HAPPY RUNIVERSARY!

Posted by dnardi710 in Uncategorized

I know I’ve been totally MIA for the past couple of months (since the NHL playoff season started…) but I felt that it was important to write something today…

It was one year ago today that I started running.

I started running to fundraise in honor of my friend Kerry who was battling Leukemia (entire story here) and to challenge myself to accomplish something I didn’t think was possible.  One year ago, when I could barely run down the block without being winded, I never would have imagined all I would get out of this challenge to myself.

1) I can accomplish anything if I put my mind to it!

This is of course cheesy, and cliche, and something I never actually believed.  I always said that I would love to run a marathon, and that it was too bad it was something I would never be able to do.  Well of course if I sat there and kept saying that and never actually went out for a run I wasn’t going to be able to run a marathon!  But what if I did start running?  Then why couldn’t I run a marathon?  So I started running, I stuck to a training plan (SO unlike me to stick to a plan!) andI did it, I ran a marathon!

The sense of accomplishment was so amazing that I couldn’t stop thinking of other new things I could challenge myself to do!  Which, was what led me to start this blog!  If I’m going to keep looking for new goals and things to accomplish I may as well have a place to document it all!

2. New Friends

When I went down to Orlando for my first half marathon I was nervous.  I knew I could manage the distance, I had done it several times in training already, but I had never actually participated in a race before!  Luckily, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect every step of the way thanks to Jenn’s blog Eat, Sleep, Run Disney.  I had even e-mailed with Jenn a few times before the race when I had some questions and she mentioned if I saw her down there to make sure I said hello!  Well, amazingly when I landed in Orlando and got on the bus to go from the airport to the hotel I immediately recognized the girl sitting across from me!

runDisney Friends!

We talked the entire ride and on the night of the race we met up at the field and Jenn introduced me to some of her other friends.  I LOVE that I now have a little group of friends that share an interest (read: OBSESSION) with running AND Disney!  It was great to meet everyone at the Wine & Dine event in October and then get together again for Marathon Weekend in January – we even got together in New York a few weeks ago!  I look forward to the runDisney events so much for the actual races, but it’s even better to have a group of friends to look forward to seeing each time too!

With Lisa right after I finished the marathon!

3. Old Friends

The reaction and support of my friends and family while I was training was amazing.  It’s been especially fun to be able to talk with my friend Alex about running.  Alex has been a runner for as long as I can remember and not only was she incredibly supportive while I was training but she’s recently joined a fundraising team for the 2012 NYC marathon because she was inspired by me (a non-runner!) completing a marathon!

Alex & I at the 2012 13.1 NYC!

4. A Distraction

I spend more time at work than I’d like.  I know a lot of people probably spend more time at work than they’d like, so I don’t mean to complain, but I don’t think I realized how desperately I was in need of something non work related to focus on.  I was overwhelmed with the feeling that work was taking over my life (or WAS my life for that matter) and I needed a distraction. Training for my first race and then my first marathon definitely made my life busier, but it also made it more balanced.

5. Inspiration

I can not forget what started this all, Kerry.  In the short time that I knew her Kerry inspired me in so many ways with her strength, courage and optimism.  I spent a lot of time during my training and the actual marathon thinking about Kerry.  I am not a particularly spiritual person, but I do believe I was meant to meet Kerry last year.  It’s not that Kerry personally encouraged me to run (I have no idea if Kerry was a runner or not to be honest), but I feel like the chain of events that led me to running and where I am today started with Kerry.

Damian, Danielle and Kerry

Damian, Danielle and Kerry at a Rangers Viewing Party

I wanted more than anything to celebrate my Runiversary with a run but I’m disappointed to say that did not happen.  Work has managed to take over again.  Yesterday I worked an 18 hour day and today I sat at my desk struggling to keep my eyes open, instead of coming home and going for a run I took a much needed nap.

Just a few more weeks of work craziness and I’ll be back though!  I’m already registered for a few fall races and Goofy 2013 – I can’t wait for year 2 of my running adventures!

BOOK RECOMMENDATION – BORN TO RUN

Posted by dnardi710 in Book Recommendations, Running and tagged with ,

I honestly don’t know where to start with this book – I absolutely loved it!

Author Christopher McDougall started with a simple question of trying to figure out why his foot hurt when he ran.  Where it led him was on an incredible journey that turned into Born to Run – A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

To me this book was about so many things – a running race, a lesson on human evolution, and a story of unlikely friendships.  Born to Run beautifully weaves between the stories of the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, Caballo Blanco an American who lives amongst the tribes, a colorful cast of supporting characters, the history of barefoot and long distance running and the race that brought them all together.

My takeaways from this book – ultra marathon running is crazy!  And barefoot running is intriguing…I am definitely going to be looking into more minimalist shoes and experimenting with barefoot running.  That being said this book is definitely NOT just for runners – the story goes beyond the running to inspire all readers.

Micah True

At the heart of this story was a man named Micah True, or Caballo Blanco (the White Horse) as he was known.  It was True who coordinated the race between the Tarahumara and the American ultra runners that the book is ultimately about.  While reading this book I heard of an upcoming event with True not to far from me that included a 4 mile run with him!  A friend and I were really looking forward to going and were shocked and saddened when just days after we learned about the event that True was reported missing…

On March 27th, 2012 Micah True went out for a run in the Gila National Forrest in New Mexico and didn’t return.  His body was found several days later on March 31st.  Cause of death is still unknown, but from what it seems he died doing what he loved.

GOALS AND GROWTH – 3 MONTH CHECK UP

Posted by dnardi710 in Grow / Goals, Running and tagged with

Can you believe it’s April already?!?  Well, I figured since the point of my writing this blog is to document my journey to “GROW” and work towards some goals I set for myself it would be a good idea to give my “2012 Goals and Growth” list a 3 month check up!

On New Year’s Day I posted a list of things I hoped to accomplish/ learn/ experience in 2012, including:

  1. Complete a Marathon (or another marathon…)
  2. Run 700 Miles
  3. Yoga
  4. Visit Italy
  5. Begin to Learn Italian
  6. Volunteer

So far I’ve done much better on the top half of the list…

Complete a Marathon (or another marathon…)

I did in fact complete my first full marathon at Walt Disney World on January 8th!

The experience was amazing and I’m still planning to stick to the 2nd half of that goal (“or another marathon…”).  I’ve entered the lottery for the 2012 NYC Marathon and I’m planning on doing the “Goofy” at the WDW Marathon in 2013, which is the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday!

Run 700 Miles

As of March 31st I’m only at about 130 miles for 2012, so I’m not quite where I should be at this point to reach my goal, but I’m sure my mileage will pick up as I start training for some some fall races and “Goofy” in January.

Yoga!

I’ve always really enjoyed yoga, but since we’ve moved to New York I just never got around to either joining a gym that offered classes or finding a studio.  Well, at the beginning of March I got a 1 month “new student” trial at a studio near me and have gone to classes a couple of times a week – I am absolutely LOVING IT!

I know a lot of people find running relaxing, and a great way to de-stress, but to be honest when I’m running I still think about work and whatever else may be stressing me.  At yoga I am so focused on the teacher’s voice leading the class through the poses and my body position that I’m not thinking of anything else!  I’ve really enjoyed the past month of yoga and would love to not only continue to go to classes, but start practicing at home either with DVD’s, or a yoga app (so far I really like Pocket Yoga).

Visit Italy and Begin to Learn Italian

Ummm, yeah…I should probably get started on the “Learning Italian” especially if we still want to go to Italy this summer!  Depending on the next month or two a trip to Italy may need to be postponed to next year.  Either way I need to break out the Rosetta Stone and get started!

Volunteer

My problem with this one is that most places want some sort of regular volunteer schedule, which unfortunately because of my varying work scheduled I can’t give them right now.

I did start talking to someone about doing some social media work for a non-profit which I was really excited about, but it seems to have fizzled out – I’m still hoping that the project will move forward, otherwise I still need to work on fulfilling this goal!

Overall

When I decided to set some goals for myself at the start of the year I didn’t want them to be a chore, I wanted them to be things I’ve been meaning to do, or always wanted to do that I just sort of needed a push on (I tend to be a BIT of a procrastinator!).  Using the blog to help keep me accountable has been great and I really do love that I’m finally moving forward and accomplishing some of these things!  I’ll check back in with another update in a few months!

And just for fun, here’s a picture of me at our subway launch event today:

NEW YORK 13.1 – RACE RECAP

Posted by dnardi710 in Race Recap, Running and tagged with ,

This past weekend I ran the New York 13.1 – my second half marathon and my first NON-Disney race!  I know myself well enough to know that to keep up with running I need to keep a race on my calendar every few months, so awhile back I found this half marathon and decided it would be a good “spring” race to keep me training after the WDW Marathon.

Since it was a local race I decided to e-mail my friend Alex to see if she wanted to do it with me.  Alex and I have been friends since 1st grade and for as long as I can remember she has always been my “running” friend – I’d call her house in high school and her mom would tell me she was out running…so I’d call back 20 minutes later (because really, who runs more than 20 minutes?!?) and her mom would say, “she’s still out running!”  Alex always seemed to be out running, and to be honest I never really got it.  Why would someone just go out and voluntarily run??

Well, now that I “voluntarily” run, I thought it may be fun for Alex and I to “voluntarily” run together!  (Well not so much “together” since Alex is much faster than I am, but you know…in the same race at least…)

I met Alex and her husband Randy in the parking lot bright an early Saturday morning (which was a bit rough since I had worked late the night before).  We didn’t have to worry about bag check since Randy was going to carry our bags for us (thanks Randy!), so we headed right over to the starting area to stretch a bit and took a pre-race picture:

At around 9am we lined up, listened to a not-so-great rendition of the Nation Anthem and we were off!  (Not quite the fanfare and firework starts of a Disney race, but I was just glad to get started!)  So, leading up to this race I had been working A LOT and running…well, NOT A LOT.  My only long run since the marathon in January was a 9-mile run two weeks ago and since then I had only done one 3-mile run.  My body was exhausted from how much I had been working and my only goal for this race was to finish.

The race was through Flushing Meadows Corona Park, home of the US Open and the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs – yes Disney fans, this is where “It’s a Small World”, “The Carousel of Progress” and the audio-animatronics of “Mr. Lincoln” all made their debut!

The half marathon course was a bit confusing looking at the map, but this proved not to be a problem since I was not leading the race at any point and was able to just follow all the people in front of me.  I only stopped to take one picture (which clearly people do a lot less of at non-Disney races):

The Unisphere at Flushing Meadows Park

The Unisphere at Flushing Meadows Park

The course was pretty flat and although I was not too concerned with my time I was happy with the pace I was keeping whenever I did check.  I have to say I was honestly shocked when I crossed the finish line at 2:06 – 13 minutes faster than my Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon time!  Granted I was not stopping to take pictures with characters on this run, but I still was not expecting to beat my previous time by that much coming off such a busy stretch at work and not having trained properly.

I got my medal and met Alex and Randy at the finish area – Alex had also PR’d finishing in 1:54!

Half Marathon #2 is done!  Time to start looking for my next race!

Weekly Training Recap and Goals

Posted by dnardi710 in Training Logs

Meet my new deskmate – Little Stanley!

RECAP (3/12-18)

Monday - 30 minutes elliptical

Tuesday – long work day

Wednesday – 3 mile run

Thursday – long work day

Friday – none

Saturday – 90 minute yoga class

Sunday – 3 mile run

Overall – Happy considering how many games I had to work this week.

NEXT WEEK (3/19-25)

Busy game week again, but looking forward to the NYC 13.1 this weekend with Alex!  (Followed by a massage on Sunday!)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - 

“Remember that BIG things have small beginnings.”  - @loumongello (not sure if there is a different origin for this quote, but that’s where I got it from!)

Weekly Training Recap and Goals

Posted by dnardi710 in Training Logs

Hopefully once this crazy stretch at work is over I’ll have time to get back to writing some actual posts -for now it’s just the training logs (which are really just for my own tracking purposes!)…

RECAP (3/5-3/11)

Monday – long work day

Tuesday – none

Wednesday – long work day

Thursday – AM: 3.5 mile run, 15 minutes elliptical / PM: 1 hour 15 minute yoga class

Friday – 30 minutes elliptical

Saturday –  1 hour 30 minute yoga class

Sunday – 9 mile run (and a late night at work…not bad!)

Overall – Slow start to the week, but definitely happy with getting in two yoga classes and a long run!

NEXT WEEK (3/12-3/18)

Marathon weeks of games – 7 in 13 days!  Honestly I don’t expect to get many workouts in so I’ll take whatever I can get!  I should re-appear sometime after the 24th…which by the way is the day I’ll be running the NYC 13.1 with Alex!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - 


Weekly Training Recap and Goals

Posted by dnardi710 in Training Logs

TWO WEEKS WORTH…

RECAP (2/13-2/19)

Monday – 60 minutes elliptical

Tuesday – 60 minutes elliptical

Wednesday – long work day

Thursday – 60 minute run/ walk

Friday – 30 minutes elliptical

Saturday – long work day

Sunday – 3 mile run

RECAP (2/20-3/4)

Monday – long work day

Tuesday – long work day

Wednesday – 45 minute elliptical

Thursday – 1 hour 15 minute yoga class

Friday – 40 minutes elliptical

Saturday – 1 hour 15 minute yoga class, 3 mile run

Sunday – long work day

Overall – So glad I finally stopped procrastinating and got to a couple of yoga classes!  Not nearly as many runs as I would have liked, but I guess on the bright side at least I got on the elliptical on days when I didn’t have much time – better than nothing!

NEXT WEEK (3/5-3/11)

As usual a busy week at work so I’ll be glad just to get in a couple of runs and a yoga class or two (I really want to try out my new lululemon yoga mat!).

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - 

“If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full-speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race.” – Oprah Winfrey

This quote seemed appropriate to remind myself to slow down and take the time to “recharge”!


GETTING BACK ON TRACK

Posted by dnardi710 in Disney, Grow / Goals, Running, Uncategorized and tagged with ,

So, as you may have noticed I have been somewhat “speechless” since the Walt Disney World Marathon in January – yes, there have been a few sporadic posts here and there (other than my training recaps which are really just for my purposes), but they’ve all felt some what forced.

There are a few reasons for my recent absence:

  1. WORK – I am getting completely overwhelmed and exhausted by work recently, the hours keep adding up this time of year (70+/ week) plus I have a 45 minute commute each way on top of it.  That’s enough about that though, I don’t want this post to turn into complaining about work hours (which is easily could!)
  2. WORKOUTS – I’ve been struggling to even get runs/ workouts in so when it’s come down to BLOG or WORKOUT I’ve always chosen to workout
  3. POST RACE BLUES – so I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but I feel like I’ve really been struggling with a sort of “post race blues” since my marathon in January.  For about 9 months I was completely consumed by this goal of running a half marathon and then running a full marathon and then…it was over.  That was it.  This huge goal I had been working towards and focused on of so long (that also kept my distracted from stressing about work) was over and done with and I’ve pretty much felt completely lost.  My running has become uninspired and blogs posts are non-existant, I truly LOVE the runDisney races and I am literally craving my next one.

I’ve decided I need to get out of this funk though.  There is nothing I can do about my work hours right now, it is what it is so I’m going to try my best to stop complaining and try to keep up with my running and blog posts as best I can.

As far as workouts go, since I started working out regularlyI’ve been pretty much only running and doing the elliptical – I am LONG overdue for some variety and I’ve been meaning to start doing yoga again (I haven’t been to a class since I moved to NY almost 3 years ago!), not to mention it’s on my “goals and growth” list.  So, I found a yoga studio in the town next to me and went to a class last night!

It really was fantastic and was the much needed change of pace I was looking for.  When I’m running or on the elliptical I tend to still stress about work and other stuff (I even check my e-mail on my phone when I’m on the elliptical), but there is truly nothing like yoga to completely lose yourself in.  As soon as I rolled out my mat I felt myself start to relax, the teacher’s voice was incredibly soothing and I was able to focus on myself and my body moving through the poses.  One of the best parts of the class was that they had live music!  I guess it’s not something they do very often, but I just happened to catch it at my first class, it sounded just like a music track you would normally hear in a yoga class but there were two musicians sitting in the corner of the room playing and chanting, it really added to the experience.  I’m hoping to go to another class tomorrow and make it a regular habit, I definitely need that “me” time carved out every once in awhile.

The other thing I did recently was register for the Disneyland 5k and Half Marathon!  Unfortunately, it’s still about 6 months away so it’s not really an immediate “fix” for my runDisney race craving, but at least it’s something to look forward to.  I’ve never been to Disneyland so I’m really looking forward to it, plus my mom and my sister both registered to do the 5k as well!

I know work is only going to get busier over the next couple of months, so I’m going to try to do my best to keep some sort of balance to my life (I can pretty much hear those of you who know me well laughing…), but I’m looking forward to the summer when I will really have the time to get back on track and focus on moving forward with my life and goals.

Weekly Training Recap and Goals

Posted by dnardi710 in Training Logs and tagged with ,

RECAP (2/13-2/19)

Monday – none

Tuesday – 2 mile run and 60 minutes elliptical

Valentine's Day Socks!

Wednesday – none

Thursday – long day at work

Friday – long day at work

Saturday – 8 mile run, 2.5 mile walk and 30 minutes elliptical

Sunday – long day at work

Overall – definitely not as many workouts as I’d have liked this week but it’s hard when I’m working late so many nights.  Glad I got in a long run on Saturday since I have the NYC 13.1 half marathon coming up in a month!  I also registered for the Disneyland Half Marathon and 5k which are at the beginning of September, I’ve never been to Disneyland so I’m really looking forward to it!

NEXT WEEK (2/20-2/27)

I only have to work late 2 nights this week so I’m hoping I’ll get in a few good workouts and maybe have some time to start thinking about some of my other goals I’d like to start working on – although unfortunately I think those may end up waiting until summer when I’m not as busy at work.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK - 

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” - Wayne Gretzky

FINDING A NEW RUNNING ROUTE

Posted by dnardi710 in Running and tagged with , ,

When I first started running I didn’t know where to run or how to find routes that were the right distance.  After some easy internet searching I found a few really good websites to help me plan my long runs during training.

The USA Track & Field website allows you to put in your city, state and the distance you are looking to run and a bunch of options that fit your criteria will pop up.  When you click on one of the options it gives you a map and a brief description of the route (hills, flat, etc.).

Sites such as RunKeeper and MapMyRun both have similar features where you can search routes in your area that have been posted by other members – and if you use one of their apps you can share your routes with others and save your “favorite” routes.  This is my usual 9 mile loop:

Finding new running route is great not only for planning out long runs during training, but you can find places to run while you are on vacation or visiting a new city.  Another great tip that I learned when I was in Philadelphia in January is that most hotels will provide you with running maps if you just ask at the front desk!  This is the one they gave me in Philadelphia and it took my right past the Rocky steps and down Boathouse Row which was gorgeous!

These sites are great too if you’re just getting bored of the usual scenery and want to find a new route in your area – which is what I’m going to do!  I’ve run my before work 3 mile loop one too many times!