Last post was late 2011 following the NYC Marathon! Wow, I have neglected this blog so badly and so did my sister! Oh well, it's not that we have 3000 followers asking for more. The blog is like a scrapbook full of memories for ourselves and hopefully will inspire some readers to adore their siblings and stay fit, sane and healthy. I'm trying to keep the narrative limited (yeah right!) and will give an update of fun and memorable happenings paired with some pictures. Here are 2012 and the first 8+ months of 2013:
After the marathon in 2011 I recovered and ran my first turkey trot on Thanksgiving (awesome) and had a job interview the day before. I landed the job and I'm beyond happy with the challenges, responsibilities and environment I get to experience on a daily basis in the world of the United Nations as well as the Netherlands' Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I qualified for the 2012 NYC marathon and then...I didn't feel like running that race in 2012, so I decided to find a race early 2013 instead, which gave me more time to focus on my first Ministerial Week during the Opening of the General Debate, which was quite the (overtime) experience!
I was so happy to NOT log the 18-20 milers yet and enjoyed running fun races including the 5th Ave Mile and Reach the Beach relay!
In October I was totally ready to up my game and I couldn't have picked my 3rd marathon better: the last weekend of January 2013, in Carlsbad, CA. Fantastic fall season to train in and an escape from NYC when loads of snow came down and everybody was freezing their butt off. Very thankful for awesome friends like Susan, Michelle, Liz E, Liz T and Annette, who either logged longer training runs with me or speedwork and tempos or easy runs. Loved my training season, prior to and during the holidays. I didn't get injured either since Susan's kickass Plyometrics class kept me strong and balanced and my core benefits from this workout, I wouldn't engage it at all if I hadn't been taking these bootcamp style classes with lots of attention for form and injury prevention, strength, flexibility and turnover. Did I mention I LOVE my Monday night plyo???
Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast badly and many people lost power, some neighborhoods were flooded, some people lost everything. That was such a shock for the tri-state area and it happened right before the NYC Marathon, which got canceled. A strange time, but it put things into perspective for sure. Not always so classy to sweat a bad race or worry about nailing that PR. I wasn't running the NYC Marathon to begin with, but this situation showed me there's so much more than a race. Never forget that! Plus...there's always another.
Volunteering Harriers to clean up flooded East 6th St track on (canceled) marathon day.
So the holidays came and went, I visited my family in Holland, ran around, and had a wonderful time. Quality time with friends and family in the Netherlands.
I looooved my First Time in California. I stayed with my friend Cindy, who showed me around and cheered me on. Terrific host! The course was beautiful and I ran a 6 minute PR, 3.49ish, I was very happy with my time. There were quite some lonely stretches of the run and challenging hills and many rolling hills. Priceless feeling to be running next to the Pacific Ocean for a while.
Spring was good too! I recovered, eased back into speed with the Harriers and participated in some fun races in and outside New York.
My sister, YES, Judith, from this blog, got married June 1st so I spent almost 2 weeks in Holland for her bachelorette party and the wedding. Fantastic time and beautiful wedding day! The entire trip was special and filled with wealth in terms of family, health and friends. My 'American sister' came for a week and was a special guest at the wedding. So great to be able to share the experience with a good friend.
Late spring I also discovered a gem of a boutique cycling studio, named Revolve, at Union Square. I love this community, every single person working there is professional and friendly and the instructors are top notch! I took my first class from Kristin Kenney, named Real Ride and now I need to go at least once a week. Real Ride is based on an outdoor ride, taught by Kristin, a pro cyclist, who knows how to push everybody out of their comfort zone to the next level. She got me inspired, during a workshop, to finally do something with my desire to take outdoor riding to the next level and sign up for the CRCA. It's late in the season, but come next spring I'll definitely benefit from the club's coaching sessions and will try bike racing.
With my birthday I had claimed that this year I really wanted to do a sprint triathlon. Guess what? I did it! and I'm not even a swimmer. Swimming is something I'm going to work on over the winter. During the Smith Point triathlon I felt great on the bike and in the run, the swim was very chaotic.
In any case, I loved it! All the training paid off, my Plyometrics, the RealRide, the speed workouts with the team, my swim sessions, double workouts, bike rides in the park and on 9W; it all came together.
Beautiful race and the weather was great. I know what to work on next time. Yes, I would do one again!
I'm definitely on the market for more triathlons, maybe Olympic distance next year, as well as Duathlons.
The variety in workouts in a week suits me well.
Marathon training starts in October once I make up my mind which one to do in 2014. Phoenix, Surf City or LA??
It took me a while to finally do it, but I dropped Equinox recently. It's a great gym, but with all the running, cycling, plyo, and Revolve classes I'd rather go to, I wasn't spending enough time inside Equinox to justify the price I paid there.
I love the flexibility I have now to go to the best of the best all over the city. It makes me happy to have found great teams, studios and above all, friends who enjoy this as much as I do; health is wealth!
www.revolvefitness.com
www.rateyourburn.com/instructor/kristin-kenney/26www.carlsbadmarathon.com
www.susanbayat.com
www.newyorkharriers.com
www.eventpowerli.com
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