Catching Up

Hello, my name is Carolyn, and I am behind on life.  Nonetheless, I am here to give you a quick recap of my petite life lately, namely my fantabulous weekend with my bestie from Austin. 

Saturday morning was the Jingle Jog 4-Miler in Prospect Park, and I know beaucoup of my twitter friends ran it, too!  Unfortunately I didn't get to see most of them as it was quite crowded.  Voila moi and Jenny before the race (I look exhausted b/c I got 3 hours of sleep the night before...):

I also look stupid b/c I'm wearing a fleece headwrap/earwarmer... not cute.  But a necessity when it's cold outside!  I was super nervous about the race for several reasons:

1. This was my first race in 5 years.
2. I heard that Prospect Park was HILL-y.  (It is, but it's nothing compared to the Harlem hills in Central Park!)
3. Jenny has run 2 Half's and is a fast (and ridiculously in shape) runner.
4. I never run that early in the morning.
5. I had nothing in my stomach except coffee and water b/c one of my roomies accidentally threw away my pre-race banana. :(

But the race went off without a hitch!  It was a gorgeous, sunny morning, and Christmas cheer was definitely in the air.  The first mile was extremely slow, as it was extremely crowded, but Jenny and I took off after that.  Here's a breakdown mile by mile:

Mile 1: 11:09 (so crowded - spent most of the time weaving)
Mile 2: 9:51 (picked up the pace! still tres crowded)
Mile 3: 9:06 (no idea what happened here but we were speed demons! at one point i looked down at my Garmin, and I was running at an 8 something min/mile pace - UNHEARD OF!!)
Mile 4: 9:36 (went way too fast in the last mile and started feeling it in the last 3/4 mile.  also, there was a giant hill at the very end which was nothing short of cruel.  still, i ran much faster than usual!)

The feeling of pride, satisfaction and relief that you get once you cross the finish line is like none other (as long as you ignore the thrown up hard-boiled egg at the finish line).  And this was just a 4-miler!  I can't WAIT for the Austin Marathon.  :D  Afterwards we sipped on hot cocoa and then made our way to Stone Park Cafe, a darling and absurdly delicious brunch spot in Park Slope.  Buttermilk pancakes, quiche, cheese grits, and lots of coffee were subsequently consumed.  YUM.

After brunch we headed home, showered, and spent the next several hours in bed, watching Eclipse, and falling in and out of sleep.  It was awesome.  The rest of the weekend was a blur of decadent meal after meal, a little shopping, a little ballet, and a little of me falling down the stairs... yeah.  Thankfully I'm okay and didn't twist anything, but I have got to be careful.  Last time I trained for a Half, I fell down some stairs and twisted my ankle.  No bueno.

Anyway, I've gotta run (literally - I have 4 miles to conquer on the dreadmill!), but just want to wish you guys HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  I can't believe that in just over a week, I'll be in California celebrating Christmas with my Lolabear!!