Tag Archives: Running

My 2nd Marathon (and I PRed).

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I’m actually writing about my training journey on 30for30fit for the Tough Mudder and future races but I’m repeating this entry here since I wrote about my first half marathon here.
Brooklyn Half Marathon

I did my personal record on my most recent Half Marathon race. My very 2nd half marathon ever (yes, I know I did two full marathons before). It was the Brooklyn Half Marathon and I had trained this past few weeks to get my body in the condition to run strong and fast. I didn’t go super fast but I did better than my 2:04 and dropped to 1:48. I just wanted to do better than 2 hours, and I did. Shaving off 16 minutes is a big deal for any runner. It’s because when I first attempted this race 2 years ago I was inexperienced and I got injured at mile 7 and limped all the way to mile 13.1. I honestly wish I knew what my splits were like that year. I must’ve started off way too quickly and affected my knees. I felt the most excruciating pain which had me traumatized to even attempt this race again.

Race!
However, this weekend. I did it. I faced my fear. I even ran the entire 13.1 miles without music.

Bib: 22559
Overall place: 5742
Gender Place: 1370
Age place: 446
Finish Time: 1:48:18
Pace: 08:16

It was my first post-Boston marathon bombing race and of course security was tight. I’m happy that it was arranged that way. NYRR did a great job at organizing the runners the way they did. Sending over 20,000 runners in two waves. I was in wave 2. Each corral had their own portable potty (smelled god awful and ran out of paper rather quickly but worked well to relieve ourselves right on time before we took off).

Talking about things that they don’t tell you about running (I need to write a post about this)… Sometimes you just need to bring your own hand sanitizer.

I woke up that morning and had some carb rich meal with some peanut butter and jogged a mile and a half to the train to take it a few stops over. I dropped my bag off and headed to my corral.

At around 7:35am we were off. It took awhile to navigate through the crowd but my splits showed that I paced well at 8:30, which I wanted. I felt strong. I actually thought that I was going too slow. The park was a breeze because it was what I was used to running. Prospect park is my home park. I breathed well all the way up that infamous climb because I knew it was all downhill out of the park.

Course

When we got out of the park out to ocean parkway, I took a Gu to make sure that I had enough energy. I went a little faster but cautiously because I knew that I was reaching the mile that affected my knees. There was a steady incline for a little and I climbed carefully. Since I’m always worried about dehydrating, I stopped at every fluid station (I kid you not it’s a bad habit). I know it affects my time (thanks to my friends who laugh at this).

Anyway, I did great pace and negative splits all the way to the end thanks to some tips from my coworker Carolyn. I even passed many runners from Wave 1.

Negative Splits

Another different thing this year is meeting a great deal of coworkers at my current job who love running. I feel very fortunate for wanting to get better and better at it. I met up with one of them after, Wendy who I’m doing the Tough Mudder with, and we celebrated with a few beers. She also did her personal record! Anyway, next up, Tough Mudder and gosh I’m so happy to get my time on NYRR to be lower than 8:15 pace because I’m so much faster now. Dare to dream. Up next: Tough Mudder.

Medal

Frontrunner’s Pride 2012

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I signed up for the Frontrunner’s pride race again this year.

It’s a fun 5 mile race for the LGBT community and I fully support them. This year marked a year since it’s legal to get same-sex married in NYC. It was an honor to run on the anniversary.

Last year’s pride run was very different from this one. I wasn’t in the best of shape and I stopped a few times. The race is also incredibly packed so sometimes you can’t pass anyone.

However, last year’s result was: 0:44:56 with a 9 min pace placing 631 in my gender, 223 out of 751 in my age and 2076 overall.  There were 5,017 runners: Men – 2,430 and Women – 2,587. It was 72 degrees that day and 77% humidity, Wind 4MPH.

This year: I came in at: 0:41:46 with a 8:22 min pace despite the crowded route placing 256 in my gender, 82 out of 727 in my age  and 1215  overall. This year there were 4,947 runners: Men – 2,340 and Women – 2,607. The weather was: 69 Degrees, 93% Humidity, Wind 3MPH, A Few Clouds. I did pause three times for water but I did very well because I felt strong throughout the entire race. Unfortunately as usual I didn’t get enough sleep (bad) thanks to my neighbors (who are moving by the month’s end – yes! So I won’t need to move). Next time I’m definitely going to try running at the 7 minute pace starting line because I realized I could run even faster if there was no one in front of my strides. At the last 1/2 mile I sprinted really quickly. After I crossed the finish line, a few people came up to me and complimented me. One even said that I looked like a gazelle and my legs were really high like I was flying. That made my day!

After, there was a raffle (which I didn’t get).

I also ran into the actor, Wilson Cruz. I went up to and asked, “Hey, you look familiar — are you a salsa instructor or someone I’ve danced salsa with before?” Haha, he said, no he’s an actor and if I remembered him from “My So-Called Life,” if I am old enough. Lol I was a little embarrassed for doing this (not every latin guy is a salsa dancer, Jerlyn!)

After the race, I headed to Macondo with my friends and had brunch with unlimited mimosas which caused me to miss my last appointment for the day because I completed passed out and couldn’t wake up. I guess my body needed it.

 

Body by Jerlyn, you are what you eat.

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Disclaimer: I hope that I don’t offend anyone with actual weight issues with this post. I’m aware that my struggles might not be like most.

The “Weight thing”

It was so difficult for me to reach 100 lbs as a kid (I always remembered being skinny and tall). I remember trying to eat a lot to gain anything. I was 5′ 10″ by the end of high school so having a lean frame allowed me to develop bad habits like going throughout college eating for two people.

Pretty Disgusting! (This was also followed with an icecream bar or two)

Anyway, the above is  me at senior year of high school, my exercise consisted of typing programming code languages and eating anything.

I was a mere 130 something pounds and I went off to college, possibly gaining another 10 lbs finally.

It was still a fluctuation of 5 lbs yearly, all throughout then and finally I graduated to move to NYC.

Immediately, I thought, “Jackpot!” Only if you’re a fellow a foodie, you can imagine how excited experiencing different cuisines was for me. It’s literally placing me in a candy store — well, there are also candy stores here.

I did start gaining but most of my friends were struggling with body issues incomparable to me so what would someone who was tall and 150ish have to complain about?

Nothing really until…

Fast forward to 2011.

I stopped exercising almost altogether except rack up miles on the track and parks. I could run like nothing but even if I burned 1800 calories a pop on distance, the scale doesn’t change after I noticed a 20ish lb difference.

I trained for a half marathon and that didn’t matter either (see, I don’t run to get slimmer). I did realize alcohol consumption had a lot to do with the weight gain (since it’s the only thing that changed about my diet). I stopped drinking altogether for the half marathon.

What do I do now?

Well, I think diet and exercise is a lifestyle change. Even if I love food, I had to start eating differently. I know, I do post my lunches on my facebook… the food that I usually had will change soon.

I needed to cross train as well. So when I started a new job, I checked out their corporate gym memberships immediately! I got a trainer who made me stronger and after all 8 sessions, I feel my running has improved and I’m able to push myself on my own now.

What many folks don’t realize is, exercise takes commitment. You can’t go on a couple weeks/months and immediately quit once you’ve reached your goal. You have to be able to maintain it. So, my daily routine now includes squats, dips, situps, leg raises and pushups (I’m doing the hundred pushups challenge). I also started tango classes last month and signed up for bootcamp, boxing, pole dancing and belly dancing which I will be redeeming as time  passes and I need new motivators.

I didn’t imagine that I’d ever be able to run the half marathon. I had to work at it, much like I have to work on exercise.

Since the half,  I’ve been able to also run the 5 mile pride race and 10K for Cystic Fibrosis. I have another 10 mile race to run and a half marathon the following week. I’ve been logging miles on the daily mile.com (everyone should join this) – great motivator. Send me a request and I’ll be happy to add you so that I can cheer you on!

Diet

I’ve also started this diet thanks to Miguel Cardona (@miggi)

I’ll keep  you guys  posted if I lose anything but currently my body looks leaner even if the weight is the same.

I realized the other day that most of my laundry has been gym clothes…

I’m basically addicted to exercise these days. I feel better, sleep better, have more energy… Hooray for staying healthy in 2011!

What are you doing for exercise? diet? etc?

 

Day 2 with my Nike+ Shoes

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I love that I can track my runs :-)

This is day 2. I’m not fast today… I’m actually very tired and it’s super super hot. However I checked out this sweet feature on NikePlus.com. Remember to support the race for the cure. It’s tax deductible. Read the email here. I raised $55 yesterday. I paid $30 for the race itself. It should be great! Besides, who doesn’t want to save breasts?

I want to thank Julian, Melissa, Samuel and Nathan for donating yesterday! What little you can donate will be very appreciated. It doesn’t go to me, it goes to Komen’s Greater NYC Race for the Cure.

If you can’t see the flash below, click here to view the actual website.