Baby's First NYRR Run

I ran the Shape+Health 5.8 mile Central Park loop yesterday for my first NYRR race as part of my 9+1 qualifying races for the 2023 NYC Marathon. I'd never thought I would take on this goal but here I am, performing at the circus like the clown I am.

I'm not a morning person so waking up and getting into the city early was brutal. It was even more annoying because I couldn’t really sleep the night before either for some reason. I don’t even know why because it wasn’t even a race I was excited for or really cared about; to me it was just a qualifier and a short distance I knew I could do so there was no race jitters to it other than it being my first NYRR race. I did have a nightmare that night though where I thought I was running late to the race and it started before I got there so maybe that’s what caused it. Sleep anxiety. 😅 I ended up calling it quits trying to sleep and got up at 5am to get ready. Luckily I had my stuff picked out and laid out beforehand so it made getting ready easier. I just had to get ready and go. Traffic wasn’t too bad at least for it being so early on a weekend morning. I got in, found an easy parking spot and ran over to the bib pickup in the park. That run helped as my warmup, as well as keeping warm since it was freezing at 7am. 45 degrees as we waited to start.

And when we finally did start, I was a little disappointed. The start launch was not as fun or eventful as runDisney. The first mile was rough simply because it felt like I was running forever before I reached that first mile marker for some reason. And then having to run them Harlem hills after the Loeb Boathouse turn. Miles 2-4 was no joke, thank the gods I only signed up to do one loop and not an entire half marathon. Hills are the absolute worst for running and the Central Park loop on the North side is all hills. I felt like I wanted to die. On top of my ankle still killing me after last week's 10 miler despite my taking it easy all week since I got home. I'm hoping this injury is minor and heals soon.

After the hills ended though, the leg of the course was much easier to get through. It’s funny because the first half was running up the East side of the park which is in full bloom of cherry blossoms. The West side, however, is all bare. It’s funny how mother nature is fickle like that, even in the same park. I’m hoping the West side blooms this weekend so I can shoot some pretty blossoms when I visit so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, the delayed blooms between the two sides.

The finish line was just ask lackluster as the starting line. RunDisney definitely has spoiled me and now I feel like I can never go back. Do I even want to finish these qualifiers and continue on with the NYC marathon goal? LOL. All in all, though, it was a fairly decent run for my first NYRR run. It was an easy, doable distance and a cool morning. They did provide a nice goody bag, bagel, apple, pretzels, those weird foil blankets, and water after you finish. All the volunteers were excellent and everyone was great at cheering on the runners along the course. No medal for this one but at least running through cherry blossoms makes for a beautiful backdrop against the city.

Afterwards, I grabbed brunch with my sister and best friend for a quick second before racing back home to get to work after. Now to repeat this 8 more times. My next one is in 2 weeks. UGH. These early wake up calls at the crack of dawn are going to be the death of me but once I get them done, I can finally go into hibernation mode and take it easy for the rest of the 2022 race season. I swear these early wake-ups are so much easier at Disney for some reason. It only reminded me why I prefer RunDisney in Florida lol. That’s the funny thing about this race and last week’s DC race. All I could do is keep comparing them to Disney runs and now I know why people would rather pay the premium to run in Disney. You actually have to get up earlier but it’s honestly not as bad and all worth it. I would rather do a Disney run in a heartbeat over these nonDisney ones, honestly.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

I discovered this race back in 2019 serendipitously while shooting cherry blossoms with a friend when I was visiting DC. We were shooting at the Tidal Basin early to avoid crowds when I heard a lot of cheering. Then I saw a throng of people stampeding through the roads and I realized that’s why the roads were closed that morning and why my Uber driver had a hard time trying to find a spot to drop me off. I Googled it and found out that it was an annual run held in DC where you literally run through all the cherry blossom blooms along the trail of the Tidal Basin. I was intrigued. I immediately texted my girl Kerri who always does all the runDisney Princess runs with me and we agreed to sign up the next year. We got in the lottery that December and were all set to run it Spring 2020.

DUN DUN DUN.

And then Covid happened. The race was cancelled pretty much the week after everything shut down around the world that fateful week in March 2020. It was literally 3 weeks til the race and I was pretty sad about it because I was looking forward to it all year after witnessing this phenomenon that spring before.

Fast forward to today. It would be 3 years from when I first stumbled upon and discovered the existence of the cherry blossom before it would return.

But alas! I finally got to run this race, this past Sunday and it was a great experience!

It was definitely different from running a Disney race that’s for sure. It was a different atmosphere, with much more serious runners than I’m used to in the Disney crowd. I’m not exactly sure yet if I enjoyed it or felt too intimidated by it. I definitely felt like I had to push harder and felt compelled to never stop at all during the course, except one time for a much needed sugar pick-me-up when I spotted a free beer and Oreos stand. I grabbed three, scarfed them down and felt so much better. I’ve never experimented with cookies before as one of my race fuels but it really made me feel better and helped recharge me to finish out the last leg of the course.

The sad part is the bloom was very early this year and a few days before this race, a tornado came through and wiped out a bunch of the blossoms so a lot of the trees in the area were looking rather sparse. Most of the course wasn’t very scenic to run through, considering the whole race is themed around literally that; running through cherry blossom blooms. Luckily though, the last 4 miles of the course running through the East Potomac park had a decent amount of trees still in bloom which made for a beautiful trail to run through, especially for the home stretch leg of the race.

Those last miles definitely were eventful though. Between mile 7 and 8 was where everyone’s favorite stop was, the free beer and Oreos stand, which literally had pre-poured cups of beer for everyone and literally trays upon trays of free Oreos in different flavors and everything. These were provided courtesy of a local brewery, which was pretty cool of them to do.

A little after mile 8, though, I witnessed something pretty crazy. I saw a little red medic looking golf cart with the curtains down and saw there was someone in a stretcher inside through the curtain panels. And then a few feet in front of the cart, I realized there was a girl on the ground, her face eggplant purple and medics doing chest compressions (And sadly, this wasn’t the first time I was witnessing this happening. The day before in Capitol Hill, after dinner on our way to the metro to head back for the night, we saw a man on the ground surrounded by EMTs and police with a device administering chest compressions. We found out later the man did not make it when we looked it up later that evening.) The girl looked fairly young too. I was in a bit of shock after seeing that but I had to keep going. There was enough people already around her helping and this didn’t seem like a race you could really stop in without getting trampled because it’s literally full of serious runners compared to my past races. Although I worry that might have been what caused this young girl’s unfortunate situation-being a serious runner and pushing too hard. I hear it all the time.

“Listen to your body.”

“Rest when needed.”

“Slow down.”

And you know for the most part, I’m pretty bad at all that. I worry a lot about overexerting myself. I do try to slow down when I feel like my heart is racing too fast, which happens from time to time, but less frequently ever since I started being more active. I’m always conscious of my cardio health because my mom has a heart condition. One of my friends, who is also a runner, went into tachycardia after finishing his race a few years back, collapsing right next to the medic tent luckily enough and was rushed to the hospital. They did emergency surgery on him and now he has forever has a device implanted in him that will shock his heart back to life if it happens again. To me, these things are very scary and very real especially witnessing what was happening to that girl with my own eyes. It’s a grim reminder I need to take care of myself. I need to listen to my body and its needs. I need to slow down. I need to rest. I need to stop overdoing it and wanting to get too many miles in and causing myself to be prone to injury and then not letting that injury heal before my next big run. I need to stop taking my health for granted. I need to practice more gratitude for what my body can do, for what it allows me to do. For allowing me to move everyday and carry me through so much. As much as I worked on my physical health in the past few years, I need to also work on my mental health and stop thinking negative thoughts about myself. There is still a lot I have to work on, on myself.

But I digress. This race was a rollercoaster of events and emotions. After mile 9, I reached the bend where I had discovered this race all those years ago. There was a HUGE crowd of spectators at this bend, cheering everyone one, firing off confetti sticks, blasting music and pushing us to finish the last mile. It was the push I needed after witnessing mile 8’s incident. I raced through to the finish line and was so happy I finished this. Although I do have to say, this finish line was not as exciting and cool as a runDisney finish line, by far, lol. And the reunion area was much more chaotic. The medals were in an area far from the finish line and it was very odd that you had to pretty much go chase them down. I’m used to Disney where they just hand them to you as soon as you cross that finish line. I swear, I’ve been spoiled by the mouse. It’s true what they say and I can finally attest to it. There’s no race like a runDisney race and now I know why those races cost more and why people keep coming back.

Make no mistake, I still had a great time and would love to come back and run this race again, especially when the blossoms are in peak bloom. Plus DC is just beautiful in general so I enjoy coming back to visit and enjoy the views. There’s still so much I want to see and do in this city, but also still waiting for it to open up so I can do them, like the White House tours, tour of Congress, the many, many great museums and visiting embassies and trying their food. And food, let’s not forget food. I had a great time this weekend trying different restaurants and dessert spots! I walked alongside the Tidal Basin for a photoshoot, then walked from Georgetown to Capitol Hill, on top of the 10 mile run the next day, then limped all over the National Mall for vain medal pics, and then continously tortured my poor legs dragging them all the way to brunch and then the White House, getting in a total of 28.7 miles and 57,324 steps this weekend.

I’m not the fastest runner by far, but I still enjoy getting out there and seeing what I can do, while my body still allows me to do it. Despite feeling intimidated by all the ‘real’ runners this weekend, I still want to continue doing this. It pushes me to keep going and to have fun with it.

I realized how fitting that the race was a cherry blossom run, given this weekend and all I witnessed and experienced. Cherry blossoms are symbolic of spring - a time of renewal and rebirth of everything. But they also represent the fleeting nature of life, and how everything can quickly change, especially since their bloom is so short lived. The race, just like cherry blossoms was eventful with all the things I ran past, symbolic of how life goes up and down so fast you can’t keep up sometimes. But you just have to keep going. It reminds me of the lesson of the cherry blossom in Memoirs of a Geisha.

We must not expect happiness…
it is not something we deserve.
When life goes well, it’s a sudden gift, it cannot last forever.

I learned this weekend that we have to keep moving on, moving forward, but we also have to remember to enjoy life in the present. Don’t live life so fast that you forget to have fun and just enjoy things. Allow yourself to be happy when it does happen.

And as cheesy as it sounds, like my girl Cassey says, find the joy in fitness! My husband has started running with me again for the spring and I can’t even begin to tell you how much joy it brings me. It’s the little things in life, truly.

Up next, two race events in Central Park and then our Bermuda trip at the end of this month!

Bermuda

This was a last minute decision but with hubby starting a new job and still having vacation time from his former job, we booked a quick getaway cruise to spend time together in 34 days! I realized this was a much needed trip since we haven’t been on a vacation just the two of us in quite some time. The past 2 years have been group trips with family and friends. While I enjoy having those trips, especially since it helps with taking those rare photos of us together, I also really miss just spending time alone with him.

And for him, he’s more of a relaxing type of vacationer as opposed to me, where I always have 21093821 things on the itinerary to do. Which is also another reason why we booked a cruise. Everything since the pandemic started in 2020 has been Disney and all rope drop to park close schedules. He enjoys freestyle cruising because you can do whatever you want at your leisure. We did the Norwegian Breakaway, Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas, and the Disney Magic in our past cruises and it’s always been a relaxing time. We learned that we preferred newer ships with balcony style rooms over the older ships that only have portholes. We are also not interior room people. After experiencing balcony rooms on our honeymoon, we can never go back even if it’s to save a little money. The balcony rooms are definitely worth the upgrade.

We wanted to try a different ship this time around and got lucky the Norwegian Joy was sailing out of New York this spring instead of the Breakaway ship that’s always in New York. The ship is supposed to be newer than the Breakaway and similar in terms of style and class, which is nice since the Breakaway was definitely a great cruise. We enjoyed the food and amenities onboard in the past and this ship is supposed to be even better. I’m excited for Norwegian Joy Speedway where you can drive around in go-karts on the ship!

Also in the past, the cruises we sailed on were all to the Bahamas because that’s the most common cruise on the Northeast. This one is going to be our first time sailing to Bermuda! I’m very excited because I really wanted to see crystal blue waters again and this time it’s not just for a night! We dock in Bermuda and stay for 3 days/2 nights, which is really nice. I hate when we do Bahamas and we barely get a day because we dock in the afternoon and leave the next, barely giving much time to enjoy the island and beautiful blue waters. It’s one of the parts I actually hate about cruising, you’re never in one place long enough to enjoy the beautiful beaches and water. I need more than just a few hours! I love to watch sunsets on the beach. It’s always been a thing since high school with the boy since we go to the beach at sunset to enjoy less crowds and less harsh sun melting us.

I’m excited about this trip too because it was a great deal. Cruises aren’t exactly selling out because yes, duh, we’re still in a pandemic so people are wary about traveling. I admit, I still am too and that’s why I haven’t done any international trips especially since I don’t want to deal with wasted time having to quarantine before being able to explore the city I’m in (since I don’t have that many vacation days to spare to waste on that since I wasted them on runDisney trips😅). But between the price of this cruise and the low occupancy of the ship, I felt a little better. It’s going to be much less crowded than it usually is pre-pandemic, especially from what I’ve been hearing across the board from various people cruising so far, so the service will actually be better as well as less waits for the lines for activities. I understand it’s a risk I’m taking traveling but I’ve also been putting myself at risk running races since that’s pretty much a petri dish for covid, but so far I’ve been safe and smart every time I travel and masked up when I felt uncomfortable. I still mask up at the gym and when I’m inside public spaces like the mall, supermarket, etc. I mean, I work in healthcare. I’ve been at the frontline of the virus since day 1. Everything is constantly changing as we learn more about the virus and how it evolves and new strains emerge and we adapt to learning new treatments. I use my common sense, have stayed pretty healthy for the past 4 years since I got my shit together on my fitness journey and so far, I’ve been safe from the virus, despite the situations I've found myself in and being exposed many times due to sick family members, coworkers, friends, etc. At this point, the main thing is, I know what the risks are and I take all accountability for my actions going into each situation. I feel comfortable going on a cruise at this time and slowly getting back into traveling beyond the world of Disney. And I do. I do want to start going more places than Disney, despite what my friends and family think that it’s the only place I go to, lol. Justifiably, it’s where I went these past few years since borders have been closed and there weren’t exactly a lot of options out there anyway when it came to travel and vacations. I just didn’t feel safe going to other states especially with the political climate so the bubble was the safest place, I felt. I do hope one day when it all dies down, I can finally make my way back to Paris, Japan, Vietnam, as well as finish my Disney bucket list of the Hong Kong Disney, and get to finally go to London, Italy and Santorini. There’s a bunch of other places I’d love to go if we ever get back to normal.

Also throwback to past cruises. I remember loving these pics from past vacations but I also remember thinking back then that I still needed to lose more weight. Now looking back, I hate myself because when will it ever be enough? I really hate my body dysmorphia because now I think I look fine in these photos and that my mindset back then was insane. Hindsight is 20/20. And yet I still have these thoughts about my current body as I sit here and type this. I know a year from now I'll look at today’s pics of my body and again think “what was wrong with you?” I really wish I could get out off this toxic cycle of thinking my body is never good enough for me in the actual moment. I really need to work on gratitude and appreciating my body in all its forms and stages and be grateful for my health. It’s a constant journey trying to find a healthy balance with food, fitness and body image. I know a lot of it is mental and I really wish I could break out of my terrible ways of thinking. Society’s beauty standards really do a number on you and I’m truly working towards unlearning a lot of this. I’ve met a few girls this year from the runDisney Princess race and along with my amazing follower-turned-friends on IG, it’s really helped me to have amazing people hype me up when I’m feeling shitty to remind me that these thoughts in my head are not true. Thank you guys truly for keeping me in check when the demons try to rear their ugly heads.

Until then, I’m really looking forward to having this time with my husband next month. Especially since he started his new job and we don’t share any more days off together for the time being, so no adventures for now until he gets assigned a better schedule. With his old job, I saw him at least twice a month and we could go on dates. But with this new schedule, all the days he works, I’m off and all the days he’s off, I’m working. But it’s just temporary for now to get his foot in the door so hopefully it’ll pay off for the future and we’ll have more time off together in the end. For now, I’m happy both jobs are cooperating to allow us to take this vacation together.

34 days!