Don't Chase the Chipwich

Quite the assortment of happenings since I last posted. My mind was still processing all of my RTB experience while my body recovered and my daytime hours blew by with several large work projects. The week ended rather uneventfully with a mixed bag 10 miler on Thursday (some tempo miles, some MP miles and a couple warm ups/cool downs) followed by a delightful 5 miler on Friday. This cooler weather really wakes up all of my senses and makes running even more enjoyable! Saturday was my last 20 miler before Chicago; I was really looking forward to it and planning to make sure it was a success and something that would launch me confidently into my taper.

That it was!

57* starting out Saturday a.m. and besides the annoying bouncing of my SPI belt (note to self: figure out another way to carry your fuel), the run was off without a hitch. My route took me south along the Hudson, rounding Battery Park and heading north up the East River. Once back to 59th St. I entered the park and headed up to the reservoir. I'm not sure how but my timing worked out perfectly to get a lap around the reservoir in and finish in time to meet a RTB teammate, Meredith, and a friend of hers for my last 4 miles. Before meeting up with the girls I'd taken in a gel at around mile 5, some shot blocks around mile 10 and another gel right after mile 16. I was feeling good & strong and my mental game was sharp! After seeing the girls along East Drive I joined them for the northern hills of Central Park and back down along West Drive. We'd picked up the pace from those miles I logged mid-run and it could not have felt better. Plenty left in the tank. Finished up with 20.3 miles in 3:05:43 (9:08/mi).




After cleaning up and resting a bit, Jason & I headed out to Greenpoint to meet up with some friends for a bar crawl as part of NYC's Craft Beer Week. I highly suggest this as a way to recover from a LR! The suds were tasty, the environment fresh & new, the company enjoyable and the earlier ending evening a perfect way to log some quality zzzzs that night. We hit probably 5-6 bars with my favorite being The Mark Bar. Great bartender, friendly atmosphere, regular game nights, incredible beer selection and free pizza!

Sooo, like I started this post, my mind was all over the map last week. Several other tidbits about RTB have randomly popped into my noggin', this being the BEST of them. Ways to guarantee a high quality run: your teammates drive by blaring this song