A solid week!

This made me laugh so hard when Coco and I saw it in the gallery last Sunday because it’s the understatement of the millennium when it comes to Swift, especially the last year. Also, there was a moment when the holidays and beginning of the year were a quiet-er time in the office, but that’s most definitely not true. The running? That was good this week and linking up with Kim and Deborah to talk about it.

Sunday Funday:

Weekly run downs have been MIA in part because, there hasn’t been much to say about my weekly runs other than they sort of happened. That tied turned with last Thursday-February 8 – when I ran to the office run group office meetup spot from home which turned into 7.5ish miles of catchup, celebration and my favorite kind of happy hour. I really like the mid week long run and love when my legs and lungs are up for it.

Sunday was the start of a great week with the NYRR Super Bowl race, aka Gridiron 4M. I am laughing at last year’s post about Gridiron, I need to amend I can cook with sometimes. I impressively failed Rice a Roni last Friday. Or as a friend asked, were you trying to make kindling? Prior Gridirons: 2018, 2019. I also ran it in 2020 but don’t appear to have even mentioned it — probably because I was injured. I had actually forgotten I registered for the race until I was out with friends for dinner a couple of weeks ago and we talked about who was running – we’re all running a race together in two weeks – and I realized I was. That’s the challenge with NYRR’s registration calendar, I signed up for two June races on February 1. Luckily that was still with plenty of time to get my bib and shirt.

The race is in partnership with the Flag Art Foundation and with the exception of the first year I ran it – white, just no – it’s one of my favorite shirts. Baby pink in 2020 gets worn almost as much as my blue Ted Corbitt. As I try desperately to purge the “too much” that comes with living somewhere 11+ years and running, I’m trying to cull multiple year race shirts to the one I like/wear the most. I have to put this side by side with last year’s – also yellow – to decide which gets to stay because while I need more low-light visibility, I don’t think I need two long sleeved ones.

Usually when a race starts on the East Side, I’ll run to the start but Rachel and I made plans to meet at Fred and I didn’t want to get chilly after warming up, so I decided to walk. Like all of this winter, it was mild for February and I was comfortable in a windbreaker with no need for a hat or gloves, although in mile one my hands were a little chilly. The race itself was fine, we ran it all with the exception of Cat Hill (legs, not lungs) at a pretty consistent clip and last mile was the fastest. It’s 102 down across 72nd and back up to 102 for the inner loop which makes for a nice flat-ish finish.

After a shower, it was off to meet Coco for an afternoon of mischief that included MoMA, the Museum of Arts and Design, dinner at one of my favorite Greek spots, and cookies. Because we always need cookies. Runners not running for the win! Picasso in Fontainbleau is a great show we caught on the closing weekend, and I loved both the special exhibit at MAD and their galleries dedicated to the art of craft – especially a beautiful Bisa Butler piece. Museums + time with friends is always a great day.

• just another Manic Monday: actually, it wasn’t too bad because we got word early in the day that city schools were going remote for Tuesday, which meant we were too. The weather wasn’t supposed to start until midnight so I got to the gym for some good cross training. There are many good things about Crunch, but access to rowers is probably my favorite.

• Tuesday: snow day! Well not really, just WFH. I went out at lunch to get some food and find the snow, and it had all melted. Booo. I was glad for that though when I headed downtown to see Between Two Knees at the PAC because the wind down there would have meant icy snow.  I’ve been to the PAC a few times, but never at night and as distinct as its marble facade looks in the day, it really fits in at night. That’s the PAC behind the 9/11 museum in the foreground.

• Wednesday: back at the office. SO MANY SWEETS this week as a new colleague also brought in all the Girl Scout Cookies. I know the story with the baby in the King Cake, but it’s a creepy sight to walk into. While I don’t mind the treadmill as a tool, my attention span has a love/hate relationship with it and I haven’t managed more than two miles after work on it. I was pleasantly surprised when I was still motivated and knocked out a 5K of .25 intervals at 6.0 with .1 of walk recovery.

• Thursday: office run group was a black ice/ill colleague casualty which I wasn’t entirely sad about. I felt bad for my colleague of course, but running Friday in the sun was far more appealing than worrying about our footing.

• Friday: 51 weeks from the last time. There’s no other run to do on the eve of spring training/in dad’s birthday month and it’s also one of the easiest-logistically-double digit runs. It has the added benefit of not being along the water on a mild but windy February day. Hamilton Grange, Morris Jumel, the Polo Grounds. Yep, switched to Terry Cashman from my audio book when I ran across Macombs Dam. Most importantly, it was fun! I’d missed this piece of running.

• Saturday: We were meant to get 1-6 inches. That’s not a forecast, it was a guess. All I wanted was to get out before the snow melted because I have missed it. Mission accomplished. Central Park was a winter wonderland. ~ 4 miles of a photo walk made for a happy me.
• Sunday: woke up to 25 mph gusts and I was worried about ice so headed for the treadmill. Wednesday’s workout in a redux and it felt good. I’m technically supposed to drop the recovery intervals but it’s easier to math a .1 interval so I think I’ll up the work interval. Looking forward to the longer daylight for more outdoor runs because fresh air always wins in my book. Mani/pedi and an otherwise chill day.