Long Run -  Sunday February 8, 2009

I woke up around 6am, drank some coffee, ate some breakfast, and gave Alma a wake-up call. Took the 1 train to 225th Street and then warmed-up the mile+ to the start of the Bronx 1/2 marathon. Alma and I decided to scrap our plans to run marathon pace and instead take it easy. We ran with fellow CPTC teammate, Mayumi, from miles 4-9 and then picked up the pace a bit for miles 9-13. After a gatorade and stretch break we hit the road and ran back to my place (approximately 3 miles) bringing us to about 17.5 miles for the day, woo-hoo! Maybe it was the sunny and 55 degree weather or maybe it was the relaxed pace, but I felt really good throughout the long run. On a scale of 1-10, my hamstring/IT band/butt only got up to about a 4 on the pain scale. Most of the time it was at 2 or 3 and the last few miles were painless! I stretched and walked a lot throughout the remainder of the day - I think this really helped reduce soreness.

After the run, Alma and I made high fiber french toast! We used cinnamon, banana, maple syrup, and nut butter as toppings. La cena era molta deliziosa!

After a successful long run, I felt like I deserved a salad from the Whole Foods (a.k.a. Whole Paycheck) salad bar. My salad included: mixed greens, shredded carrot, red onion, beets, feta cheese, a scoop of sonoma turkey salad, a scoop of tuna salad with dried cranberries, and a scoop of apple-pecan-barley salad. Yum-o!

Finally – a chocolate peanut butter cookie from Levain Bakery!! It’s been over a year since I’ve had one of these bad boys.  After talking about going to the bakery for the last few weeks, Nate and I made the trek yesterday afternoon. Each cookie is 6 oz and is crispy on the outside and wonderfully gooey on the inside. It kind of tastes like brownie dough!

On Friday night we went to Burgers & Cupcakes where I got a vanilla frosted cupcake as big as my head. It made me very happy.