Wordless Weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You

5k Run For the Children of Sandy Hook

I am a mother of two children ages 7 & 9 and a School Counselor.  To say Friday hit me hard was an understatement. We let the boys sleep with us on Friday night we were so happy to have them.  Yesterday I wrote an e-mail to my boy’s school because I thought they deserved Thanks. 

Hello,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for being a part of my children’s lives. Words cannot describe how we all have been feeling since Friday afternoon.  As I heard the news on Friday morning from my Assistant Principal I could not help but picture XXXXX School and the classrooms that my boys have been in. The first picture I saw on the internet had  a tall skinny boy with glasses in the middle of the line and it looked like my Mikey. It really hit me.   But at the end of that line I could see a teacher, someone those kids can count on when everything did not make sense. The teachers that brought them to safety.    

My entire career as an educator has taken place post Columbine.  At the high school level I have unfortunately run the scenarios in my mind countless times. Knowing there is always the possibility that a crisis might arise and a split second decision would have to be made.  I have thought about how many kids I could squeeze into my office and even under my desk.  Never have I thought about it happening in an elementary school.  I am a member of my school CERT team.  I have prepared and taken part of lock down, lock out, hold in place and emergency evacuation drills.  Most of the time I am annoyed that the young adults in this building don’t take them seriously enough. When my husband and I spoke to the boys this weekend, there were so many things that we worried about.   I was happy to hear that my boys knew what to do in a lock down and a number of other scenarios that have been practiced.  Xxxxx has been a wonderful place for Michael and Brendan. It means a great deal to me that my children feel safe while they are at school, and they do.  You are all to thank for that. 

Thank You for the teaching them to read and learn math.  Thank you for your call and emails of concern when they seem a bit off.  Thank You for the calls when erasers “fall” into someone’s ear.   Thank you for listening to a mom’s concerns.   But mostly Thank YOU for keeping my boys safe every day. 

I know so many teachers, administrators, nurses and aides that deserve the same thanks.  This could have happened anywhere. 

Knight of Columbus Holiday Run

After some dismally low miles in November I was determined to start December off and running again. 

ON December 1st, for the third year in a row I signed myself up for the Knights of Columbus holiday run.  It starts off just a mile away and is one of my regular routes.  The one I call "Five mile race the school bus" .   

This year the boys decided that they would like to run the kids race and I couldn’t be happier.  Mikey had recruited his BFF Dom to run with him and Brenny was going to be running his first one mile run ever. 

Pete placed a little wager in front of B.  He challenged him to beat his older brother and his friend.  The Prize was $5 from Daddy.   

Brenny in the Red, Mikey a Blur in Black out ahead early.

 

 

 The boys took off in a flash and headed through the neighborhood streets.  I handed off my jacket to Pete and took a loop to warm up and to meet up with the boys as they came into the finish.  Mikey’s friend was struggling a bit and they had slowed to a walk.  As soon as B saw me he ran to meet me and I knew he was determined to win the five dollars his father promised him.  He finished in less than 9 minutes!  First in his age group too. 

 

 

I had a nice run too. It was a nice cool day.  Perfect for running and I felt good despite very few miles in the past month.  Its always amazing how fast you can be in a race.  No PR but I did improve my time from the Turkey Trot by two minutes!  And then there is this picture of me flying along the creek.  It might be the socks.  I don't know.  Just sayin.
 

Photo credit Charlotte Kopp
 

Moving on

I did not run a marathon on November 4^th as planned but I took a week off anyway.  That’s right; I have not run in seven whole days! I just did not want to.  It feels weird.  I can’t say when the last time was that I went a whole week without running.  Two three days tops is the most I have taken off and most of that time I spent thinking of how to make up the miles I was missing.  I think I was physically and mentally exhausted.  I was ready to run NYC.  Well rested due to school being cancelled for the week after the hurricane.  The mental exhaustion was intensified in the days leading up to the marathon.  The continued coverage of the devastation on Staten Island, the realization that this race might be the wrong thing to do right now.  As the 5:00 news broke the news of its cancellation I was both crushed and relieved that it was called.  Sure my money and training were wasted but I was in my warm, lighted house with my family safe and sound.  Whole houses were washed away!  My parents were spending the weekend at my house because they along with thousands of others still did not have any power. 

I combed the house for clothes to donate.  My children do not need all the sweaters and sweatshirts that they have in their closets when they continually wear the same one over and over.  Same goes for me.  I went through my closet thinking about how people have nothing left.  It was something small I could do immediately.  It really makes you think about all the “stuff” we have in our lives that we really don’t need. 

I ran on Sunday the 4th.   

My dailymile entry from that day pretty much sums it all up. 

Dutchess Rail Trail 12 mi 01:57 09:44 pace

This was not the New York City Marathon and that is OK. Met Beth over at the rail trail wearing my Orange NYC Marathon shirt thinking about the possibility of running 26. Pete called me about three miles in and said he and Mikey were on their way home from camping. I made the decision then that I would finish whenever Beth did and get home to my family. They are more important things than another two hours out on the trail today. I am closing the books on this cycle and going to move forward content with today’s miles.



Silver lining: Halloween visit to my son's class party since my school was still out. 

So yes I did run a lot this summer and did NOT end up racing the full 26.2 in the end but it is what it is.  Moving on to better things.   I will lace up later on, grab a dog and enjoy this beautiful day out on the road.   

My turkey trot awaits in less than two weeks.  Maybe I should consider the 25k instead of the 5 mile this year? 

Who knows if a spring Marathon will be on my agenda or if I will wait until NYC 2013 to conquer 26.2 again.  The goal for the immediate future is to get back out on the road, learn to enjoy some cross training and most importantly stay healthy. 

New York?

I am a New Yorker.  I have lived my whole life in Suburban NY.  The Big Apple has always been just a short car or train ride away.   I do NOT Live Upstate Jim Cantore, just about an hour outside the city.  But after these past few days it is clear that I am not close at all.  We were extremely lucky after Super Storm Sandy.  We spent all day Monday glued to the Weather Channel watching the storm’s path, waiting to see where it would make landfall.  They kept saying this storm was not going to be about the rain but about the wind and the storm surge.  For us that meant the usual power outage that we were prepared for and to my husband’s delight we would hopefully not take on any water in the basement. 

 

We were glued to that TV watching the coverage in disbelief realizing the brunt was most likely going to go right around us.  We watched until the power went out at 10:30.  We were amazed it stayed on that long.  Waking up on Tuesday I was prepared for a long day of reading and stovetop gas cooking for me and DS playing for the boys.  But only two pages into my book, we heard a click, looked up to see the display on the cable box and it was displaying the time!  UNREAL.  How was this possible?  We always lose power and we usually lose it for days!  I think the boys were disappointed that there was power.  They were looking forward to unrestricted hand held video game playing.  They did not realize the potential devastation we had missed.  I was relieved to not lose any food and to be able to flush the toilet. Then we started to watch TV again. 

HOLY COW!   Roller Coasters washed into the ocean!  Subway system out.   Streets flooded all over the television.  The Surge for sure was the main issue!  Once again I was glad we live where we do.  Far enough from the coast and high enough over the Hudson River.  

 

Deserted station yesterday, just a mile from my house

My sister sent me a text that morning asking if we had power.  Then she said “What is going to happen with the Marathon on Sunday”?  I had not really thought about it.  It was Tuesday and this is New Your we are talking about.  The race does not take place in Lower Manhattan.   But then I thought about it further.  The subway system?  Parts of Brooklyn and Queens that are low lying.   Will it happen? Who Knows?  If you read any of the comments on the New York Times or even several facebook groups you will find that there are people with really strong opinions about this upcoming race.  Some say no way it should be run because resources are needed elsewhere.  Others talk about the need for the influx of money spent in the area because of the event.   It is disrespectful to the people of NY to run it.  It is disrespectful to the people of NY not to run it.  I live local.   Have the luxury of waiting and seeing what decision will be made about this now controversial race.   My plan was to take my son to his soccer game and then pick up my bib on Saturday, sleep and make my way to the start.  I can’t imagine having travel plans, hotel reservations and nonrefundable everything.  I understand that there are a lot of issues here.  I feel so disconnected from it even being so close.  Right now a third "snow" day from school feels weird since everything here in my immediate area is normal.   

I think I will be running on Sunday but it will certainly not be the same race it was expected to be. If for some reason it does not run I will be very dissapointed but putting it in perspective I really do not have the right. 

Wait and see. 

Frankenstorm Day

It’s Monday and I am not at work.  I am not writting letters for the November 1st Early college deadline.  I am sitting on my couch waiting for the Frankenstorm to hit.  I have canned food, water and candles ready.  I am watching the weather channel and waiting for the power to go out.  But I can’t help but notice the weather beyond this storm for Sunday is sunny and low 50’s !  (I am not weather stalking, I just happen to live just north of NYC and they keep showing the seven day forecast).  OMG could it be better in NY for me to run 26.2? I think not!

Oh but guess what?  My knee hurts.  it hurts alot. That’s fun with six days until the marathon! I see alot of ice in my future.  Not coming from the sky but in the form of ice packs on my knee.  Lucky for me I bought 8 bags of ice in preparation for this storm.  Hopefully the pain will go away when Hurricane Sandy does and nothing including my home and knee will be worse for the wear.  Until then I hope everyone in Sandy’s path is safe and you all have a Happy Halloween. 

Run the Farm 5 mile Trail Race

I will say it right up front.  I don’t know what I was thinking signing up for a trail race just two weeks before the New York City Marathon but I did. 

If you have not run a trail race it involves; running up rocky, rooty, leaf covered trails. There is mud, there are downed trees, there are boulders and single track paths.  Sometimes there are foot bridges, open meadows and hills that seem almost vertical.  It takes constant mental as well as physical concentration to constantly scan the ground ahead of you and quickly react to the inevitable trip and then perform the “catch yourself before you face plant dance or break something” move.  The amount of times this happens over the course of the run is amazing.  Standing at the finish line seeing bloody knees and limping bodies you can spot those who tripped and didn’t quite ”stick the landing”. 

So why the hell would anyone do this?  Well because it is SO much fun! 

I ran my first and only trail race last spring.  The leathermans Loop was a 10k with two waist high water crossings and a mud bog that claimed over a dozen sneakers and made you laugh as you tried to wade through the mess.  

I knew these possibilities going in and I did it anyway.  Run the Farm is the “Sister Race” to the Loop.  No river crossings, seemed much tamer when I heard about it.  I did not run it last fall because I did not know how I would feel one week after my first marathon.  I really wanted to do it this year.  So I registered.  It was a beautiful day.  Thankfully minimal mud and wet leaves. 

You start in the barn yard of the farm, running right past the animals into the woods.  There are no mile markers and water stops.  Instead there is bag piper playing by a lake and Deer and rabbits running right with you.   You run up and down the trail, looking for the opportunity to pass the person in front of you while not twisting your ankle.  You hurdle trees and carefully straddle rock walls.  Spectators only appear in the last half mile as you reenter the working farm and are greeted by the turkeys and pigs as well as the kids lining up to give you high fives.  You are happy with a ten minute pace for the first time in years, knowing that trail race distances hold PR times all their own.    

 Luckily I came out of the race without a scratch.  Hopefully I didn’t tempt fate and I get through these next two weeks healthy.  Trail running is on the back burner until after November 4^thbut I think it gave me that boost I need to get through these last two weeks before the marathon.