www.hipfitwear.com owner and certified personal trainer, Noelle Lusardi, completed the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 22nd. “It was a great run,” said Noelle. “The weather was perfect, the city and crowds were great and the runners were strong.” Please log onto www.hipfitwear.com to see the latest and greatest in women’s active wear. “We offer unbeatable quality/style at unbeatable prices,” said Noelle.

Step Ahead’s certifiied personal trainer, Noelle Lusardi, completed the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 22nd. “It was the perfect day… great weather, great race, great city, great crowd,” said Noelle. Her husband also completed the marathon and their children were there to cheer them on along the race route and at the finishline. If you have any questions about marathon training or running in general, please contact Noelle at noelle@stepaheadnj.com

The Philadelphia Marathon slogan this year was “Running Means..” They filled in the rest of the statement with a few responses that had a Philadelphian touch.

Running means…

Independence

Being liberated

Freedom

Loving yourself

While those are true for me, there are many reasons I run. To have fun did not make the list, but these did:

Being strong

Being free

Being warm (I’m always cold)

Being proud

Being fit

Being empowered

Being happy

Being inspired

Letting loose

What does running mean to you?

I love this video.

My friend sent it to me, yesterday. It’s a timelapse video of the Philadelphia Marathon, and apparently it’s made entirely on an iPhone. Gotta love technology! We look like little ants marching one by one. Still haven’t spotted myself in the masses, but I’m thinking it’s going to take me a little while

6pm (Saturday Night)
Here we go.  Saturday night. We were exhausted from a bit of sightseeing in Philly,  so decided to order in. I  ordered my usual baked Ziti which I have whenever I need a carbo load with garlic bread for a long run. With my previous Rhabdomyolysis encounter earlier this year, which I was hospitalized 3 days for,  I made it essential to Hydrate! Hydrate ! Hydrate! and get sufficient rest.

8pm
We hit the sack for the evening because we were planning to be up by 4am.  However I didn’t think I feel asleep until about 9-10pm. Many factors may have  been involved, nervousness for one, also thought the room was a bit too humid  at one point, with all the tossing and turning eventually fell asleep. Though I may have not admitted at first, no matter what,  one must be full of anxiety before such a race, especially this being my first marathon. Our longest long run in training was 20miles. We missed a 22  miler suggested by, Bart Yasso’s Runners World Marathon training plan due to schedule  conflicts, but as many veteran marathoners affirmed, a 20 miler would suffice for the marathon.

4am (Sunday Morning – My Birthday – Marathon Day)
Wake up it’s your birthday. We’re up, It’s my birthday, but for what maybe the first time as far as I can recall, the bday is not the priority of the day, all I am able to focus on is the marathon, I am up 3 minutes before the  alarm goes off. I get up and immediately go to my iPhone and logon to  twiiter and see who else in the Philly Marathon world may be up,  sure enough IronBrandon (BrandonsMarathon)  is  also awake, a recent twitter connection, who is also a podcaster, ironman, opera singer, I wish him a final good luck and started putting my gears together.  Our fuel bottles were filled the night before, mine with  Gatorade, Anh choose vitamin water “Power C”. Anh is also up making coffee and  (peanut butter & banana) sandwiches, um.

6am
Final trip to the hotel’s restroom. Also continued sipping on Gatorade diluted with water. We meet Joe, Mary and Ellen in the hotel lobby. Mary wasn’t running  due to injury. Joe and Ellen both are 3:20ish marathoners. I question  them as much as I can on any last possible advice for a newbie. What  miles do you take your PowerGels and so on. Many of the questions I know can only be answered during race base on your conditions, but I inquire anyway.

7am (Official Race Start)
Joe and Ellen are in the “black” corral. The first gun goes off for the only wheelchair participant at the Philly Marathon. Cheers go off for him, I have the deepest admiration for parathletes. Meantime Anh and I are at the potty lines. I was in a faster pace corral “green”, but decided to run in Anh’s corral (note: going forward if we are not required to qualify for any given corral, rule of thumb will be to opt for a faster corral base on our best finish time possible, being in the latter corrals is a true disadvantage, something you may know beforehand, but you go into the race trying to be conservation, but really, one just needs to get out of the starting field and start running their own race, attempting to hurdle your way through the field just takes too much energy, as we did the first 3 miles). So now we find ourselves in the the “purple” corral.

7:15am (Our Corral starts)
Announcers, including, Bart Yasso, who were very animated during the marathon’s opening, gives the go ahead for our corral to begin the race. The Mayor of Philadelphia is at the starting line giving “high fives”, I am not about to get in the melee. I started the race not knowing what to expect, this maybe a cliche, but it’s quite appropriate here, consciously, I know I struggled in our longest training run at mile 19, so given 26.2 miles, I am very cautious. My one and only goal at the start was to finish the race.

Mile 1 -2: I am doing 10mins, it’s harder than I thought to make my way  through the massive crowd. I am still shaky, nervous, an experience I also felt at the New York Road Runners Brooklyn Half Marathon.

Mile 3-4: We’re doing 28 mins, about 3 mins short of our ideal MP (Marathon Pace). We  agreed at this point in the race to part ways and run individually, which in retrospect was the correct call.

Mile 5: My nervousness  is finally over, I’m warmed up, legs are ready. Race is on!

Mile 6-13: At mile 6, I took my first PowerGel at the water station, ripped off gel and drank 2 cups of water.  I am feeling good, but still running a conservative race (remembering to run a positive first split followed by a negative second half). Pee break in the woods at about mile 10.

Mile 13: It’s a treat to see elites finishing off their marathons, John Crews, 25, first American to win the Philadelphia Marathon, since 2000, finishes in 2:17:15.

Mile 14: “Man you’re tall”, a fellow runner shouts out, we chat and run for a while then depart ways. Saw Anh about 5 runners away from me. However wasn’t ready to push my pace to catch up with her. My race was all about defense, how far can I reach before my leg feels likecinder blocks.

Mile 15: Came across and passed the 4:30 pacer. Saw Anh at “u turn” point in the race,  about mile 15, I  just kept running my own race, was not ready to try to make any gains on her.

Mile 16: Took my second PowerGel.

Mile 17: Passed the 4:13 pacer. Yay!

Mile 18: Looking forward to mile 20, what should I expect, no matter  the consequence I am not doing too much walking.

Mile 19: Throughout the race eyed about 3 runners and kept pace with them on all 3 occasions with determination passed them along the way.

Mile 20-21: I also saw Anh, at about mile 20, tried to get her attention, but to no avail. Your beer is served! Smells good, but I am not going for it, not here, not now. Sounds of the “Eye of the Tiger” and “Gonna Fly Now” blasting from boom boxes,  kept the adrenaline flowing. Also continued fan shouts of “Go Alex”, “You rock”, “Go Alex & Anh” (which was printed on my shirt as can see in the pics below), kept my spirits high. With amazement I also came across joggling runners? Yep that’s right, guess it’s a new thing, saw this runner, who I thought also dropped a ball, joggling balls along his run, up to mile 20, Manayunk, which is also a slight incline. Took some extra GU gels from the wonderful volunteers,  at three fluid stations if in case I would need more  and they weren’t available.

Mile 22: Took my third PowerGel. Took the time to walk off a bit. Off  again I go, not to lose any momentum, especially with my legs being a bit heavy now  at that point of the race. Here goes the mental part of the race, “Alex that’s it we came  in with the goal to finish, but it’s on now”, goes this thought in my head. Looked at the CliffPace bracelet on my right wrist, (we took a variety of CliffPace bracelets which we scored from the  marathon expo on Saturday). It reads that I’m in reach of a 3:55 finish time (at mile 22, the 3:50 finish bracelet read 3:13, I was doing 3;17, didn’t mind at all, that only meant sub 4 was in sight). My starting goal just to finish my first marathon was now out the door, a renewed goal was now at hand “sub 4!”

Mile 23-finish: Pushed everything I had left of my quads into a strong finish. Every  mile after mile 23, I pictured myself at home in Astoria, on the couch deciding to go for a run, still being fresh with energy.

Mile 24: Met Anh along the way, and gave her a slight push towards the finish.

Finish: 3:54:00 is my finish. Yay! Sub 4, thank Yasso 800s (1 of 2 Yasso 800s). Who else shouts my name at the finish, but Bart Yasso himself.  “I met Alex yesterday”, he said over the speaker/pa system. Man I felt good hearing those words, maybe I could have gone for a next 5 miles at this point, lol.

Finishing before Anh, I decided to attempt taking a finish photo of her with my iPhone, but before reaching for the phone in my  fuel belt,  out she comes zooming by with a very strong finish 3:54:08, sub 4 as well, celebration are on, our training could not have paid off better dividends. Smiles and all. “We did it Baby”, I shouted, kisses and hugs……..

Now off to the hotel, freshen up and to “Tir Na Nog”, post Marathon meetup with some dailymile friends, Joe, Kristen and Adam, also joining us, was Mary and Ellen. Overall, great first marathon. All the training was tremendously important, hill repeats, Yasso 800s (2 of 2 Yasso 800s), LSDs, speedworks, etc. Looking forward to the next one.

Philadelphia Marathon 2009 Results

Anh’s Philadelphia Marathon Race Report

Pictures from top left shirt printed by Anh, bottom left, CliffPace Bracelets, Philly Marathon start, finish pics.

Hey everyone!  Well… I DID IT! I finished my first marathon! The whole journey- from training to the actual marathon day was just an amazing experience.  Lots of hard work, dedication, and discipline ….but in the end…when all is said and done…it was completely worth every bit of effort I put into preparing for this race.  Well…enough of that.  Here is the race recap:

On Saturday my sister and I went for a slow 3 miles run at home and then headed the Expo:

We first go our Bibs/bag/shirt and then ventured around the room to various vendors.  It was tempting to buy everything but I only ended up buying some Sport beans (for the race), a pair of running gloves, and THE STICK:

I am sure a lot you of know what this is… but if you do not….its basically like a Foam Roller… a deep massage for your muscles…to increase flexibility, endurance, improve strength, accelerate recovery time, and to prepare muscles for activity (yes I got that from the website…can you tell? haha).  Anyway—it really makes your muscles feel fantasticcccc.  I have a foam roller but honestly…its a pain in the butt to use and its hard to get each muscle well.  This is much more convenient…and I will definitely be using it a lot to try to “Accelerate my recovery”

My sister and I took a picture under a fake finish line:

After the expo, we stopped at DiBruno Bros on our walk home to get some things for dinner….and here is the finished products:

cinnamon raisin nut bread

sauteed carrots and string beans (EVOO plus TONS of garlic)

baked sweet potato fries

roasted chicken with lemon and a rub of some sort from DiBruno bros

my plate (well my first plate haha)

After dinner, we settled down to a little bit of Rocky…yes we are THAT cool. and no I absolutely did not put the song on my ipod and get unbelieveably pumped up to the point that I almost started punching the air during race.  haha actually I did… but I did not actually punch the air…that would have been a bit weird. but one part of the race did have a photo station (and they had a loud speaker letting you know that you were approaching it) and so I threw up my arms like rocky…hopefully it came out good!

We went to bed early and woke up at 4 AM to eat, went back to bed for 45 minutes, and woke up to get ready.  I actually had a dream during the night that I was running in the race.  I woke up to find myself lying in bed. No where near the start or finish of the race.  that was a major let down let me tell you hahaa…. Once we were ready…we went downstairs, grabbed a cab, and went to the starting area (the art museum- the stairs that rocky ran up in the movie for those of you who do not know Philly).

the Race:

the course:

Mile 1:  8:10.89 Mile 14: 8:21

Mile 2:  7:48.33 Mile 15: 8:11

Mile 3: 7:51 Mile 16: 8:17

Mile 4: 8:07 Mile 17: 8:18

Mile 5: 8:05 Mile 18: 8:18

Mile 6: 7:53 Mile 19: 8:29

Mile 7: 7:50 Mile 20: 8:39

Mile 8: 8:15 Mile 21: 8:15

Mile 9:  8:09 Mile 22: 8:35

Mile 10: 8:25 Mile 23: 8:49

Mile 11: 8:03 Mile 24: 9:05

Mile 12:  8:08 Mile 25: 9:08

Mile 13:  8:02 Mile 26: 8:52

Mile o.2: 7:43

OFFICIAL CHIP TIME: 3:39

and that means…

I QUALIFIED FOR BOSTON!!

just made it, too.  As of now, registration is closed but supposedly there is talk that they may reopen registration for a week or two?  I guess Ill have to keep a look out for it (which means I will be on the boston marathon page every single day haha).  Anyway…I am very happy with my time!  I definitely should have started out slower but that is just something I can work on for next time.  I knew I was going way too fast in the beginning but its hard to MAKE yourself slow down. You are feeling good and you are excited….and both of those combined make it extremely difficult to slow down!!!  Also- I hit a MAJOR WALL at the twenty mile mark…the last 6 were KILLER. Cardiovascularly, I was fine.  But my legs just did not want to go any more.  I was having all sorts of pain. They felt like lead bricks.  At one point I even prayed to my grandmom (outloud … but do not worry no one heard me haha). I was able to stick with it and run along until I finally made it to the finish line (oh by the way… those last .2 take forever to complete… you think you are “right there”…chyeah righttttt).  My oldest sister, Danielle, was on her bike following me for the last 6 miles…it was definitely awesome to have someone next to you encouraging you etc.  so thank you very much, danielle!  I am in a good amount of pain today.  I cant really walk very well without looking like an old lady.  My sister and I took our dog for a walk today in Philly and she wanted to run SO FAST and we were just limping along trying to pull her back…it was quite the scene haha….

________________________

My sister, Mary, finished in a time of 3:44. She faced lots of problems (which you can read about on her blog…lets just say that she was on the toilet for the majority of the day haha) but  she was able to push through it and finish the race without having to walk.  I will tell you one thing…I do not know if I could have done it!!  Her time was still AWESOME but last year she finished in a time of 3:33 (her first marathon too… crazy  haha) so she was not THRILLED with her time but she was also not upset with it.  very good attitude about it.  Anyway- I wanted to make mention of her on here because yes I did “beat her” but (a) any other day she would kick my butt haha and (b) I HONESTLY would NOT have even made it to the start line if it was not for her.  I truly look up to Mary.  She teaches me so many things on how to train properly, how to eat/fuel properly, how to avoid injury, how to cook up good food , how to recoperate from injury….the list goes on and on. Without her I would have been honestly LOST…and absolutely, no question about it, would not have done as well as I did out there today.  So thanks, Mary, for being such an awesome sister…I love you!!

and the pictures… (official ones are not up yet!!!):

Right before the start of the race....nervous and wondering why I signed up for this haha kiddinggg

my family after the marathon!

mary and I!

Well-now its monday. still got a bit of a runners high going on andddd  I am home for thanksgiving now!  My college goes until Tuesday but I took my Biology test early on friday (instead of tomorrow) and now I am home for an extended thanksgiving break woohoooo!!  Hope you all have a nice monday!

I mentioned a few days back that two of my regulars were running Philly yesterday, and indeed they did. With vastly different experiences.

Robert broke 3 and was quite happy.

Flo blew up.

I saw this in the results before either of them posted their race reports. Strangely, in running it seems that failure has many parents and success is an orphan. Alas, regarding Flo, the first person I thought of was Julie, who had a bad experience in her last marathon, about which I was similarly stunned. What would Julie say to her compadre? As I’ve come to expect, she said the right stuff. So I need not mine the recesses of my mind to come up with something that balances the reassuring with the practical, the you-don’t-suck with the let’s-work-on-what-went-wrong.

I really have no business talking about some of this stuff, given the paucity of my own marathoning experience. But I’ve seen lots of folks who seemed on target to run faster — several Warren Streeters at NY come immediately to mind — have issues that, you know, this can be tough stuff. Scant comfort to Flo for sure, but there’s probably a whole coral worth of folks in any major marathon.

Finally, Flo writes, speaking of a genetic defect that I can assure her I think I have at times:

There aren’t any spectators for this portion which makes it very easy to berate myself for realizing that while I want to be competitive in this sport, I’m really just a Giver Upper, I don’t have the “dig deep” gene that a real racer has. I’ve always felt this though, so it’s nothing new, just good to rub it in when I’m feeling low.

Sayeth Julie, “As for not being a ‘digging deep’ runner, knock that off right now. Sometimes you can dig all you want and there’s just nothing there. Yesterday was one of those days.”

I realize I’m a bit behind the eight ball considering most of these great little bites came from my friend’s party on the Upper East Side as we watched the New York City Marathon which took place earlier this month, but in honor of today’s Philadelphia Marathon (congrats to all the runners including John Crews and Jutta Merilainen who took home the big honors for the day!) and some other upcoming marathons such as Atlanta on November 26 and the Space Coast Marathon coming up on November 29 to name a few (more information at http://bit.ly/8WaEk3), consider these great little party snacks to keep your non-running crew happy as you cheer on the runners:

Gluten-free pumpkin muffins (a side of sweet cream cheese is perfect!)

Ham and swiss party sandwiches (these are a bit tricky in terms of temperature, so if you want to serve them hot, take them out of the oven after your guests arrive):

Mini cheese grits (mini-muffin style):

Sausage bites (these were my favorite!)

Yogurt berry parfaits with homemade granola:

Presentation is key here too. Huge props to my friend Suzanne for putting together this tasty menu!

Today was the Philadelphia Marathon.  I don’t think I could be any happier to say that it’s over.

The race could have gone so much worse for me, so it’s hard to be upset.

Before I go into my race, I’d like to CONGRATULATE MY SISTER, CHRISTINA.  She kicked a$$ and kicked my a$$!  She finished in 3:39:12…which is a Boston Qualifying time my friends!!!!  Amazing, amazing job…I couldn’t be happier.  She has come a long way since being injured last year and she is truly an amazing runner!  Way to go, Ti!

I came trudging in at 3:44:33.  As a reminder, last year I ran the Philly Marathon in 3:33:43 and I felt unstoppable…definitely felt like I could have gone for at least 30 miles instead of the 26.2 miles.  This year was a different story.  I struggled.

If you want to take a look at my splits, here they are:

Mile 1:  8:11           Mile 7: 7:53              Mile 13:   8:10               Mile 19:   8:43

Mile 2:  7:42          Mile 8: 8:25             Mile 14:   8:18                Mile 20:   8:41

Mile 3:  7:48         Mile 9:  7:48             Mile 15:   8:06               Mile 21:   8:47

Mile 4:  8:04       Mile 10:  8:10           Mile 16:   8:29               Mile 22:   9:03

Mile 5:  8:07        Mile 11:  7:58           Mile 17:   8:29                Mile 23:   9:20

Mile 6:  7:48        Mile 12:  8:05          Mile 18:   8:30               Mile 24:   9:46

Mile 25:   9:54

Mile 26:  9:41

Mile .2:  7:47

So, what do you notice??  Do you notice a dummy going out WAY, WAY, WAY too fast?  Because I do.  I would say that I began to struggle around Miles 16-18 and then Miles 19-26.2 were pretty much torture.

Many of my struggles would have been avoided if I had only made myself SLOW DOWN in the beginning of the race.  Unfortunately, I could not control myself.

During Miles 19-26.2 there were so many times when I wanted to quit.  By quit, I mean walk.  Everything hurt.  My foot that was injured earlier this fall was giving me problems in addition to my ankles.  I really need to spend time strengthening both of those.  My legs were also killing.  In particular my CALVES.  In the last few miles, my calves were cramping up.  That sure WAS NOT fun at all.  It actually KILLED.  I pressed on though and fought through the pain.  My hips also caused slight pain & my legs felt like lead–as I’m sure many people’s did.

Towards the end of the marathon, there were points where I just wanted to cry and believe me I did shed some tears.  I was just in so much pain.  I was the happiest person when I saw the finish line.  They moved the placement of the finish line so I was expecting it to come a lot sooner than it did…so I wasn’t a happy camper at first.

Well, now I know what it is like to struggle like hell through a marathon.  Although I was dieing during the race, I am glad that I never gave up.  I would have been pissed off at myself if I had to walk.  I proved a lot to myself out there today, so it’s hard to be upset with my race.

From mile 18-22 I was also dealing with stomach issues.  I could feel some bad things in my stomach, but I didn’t want to stop.  I wanted to keep going and deal with it at the end of the race.  Well, at around mile 22, I had no choice…to the porto-potty I went.  No fun at all.  Now I’ve been on the toilet for the majority of the day today.  I am in pain & want to cry.  Sorry for sharing these gross details with you, but does anyone ever get like this???

Now, a little break before beginning training for Boston.  Do I have it in me?

**Note: PICTURES TO COME!

It’s race day and we got up at 4am. Making coffee, will have a banana/peanut butter sandwich, keep hydrating, also will drink some vitamin water an hour prior to the race.

Race starts at 7am. We are meeting some friends who are also running in the hotel lobby then will be walking over to the race, race start is about 10-15 mins walking distance from our hotel which is great, sufficient time to stretch and get the legs ready.

I just talked to my brother this morning and found out he’s taking a later train so I’ve got a few minutes to write up a quick post.  Just to let you all  know, I’m not dead. This is the second weekend in a row that I’m not home. Well, 3 actually.

After my last post, Bill and I went to Cape Cod for a few days. It was to celebrate my birthday, take a few days for ourselves, and to allow him to recharge before he started a new job the week of Veteran’s Day.  So far, so good on that front.

Last weekend, I went to NY for a meeting at  Columbia University. I went a few days early and stayed with my brother in Brooklyn.  We ran together from his neighborhood for about 5 miles on Sunday and then he did another 15 on his own. He used my Garmin for the part he ran alone and now he wants one for himself. I lent it to him for this past week so he could get used to it, and I think he’s planning on using it in the race tomorrow, where I think he’ll find his mile splits will be more consistent, since he won’t have to wait at traffic lights all along the way.   Originally, he was planning on running the Philadelphia Marathon to try qualifying for Boston (it’d be his third Boston if he does) but because of all the crap he’s been dealing with in life lately, he’s not been able to run as much as he’d like (which explains why last Sunday’s run for him was 20 miles.)  He said he really didn’t have much to taper from, so he wasn’t going to.  Now, his goals are to qualify (first goal) with something like 3:20 and 3:30 being his 2nd and third goals.  Regardless of his end time, I’m just proud of him for gutting through everything and doing this tomorrow.   I have told him, if running makes him happy, then that’s what he needs to and has to do.  He has to worry about himself first in this life.

So, yesterday I drove down to Allentown, PA.  My grandmother is buried about 15-20 minutes from here, and as soon as this post is written, I’m going to check out of the hotel and go see her and pay my respects.  Last time I was down here, I asked her for a little help for my brother and she came through with flying colors, as he ran a 2:55.  It’s no surprise to me that she’s still helping us out and providing such positive energy even though she’s no longer of this earth.  I’ve been running these last few weeks I’ve not posted.  On one morning in particular, I was feeling quite tired, and felt I needed a little extra help.  I said a mental prayer asking for her to give me a hand, and I am not exaggerating to say that I did feel a slight pressure against the middle of my lower back. It was just enough to keep propelling me forward.  I’m one of those people who believes that souls sometimes travel together from one life to the next, and that my grandmother’s is still around, even if it’s only in my mind.

I’ve also been trying to find more balance in my life.  I’ve done a lot of reading, and recently, have been writing more.  For the last few recent months, work seemed to consume me. If it wasn’t the day job, it was the freelance work, and I was beginning to become resentful. I was also trying to find time to run.  Not doing well with all of them.  I recently read a book called 29 Gifts, and realized I was doing everything from a place of scarcity.  I’ve since written down my fears, about writing, about my life in general. And what a relief it was.  They always say that things appear to have less power when you write them down, and I’ve always said “oh yeah, I mean to do that,” but then never followed through.  Well, now, I’m running (somewhat, just not sticking to a rigid schedule), writing, at lunch or in the evening if I can, and reading a lot. It’s the stuff I enjoy.  

My only problem is that when my creativity seems to be flowing, mental-wise, where writing is concerned, it’s usually in the evening when I need to get to bed if I’m going to get up early in the morning and run.  Anybody got any suggestions as to how I can survive on a regular 6 hours of sleep? Because that’s what it’d mean – going to bed around 10ish and getting up around 4ish.

So anyway, if you find yourself up around 7 a.m. EST or even PST, please send some positive vibes toward the Philly way. My brother and all the other runners could certainly use them.

Thanks for listening.

Anh and I would like to thank all of you for donating to our fundraising initiative. We will be leaving New York tomorrow morning to Philadelphia, and will be running the Marathon Sunday morning (it starts at 7am). As we stated before running this race means so much more to us now that we are running for “Back On My Feet”. We will try to give you guys race updates, I will also post race updates.

Thanks to you all we surpassed our target goal of $500, currently we stand at $690, YAY!

Start: Benjamin Franklin Pkwy & N 22nd St (Rodin Museum) (Philadelphia City Hall)

Mile 1: Arch St & N 11th St (Trocadero Theatre) (Chinatown) (National Constitution Center) (Tir Na Nog (DM meetup-about 15mins from finish): Arch & N 16th St)

Mile 2: Entering Delaware Ave (Old City) (Penn’s Landing)

Mile 3: S Columbus Blvd (Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church)

Mile 4: Entering South St

Mile 5: Independence Historic Center, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell Center (Thomas Jefferson University)

Mile 6: Chestnut St & S 17th St (Rittenhouse Square) (Our Hotel: club Quarters)

Mile 7: Entering S 34th St, Highline Park (University of Pennsylvania) (Drexel University)

Mile 8: S 34th St & Mantua Ave (Mantua) (Philadelphia Zoo)

Mile 9: Entering Fairmont Park, Lansdowne Dr

Mile 10: Sweetbriar Dr (Memorial Hall) (Japanese House & Garden)

Mile 11: W River Dr (Schuylkill River)

Mile 12: Martin Luther King Jr Dr

Mile 13: “U Turn” on Benjamin Franklin Pkwy

Mile 14: Entering Poplar Dr

Mile 15: East River Dr

Mile 16: East River Dr, East Park Reservoir (Fairmont Park)

Mile 17: Laurel Hill Cemetery

Mile 18: Entering Ridge Ave

Mile 19: Entering Wissahickon, Main St

Mile 20: Manayunk

Mile 21: Leaving Wissahickon (about the same as mile 19)

Mile 22: Headed back south onto East River Dr

Mile 23: East River Dr

Mile 24: East River Dr, East Park Reservoir (Fairmont Park) (same as mile 16)

Mile 25: East River Dr (about the same as mile 15) (BoatHouse Row)

Mile 26: East River Dr

Finish: Philadelphia Museum of Art

“MapMyRun” Map

Map Pics:

Vaudevillains NYB are happy to announce that we will be one of the cheer zones at this Sunday’s Philadelphia Marathon.

You can find us cheering and dancing about in all of our spandex and sequin glory in Fairmount Park on King Drive and the Disabled Rowers Boathouse, sorta past the zoo.

Good luck to all of our running friends and we will see you bright and early in the morning on Sunday, November 22nd!

All cheer zones are listed here.

Here we are four days left before we put our sneaks on for our 26.2 mile journey. This marks our second week of tapering, which means less running, more rest. Rest essential for Sunday’s performance. Yesterday I came across a “MapMyRun” google map of the Philly course. I am so happy to know that our hotel will be at mile 6 of the race, very close to the finish line. Also the hotel will be blocks away from Tir Na Nog a pub that fellow runners on DailyMile decided to meet for “carb loading”. At mile 5 we will be passing by Independence Hall (location of the signing of the declaration of Independence) and the Liberty Bell Center (home of the original Liberty Bell).

We will be leaving NY to Philadelphia on Saturday morning, first stop will be at the expo to pick up our race packet. “Back on My Feet” will also be at the expo, this is the Charity that we decided to raise funds for, we are glad to share that our goal of $500 was surpassed during this past weekend (thanks again to all the donors). So far I do feel rested, today I might hit the road for an easy 3-5 mile run to Astoria Park. For the remaining of the week, we have a 5, 5, 3 mile run using Yasso Bart’s Marathon Training guide (Runner’s World Magazine). Yasso’s guide has been our training manual for the past 16 weeks. I am thrilled to know that he will also be at Philly, hoping to meet and thank him for a great workout schedule. The mile repeats, hill repeats, speed workouts, were all were very helpful, especially in building endurance, strength and speed. Today because of Yasso’s efficient marathon training I am a much stronger runner.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Hello all, we are running our first marathon on Nov. 22 in Philadelphia. We have decided to make it even more special by raising funds for a worthy cause while taking part in the race. Below is a short description of the charity we choose.

“Back on My Feet promotes the self-sufficiency of Philadelphia’s homeless population by engaging people in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.”

More details are available on their website: Back on My Feet

Donation Page

Yesterday, I finished my longest marathon training run: 20 miles.

I still can’t believe I did it! As many of you know, last year when I trained for the Philly marathon, the longest run I did was 10 miles. This year, I’ve been keeping up with my training. Now, I’m already done my longest training run—and I couldn’t feel better about it!

After last weekend’s 18-miler, I was nervous. So nervous that I couldn’t fall asleep Friday night. I kept wondering if I was prepared. I mean, last week I thought I was MORE than ready for my run, but I felt horrible after only six miles. What if I had a bad run again this weekend? Would I be ready for the marathon on November 22?

When I woke up yesterday morning, I ran to my window. The weather was PERFECT for running. In typical fall fashion, it was damp outside from a night of rain, BUT  it was surprisingly warm—around 70 degrees. I tied on my new running sneakers and headed outside.

I ran downtown, where I did three loops around the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Despite the damp weather, the tourists were out and about. I dodged families taking photos and couples walking slowly along the pathways. Then I headed over to the tidal basin. The limbs of the cherry trees hung low, weighed down by leftover rain and the walkway around the basin had huge puddles filled with leaves and mud. Between ducking under branches and jumping over puddles, I definitely got an agility workout, too. After I finished my second loop at the tidal basin, I ran to the National Mall, which is a long stretch of grass between the Capitol Building and the National Monument. It was packed with kickball games, tourists going to and from the Smithsonian museums, and a big crowd rallied for the Walk for Autism Now. I people-watched the whole time, which kept my mind off of running. I did three laps around the Mall, which was another six miles. Then I headed back home.

For fuel, I had cut up half of a peanut butter PowerBar and put the pieces in a little ziplock bag in my short’s pocket. Between miles 12 and 13 I ate a few pieces of the PowerBar and ate a few more pieces between miles 16 and 17. Throughout the entire run, I drank water from the bottle I held in my hand. This seems to be the best process for me. I felt hydrated and refueled at the right times.

The run home was mostly uphill. I was most worried about the steep, long hill on 16th Street, which I hadn’t been able to run up the last time I had done a 12-mile training run downtown. Yesterday, though, I ran up no problem. In fact, when I got to the top I had so much energy left over, I picked up the pace the last mile-and-a-half to my front door. Can you believe it? I actually had energy left over! I think I owe this to the fact that I took the beginning of my run slow. I have a tendency to go out fast, and then die half-way through. So yesterday I tried to break my habit and start off running slower than I thought I needed to. This worked so well, that I think I’ll take this same strategy during the marathon.

The rain held off for me (thank goodness), and it just misted outside. Between the cool breeze and the mist, I never felt overheated and my muscles were nice and loose. I was like a new runner compared to last weekend. Now don’t get me wrong, the run wasn’t easy. But it was fun, and that’s what really matters. If I run like this on the day of the marathon, I will be one happy runner!

Exactly one more month until Anh P. and myself participate in our first marathon. Excitement is brewing. This has been almost a year in the making. It all began when I gave Anh New York Road Runners membership for Christmas. After we both became members of NYRR we decided to make the goal of the New York City Marathon a reality, our first run for the season was “Al Gordon Snowflake” in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, at the time Al Gordon who was 107 at the time participated in the race, sadly he passed in the summer.

Unfortunately we were not able to run the NYC marathon in 2009 because of failure to win spots in the lottery. In order to run the NYC marathon one can be entered in a variety of ways: NYC Marathon lottery entry, 9 races + 1 volunteer as an NYRR member or raise $2500 for your favorite charity. We did not win the 2009 lottery, but we have fulfilled our 9+1 requirement as NYRR members and will be running the NYC marathon in November 2010.

The Philadelphia marathon is famous for being a fun, flat and a fast course so we decided to sign up for the race. We began training for it back in August and have really progressed tremendously. Lately Sundays have been our long run days, so far our longest run has been 19.4 miles. In the next 2 weeks we’ll be faced with out longest run ever which will be 22 miles, looking forward to it

More marathon training updates to come, stay tuned.

If only working remotely could make our legs look like this!

“One man’s mile is another man’s marathon.”  Don’t know if anyone has ever said this before, but sure sounds like someone has.  Or how about this one, “How do you run a marathon?  One step at a time.” 

One thing that’s impressed me as I’ve started training for the Philadelphia Marathon is that whether I’m going out to run 4 hard miles, going to the track to do a few 400s (one lap around the track), or actually going to run the full 26.2 miles; each of these runs/workouts is its own challenge or marathon.  I found that to perform well, even just to run one good lap around the track, I need to break these challenges down into thirds or fourths. 

If I don’t divide just one lap around the track into bite size pieces then I go out too fast and putter out in the end.  So now when I go to the track to run 400s, I’ve broken each 100 into different focusing phrases that I repeat rhythmically in my head as I run around the track:

• The first 100 I say, “Accelerate it up, accelerate it up, accelerate up…” as I want to build speed.
• As I go around the curve for the second 100, I say, “Lock it in, lock it in, lock it in…” as I want to maintain my speed.
• For the third 100, I say “Stride it out, stride it out, stride it out” as I want to increase my stride going down the second straight away.
• And finally for the last 100, I say “Push it out, push it out, push it out” as I want to finish strong and leave it all on the track.

I’ve begun to apply this approach to telecommuting at home – breaking my days, weeks, and projects down into manageable chunks with focusing phrases.  My natural tendency is to look at the day, week or a project and just try to tackle it and “get ‘er done;” but just like at the track I don’t have the energy and focus to finish strong.  For instance, here’s how my day might look when I segment it into thirds:

• First part of my day I want to “cross off client project to dos”
• Second part of my day “long term project and CRM planning”
• Third part of my day “social media and Internet marketing research and planning”

Now that I got my day broken down, I have focus for each part of the day and natural breaking points for me to eat something, read something funny, pray, and re-energize for the next part of the day.  Let me know how you approach your daily, weekly, and project planning – what’s working for you or how you feel you could improve in your approach to your work days, weeks and projects?

Everett
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