Helloooooooo all!!
Yesterday's GTS (group training session) was a little different. We were told to meet on the NY side of the George Washington Bridge and that we'd be running across the bridge... to Jersey. Anyone who lives in NY knows that you don't go to Jersey, the Jersey people come to NY, so we weren't too psyched. Coach Mike was explaining the route, and then right before we started he said "Oh, did I mention this is a really hilly run?" and had the biggest smile on his face. "Yeah, this will probably be the hilliest run you'll do all season." Awesome.
We got across the bridge and then went down a hill for what seemed like forever; it was nice, but the thought at the back of ALL of our minds (and at the front of our mouths) was "Holy shit... we have to get back UP this at the end." The route was really full of nature - it may as well have been a New Hampshire or Vermont trail, you'd never know you were right across the river from the biggest city in the country. We climbed up and down a few more pretty gnarly hills and then went through a section where they were trees lying across the trail, so we climbed over some, ran around others, ducked under a massive oak that seemed almost placed perfectly sideways, ran over these burr thingies, and basically tried not to fall and not drop pace. We had to stop slightly short of our scheduled "out" distance because we couldn't get around some trees. It was nuts!
We were supposed to run a negative split, so on the way back if you felt good you were supposed to split off from your pace group and run faster. This girl Audrey and I ran the entire way back together, and she is FANTASTIC. We kept a strong pace, and then we hit the big ass hill on the way back. Have you ever run 10 miles and then had to run the 11th mile up a steep ass hill? It ain't easy. We took it slow, and honestly at times it felt like we could've WALKED it faster, but we didn't quit, and we made it to the top. We did a Cytomax toast at the crest (while still running), and we toasted to not giving up. It was one of my top 5 TNT moments of the season. We ran back across the bridge, and then decided to do an additional out-and-back to make up the mileage we couldn't cover because of the downed tree. We ran those final few minutes really hard - it's such an amazing feeling to be 12 miles into a run and feel like I still have all the energy in the world. We ran it in, and I checked my watch and realized that we had in fact run back a negative split! I was so proud of both of us. Neither of us are experienced runners and we were really psyched to have accomplished our goals for the day.
As we stretched, we were talking a little more, and Audrey was telling me her boyfriend had just broken up with her over facebook, and how she was having a hard time with it, and she had kind of been slacking in her training because she wasn't sure she could really handle it right now. My thoughts on this are a) Audrey is awesome, any guy who doesn't want to be with her is an idiot, b) any guy who breaks up with a girl over facebook is both spineless and RIDICULOUS, and c) training for a marathon is no joke - it takes a lot of dedication and drive and perseverance, and what we need is SUPPORT - not asshole boyfriends who break up with people over a social networking site.
So, to Audrey's ex, I'd just like to say that you're missing out on an amazing girl who in less than 2 months time will have accomplished something that less than 1% of the population will ever do in their lives. What are you doing with yourself, besides probably stalking underage girls online? And to my new friend Audrey, you CAN handle it - we kicked ass on those 12.1 miles, we conquered the hills, we ran the negative split, and we ran HARD back up to Cabrini Ave. You can do ANYTHING. WE can do anything. Don't ever let anyone make you feel like you can't. You don't need this guy; we on the team will be your support system, and together we'll make it across the finish line.
PS: Speaking of the finish line (which I probably mention like 8 times per blog entry), my friend from school Erin Cluney just completed her first marathon this morning in Paris! Erin ran with the spring Team in Training, and I am so proud of her and so happy for her. She is amazing, and she inspires me even more for my own race :)
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