Going the distance…not going for speed

Saturday was a beautiful day to be running in Central Park! I hoped off the train at 59th and headed up 5th taking in the pretty hotels, brownstones, and museums along the way. I don’t mind the ¾ mile walk to the terrace on the way to practice. On the way home it’s a little rough. After a great mission moment (more in a later post), my training group was assigned a 6 mile run. We aim to increase 1-2 miles a week, no more. So I decided to run with the 10 ½ minute mile group for two reasons: I knew people in that pace group and I have never run six miles! On the treadmill, I typically run about 9 -9½ minute miles, but let’s face it when you are running on the treadmill you want to do everything in your power to get off it as quickly as possible!

It turned out to be a great decision because it was by far the best, albeit the longest, run I have done since starting this crazy endeavor!

The time flew by, I never got tired, and I really enjoyed the park. Lots of dogs, bikers, baseball games, surprisingly lush trees. I always have to remind myself that Central Park is beautiful because it was created by landscape architects! For more on the creation of the first made park of the 19th century, check out the wikipedia entry.

So my first officially six mile run gave me a huge sense of accomplishment…I am still striding, I mean striving, for a runner’s high!

After practice I actually had to go to a work event in Flushing, so headed to the gym to shower and make myself as presentable as possible. Thank god for the New York Sports Club.

On my walk from the gym to Bryant Park where I was meeting a co-worker to hop on the 7 train, I realized I hadn’t had anything to drink all morning. Not good. I grabbed a bottle of water. For a brief moment the sound of my dad saying paying for water is like paying for air to breathe resounded in my head, but I decided water would be less expensive than a trip to the hospital if I passed out due to dehydration. On the bright side, I had already traveled 8 1/2 miles on foot and it wasn’t even 11:30, pretty cool.