gymmin, NYC marathon, and other monday happenings

Happy Monday!  I had an earlllly start today.  I had to be at work at 6:30am.   Surprisingly though, it wasn't too bad.  I worked a half day, so I was off by 10:30am. A girl could get used to that!  RunnerSis and I had discussed meeting up today to work out.  It was a bit icy, so we opted to take our workout to the gym.   We got there around 1pm and even at that time, it was crazy busy.  

We hopped on side by side mills and got to it.   I wasn't totally feeling it today, but managed to bust out 2 miles in 15:35 at 1% incline.  RunnerSis was still doing her miles, so I opted to restart and do a different workout on top of it.   I did an incline walk starting at 8% for a few minutes, then would run at that incline for  about a minute and half.  I would back it down and do it at 3% and repeat the pattern.   I upped it 10%, repeat.  Down to 2%, repeat.  Up to freakin 15%, repeat (so.not.fun), then finally finished with 0% incline which earned me doing 1.2 miles in 14:15.   It was a nice little challenge and a nice mix-up from the normal mill run.  

After RunnerSis finished 3 miles, we did a few weights before heading home.  Unlike Ryan, she willingly took her pic outside the gym.   Yes, we're nerds:

Hi RunnerSis!

It felt nice to be done with my workout midday on a weekday.   So what else did I do with my day?  Oh, you know, just put my name in the hat for the NYC marathon!  I figure, why not? It's a small chance, I get that.  It's pricey, I get that too.  I look at it as a once-in-a-lifetime thing.   In my very favorite city, in the fall.   

To me, you're worth all your pricey glory.

The downside? They don't draw until the end of April.   That puts me in a bit of a quandary.   It means I have to put other fall races on hold until I know for certain or at least other fall marathons, that is.   However, I still maintain - so worth it.   I mean, just look at this - 

How can you argue with Central Park in Autumn?  You just can't.

Ryan is less than thrilled with the price.  Who am I kidding?  So am I.  However, he said if I were to get in, he'd be pretty pumped to go to NYC in the fall too.  It's a double-edged sword, really.   But,  I'm still crossing fingers and toes :)

In addition to trying to throw money around like it's nothing, I worked on making a new blog header (Ryan doesn't love it, but I got sick of the old pics.   We'll see if it stays).   I also created an About Me page and updated my races thus far for 2012!  Take a look!   In the midst of this, I was messaged by a friend from Lifetime who just started a blog and was looking for advice.  I have little to offer in the blog advice department, but tried as best as I could to help her out.   I also told her I would show her some love and send you guys her way.  Her name is Steph and she really wants to be held accountable for getting back into running and fitness.  I know you guys will help keep her on track, so head over to her blog and say hi!  Running High Five.

Oh, and guess what?  Today is a certain someone's birthday!  This pretty lady!

Erika!   Happy birthday to one of my very favorite people!  Despite being thousands of miles away, I know we'll celebrate soon and have plenty of fun :)   #virtualHug.  You know you need to head over and tell her happy birthday!

Tomorrow I'm back to working normal hours, eek.  I have no idea how I'll survive!   Here's to hoping I make it through the rest of the week without becoming a zombie ;)

Let's chat, shall we?

-Have you seen a surge in gym goers?  Annoyed by them?  My main thing is the people who are clearly staying on their machine for over an hour walking at 1.0 just to talk to their friend and are completely oblivious that others are waiting for them to be free!

-What makes it 'worth it' to you to pay for a pricier race?  

-Did you work today? If not, what'd you do?

-How has your 2012 started?  In the right exercise direction?

Megan