Running weekend

On a normal weekend I tend to run Saturday morning with the Inwood Crew and Sunday morning hubby and I sleep in, read the paper, sip some tea and relax. So far March has consisted of 2 "abnormal" weekends with runs on Sunday morning on top of running on Saturday. Coogan's dragged me out of bed 2 weeks ago and this past weekend there was the important business of an overnight visit from Nancy from Philly and Elyssa trekking uptown to join us for a Heights Run. Mental note: I must return the favor soon and make the trip downtown to Brooklyn with E.

Saturday was a windy but sunny day which made for an excellent day with the Inwood bunch. Despite the southwest wind coming off of the river, we pushed our way down the Hudson path to Riverbank State park and turned back to head North. The wind at our backs on the run towards home felt great, it pushed us along at a nice clip, rounding the run out for me at 9 miles in 1:24. Thanks to Inwood Runner JS for the company and motivation to pick up the pace.

I spent the rest of Saturday wandering around the Multisport World expo at Columbia where I met some great people and potential coaches for the upcoming TRI season. I had a great time walking around the expo and listening to the lectures, but what I enjoyed the most was walking around the neighborhood where I spent lots of time exploring and studying when I was in grad school. Morningside has a really special place in my New York heart. I enjoyed an amazing sandwich at my old fav, Panino Sportivo on Amsterdam & 120th before heading home. It was a perfect early spring afternoon full of running, swimming and biking...or at least talking about it.

Sunday morning came and thanks to Daylight Savings Time making us "Spring Forward", we lost an hour of sleep and had a somewhat lazy morning before our run. We planned for a nice 7 mile run around the uptown area including a loop around the new Yankee Stadium (and its sign boasting 18 days til opening day!)and a trip over the Macomb's Dam Bridge. We looped back around the northeastern side of the Heights (sometimes known as Fort George), around George Washington High School with its accompanying hills and Yeshiva University which were both quiet and empty on a Sunday morning. It was a fun jaunt around the area and a great way to catch up with friends, we finished up with 7.6 miles in 1:11. It's no wonder I couldn't stop eating Sunday night... 16.6 miles for the weekend.

In addition to lots of fun with the girls, I got a belated birthday gift that is going to REALLY come in handy this upcoming year... an AWESOME tri-bag to schlep all of my goodies around to my upcoming races! I can hardly wait to use it later this season. Check it out- it's even in my favorite color!