my July 1 benchmark of $2,000. Thank you to everyone who donated so far!

Only $1,900 more to go...