Getting By, Dreaming Big

This is a blog for me to share my thoughts on my favorite things: books, traveling, food and entertainment!

Tuesday Travels: Run the Planet August 25, 2009

Filed under: Running, Tuesday Travels, Vacation — readerbean @ 1:00 pm

I love to travel and I love to run (although I’m not quite the runner I was when I lived in MA). Regardless, when I travel I love to find running routes. I find that it’s the best way for me to see a city the way the locals do.

A couple of years ago I found www.runtheplanet.com. When you go to the home page and click on Running Routes you can type in the city, state and country that you are visiting and you’ll find running routes (for most places). The routes are written up by runners who have visited the city, who have lived in the city, or who currently live in the city. I used this to find a great running route in San Francisco for Jon and I when we were there and for Portland, Oregan when we were there and for Amy and I when we ran in Puerto Rico. I’ve printed out running routes for our upcoming vacation for Munich, Salzburg, and Fussen. I’m excited to check them out.

Run the Planet is a great way to get to know a city and even if you’re not a runner a lot of these paths are also great walking paths or biking paths so check it out. Also, another great resource for running routes is the concierge at your hotel. That’s how we found a great 4 mile loop through the vineyards in Napa. It never hurts to ask the locals.

Post in Comments:

Where have your favorite runs been? For me my favorite runs have been Land’s End in San Francisco, Summit Avenue in St. Paul, The Circus Maximus & Appian Way in Rome, running through the vineyards in Napa.

 

Catch-All Fridays: Running Challenge May 1, 2009

Filed under: Catch-All Fridays, Running — readerbean @ 11:13 am

Man oh man, lesson learned. Last week I was so excited to blog about the show Castle and I had just seen the movie 17 Again so I decided to just blog twice on Entertainment Thursday leaving me where this Thursday – nowhere – becuase I had no fun entertainment news to share, no new movie reviews, nothin’. Lesson learned, next time I’ll just share one and save the other for later! I’m watching a movie tonight though so I’ll definitely have a movie review for next Thursday.

Running Challenge

Ok, Ok I’ll admit it I’ve totally let my stress fracture from almost two years ago and the fact that I say I don’t like running in NYC ruin my running stride. So I’m setting a running challenge for myself to keep me motivated and to get back into the running shape I used to be in. So here it is:
There are 35 weeks left in the year and if I average 15 miles running per week then I will top 500 miles for the year (not including miles I’ve already logged).
I am going to sign up for at least 4 road races between now and the end of the year, starting possibly with the Mother’s Day run at 8AM in Central Park next Sunday – 4 miles – totally doable although it may not be pretty! My friend Shi is running and I’m thinking I may join her as long as my mother doesn’t have early morning plans for us all that day.
I will run in new places in NYC (ie: around the reservoir in Central Park, finally do the full 6+mile loop in CP, run North along the East River instead of always running south, run North along the West Side Highway, etc). I’m going to explore.
I’ll post reviews of any new routes that I try and let you know what I think. Maybe just maybe by the time I leave this city for the suburbs I’ll be converted to a runner who loves running in NYC (doubtful but I’m keeping an open mind).
Post in Comments:
How do you keep yourself motivated with your running?
PS – Shi, I might steal your idea of running on Roosevelt Island. I’ve always wanted to go over there but never had a reason to. Maybe running around RI will be one of my new routes!
 

The US Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials November 3, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Running, Sports — readerbean @ 2:53 pm


The 3 of us waiting for the runners to come by one last time!

Jon and Kate sprinting to the west side of the park with everyone!

This is my last marathon related post from our crazy week of 3 marathons (cheering, not running!) Last Saturday New York City hosted the US Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials in Central Park.

Now, I have been talking about going to see these pretty much since we moved here. Rain nor wind, nor chilly temperatures were going to stop me.

Saturday morning, Jon and I got up nice and early (6:50AM) and ran the 2.3 miles up to 72nd Street and Central Park West where we were meeting my sister (equally excited as I was, stop, picture it – poor Jon). We’re jibberjabbering away for like 5 minutes before Jon gives me my first “You’re getting over excited and it hasn’t even started yet” looks. I try to calm down, but I can’t – I mean 1) I love love love the Olympics! 2) I love running, racing and marathons. and 3) I’m actually there to watch an Olympic trials race, in the marathon no less.

We head up to the spot around West 81st Street inside the park. We hear the runners are coming so we quickly get to whatever spot is available and we end up meeting this man who is there to cheer on his son. His son qualified in a 10K and this race was going to be his first marathon ever (how crazy is that?) We chat with him for a bit, the runners come by in a huge pack so you couldn’t really see anything, except for Wardian who went out fast in the first loop. Afterwards we headed up to where we wanted to be stationed and ended up running into my cousin’s ex-girlfriend. I swear for as big as NYC is you can still have small world occurences take place.

The runners come by on lap 2 and they’re more separated into groups. We wait to cheer on all of them and then along with 75% of the crowd start sprinting to the east side of the park to catch the runners as they loop around. We get there in time, find a spot, see the runners again, turn around and sprint back to the west side of the park to see them as they loop around again. We continued this till the end.

It was so fun, everyone was dressed in their running gear and as the race was coming down to the wire you would have thought all of us running back and forth were in a race the way people were running, it was crazy (fun in a good way). The best part though was definitely the end. We’re on the west side of the park waiting for them to get going on the 2nd to last loop and Brian Sell was creeping up (and let me tell you he made up A LOT of ground) on the lead pack big time. So everyone was like is he going to be able to do it. We see them run by sprint to the east side of the park and wait.

All of a sudden Ryan Hall comes running by so fast and we’re all waiting for the rest of the lead pack. No one – 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds…then Ritz comes by. Everyone was going crazy, screaming like crazy, couldn’t believe the way the lead pack was spreading out. Now people are seriously sprinting back to the west side! We get there – Ryan Hall comes back again – 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute and 10 seconds and Ritz comes by again, then Dan Browne and then Sell right on his tail going up the hill. No Meb, no Abdi…now people were crazy. The sprint to the east side of the park was out of a movie. We get there wait a little bit Ryan Hall come by – 1 minute 10 seconds, 1 minute 20 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds…finally Ritz comes by and then…Sell, he did it, managed to get himself into 3rd place position! People are going crazy.

We knew we didn’t have time to get to the finish. We also knew that the 3 leaders were going to win because they just had that much of a lead and not that far to go. So we decided to stay and cheer on the other runners who had fallen off pace. By the way – that guy from the beginning – his son, finished 9th, 13 seconds behind Meb, in his first marathon ever!!!!! That is crazy – but definitely be looking for Josh Rohatinsky in 4 years, he’s got some serious promise. (Could I say crazy one more time!!!)

All in all it was the best way ever to start a day and I just hope that one day I get to see the real thing, the Olympics in person. It’s on my list….

 

Meeting Catherine Ndereba – WOW! November 2, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Running, Sports — readerbean @ 4:21 pm

Thus continues my marathon crazy week! The foundation that I work for had 32 runners running in this year’s ING New York City Marathon Sunday, November 4th. On Thursday evening our foundation and our runners were invited to Gracie Mansion for a cocktail reception and the chance to get our picture taken with Mayor Bloomberg.
We arrived right on time at 5:30PM and I have to say the house is gorgeous. You forget what regular houses look like when you’re surrounded by towering concrete buildings all day! It’s this beautiful old house right on the Hudson River. Right after we arrive this woman offers to take us on a tour of the first floor, explaining the history of the house, the rooms, the significance of the furniture present and the art. I love touring houses so this was right up my alley. And as we head off the front porch and in to the parlor she points out on the mantle a cannon ball that was actually shot from a British War Ship in the Revolutionary War of 1776 at this house. (Are you kidding me? How cool is that!!!!)
After the tour I had the opportunity to meet a lot of our runners, to meet our contact at the New York Road Runners, to meet one of the guys running in the US Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials on Saturday and then to meet Catherine Ndereba! Not only has she won 4 Boston Marathons but she also won this year’s World Championships. I talked with her about her running leading up to the marathon, and how she was feeling, if she was going to watch the US Men run on Saturday and little stuff like that. She was incredibly friendly and very nice and I was glad that I had the gumption to cross the room and introduce myself and not let an opportunity like that pass me by.
She finished 5th on Sunday in the New York City Marathon, while certainly not her best run, Wami and Radcliffe had a commanding lead when we saw them at Mile 11 and I knew then that they were going to be pretty hard to catch.
All of our runners that we saw at Mile 11 looked good and like they were having fun. It definitely made me miss running, or rather since I do run 3-4 times a week, racing! Not that I’m fast but I just love the thrill of competing! I have an inkling that another marathon may be in the not so distant future for me…if not in 2008, then definitely in 2009!
 

Congratulations to Matt & Karen!!! November 2, 2007

Filed under: Family, Running, Sports — readerbean @ 4:17 pm

Sunday, October 28th began what would be for Jon and I the first marathon of three that we were cheering for in a week! We went down to Washington, DC on Saturday, October 27th in order to cheer for Matt & Karen on Sunday as they ran in the Washington, DC Marine Corp Marathon, their second this year.

We got up early on Sunday in order to be out at Mile 1 in time for the 8AM start. Our plan was to see them at Mile 1, Mile 12, Mile 14, Mile 19 and possibly the finish. The Marine Corps Marathon is a great marathon for a spectator – it loops so many times that it’s easy to see runners in multiple locations.

We ended up seeing them at Mile 1 and Mile 4 and then seeing Matt at Mile 12, 14 and 19. Getting to the finish proved just too difficult.

So a big CONGRATULATIONS to Matt and Karen on finishing the DC Marathon with fantastic times!

 

Reach the Beach – We Finished in 29 hours and 2 minutes! September 20, 2007

Filed under: Running, Sports, Vacation — readerbean @ 12:21 pm

Reach the Beach is the running event that I probably get the most crazy reations from people for participating in. When people here the number 203 miles (even though I’ve said it’s a relay and there are 12 of us) they just can’t get past that. And yes, for us runners it is a source of pride – because hey 203 miles sounds like a lot even if you’re only running 15 of them:)

We arrived at our motel in NH late Thursday night, or maybe EARLY Friday morning (oops!) and got a good quick 7 hours of sleep before our adventure began. Friday morning we headed to Cannon Mountain where this years race was scheduled to begin. There were 12 people on our team (here they are in order that they ran): Boyd, Karyn, Doug, Alex, Peter, Jenn, Matt, Emily, Karen, Jon, Armen & me! We were split into two groups the first 6 runners were Van #1 and the last 6 runners were Van #2. We checked in, went through our safety check and orientation and settled in for a nice cozy breakfast.

At 10:40 AM, our first runner Boyd lined up in at the starting line with the rest of our heat and we were off. For those of us in Van #2 we drove the first six legs and parked at the 1st team transition area where we would wait for the runners of Van #1 to arrive. While a small spot, the bathrooms were plentiful, and there was a beautiful little river with lots of rocks, perfect for having lunch. We also, sat and cheered a lot of the runners that were finishing their legs and handing off to their next van. At soemtime between 3 and 4 PM Jenn arrived to hand off to Matt and Van #2 was underway. We ran until 7:30ish maybe. With Jon, Armen and myself running in the dark. When you run in the dark you have to have a reflective vest on, a head lamp and or a flashlight! My first run was 4 miles so I wasn’t feeling too nervous. I was really excited, that is until I realized that I was running the first mile on a trail in the woods! However, I completed my 4 mile leg with no problems.

We finished and drove to our next transition area to await Van #2 who was running their second legs. It was a high school, or some sort of school, where the girl scouts were serving a big pasta dinner (thank you!). We dragged our sleeping bags out onto the lawn and caught about 2 hours of sleep.

At about 12:45 AM, Jenn ran up a huge hill in the pouring rain to finish her leg and hand off to Matt. Thankfully for us, even though it rained on all of us during our 2nd legs, the rain died down as soon as Jenn finished. Our van had that dreadful middle of the night running time! And in acutality it really wasn’t that bad. Everyone ran well, and it was over before we knew it. I decided to take the advice of Peter from last year and drink a red bull before my 2nd leg since I had been up for almost 24 hours consecutively except for my little 2 hour nap. Not sure what it was going to do to my stomach I decided to take the risk because I had a 6.9 mile run ahead of me. Let me tell you, Redbull really does give you wings! I haven’t felt that good running since the Chicago Marathon. I felt like I was flying and I had the best time running that leg.

So with 2 legs done we drove to our next transition area to await Van #1 who was busy running their last leg. Since it was still raining we all had to stay crammed into our 15 passenger van. At about noon Jenn showed up happy to be done and all but threw the “baton” (really it’s one of those slap bracelets from the 80’s) at Matt. There was a totally different energy to this leg because everyone out there was running their last leg with their ultimate destination in site – we were “reaching the beach”. I got the honors of that last leg, and of reaching the beach. Once again I drank a redbull before my leg, 4.3 miles, I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to hold up. It was amazing, running through Hampton Beach, NH right along the water, knowing all your teammates are waiting for you at the finish, it was very cool!

We finished 59th out of 154 teams in our division with a time of 29 hours, 2 minutes and 11 seconds. Our average pace as a team was 8:27. Overall, not too shabby if you ask me! If you want to check out the pictures from this crazy event click here to see Capt’n Karyn’s cool website she made for us (thanks Karyn!)

This could be my favorite running event, if any of you out there are big runners, make it a priority at some point in your running career to team up with 11 other runners and “Reach the Beach”! There is nothing like running through the state of New Hampshire in September with the leaves changing color. It’s a great way to see and experience the state. And the commaraderie of the runners is so fun. I LOVE THIS RACE!!!! :)

 

we are almost off and running… September 12, 2007

Filed under: Running, Sports — readerbean @ 9:18 am

The big Reach the Beach Relay weekend has finally arrived! And I am very excited! Jon and I did Reach the Beach (RTB) for the first time last year and had a blast. This year we’re back for more.

Tomorrow we head up to Boston with our friend Emily and Armen to get all supplies, gear and teammates together. Then tomorrow night we drive up to Northwestern New Hampshire. Our start time for our 203 mile journey is 10:40 AM. We’re in Van #2 this year so the timing of everything will be a little different for us but overall I’m looking forward to another year. Last year it took us just over 29 hours to complete the course hopefully this year we can keep a steady pace again.

To check out what RTB is all about click here! I’m leg 12 so I’m “reaching the beach” as they say and Jon is leg 10. We’re in a van with our friends Emily and Armen and Jon’s brother Matt and his fiance Karen.

Click here to see our pics from last year’s event! Thus I’ll be taking a couple day hiatus from blogging but when I get back I’m sure I’ll have stories and pictures galore!

 

Central Park August 26, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Running — readerbean @ 4:37 pm

Hey everyone! I’m feeling a little behind on the blogging and I’m going to try to catch up in the next couple of days because I definitely have been up to some fun stuff (or at least I think I have:)

I’ve accomplished part of goal # 4 on my New York List – to explore Central Park (CP), more specifically to run in Central Park. Last Sunday (the 19th of August) after returning from Cape Cod my DH and I decided to go for a 5 mile run. We really wanted to make sure we ran 5 miles (as we’re trying to up our mileage for the Reach the Beach Relay in a couple of weeks) and since we weren’t familiar with Central Park we ran around it. We started on the East Side of Central Park at 60th Street and ran all the way up to 110th and then over to the West Side and down to 72nd Street. It was a great run – some uphill, more downhill, and it was great to get glimpses of the park and not have to stop at lights.

Mid-week we decided it was time to bite the bullet and run in the park and if we got lost, we got lost! We went online read up on all the different routes and mapped out a 3.5 mile route using gmaps (the greatest online tool invented for runners – and I’m sure a ton of other people!) Again we started on the East Side on the corner at 60th and 5th and ran down 60th or maybe it was 59th to the enterance into the park that brings you to the main road. We ran up the West Side of the park to 86th and then took a trail road across and hopped back on the main road back down to the entrance (well, that’s what we were supposed to do, but my sense of direction got all messed up and I didn’t understand where I was and instead of trusting that my DH new where he was I said I thought we should turn down one road and that led us out to 5th Ave and once again we were running outside the big walls of the park – oops!)

Entering CP was like entering a secret world enclosed behind it’s walls – a secret work out world that is! When you’re walking on all the paths you don’t notice it as much as when you enter as a runner and run on the main road that circles throughout the park. My immediate thought was “So this is where all the NYC runners are!” My second thought was, “OMG these runners are serious – people are running so fast!” We were running agains the crowd, which of course made me think we must have been running towards something difficult – the West Side is pretty uphill as I learned that day but I think regardless of which way you run you’re bound to hit some uphills and downhills). It feels as if you’re running on a track almost, except there are also cyclists and cross country roller bladers (poles and all!) While there are a ton of experienced runners there are also beginner and intermediate levels runners so once we got further into our run I started to feel more comfortable with the experience. There are a ton of running clubs as well and at more than one time we were passed by packs of 10-30 people running in one direction as part of a pack, which was pretty interesting. Overall the experience was pretty cool if not somewhat overwhelming – there are just so many paths.

On Saturday we decided to adventure out to CP again! I know we’re getting crazy:) It’s just nice not having to stop every 2 blocks and wait at a light and of course as any other runners can atest to, it’s a lot more fun running when everyone around you is running as well! We wanted to run 6 miles, so we ran from our apartment up to the park, did the same 3.5 mile loop from Wednesday night and then ran most of the way home. I felt more comfortable my second time in the park – and I’m excited to get back and explore all the different paths and areas within the park. It’s a great place for runners (and so many other active people – walking, rock climbing, football, baseball, frisbee, cross country rollerblading, cycling, you can find almost anything going on in the park!)

 

Running in New York City – a True Marathon August 9, 2007

Filed under: NYC Experiences, Ruminations, Running — readerbean @ 11:30 am

Running in New York City is truly like running a marathon except that you’re the only person running. For those of you who have never run a marathon, imagine lining up with anywhere from 20,000-40,000 people at a start line and once the gun goes off weaving in and out of thousands of runners to claim your little bit of the road for the next 4 1/2 hours. Over the course of those 4 1/2 hours every now and again you have to readjust – you pass people, people pass you, you move left for a bit, you move right for a bit, you stay in the center for a bit to keep a little bit of the road for yourself until you cross that finish line and the marathon is over.

Now imagine running that marathon except instead of 20,000+ runners (and maybe not for 4 1/2 hours) you have thousands of pedestrians, yellow cabs, tourists, and traffic lights!

After a 6 week mandatory rest period due to a stress fracture I’m back out pounding the pavement and I have to say it feels good! I’ve been increasing my mileage slowly so as not to injure myself again and am back up to 4 mile runs. I really missed having my running time, my time to myself, my time to explore, my time to see what my body can do. However, now that I’m back at it I’m running in a totally foreign environment that I’m still struggling to get to know.

When you’re running 4 miles or under it’s not worth it to go to Central Park (unless you live right there) or to head over to the West Side Highway (again unless you live right there) because by the time you run there it’s time to turn around and you didn’t get to enjoy any of the perks about those great running places in NYC. So right now while I’m upping my mileage I’m running in my neighborhood.

The other night my DH and I went out for a 4 mile run, my longest to date during my recovery period. Running most places in NYC is chaotic – you’re running on the sidewalk and you’re battling pedestrians that are not paying attention to where they’re going let alone other people on the sidewalk, you’re battling traffic lights (when you’re running the blocks the rule of thumb at my pace is that you can usually get 2, maybe 3 under your belt before you hit a red light), you’re battling sidewalk closings because of the constant construction going on in the city. And when you see that the sidewalk is just to crowded and you decided to brave the street (while seriously hugging the sidewalk and running towards the traffic!) you’re battling buses (you never know when they’re going to stop or start up again and move out into traffic), cars and cabs that hate pedestrians (mainly because the pedestrians don’t pay attention when crossing the road), you’re weaving in and out of people and cars to just keep going and not have to stop too often (isn’t a cardinal rule of conserving your energy not to weave?) and you’re thinking to yourself this is crazy. This isn’t the relaxing me time that I’m craving. At least that’s what I was thinking.

But then I hit the turnaround point (having lost my DH at this point – it’s funny if you miss a light and the other person makes it through you end up taking completely different routes home as you move with the lights) as I turned again down 5th Avenue I started looking around me. I passed St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, the New York Public Library and as the hill crested and I started going downhill on 5th Avenue (oh yes, NYC is hillier that most would lead you to believe) I looked up and saw that I was running towards the Empire State Building. And it occurred to me this is pretty amazing – I’m running past history, past iconic places that most people in the world dream of seeing!

So while I prefer running the rolling hills of Vermont, running past the Victorian houses on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, MN, running through the vineyards of Napa and down the trail at Lands End in San Fran and believe it or not the hills of Newton, MA! Right now I’m running in NYC and it won’t be forever so I’ll embrace it and make the most of this experience, and as I increase my mileage I’ll explore Central Park and the West Side Highway, and hopefully by the time I leave NYC I’ll have loved running here as much as anywhere else. And during my time here I’ll keep you up to date on the cool places I do run.