Sick Days

I tell my body to work harder, lift heavier, run faster. Sleep. Eat. Drag that freezing butt to the pool and get in. I tell it to get on the bike and ride for three hours or more without complaining. How dare it tell me no! How can I be sick? Ha! All too often, we don't think about our true well being until illness forces us to. Day two of sitting on the sofa, ordering spicy food so I get at least 20 minutes to breathe clearly...it's giving me plenty of time to think about it now.

My swim with a hero

I'm the kind of person who just puts herself out there all the time. Often, this leads to disappointment, heartbreak and frustration, and makes me kick myself for being so "open." But then something happens or I meet another really interesting, amazing person and I realize it's a quality I must embrace.

Case in point: about six months ago, I'm swimming, sharing a lane with a big but gentle guy wearing fins. He's creating a decent current and some "chop" and I joke that I'm enjoying it because it's good open water swim practice. He tells me I'm fast and challenges me to a race (him in fins, me not). I grin and accept -- anything to make my swim more exciting.

I happen to be on the side of the lane that has some crazy metal lifeguard chair that's attached in the water by a big metal pole. As I swim past the pole, I hit the back of my hand on it so hard that it instantly turns blue and starts bleeding. We finish the race (which was a close one, btw), he sees my hand and starts apologizing profusely. I think he was more upset about it than I was.

So I hadn't seen him since, but just this Monday, there he is. We recognize each other right away (and of course he still feels bad about my hand). Turns out, he is Marlon Suson, owner of the Ground Zero Museum downtown. Marlon was the official photographer at Ground Zero, the only photographer granted access during the recovery following the attack on 9/11. What Marlon did to document this sad part of American history is unbelievable. I'm visiting his museum this weekend and I recommend anyone who hasn't been there to go as well. Through his museum, Marlon continues to support all the heroes of September 11, 2001.

Do you carry star anise?

Has it really been this long since I've blogged? I wish I could say that with the season at a close, I took up and traveled somewhere exotic for the past few months. In reality, I think the most exotic place I've been since September is the ethnic spices isle of Whole Foods. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the past few months. Lots of cooking, eating, drinking, spending time with family. All the things I really don't get to do in the summer. But, before I settled into the easy life, I had two more big races after Toughman. A quick rundown:

October: MightyMan Montauk 1/2 IM. I went into this race thinking I could go sub-5:00 for the first time, since Toughman was pretty close and I had all those silly issues (even more than I felt comfortable blogging about at the time but let's just say not only did I forget and then lose 3/4 of my nutrition, but I also was dealing with "female" issues that by the run had become apparent to pretty much every other athlete and spectator. Use your imagination). Anyway, back to Montauk. By early morning, I saw how windy and cold it was. Even the lake seemed to have whitecaps! I knew sub-5:00 probably wouldn't happen and it didn't. I finished in 5:10, but good enough to be third female overall. I fought hard for the podium and can't thank my friends from Terrier Tri enough for helping me through the run. You guys are a class act.

November: NYC Marathon! This was my second marathon ever, 2009 being my first (also NYC). I can't believe the difference a year can make, both mentally and physically. On race morning, I felt so good. Not at all nervous like I was the previous year. It occurred to me as I began running over the Verrazano that in 2009, I was so petrified I didn't enjoy much of anything. This time it was different. I felt great, had confidence in myself, never hit a wall and actually pushed through the last 10k feeling like I could go even harder. I took 9 min. off my time, finishing in 3:14. I was 35th in my age group and 190th female overall, including pros! Even better, recovery was faster and easier than I remembered it being the previous year. I'm already registered to do it again this year.

After taking a bit of a Christmas holiday watching the snow fall and the firewood burn, I'm now three weeks into training mode, though not quite as much as I will be another month from now. I'm also dealing with some tightness in my lower left leg that's causing my achilles tendon to scream whenever I run. So, I'm back to my ART doc again to work that stuff out. Could be worse, could be July!