Short N' Sweet

October 6, 2024

Sabrina Carpenter, turns out I CAN relate to desperation.

Back in June, I tried feverishly to get Sabrina Carpenter tickets all week the tickets were on sale, from the various pre-sales for teamSabrina, Spotify fans, etc and even gen sales but all with no luck because the re-sellers were too strong since she blew up this year. I saw her at the Governer’s Ball weeks before she announced her new tour and after attending my first music festival, decided that standing area festivals were not my jam. I need a seated venue concert so I didn’t have to worry about getting there early and fighting for a close up spot to be able to see her perform clearly and not through a recording on my phone. I felt defeated not being able to score tickets and didn’t want to give in to re-sellers because the price of tickets were insane but I told myself I’d look closer to the date in case the prices went down because people wanted to get rid of them. Someone also suggested trying the day of at the box office but my anxiety would not allow me to go into it with that much uncertainty.

Then August came and her new album dropped and I spent the entire weekend listening to it on repeat. It only intensified my anxiety but at the time I had my upcoming trips to keep me distracted for a bit. Then the week of the tour came and it was game over from the first night when all the videos of her performances hit social media and FOMO hit hard. I was also furiously mad dealing with a lot of unrelated but unnecessary rude drama while stressed the F out trying to plan a major event. It didn’t help but drove me over the edge into making further bad decisions and I ended up justifying buying these concert tickets as a Happy Birthday to me, bitch. I don’t go to these things often so I DESERVE THIS, OKAY?!

Backtrack to last year, during my NYC marathon training where it all started, I put my Spotify on shuffle for new suggestions for pop music and Sabrina Carpenter was suggested to me. Nonsense had me hooked and it hooked me into her album Emails I Can’t Send and eventually her entire catalogue. I had “This is Sabrina Carpenter” Spotify playlist on repeat and then went down a rabbit hole of the drama between her and Olivia Rodrigo for no damn reason other than I was just plain nosy. But in the end, I came out team Sabrina. I do listen to both artists but Sabrina just hits better. Then she turned up on my feed because she was opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour at some stops. And then she dropped a Christmas album. And then she was announced for the Governor’s Ball lineup. All of a sudden, she was everywhere and I couldn’t get enough of her cute little ass. I love the little kick she does when she performs Feather live. And her tongue in cheek outros for Nonsense personalized to each city she’s singing in. She radiated girly pop fun and her fashion was too cute to boot. I haven’t been this excited for a new artist in a while. I’m really picky about who I want to see in concert because I’m really cheap about spending the money when I can just listen to it on my own. From watching all her performances, I could tell she was worth seeing live. She just puts on a really cute show with lots of energy and her outfits are just perfection every time. She’s just…infectious. Let’s just say I have a huge girl crush on her and I haven’t felt that way in a while. I like a lot of artists and their music here and there, and sometimes I like the music but don’t really care enough to be a fan of the actual artist but in this case, I was in love.

I don’t know how but I started this year with no plans and somehow my fall season is booked and busy. When it rains, it pours is the running theme of my life, I guess. I do enjoy having a lot of events and keeping busy but the downside of all this is, is the literal costs of it all. I thought I had my financial situation handled and I even was able to be resourceful during the trips I had planned but of course, I should have known my life is always throwing financial curveballs at me. It’s also my dragon birthday this year and I really wanted to have a special birthday this year with a cute little picnic with my friends. Fate dealt me a winning hand in a Instagram contest so hopefully it’ll happen later this month. But I digress. I was trying to save money and a few unexpected things popped up this year, especially this time of year and I’m struggling trying to keep up with it all. And in the ensuing stress, I was driven over the edge and irresponsibly as well as irrationally hit the dopamine button and bought tickets. What I’m trying to say is I definitely feel guilty because I should not have done this but at the same time, I HAVE NO REGRETS because in short, the concert was ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.

The morning of the concert was a little stressful. I used SeatGeek, a resale site and the ticketholder had not sent over my tickets yet. I spent all morning calling and calling, trying to get the company to expedite the process or follow through with their promise of comparable tickets because I needed to leave my house by a certain time to make it there on time. The luxury picnic I won from the Instagram contest was actually was supposed to happen that day too but got postponed due to the weather so that was also adding to my plate of stress, along with another episode of the above mentioned unrelated but unnecessary rude drama. It was a lot I was dealing with that morning while trying to make sure I wasn’t scammed. Eventually right as the time I needed to leave my house on time approached, the ticket transfer came through. I departed asap and made it to the city and was able to find street parking 2 blocks away from Madison Square Garden. A little bit of luck was finally on my side.

Sabrina was performing for 2 nights in NY, one at MSG and one at Barclays. I chose MSG because I was off this weekend anyway, and Sunday nights are better especially with free parking in the city and less traffic getting in and out. I didn’t want to deal with going to Brooklyn on a Monday night, having to worry about parking in an area I wasn’t familiar with and all the traffic trying to get there during rush hour. It worked out because MSG was the stop she wore my favorite outfits, a yellow bodysuit for her first part of the concert and a glittery pink two piece for the last part of the concert.

Speaking of which, glitter and form fitting, body hugging corsets are part of her aesthetic and my Noa corset I had custom made last year was just the thing to help make a perfect outfit for this concert. I paired it with my Kenzie Kay skirt and it was just so perfect I ended up posing for a staff member of Teen Vogue upon arriving at the venue because she loved my outfit. Pictures don’t do it justice with how glittery this corset is in person.

Security was pretty easy and fast to get through since we only brought in small bags and since doors didn’t open yet when we got there, we spent some time checking out the merch. Once it drew closer to 6pm, people started scrambling for the doors. We got lucky again with a few security guards who were nice enough to redirect us and get us through a different entrance with a shorter line and within 10-15 minutes, we were at our section. Since we were early, we waited on a quick line for a cute photo op for the gram and then grabbed our seats and relaxed our feet for an hour since we knew we were going to be standing in heels for her performance. The stadium slowly filled and we watched her opener Amaarae perform. I only know a few of her songs through TikTok trends but she was perfect for Sabrina through her similar energy and sexual vibe, albeit a darker, more alternative style. I love that she also played Hot To Go to get us amped up right before Sabrina was to perform. It was so much fun to see the entire audience singing along.

Then as Sabrina’s showtime grew near, that’s when the entire stadium filled up. She was supposed to go on at 8:30 but the screen didn’t come on til 8:35. The crowd was growing more and more excited while we waited. Then the heart on her logo on the screen turned red and started growing bigger and bigger until it took over the screen and displayed “The Short N’ Sweet show” and the crowd went crazy. The entire performance from start to end was absolutely amazing. From the set, to the wardrobe changes, to the transitions, the choreography, the personalized interactions with the audience, Sabrina truly puts on a Broadway like show! She looks like a Polly Pocket doll as she walks through her cute little stage, which was cleverly designed for all parts of the show. From her cute opener with her glitter towel to debut her bedazzled bodysuit, to her sultry performance for Bed Chem on a cute retro bed perfectly filmed from above and transitioning to the audience, to all her moving parts on set - the piano, the vanity, the fireplace, the loveseats - to her ridiculously fun heart stage that lifted her up during her Juno number, to the confetti at the end.

Everything was chef’s kiss😘👌. I used to wonder why people would pay so much to see the same performer/concert multiple times (my sister’s friend paid to see BTS like 4 times at 4 different seats for the different angles lol) but Sabrina changed me. I would love to watch this over and over, especially knowing she changes the colors of her outfits from city to city. I’d watch to see the fashion alone. She stopped doing her Nonsense outros, to mark a new era and album, and switched over to doing different positions for her Juno song, which is also obnoxiously my favorite song off the new album. I don’t know if she’s big enough for them to bring her concert to streaming but I hope they do. Although it would be hard to pick one because every city gets different outfits and different surprise songs and I want to see them all! My one disappointment is that MSG’s surprise song was Mamma Mia. I’m mad because Detroit got Kiss Me and Baltimore got Material Girl. Both of which I love because they were in my wedding setlist.

All of this to say, the concert was absolutely amazing and worth every penny. Despite being in financial turmoil, I’m really happy I went and got to experience this amazing performance. I’m definitely bias, but Sabrina is an ARTIST. She is not just a singer but she truly does PERFORM. She gets up there and puts on the cutest damn show and really works that stage and commands it.

To the haters, you really need to go see this in person because this tiny girl really does belt her little heart out and give it her all in an hour and a half with nearly no breaks except to change her outfits very quickly and she’s back out again. Her album just came out but I’m already awaiting the next one and absolutely terrified for how much that tour is going to cost. Although I’m glad I got my money’s worth with the production she puts on. I haven’t to a lot of concerts but the few I have, the performer just gets on there and sings and runs back and forth across the stage but nothing noteworthy. Like The Weeknd. I love him but all he really did was sing across the stage and the ceiling part of the set moved. Same with Taylor Momsen when I saw The Pretty Reckless almost over a decade ago. She sings on stage in the same outfit, and stays almost in the same spot as she dances. Bruno Mars at least jumped back and forth through the stage with his backup dancers but Sabrina is like I said, theater production level.

Given her Disney roots and acting background, she definitely knows how to put on a mother freaking show. As mad as I am at the resellers, I’m really happy for her for selling out all her shows. Those stadiums are packed every night and she deserves everything that’s happening right now after hustling so hard this past year, and never giving up the past few years she’s spent trying to break through.

So what’s the final verdict? Is she that sweet? I guess so. 😘

Wicked

April 1, 2024

I’ve been wanting to see Wicked on Broadway for years but just never put the plan in motion because procrastination. Well, I finally got to see it this weekend! I made a date to see it with my friend Kayla who’s also been wanting to see it so it worked out perfectly.

I’ve only heard bits and pieces about Wicked but never knew the whole storyline and avoided trying to read wikipedia and plot summaries/synopsis about it to keep the element of surprise and let the story speak for itself. I didn’t want to go into it too hyped up or having any biases and expectations. And I’m really glad I did. It was so good! The story was so sad and the ending so bittersweet. It was a happy and not so happy ever after ending, which are sometimes the best type of endings because everything tying up nicely with a bow isn’t real and too expected. I love that the show had a bit of comedy and a bit of tragedy. I really hope the movie adaptation coming out soon does it justice because let’s just say the Mean Girls musical…….did not, lol. If you haven’t seen Wicked, I highly recommend it! I’m not going to spoil anything by giving it a full on review. I will say the actors in this production were phenomenal. The set design, the costumes, everything was giving. I’m so glad I finally got to see it and before the movie came out. It took nearly 20 years but better late than never, right?

After the show, we got dinner at Pasta Lover’s since Kayla was feeling Italian. I had linguine fruitti de mare which was really good. I always love when I can find this dish but sometimes they make it too spicy for my liking. This one was just right. Kayla got the rigatoni bolognese, which was my second choice because you can never go wrong with a classic bolognese.

After I wanted to visit the Krispy Kreme location since I haven’t gone to it since it opened but was severely disappointed. The store seemed bigger in other people’s stories. This was a IG vs reality case. It was smaller than I expected and not much going on. There wasn’t anything crazy or exclusive. No holiday specials or anything, no fun merchandise but there were still long lines….for no reason. I guess because tourists wanna tourist but it was a letdown for me. We left within minutes. Watching the behind the scenes making of them behind the glass wasn’t that interesting with lines hiding the view. I feel like they need to make the layout better for a fun experience.

I tried to go to the Line Friends store for bunny merch but was sticker shocked by the price of small keychains and quickly left there too. I get that I was in Times Square so everything is so expensive on top of inflation but damn. Maybe it’s a good thing because it helped me save money but not wanting to buy anything. It was a sign. Maybe the whole day was a sign because I wanted Miffy merch at the Kinokuniya store and I was not about to pay $15.95 for two paper clips. I settled on a plush instead to bring home for Banh Mi. Our last stop was Nordstrom because I wanted to see if they had the latest House of CB dresses for me to try on sizes since ordering online from the company itself is such a dice toss with its reputation of bad customer service, but alas, a snag there too. The store itself has changed layout since last year and when I found the House of CB area, there wasn’t a lot at all. Nothing to try on. This is a sign from above to help me save money, I guess. But at least we got our steps in for the day! I had a great time still, walking with Kayla and catching up. It reminded me of the prior weekend I was in the city with Kerri when we walked around and just caught up. It’s funny how as we get older, we have less and less opportunities to spend time with our friends and we enjoy doing the simpler things now even though we have more means to do more. I used to wish I had more money to do more things with friends, but now I just wish we had more time with each other. I’m looking forward to next weekend, hoping for nice weather to see my friends again and hopefully some blooms to shoot.

My First World Major - The NYC Marathon 2023

November 9, 2023

I am officially a NYC Marathoner!

This Sunday, November 5th, 2023, I completed my first world major marathon, the TSC NYC Marathon. There is so much to say, where do I start?

Since the beginning, I really did not want to do this but got roped into it by a friend and once it was started, the stubborn part of me that hates not completing things once started said we were too far gone with the qualifiers and then pushed on through 6 months of training. And despite how hard it was, I repeated to myself at every training how close I was to the finish line that there’s no turning back now. I had already put in the work, I had to see it through. And then at the end, when I finally crossed that finish line, my entire being burst into tears, overwhelmed with emotion. Why? Why was I like this?

The TSC NYC Marathon is no joke. You can’t just sign up for it and train like you do with the runDisney races. The 6 World Majors (NYC, Chicago, Boston, Berlin, London and Tokyo) are special. Each race is unique with how to enter, some being exclusively difficult to attain, like the Boston Marathon. For NYC, I entered through their 9+1 qualifiers, meaning I had to sign up and run 9 of their NYRR qualifying races and volunteer for 1 event. It sounds easy but it’s still a lot of time and work, especially if you’re not a NYC local. I spent a lot of early mornings racing into the city to get to races on time, running them, and then racing back home in time for work because a lot of races were always on my days on instead of my days off work. It’s a lot when you’re trying to juggle real life at the same time. You have to do all this in one calendar year to qualify for an entry into the next year’s marathon. And then after I gained entry this year, I had to train for 6 months for the race, all through the hot and brutally humid summer months. So this was nearly 2 years worth of work that went into the execution of this one day. And all that work, is no small feat. Maybe that’s why it feels like so much when you cross the finish line. It is A LOT. A lot goes into completing this one task.

And it doesn’t involve just you. It takes a village. I can not sit here and say that I completed this alone. My friends and family played a big part in helping to get me to the finish line. From supporting me and being patient with me through the 6 month roller coaster of training (including scheduling and rescheduling events and being flexible with me so I could train), to helping host me for the weekend, to making signs and cheering me on all along the course and helping provide the final motivational cheer at the finish line and taking photos for me all along the course. To listening to all my grievances and rants and just having to listen over and over for the past year about this damn race, lol. From all the messages, texts, comments, heart reactions, everything. You don’t know how much of a world of difference every little thing that was done for me from my loved ones, makes. Those ‘little’ things, were truly big things for me. Marathon training isn’t just about the runner; all the friends and families supporting their runners, you all deserve this medal too for all you do putting up with us.

The Expo

I left Saturday morning, the day before the race to pick up my bib at the expo. The entire week leading up to the final day though, I was riddled with anxiety. I couldn’t eat breakfast that morning and then later that day, I could barely finish 2 slices of pizza. I had to force myself to eat because I knew I needed the fuel for the next day but my anxiety had been destroying my regular appetite. I knew that night was going to have insomnia issues as well. I guess because this is a “new” race course and system I had never done before, and didn’t know what to expect, I was entirely on edge as opposed to the excitement I have for runDisney races at this point, in which I have an easier time falling asleep, but still lacking in sleep because I want to do everything, lol. Pick your poison.

The expo was held at the Jacob Javits center. Of course, I’m familiar with Javits from the past 10 years attending so many different conventions there. Bib pickup was very easy and quick to get through. It was the first thing to do getting through the entrance to the expo. From there, I had to visit transportation to add on my Staten Island ferry option since I forgot to do it online before the cutoff. Luckily, it was very easy to sort out and the volunteers were great at helping me with everything. I picked up my race shirt afterward and then checked out official race merch but didn’t find anything I like so I moved onto the vendor booths. There were a lot of cute promotional booths giving away freebies like Gatorade, gels and sweatbands. They had a lot of tables and walls where you could draw and leave messages and signs for the race the next day. I found my name on the wall they had printed of every runner signed up for this which was pretty cool to see. It was inspiring to see people from all walks of life and all over the globe come here to take on this goal. It made me feel a little less alone in my anxiety.

Race Morning

Sunday was also daylight savings which meant an extra hour of sleep, or rather for me, an extra hour of anxiety. I did get some sleep though, thankfully, albeit waking up several times in the middle of the night thinking it was time to go. I got ready and left early to make the train in time to get on an earlier ferry than I was assigned, but ultimately I got to the race start later due to bus delays once we got off the ferry at Staten Island. It took a while to shuttle everyone. When I finally got to the village, it was about 9:30 so it was around 2 and a half hours travel time. Maybe it was good I left earlier. I would have had more anxiety if I was even more delayed leaving later on. Once I got there, I had 2 hours till my wave would start but I found a spot to sit, stretch and warm up, and eat a bagel. Again, I wasn’t hungry but I forced the bagel down knowing I would need the fuel for later. I had to pee by the time my corral opened though, which sucked but at least it was before the race and not during. The downsides to this not being a runDisney race, is that all the bathrooms on the course would only be port-a-potties. At Disney, we have the luxury of actual restrooms once you’re inside the parks. Luckily, I had a travel pack of wipes in my running belt for this reason, because I was deathly afraid of having to use a port-a-potty. I know, first world problems. But if you’re a runner, you know those things are doubly gross.

I’m glad I was able to pee before the race started because it would’ve taken up a lot of time, trying to take off and then repin my bib, and adjust everything back in place comfortably to continue on with the run, all the while, trying to not touch any part of the port-a-potty as minimally as possible, lol. It’s obviously inevitable but you want to minimize the grossness or it’s going to be in your head the whole run.

I got into my corral and then the nerves cranked up even more. The starting gun went off, the music was blaring and I had to take slow, controlled breaths to get through it and calm myself down as we made our way across the first part of the course, the Verrazano bridge.

The Race Course

There’s a lot to say about the course.

First off, it prides itself on being a course that goes through all 5 boroughs but only the real ones know it’s not really. If you look at the map, it ‘starts’ in Staten Island but this is really a scam. Not that we really want to be in Staten Island that long anyway but the only part that you’re in Staten Island for, officially on the race map, is the bridge. This is a joke. More of your getting to the starting point is the Staten Island part but the actual course itself is the short distance on the bridge before you go over the water into Brooklyn. Then you’re in Brooklyn for basically the length of a half marathon before diverting into Queens for 2 miles and then finally getting dumped into Manhattan for 3.5 miles and then to the Bronx for literally ONE mile. Then you get spit back into Manhattan for the final stretch of 5.2 miles going downtown through Central Park. You don’t really get to the iconic views of NYC so much as the neighborhoods so for those who have never ran it and come in thinking it’s a great way to “see” NYC, I’m sorry to say, you may be in for a disappointment.

BUT! That’s not to say the course itself isn’t still great. Going into the race, I read someone describing this course as NYC’s biggest block party and honestly, it is the perfect way to describe it. I love Disney, but compared to NYC, New Yorkers really SHOW UP. The entire course, save for the bridges and some short stretches of a few blocks or so, the entire course is lined with people cheering you on and no one is more supportive than a New York stranger on this day. They make the most creative, wild, out of pocket signs! And they pass out SO MUCH food. I saw so many passing out cut up banana pieces, boxes of fruits snacks, bags of pretzels, gels, candy, soda cans, beer, literally anything you need as a runner, they were there for you. I even saw in the neighborhood of Greenpoint, a man on the side with his bbq grill set up, making hot dogs for any runner that wanted one passing by. It was SO MUCH FUN to run this course and see everything and everyone screaming at the top of their lungs, screaming your name too if you had it displayed on your shirt, telling you that YOU CAN DO THIS and truly rooting you through it, wishing the best for you. It really helps push you to the end.

I am fortunate enough to have my friends there that day for me supporting me, stationed at the beginning of the course at 4.5 miles and at the end right before the finish line. Danny and Kayla gave me the push I needed to get through the first 13 miles in Brooklyn. I was really worried because it felt so grueling looking at the map but they truly helped me get through it. Seeing their faces smiling back at me and rooting me on was really heartwarming.

I was doing okay for the most part, running as much as I could and slowing down to grab Gatorade and water to stay hydrated. I slowed down to a walk on the bridge into Manhattan because that part was brutal but when I got into Manhattan I was able to run for a bit up until mile 19. That was where I start to feel the wall hit. You can even see it on the map below where I hit the wall. I had a good half marathon for the first 13 miles but then started to decline in the middle. The red line shows pretty much where mile 19 was and it went downhill fast for me. I alternated between running and walking but ultimately at mile 20, my legs gave in and said no more. No matter how much I tried to pick it up and run again, it just wouldn’t happen. So I forced myself through the pain, dragging my feet to at least walk, telling myself to at least just put one foot in front of the other. At that point it feels like you have two lead feet, dragging cinderblocks down the road. But I had come this far and I wasn’t about to give up now. One girl cheering on the side saw me and dumped her bag of pretzels into my hands. I took them and ate them slowly making my way to the next water station and remembered I had Tylenol in my belt. I took the Tylenol but I think by that point it may have been too late because I didn’t really feel any better from it, but hopefully it helped slow down the damage that was internally happening. I started bargaining and compromising with myself, like I was going through stages of grief. The NYC Marathon app had predicted I could finish by 5:30 best case scenario, if I had been able to keep the pace I was going at mile 19, but it was already going downhill. I would have been more than happy if my finish time was 6 hours. But at this point, I just wanted to be able to finish. I was so close! I cried thinking about giving up because I had come so far, I was almost back into Manhattan, I couldn’t possibly stop now. But the pain was a lot. So I told myself, “Okay. So you have to walk. At least walk the rest of this to mile 26. Conserve whatever strength you have left for the last 0.2 so you can at least RUN the last part and finish strong across the finish line for a good pic.” I did NOT want to walk across the finish line. So that’s what I did. I kept walking, thrusting my arms to the side to help propel me forward for some speed. I made it into Manhattan and kept going. At mile 24, I noticed that’s when a lot of people started to go down. I saw a girl in front of me with her legs all taped up but I noticed what looked like blood coming through the tape. I saw clusters of people on the ground on the side of the path in Central Park. I heard a volunteer’s radio go off and say “I have one person unconscious.” I saw one girl with two friends on each side, trying their hardest to keep her up and going, as her feet dragged, like a ragdoll. It was brutal. People were dropping like flies. I thought to myself, as bad as it was for me, I wasn’t their level of bad yet so let’s keep going. I smiled through the pain for all the cameras (because vanity, lol) and made it to mile 26. My friends texted me they were somewhere very shortly after, close to the finish line and I looked out for them as I made my way to the end. And the moment I saw them, was exactly what I needed to propel to the finish! I instantly perked up, and tried to pick up the pace and run again. I smiled through my tears, running past them and got to the finish line! One of the announcers saw me and complimented me on my outfit as I dashed past her, making me feel super cute enough to victoriously cross over.

And that’s when it happened. I instantly burst into tears, in disbelief that I finished. I was disappointed it took me so long with my final time being 6:30:18 but at the same time, I was really emotional that I didn’t give up and pushed through the pain. And boy was I in pain. I hobbled over to receive my medal and another finisher was kind enough to take a few photos for me. I stupidly thought I could cross my legs and point my toes to pose, only to discover my foot cramp up immediately. More tears, lol. I waited for it to subside and then grabbed my recovery bag and poncho and slowly hobbled out of the park to the family reunion area to find my friends. I cried the whole way there as all the thoughts came rushing through my head post race.

Recovery

In the end, despite taking forever and change to finish, I am proud that I finished this. I worked really hard and I need to work at being kinder to myself and give myself more credit. I know I’m not fast, I made my peace with that but I am still disappointed that it took me longer due to hitting the wall. I struggle with this even in training. My main goal though, due to Dopey PTSD, was to finish this with the most minimal amount of injury. Considering the battlefield I saw on the course towards the end, I am very happy to report I did not need to go to the medic tent. For the first 2 days post race, my legs were definitely sore and I had to hold onto the walls to get to the bathroom in the morning but I was doing okay so far healing and recovering. I was able to go for a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood on the second day and my appetite was slowly coming back after being gone last week due to all my anxiety. I’ve been allowing myself to eat whatever I crave in this recovery phase.

I did hit a snag yesterday though. Tuesday night, I went to bed with slight stomach upset but thought nothing of it. Wednesday morning I woke up fine, but when I tried to go get groceries, I found my abdominal area cramping like I've never felt before. I almost had to pull over from the pain but I was able to make it home okay. I laid down and tried to wait it out before getting ready for work but it kept going for the next few hours. When I tried to get up to get ready for work, I felt dizzy. I laid down again and realized it was so bad I had to call out of work. I took a hot shower when the pain subsided for a bit and was able to get it under control with the heat from the hot water. After I got out of the shower I thought I was in the clear. But within 30 minutes the pain came back, and worse than ever. I finally gave in and asked my husband to drive me to the ER. It's funny because when I called out, work was giving me a hard time, requesting I have a doctor's note for my sick call, because it was the day after my “vacation”/PTO being used. I understand policy but I still think it was ridiculous they were running with this because I rarely call out, let alone call out sick, nor have a track record like others do at my job for crying wolf. Anyways, here I was, showing up at work after all. Just not in the capacity they wanted. I was there for a few hours and they gave me fluids and medication to help lessen the cramping. The pain never went away but it felt a little duller thankfully after a liter of IV fluids. They couldn't figure out a clear diagnosis of what it was because my labs came back normal with the exception of elevated CPK which is expected post marathon, and some minor labs slightly elevated. All they could say was that there wasn't something too major going on, so they chalked it up to post marathon stress on the body due to severe dehydration since I hadn't really upped my water intake since Sunday nor was I really intaking any electrolytes since. I picked up a heating pad on the way home and it helped me sleep through the night last night although intermittently. My advice to you is to take post marathon recovery seriously. EAT even if you don't feel hungry and hydrate hydrate hydrate with both water and electrolytes. Don't go back to normal routine just yet. Up those calories and get those carbs in. I was going to go back to the gym later this week but I guess not now lol. I promise I'll be good and go back next week but take an extra week off from running.😅

I don’t think I want to run any more full marathons though. I think I am finally retiring from full marathons. The half is my favorite/farthest distance I’m willing to run because it’s still challenging without making me feel like I hate myself. My fastest half marathon time is 2:30 and I’m more than happy with that. My full marathon times are embarassingly humbling. And at the same time, I am proud to say that I completed this. One of my 40 before turning 40 goals was to run one full marathon and now, after just turning 35, I can actually say I completely 2 full marathons. That’s crazy. It really goes to show, you are more than capable of doing hard things if you have the discipline and put in the hard work. It doesn’t matter if it takes you longer than someone else. Remember to run your own race and be proud of what YOU can do.

Final thoughts

Although regardless of how I feel about the full and how hard the NYC one was, I do have to say, I’m glad I did it. I finally did one world major and can say I’m a marathoner, especially to those who don’t believe runDisney races are real. Although honestly, if we’re being real, of course they’re real, because Dopey is EXTREMELY hard and I still can’t believe I did that. I don’t have another world major to compare it to, but I can attest to the people who have done more than just NYC that they’re right. NYC is an incredible city to run. There’s really nothing else like it when it comes to the crowds. Disney has nothing on NYC’s crowd and energy. So if you’re interested in running a world major, while I do not recommend anyone run a marathon because honestly it sucks lol, I do recommend the NYC marathon if you had to pick one. Like they say, it will MOVE you. New York forever remains unmatched. This city is deserving of all the praise it gets.