Amber Takes Manhattan

Reporting from NYC



I have had a very full and exciting day in NY today. Was in my meeting until 1pm and then headed straight to the city. I was pretty much TERRIFIED to drive in the city but decided to just be zen and pay attention and not stress, and it was all good! Got the car parked and out of my hair, checked into my super mod Best Western and went directly to the TKTS booth. I am staying right in the Theater District and my options were endless and all within ~2 blocks. I have always wanted to use TKTS cause you read about it in all the guide books. I couldn't decide between Mamma Mia! and Hair but the ticket guy made the decision for me because the Hair seats were way better and I have never seen it before.

THEN I successfully navigated the subway to go REGISTER FOR A RACE!

I saw a Competitor magazine and by chance there is one tomorrow! It is a 4-mile race at Central Park.

So I'll be running tomorrow. Hopefully I won't die doing 4 miles after so long. But I am here and it seemed a good chance to do one of (last year's) resolutions of racing in another state.

So I'm all set to go tomorrow.

George and John are watching my stuff for me.

My Pre-race dinner may have been a poor choice but was tasty

Eighth Annual Run As One Presented by JPMorgan Chase (4M)

The race shirt:

New York state of mind

I am in Syosset, NY (which coincidentally is where I used to send very large credit card payments) and is right next to Oyster Bay, Long Island (which coincidentally is where Billy Joel references in a song about his alcoholic days). I am thinking about doing a Billy Joel pilgramiage (though they are running us ragged at the conference...like, 9a-11p!).

I have a deep love for grocery stores. I love going somewhere new or foreign and seeing what types of food they have and how they display it and how it's priced. And when I go back to somewhere I like seeing familiar products and regional differences.

I haven't been to a Stop and Shop in over 4 years and I was excited to see some old friends. They have generic brand Lite bread and WOW Chips and lowfat snack cakes. I forgot that the east coast still has really bad for you "healthy" food. :)

I also saw these and had to give them a go. They weren't that yummy but the idea is intruiging.

Oh! I went for a run on tuesday and am thrilled to report that it was pretty good. I could feel that it'd been a month since I ran but i didn't have the severe nausea I'd been dealing with.

Headed to NYC tomorrow afternoon and staying there overnight. Oughtta be interesting.

Adult Boppy

Have you heard of the Boppy? It is a pillow to put your infant in so that they don't have to support their body weight.

In the last week I have come to appreciate my own version of the adult boppy.

It started innocently enough with me using ~5 pillows to hold my tummy and keep pressure on it. But then I realized I could place pillows such that I don't have to hold myself up at all. It's awesome!

I feel SO much better these days and am headed to a conference in NY tomorrow night. I am going to try re-introducing some activity while I'm there (use the hotel elliptical and such) and then when I get back, time to get busy!

I need to post/think about my feelings toward baby-steps in training. How much I dislike them and yet how necessary they may be, how I know when to push and when to listen to my body.

I think that's why I like running/tri, it is a process of figuring those things out.

61 days to Issaquah

Current Status: Wednesday

-Loved

-Grateful

-Slightly queasy and a touch of discomfort

I felt much better today. So I tried doing stuff (namely dying eggs with my nephews) it was kind of a mistake cause now I am laying on a pillow in bed.

Oh well, it's progress.

What I can't wrap my head around is how I managed to get such amazing people in my life who love and care about me, especially for something as low impact as this should be. My take home message is that I am going to be more diligent about showing them how much I appreciate them and how glad I am to have them in my life. Old, dear friends checking on me has made me realize that I need to figure out how to get some face time with them. I'm most excited about SpeedyDMD's wedding this summer. I am so excited for her and can't wait to see her as a blushing bride.

She sent me a care package with this item. Little does she know how right she is!

Current Status

Currently I feel

- crappy

-tired

-sick

- bored

-boring

-achy

-relieved

-disappointed

-grateful, loved and lucky

So I had my surgery on Thur. It went well but man, I feel terrible. I know it's only been a few days but I want to feel better NOW.

The Captain has been beyond amazing. I'm not the best patient and am IMPATIENT about the rate of recovery.

But he's been jolly on the spot and helped me figure out how to be comfortable.

My Mom came by to check on me and there are few things that feel more right than your mommy's hand on your forehead.

I've gotten lots of messages and calls from friends and family (where I was hopefully coherent)

College Roomie sent me the sweetest care package

(I'm pretty sure they are healing jelly beans…at least that is why I'm telling myself to eat them in the quantities I have been)

Baby Brick

Got in my first little brick in a very long while. I swam, then did a cycling class. Then I proceeded to eat 4 eskimo pies and a string cheese for dinner.

sigh

Oh well.

I guess it's training for my post race activities.

80 days to Issaquah!

Fear and old age

I think you become more fearful as you get older. Or, maybe more likely, fear is a bell shaped curve over age and I think I may be near the peak (or I hope). When you're little you fail to see the consequences of fearful situations and when you're older and wiser you realize that the consequences of reasonable risk is usually handlable.

I've been feeling more and more afraid of little things; I'll clutch the oh-shit-handle on the car when a friend drives too crazy, I'm all jumpy going from my car to the door in the dark, someone came soliciting to the door and now I am fully expecing him to come back and murder me (Description: white male, ~30's, really bad teeth), etc.

What prompted this rant is multi-fold. I'm worried about my Mom's and aunt's health. The XC runner, Chelsea King's murder was so all around heart breaking.I read a blog post about being afraid of alligators during an OWS (SHE is in FL where that is a valid concern). The Captain and I are getting ready to get back on our bikes (or more accurately, he is getting ready to ride again for the 1st tinme since his crash), I worry about him, I worry about me (I am PETRIFIED about eating it and knocking out teeth). Despite trying to be cool about it (since I know it's not a big deal) I am worried about my own health.

Not so much my current health but the fact that I am, heck, we all are, fighting a battle against our bodies. And from what it looks like, for those of us lucky enough to get to experience it, it sucks having your body break down on you.

For me, running has been pretty miserable the last few months. I get SO sick to my stomach and get some major intestinal ickiness. It has been most unpleasant.

I am having surgery in a week and actually I am really excited because I think (HOPE&PRAY) that it'll clear up some of the ickiness and I can get back to plodding along down the trail. But being the object of medical attention is still a new and helpless feeling and I don't look forward to more of it.

I am so grateful to have been healthy my whole life. I am still sorry that i wasted years making myself unhealthy and am SO grateful to have found somethhing I love that fits so well with a healthy lifestyle.

I do feel like I've learned I need to really listen to my body and be my own advocate. I have known I get sick running for a long time but I ignored it and made excuses (diet, fitness, physiology) and let it get to the point where things got painful.

Anyway, I have no idea the point of this post. Time to push through my irrational fear and be glad that I have so much good stuff going on that I'm afraid of losing anything. I need to keep working on keeping my body healthy and rage against the dying of the light. I need to get feeling better PDQ...81 days until Issaquah!!