Tag Archives: race

Le Semi-Marathon de Paris

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Today, Sunday March 11th, marks the one week anniversary of the Semi-Marathon de Paris, 2012.

At 10am last Sunday I was standing in a big crowd of people, anxiously waiting for the announcers to call my group (the 2 hour group) to the starting line.

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And before I knew it, we were off.

It was a good race, to be honest. At least, it is in my memory. Never have I given birth to a child, I ASSURE YOU, but I can’t help but think the experience is somewhat like childbirth. While you’re doing it, it is the most grueling thing of your life and you honestly think you could just stop and potentially keel over, but you keep going. And when you look back, you think it wasn’t so bad after all. And you think about doing it again. Next year, maybe.

If I adapt that timeline to my future child-birthing experiences, we’ll be in big trouble.

The race was hard. For quite a few reasons.

I wasn’t in the best shape. I’d trained pretty consistently for the past 3-4 months, but as the months advanced, I started to get burnt out with running– and stressed with work. So there were 2 long runs that I shirked in favor of more interesting things to do… like sleep and time spent with family. And while I don’t think those decisions made a huge difference at Race Day, I can’t help but think that they contributed. Plus, I focused more on just general mileage training instead of doing pace and tempo runs. My lack of speed workouts definitely added to the Race Day difficulty.

I didn’t have the best mentality. Going into a race, it’s important to be excited. I mean, why else would you have been running 10+ on Sunday mornings, simultaneously nursing a hangover, for the past 3-4 months? But towards the end of my training, I got burnt out. I’ve already mentioned that. Plus, I knew I’d be running it alone. No family at the end cheering me on. And all my friends had more important things to do. I’m not being passive aggressive, it’s true– I wouldn’t have wanted to subject anyone outside of a blood-relation to chasing me around Paris. So I wasn’t that excited for the experience. I just wanted to get it over with.

I’m pretty sure I was in the middle of a stomach bug. Ever since Saturday morning, I’d been having a hard time keeping food in me. I knew of a GI infection that had attacked a friend of mine, so I was worried I had the same issue. It was HORRIBLE. One often forgets how awful it feels to not keep anything in you. And I don’t mean throwing up, either. Yeah, that’s right. Other direction. My friend Gordon told me that night, as we ate Pink Flamingo pizza (my attempt at carbo-loading), that I was probably just nervous and I would be fine the next day. Well, I was. Until the end of the race. Ever seen that moment in the Sex and the City movie when Charlotte has the little accident? Well, I had the same feeling. Only I managed to hold it. There was actually one point where I swerved off the road in the direction of the woods because I didn’t think I could handle it, but my legs wouldn’t stop moving and my brain couldn’t think of anything else but the finish line.

Old running shoes. So I bought them in September. Early September. I probably need some new ones. I’ve been told one should change running shoes after ever 300-400 miles, or about ever 5-6 months. Depending on how much running you’re doing.  In retrospect, I’ve run a lot since I got those shoes, and I’ve been noticing signs of wear during runs leading up to the race. The shoes just left my feet feeling weird. And now, even though I’m only doing 2-3 miles at a time, I just notice weird little aches and pains here and there. I only have about 2 months left in Paris, however, so I’m going to wait to get new ones when I get home. They’re much less expensive there. And I’m not one to risk my physical health by trying to cut costs, but I just have visions of walking out of the local running store in West Hartford with a fresh new pair of Asics. Is it weird to say that it’s a favorite pasttime of mine?

The metric system. I’m used to thinking of half marathons as 13.1 miles. The French, however, think of half marathons as 21.1 kilometers. And since I’ve been tracking my training mileage in, well, miles, it was hard to mentally convert kilometers to miles. Though I certainly tried! (And that definitely helped take my mind off the race.) But it’s hard to know how much of the race you have completed when you don’t know the kilometer equivalent of 13.1 miles!

All in all, however, it was a good race. I finished it. I ran the entire time. I pushed myself. Really, what more could I ask for? Except for a mother and and aunt (and cousins!) waiting at the finish line with a car ready to take me to the Flying Biscuit Café. I was surprised by my time as well– it was much better than I expected or wanted! 2:09:51. 2 hours. 9 minutes. 51 seconds. I guarantee you (because I don’t remember exactly) that it’s almost exact, slighty after, or slightly before my previous half marathon time. WAHOO! That’s great! I was seriously expecting to come in at 2 hours 30 minutes. But like I said, I pushed myself. Had I been in better shape, and had I pushed myself the same extent, I can only imagine what my time would be!

Next year, perhaps?

Oh and about the whole pooping thing… while it didn’t happen during the race, it really and truly almost happened on Rue Saint-Jacques afterwards. It took an enormous amount of willpower and muscle (I’m being serious) to keep that from happening. Though they say that you’re not a real runner until you’ve pooped your pants!

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Latest and Greatest: February 2012

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HELLO. Here I am, once again, returning after a blogging hiatus. I mentioned in my last post some of the stuff that I had planned for late February. Well, I finished reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles in French, but now I’m onto Proust, and while I’m happy that I’m reading La Prisonnière in its mother tongue, that doesn’t make it any easier. Just give me a plotline and some blood and guts, that’ll make me turn the pages a lot quicker.

Anyways, despite my accumulating pile of work, what else is new? A lot. Eh, fine, not a whole lot. But how about a life update in general?

1) I ate at some FABULOUS restaurants. Un Dimanche à Paris takes the cake, in this case. The chocolate cake. It’s a chocolate shop that also has a restaurant and salon de thé attached, and all of the dishes include some form of chocolate. It’s not the kind of place you’ll want to go every weekend, as I’m pretty sure if you did you would no longer have a wallet or a bank account, but for a special occasion– like visiting family– it was totally worth it. And it got thumbs up all around, even from the slightly conservative 15-year-old diner.

2) I. SAW. DAVID. LEBOVITZ. This event will forever go down in my mind as one of my top celebrity moments. Of course, when I was telling my boss about it the next morning at the bakery, she just shrugged as she sipped her coffee and said: “Oh, David? He’s one of my friends! He offered to let us use his oven.” While I know he’s been into Sugarplum before because of this post, I’m still waiting with baited breath for him to walk in again. If you don’t know who he is, google him. Read his blog. Read his books. Make his food. My father actually brushed elbows with him at Little Breizh, my favorite crêpe place in Paris. I’m so jealous.

3) I’ve been running. A lot. Somehow, I managed to get back into the running groove– I’m guessing it was because of this beautiful Spring weather that’s made its way to Paris. And this Sunday is the race. I actually found out that I’m missing a form that I need in order to compete (leave it to the French to require stamped forms in order to run), so I’m hoping to get that taken care of today and tomorrow… because if not, I’ll just be on the sidelines. And that would be such dommage.

4) After realizing I’ve been eating a little too much free cake, I realized I needed to work out a little more. I already run enough, but why not do some more overall body work? I’d dabbled in BodyRock before, but I’m really getting into it now. The workouts aren’t long at all, which is great because I get bored and unmotivated really easily. It’s the “Home Workout Movement,” and even after doing it for a week and a half, I already feel stronger! Check it out if you’re having a hard time getting to the gym.

5) I’m having such a breakthrough in French. All of a sudden, I feel like I can understand everything that’s going on me. I feel like that’s a really good sign. Instead of feeling like French is this strange tongue that I only sort of understand, I feel as comfortable listening to it as I do English, most of the time. Weird, but I’m excited about it.

6) 21 IN LESS THAN A MONTH. So anti-climactic in France.

 

So let me apologize for my huge blogging hiatus. While the workload won’t decrease, I’m hoping to just balance my time a little better– and to continue posting some of my adventures around the city! The latest one includes a vegetarian meal (it has brown rice, that’s all you need to know right now) and a green smoothie (WHAT? A GREEN SMOOTHIE? IN PARIS? WHERE?).

Stay tuned!

Why I Run

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I love to run. But lately, I’ve been doubting myself. Doubting how much I actually like to run. Maybe it’s the cold– I hate the cold. But I don’t like being a “fair-weather fan.” If I like to run, I should always like to run. (0 degree temperatures not included.)

This past week was very cold in Paris. It could have rivaled Clinton, NY, which is really saying something. It was impossible to walk outside and not get a headache immediately, or to even feel your fingers after 3 minutes– even if they were in very warm gloves.

So why on earth would I want to run in weather like this? I told myself that if I had a treadmill, I would run. But I didn’t have a treadmill. So I didn’t run. I got out, twice. But since I’m training for the Paris Semi-Marathon on March 4th, two runs a week doesn’t really cut it. Luckily, it was a taper week and I didn’t have to run as much as I thought I did, but still– I definitely slacked off. And I suffered a real identity crisis. I consider myself a runner. So… why do I not want to run?

Obviously, all runners have problems getting out the door. It’s one thing to think about going for a run, it’s another thing to change clothes (in a freezing house) and brave the freezing temperatures outside. But after I finally got myself out the door and did only half the mileage that I was intending to do, I knew I had to do some thinking. About myself, and about what I love to do: run.

This post is more for me than it is anyone else. But I had to get my thoughts out somewhere, and considering I have a blog, this seemed one of the better mediums. I’d also like to add that as I’m writing this, I’m happily awake after getting up at 7:30 and running 4 miles, eating breakfast, and showering. So I’m still on a runner’s high. And I hope that will influence this post in a positive way. Instead of self-doubting some of the things I write, I’ll have more conclusive answers– because after my run this morning, I know why I like to run. I guess I just had a hard time remembering. Probably from the cold.

1. Endorphins. I often get this word confused with Euphoria; I think that’s a good sign. There’s nothing better than finishing a run (that maybe you didn’t think you’d finish) and feeling this surge of happiness pumping through your veins.

2. The more you run, the better you’ll be. It’s directly proportional. And it will always be true. It’s a constant fact. If I feel like I’m having a hard time running, I start off slow… but I know that by that even by the end of that run, if not by the following week, I’ll feel more comfortable.

3. Pushing yourself. Surprising yourself with your ability. I used to run cross-country for the my last two years of high school, and there was nothing I loved more than races. I was always nervous beforehand (who wasn’t?) but during the race, the drive would kick in and I’d push myself more than I knew I was physically able.

4. Seeing people cheer you on along the race route– and at the finish line. No matter your running speed or experience, it always makes a difference knowing that you have people you love cheering you on and supporting you throughout the race– even if you don’t see them, you know they’re there!

(post-race brunch with southern cousins! couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate.)

 

5. Because I can. I know only too well what it’s like to not be able to run. After running the half-marathon in 2010, I developed a really bad knee problem after a killer session with my mom’s trainer. I felt like I was in the best shape of my life… but I couldn’t run more than one mile before I started to feel a slight pinching in my knee cap; in the next half mile, the pain would become unbearable. And this kept happening, like clockwork. I managed to heal whatever was going on with my knee with some help from an orthopedic doctor, but the sensation comes back every now and then. Still, I’m able to run so much more now, and I’m not going to make up stupid excuses for not running when I’m finally able to.

6. Because there are so many people that can’t. By that, I mean there are many who are physically unable to run; by running, it’s like I’m vowing to not take my legs for granted. If I’m able to use them, I can’t take that gift for granted.

I’m glad I wrote this post, because I’ve been making more of an effort to run lately (since 3 days ago when I started drafting this up). And everytime I run, it seems, I think of another reason that I’m glad I’m out in the freezing cold, running. So thanks for letting me get my thoughts out there, as I think sometimes that’s the whole point of blogging– not sharing our thoughts for other people, but for ourselves.