the dive bar 5k(ish)

My wife and I decided to run from our house in Harlem down to Dive Bar on the Upper West Side (96th & Amsterdam). It was a little less than our 3 mile plan (2.56 miles), but we decided it was alright since we are doing our "long run" today (5 miles). We also had to take advantage of the last two days that I will be drinking alcohol until I drop my weight. It was a good time, although we definitely got some confused looks as we were sitting in a bar on a Friday night wearing our running gear! 


Yesterday afternoon I did the Plyometrics workout for P90X. It wasn't the most fun hour of my life and I'm definitely feeling sore today...but I'm glad I stuck with it and did the entire hour.


I'll try to update later today after I do my P90X workouts and my wife and I do our long run. But in case I don't get around to it, I hope you all have a very fun and safe New Year's Eve and a very Happy New Year!


Keep running!

half-marathon training: day 01

Today my wife and I began our training for the Manhattan Half Marathon, which is 21 January. We took a nice 3.06 mile run around Harlem even though it was extremely cold. I'm proud of my wife for braving the weather. It was also her first run in minimalist shoes. I bought her the New Balance Minimus WT20s (pictured) for Christmas. She seems to be transitioning well!


I can't believe I've never run a half marathon before. I've done 5ks, 10ks, 15ks, 30ks, marathons, and 50k ultramarathons, but never got around to doing a half. I'm glad I'm doing it...and especially glad to be doing it with my wife.


I also started P90X today. I did a chest & back workout as well as the ab ripper workout. It was tough. What was even tougher was taking a look at my "before" photos that were taken today. They are definitely motivation to get my ass in gear!


Tomorrow my wife and I will be doing another 3 mile run and I'll be doing plyometrics for my P90X workout. I may also try to sneak in another run in the early afternoon since I don't start classes for another week or so.  Lord knows I could use the extra mileage!


Keep running!

new year's resolutions

So it's just about 2012 and everyone will be making resolutions that, most likely, will not last through January. To be honest, I think a large majority (if not absolutely all!) of my resolutions have ended very early in the year. 

Everyone begins with high hopes of this finally being the year that they keep their resolution...but it never really ends up that way. 

Life gets in the way, we get too busy, and the easiest thing to do is to give up on what we had resolved to do. 

Last one in, first one out.

This year I have two big resolutions:

barefoot in harlem

just got finished with a nice and easy 4 mile barefoot run through the lovely streets of harlem. i'm gearing up to run the dogfish dash 10k barefoot in only 10 days. it will be my second barefoot race. i ran my first barefoot race last friday at columbia university. it was only a short 5k fun run, but it was significant to me as it was my first official barefoot race.

so 4 miles is just about my max for barefoot running at this point. the pads on my feet are slowly getting used to running more miles, but i'm having a hard time being patient! i have to keep telling myself that i don't want to succumb to injuries by doing too much too soon.

one thing about barefoot running that always cracks me up is the response i get from various people. most people just stare at my barefeet and don't say anything. but, being in new york city, there are a fair amount of people who feel as if they need to comment. my neighbor, for instance, always tells me to go back inside and put some shoes on before he has to bring me to the hospital. he's a funny guy who loves to bust my balls.

some of my favorite comments have been:

• concerned man on the subway: "hey man, did someone steal your shoes?" (at least he was nice as he even offered to give me a pair of socks, even after i explained to him that i run barefoot)
• random person in the park: "watch out for needles!" (my thought: how many times a day to you see needles sticking up out of the ground?)
• random lady in the subway station: "that's f*****g disgusting!" (my thought: if you think this is disgusting, just wait until i tell you the amount of bacteria on the ice in the average restaurant! i guarantee that my feet are cleaner than what you are using to keep your drink cold!)
• lady at lowe's: "why aren't you wearing shoes?" my response: "for the same reason you aren't wearing mittens." she actually chuckled and was nice about it.

i'll save some more of my favorites for another day.

keep running!

 

welcome

over the next few weeks i'm going to work on building some content for this blog. it will be focused on ultrarunning, trail running, and minimalist/barefoot running.

i look forward to writing and sharing with you!