During a mother/daughter weekend in New York City, my mother, sister, and I crammed into slightly less than 48 hours lunch at Carnegie’s Deli, a visit to Ground Zero, an evening show of In the Heights on Broadway, a meandering walk down 5th Avenue, a stop at the Met, and a solid 10 miles of walking including much of Central Park.
Perhaps it was that we were at the Park on one of the first really nice weekends of spring. Maybe it’s that with 11 million people in one city the Park is an obvious place to spend an afternoon. Whatever the reason, Central Park was brimming with people on every lawn, sidewalk, field, path, and playground. There were families, couples, dog walkers, musicians, artists, hula hoopers, tourists, locals, and cyclists. But what I noticed most were the runners. Continue reading
My goal all last winter was to keep running rather than fall into the pseudo-hibernation routine I’ve had in previous years. Because I had a goal and a training plan for the marathon I was motivated to get up and get going. Only a few mornings of extreme temperatures or winter storms kept me in bed, but otherwise I was out running in the dark and the cold and loving it. There is something about getting up early and starting the day with a work-out that makes me feel as though I’ve started the day on the right foot. By the time I start working, it’s rewarding to think about what I’ve already accomplished in the morning simply because I went for a run or to the gym.
After taking off from exercise for one full week to let my body really rest, it felt like months since I’d done anything cardiovascular. I picked a Sunday to start back into an organized training and fitness plan and I don’t think I could have picked a better day. From my bed I could see that it was gorgeous out, a perfectly clear and sunny spring day. I knew it would be chilly though so I prepared with layers and was shocked once I got started to find out how windy it was. So why was it perfect? Because it was pretty enough to remind me why I love running outside but it was also chilly and windy enough to humble me and reassured me that I can’t just jump back into running where I left off.
This post will be one in a series as I don’t think it’s possible to capture in one sitting my thoughts behind having a fitness philosophy let alone what my own philosophy is. I’ve had the fortune to meet a local trainer whose programs focus on 
The 
By now you are probably tired of reading about issues surrounding my 
The past couple weeks I have 
There are several names that came to mind for this post: “That’s the Spot!” “Ouch!” “Digging Deep,” “Seven,” and plenty of others, some of which sounded totally inappropriate and others that could be misleading. So as not to leave you wondering what all these possible post names relate to, they are tied to the deep tissue sports massage I had over the weekend.
Running is a fascinating sport to me because nearly anyone can run and it can be done at almost any stage in life. Of course, not everyone likes to run and there are many other sports that welcome athletes of all levels with open arms. I have a number of friends who consider themselves beginner runners and I know plenty of people who hate running but love biking, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, pilates, and every sport in between. In trying to define what kind of athlete I am, I also find myself asking what kind of athlete to I want to be. I have always considered myself a runner at an intermediate level with middle distances as my preferred “
Usually whenever you are most tired, least motivated, and want to do anything but exercise is when you really should just strap on your running shoes and do something to get your heart rate going. I can think of many a run I dragged myself out to do and at the end I was always glad I had gone. Today was one of those days when I really just didn’t feel like putting on my running shoes.