Memorial Day Weekend

After watching an early show of X-Men III, we hit the sack at about 10 pm (how nice it is to be a happy old fogey :) ), managed to get up easily on Saturday morn and get to Central Park by 8:30.

The run was awesome -- there was a good showing, and again, we split up into 3 different groups: beginners (me), intermediate (Yesh), and advanced (out of our league!).

Had a great run/walk (3 miles), and enjoyed the company and support. Yesh did 4 miles and appreciated the guys he ran with too -- glad that we have a team to do this with, and a great coach!

Went home after -- no more running until Tuesday (yay!).

New Socks

We got back from Montreal to find a package of new running gear we'd ordered, the highlight being these awesome running socks (Asics Kayano) that supposedly prevent (or at least reduce the occurrence of) blisters!

Montreal Run

We're in Montreal till tomorrow, so we get to run after a fine (cholesterol-filled!) meal of poutine up the hilly roads of beautiful Mont Royal! We started mid-way up Ridgewood, went all the way up the hill, then back down to Cote-de-Neiges, past the cemetery (no ghosts, luckily!) and then back up the hill -- phew!

That was my first taste of uphill running. Wasn't too bad, although I was still doing my 3 minute walking, followed by 1 minute running. Made Yesh run with me, mainly because I was scared of the potential cemetery ghosts -- boo!

Fredericton Run

We're in Fredericton, New Brunswick, for our buddy Mike's wedding this weekend. After driving 9 hours from Montreal yesterday, we bravely set our alarms for 7 this morning (6 am NY time, since NB is an hour ahead) but, ehem, I couldn't quite make it out of bed!

So instead, we took a long morning walk with our Hebron (high-school) buddies along the St. John river, then had some yummy samosas and donairs, then went to the beautiful wedding (congrats Mike and April!) and then went for our run. Really enjoyed the scenery -- we ran alongside the river from one bridge to another, passing boats, other runners and a lighthouse along the way -- quite different to the NYC skyline!

First Scheduled Run

Set off tonight (late!) for our first run based on the schedule Coach Jane gave us: 30-minute walk/run for me, and 45-minute run for Yesh. We both started along Park Ave in Hoboken -- Yesh made it past Weehawken! I walked/ran ~2.2 miles according to MapQuest -- basically made a nice little loop around where we live. Felt good to be out there.

First Asha Group Run

We all met at the corner of 60th & 5th at 8:30 am yesterday (looks like we'll need to be mornin' folk on weekends now :) ), and then walked up to the Asha Tree. Was awesome to see a good-sized group of would-be marathoners and mentors, as well as Coach Jane and Scott Weiss, the team physiotherapist.

Yesh and I split up for the first run -- I went into the baby group, and Yesh joined the intermediate. We both did one round of the smaller loop though (~1.7 miles). I had it pretty easy -- 3 minutes of walking, followed by 1 minute of running, all the way round. Yesh had to run the whole thing, he he.

Once we got back to the Asha Tree, Doc Scott showed us how to stretch properly -- has to be the most thorough lesson in stretching that we've ever had!Not even a bit sore today.

Filled up on Gatorade and bagels next, picked up our training schedules for the week, and then headed back home for a nice, hot shower!

Felt good! Can't wait till we get together again...

Nike Training Log

Signed up for the Nike Training Log today. Looks like it'll be useful to keep track of how far we've run, how we felt after the run, target runs, etc.

Generated a schedule from their site to see what they recommended I should be running right now -- 21 miles a week. Ummm... not happening! Guess it's Team Asha to the rescue at this point!

Bike New York

Yesh and a friend of ours from Hoboken, Mike, took part in Bike New York -- was a fun ride through the 5 boroughs, although a little hard on the behind!

30,000 cyclists took part in this 42-mile ride -- quite a sight!

Clif Bars

A buddy of Yesh's recommended Clif Bars as a form of nutritious energy! So we ordered 200 -- they arrived today :)

All 200 are Chocolate Chip!

Start slowly...

Advice from Coach Jane today was "You have to start S-L-O-W-L-Y!!!"

That I can do :)