the queens half marathon
Sunday, September 20, 2009 posted by Reagan at 7:11 PM
put this in your pipe and smoke it...
this morning i woke up at 4:30 am all in the name of running. we were going to queens to run a half marathon! yay! fun! right? see for yourself.
5am head down to the subway platform.
5:15 get on the A train. it's running local, boo!
5:45 at 42nd st stop and get on the 7 train. also running local. booo!
6:15 get off at the last stop on the 7 and see the line that wraps around the block and literally goes up 4 blocks, just to get on the shuttle for the starting line. we are supposed to be there about 15 minutes before the race starts to get our numbers. race starts at 7am. not panicking.
7am we are still in line. the race has started. contemplate going home.
7:20am finally get on the last bus going to the start
ok, this is where i'll stop with the time line. it got old. we are driving along, driving along...then we see a huge pack of runners.
the shuttle driver says: you have to get out here. i can't take you any closer because of all the runners.
us (the entire bus of pumped runners): are we close to the start?
driver: you are a little more than three miles.
this is where i start to get super pi**ed off. jake, mike and i sort of throw back and forth the idea of going home....or should we walk to the start? well, all the roads are pretty much blocked off, so we would have to walk all the way to the train anyway, so we decide we are going to walk the three miles and run the race.
long story slightly less long, we get our numbers and bags checked just in time to CHEER ON THE WINNER!!!! then proceed to start the half marathon by ourselves an hour and ten minutes late. completely alone. the three of us. most of the roads were no longer blocking off traffic, so we had to watch for cars which was annoying, but it was kind of fun to run the race alone. and i was really able to relax and enjoy and unfamiliar route. we didn't see really anyone until we started catching up to the walkers around mile 9, but then there were quite a few of them. i was glad to at least not come in dead last place. even if we were the last people to start the race.
(my cute lover)
this morning i woke up at 4:30 am all in the name of running. we were going to queens to run a half marathon! yay! fun! right? see for yourself.
5am head down to the subway platform.
5:15 get on the A train. it's running local, boo!
5:45 at 42nd st stop and get on the 7 train. also running local. booo!
6:15 get off at the last stop on the 7 and see the line that wraps around the block and literally goes up 4 blocks, just to get on the shuttle for the starting line. we are supposed to be there about 15 minutes before the race starts to get our numbers. race starts at 7am. not panicking.
7am we are still in line. the race has started. contemplate going home.
7:20am finally get on the last bus going to the start
ok, this is where i'll stop with the time line. it got old. we are driving along, driving along...then we see a huge pack of runners.
the shuttle driver says: you have to get out here. i can't take you any closer because of all the runners.
us (the entire bus of pumped runners): are we close to the start?
driver: you are a little more than three miles.
this is where i start to get super pi**ed off. jake, mike and i sort of throw back and forth the idea of going home....or should we walk to the start? well, all the roads are pretty much blocked off, so we would have to walk all the way to the train anyway, so we decide we are going to walk the three miles and run the race.
long story slightly less long, we get our numbers and bags checked just in time to CHEER ON THE WINNER!!!! then proceed to start the half marathon by ourselves an hour and ten minutes late. completely alone. the three of us. most of the roads were no longer blocking off traffic, so we had to watch for cars which was annoying, but it was kind of fun to run the race alone. and i was really able to relax and enjoy and unfamiliar route. we didn't see really anyone until we started catching up to the walkers around mile 9, but then there were quite a few of them. i was glad to at least not come in dead last place. even if we were the last people to start the race.
(my cute lover)
this was the strangest race i have ever run in my life. a race with more than 10,000 runners, and we ran the whole thing in complete silence alone. so weird! even though i had a totally bad attitude and had to be talked into staying, i'm glad i did. because it will be a fun story to tell my kids. btw my dad has a similar story from the marine corps marathon. it was the first one ever and it sounds to have been equally disorganized. i'm not sure i'll be running the queens half again.ps now brace yourselves. queens seems to have a strangely enormous amount of WILD EXOTIC BIRDS nesting everywhere. parrots! parrots with enormous nests that have like 25 birds living in them. and they are squawking like crazy and flying around. weirdest thing ever. i would love to hear more about this if anyone reading knows more. please explain.
Labels: half marathons, running
weekend adventures
Sunday, July 19, 2009 posted by Reagan at 10:41 PM
friday night we tried to watch jaws on top of the intrepid. we had a picnic dinner on top of the intrepid successfully, then it rained and lightening-ed about 20 minutes into the movie and we booked it home. still fun.
saturday we had a race. in cp. jake is now done with his nine races and only needs to volunteer for one. i only have one more (due to calling in sick to the bk half) to run, and one to volunteer at. then we are in the ny marathon 2010! come watch! it's going to be a bloodbath. the good kind.
here are some pictures from the race. taken by the mucho talented zack and linda. the race was so hot. i was not proud of my time. my running has been so pathetic that i didn't deserve to have a time to be proud of....make sense?
the best part of running races is that we've made a nice little tradition of brunching at kitchenette. it's my favorite. i could eat buttermilk biscuits and cheese grits until i'm no longer useful for anything else. go ahead and try it out, but don't tell too many people or else it will get too busy and we don't want an hour+ wait, now do we?
kim and ryan got married. yay! it was an absolutely lovely wedding on the central park arsenal rooftop. lovely, lovely. funny story...kim and ryan are dogooders. if you know them, you know that. so they had beautiful gift bags of sack lunches to give to a homeless person on your way home. well, the arsenal is on the east side, so during the walk to the train on the west side, we decided to sit on a bench and enjoy the night at the south end of central park for a little bit. the more we sat there, the more thirsty i realized i was. before i knew it, i was drinking the juice box from the sack lunch. kim, i want you to know that i DID give the sandwich and granola to a homeless man on the train. he said "what is this? i asked for a dollar." and don't worry, i think he had already had plenty to drink, and wasn't missing the juice box too much. hooray! i did a good deed!
sunday was church, i taught gospel essentials (which i'm slowly getting used to) then we headed to see our wild monkey frog. she was basically adorbs. believe it.
don't get grossed out, but i swear i changed a 3 lb diaper today. i swear it.
a quick bike ride this evening and lounging near the cloisters. for you non new yorkers, the cloisters is a castle in northern manhattan that was broughtten* over from france, brick by brick. a waste of time you say? maybe, but the park (fort tryon) that surrounds it is the most beautiful park in the city. no kidding.
that was our weekend. how was yours?
*i am aware that broughtten isn't a word.
saturday we had a race. in cp. jake is now done with his nine races and only needs to volunteer for one. i only have one more (due to calling in sick to the bk half) to run, and one to volunteer at. then we are in the ny marathon 2010! come watch! it's going to be a bloodbath. the good kind.
here are some pictures from the race. taken by the mucho talented zack and linda. the race was so hot. i was not proud of my time. my running has been so pathetic that i didn't deserve to have a time to be proud of....make sense?
the best part of running races is that we've made a nice little tradition of brunching at kitchenette. it's my favorite. i could eat buttermilk biscuits and cheese grits until i'm no longer useful for anything else. go ahead and try it out, but don't tell too many people or else it will get too busy and we don't want an hour+ wait, now do we?kim and ryan got married. yay! it was an absolutely lovely wedding on the central park arsenal rooftop. lovely, lovely. funny story...kim and ryan are dogooders. if you know them, you know that. so they had beautiful gift bags of sack lunches to give to a homeless person on your way home. well, the arsenal is on the east side, so during the walk to the train on the west side, we decided to sit on a bench and enjoy the night at the south end of central park for a little bit. the more we sat there, the more thirsty i realized i was. before i knew it, i was drinking the juice box from the sack lunch. kim, i want you to know that i DID give the sandwich and granola to a homeless man on the train. he said "what is this? i asked for a dollar." and don't worry, i think he had already had plenty to drink, and wasn't missing the juice box too much. hooray! i did a good deed!
sunday was church, i taught gospel essentials (which i'm slowly getting used to) then we headed to see our wild monkey frog. she was basically adorbs. believe it.
don't get grossed out, but i swear i changed a 3 lb diaper today. i swear it.
a quick bike ride this evening and lounging near the cloisters. for you non new yorkers, the cloisters is a castle in northern manhattan that was broughtten* over from france, brick by brick. a waste of time you say? maybe, but the park (fort tryon) that surrounds it is the most beautiful park in the city. no kidding.that was our weekend. how was yours?
*i am aware that broughtten isn't a word.
Labels: bikes, piper jane, running, wedding, weekend
the day that almost sucked.
Saturday, May 30, 2009 posted by Reagan at 6:33 PM
I woke up this morning with the blues. The Brooklyn half marathon that I have been signed up/looking forward to for months was this morning and my head cold was still here. I decided sadly that I would be miserable running with a stuffy nose and an achy body...so I didn't go. For a short while I was happy to not have to leave the house at 5:30, but then when I woke up around 7:00 for real, I actually contemplated hopping in a cabbie and hauling-a to brooklyn. I mean, all my friends were going. I love Brooklyn. And it finished at Coney Island (i can't believe I haven't seen any carnies since last summer). Anyway, I didn't go and I was bummed.
Things started looking up when...
I was going to a clients apartment to do her hair and I noticed a missed call from a 706 area code (Georgia). I was pretty sure it was a wrong number, and even though I was right, the message they left me would have brought the lowest of spirits up:
"hey sis, I'm just calling because....we all miss you terribly. You are just wonderful and I wanted to check in. I love you."
How nice was that? Thanks stranger! I'm sorry it was the wrong number, but I'm sure the real person you were calling didn't need it like I did. So, thanks sis! Whoever you are.
Then, when I was at my beautiful client's apartment, who is a set/shoot stylist for the designer Bottega Venetta, she told me she had gotten a new handbag and would I like her gently used one? Yes please. and thank you. It's so beautiful. It looks similar to this beauty, but without the embellishments. And the flap goes down all the way. Otherwise, it's the exact bag.
I still can't believe it. Some used Bottega bags sell on ebay for $2,000! I'm going to look like an imposter carrying such a nice bag with my lowly clearance rack duds. At least I'll feel fancy!
Last but not least. Piper certainly did not dissapoint. The minute she saw me, she reached for me to pick her up while flashing me the most adorable crooked toothed smile I've ever seen. Every time I tried to put her back to suction her or use the bathroom, she'd immediately start crawling toward me to get her back out. I don't even know what I did to get her to sudennly like me, but...Hooray! She likes me! Yay!
Things started looking up when...
I was going to a clients apartment to do her hair and I noticed a missed call from a 706 area code (Georgia). I was pretty sure it was a wrong number, and even though I was right, the message they left me would have brought the lowest of spirits up:
"hey sis, I'm just calling because....we all miss you terribly. You are just wonderful and I wanted to check in. I love you."
How nice was that? Thanks stranger! I'm sorry it was the wrong number, but I'm sure the real person you were calling didn't need it like I did. So, thanks sis! Whoever you are.
Then, when I was at my beautiful client's apartment, who is a set/shoot stylist for the designer Bottega Venetta, she told me she had gotten a new handbag and would I like her gently used one? Yes please. and thank you. It's so beautiful. It looks similar to this beauty, but without the embellishments. And the flap goes down all the way. Otherwise, it's the exact bag.
I still can't believe it. Some used Bottega bags sell on ebay for $2,000! I'm going to look like an imposter carrying such a nice bag with my lowly clearance rack duds. At least I'll feel fancy!Last but not least. Piper certainly did not dissapoint. The minute she saw me, she reached for me to pick her up while flashing me the most adorable crooked toothed smile I've ever seen. Every time I tried to put her back to suction her or use the bathroom, she'd immediately start crawling toward me to get her back out. I don't even know what I did to get her to sudennly like me, but...Hooray! She likes me! Yay!
Labels: my lucky day, Piper loves her mama, running
Yeah. About that...
Thursday, November 13, 2008 posted by Reagan at 4:24 PM
So, I'm sure you are all dying to find out how my toe nails are since the marathon toe nail drama last month. You're not? And you think it's gross? Well, I'm sure SOME of you think it's cool. No? Ok, but just in case....
The good news: only one is going to fall off! The one on my right foot has somehow begged for mercy and gotten that mercy in the form of staying intact! Meaning no stumpage! Hooray!!!
The bad news: the one on my left foot is hanging on by one fiber of a human thread. Any day now. Any day. I can put my whole finger inbetween the nail and the toe. Jake walked in while I was inspecting that very thing yesterday and he literally peed his pants and threw up all over himself at the same time. Well, I guess literally he didn't at all, but he almost did and probably could have if he would have relaxed his muscles a little.
In rat squishing news. I stepped on a squished rat today. I was crossing Broadway and I stepped on something quite crunchy and quite squishy at the same time. I though "that was definitely something". And it was something! Gross, right? I mean, so freakin nast' in a really bad way!!!
Nathan and Melanie are flying in tonight! Yay! I love those guys!! Hooray!!
Last but not least, raise your hand (in comment form) if you found my new blob location/URL/slash subscribed to reader! Seriously, if you don't mind, I would like to know.
Bye!
Labels: Family, jake stories, memories, nathan, running
New York Marathon Volunteering
Tuesday, November 4, 2008 posted by Reagan at 7:23 AM
This is us at the New York Marathon. We had a great time. 40,000 runners!! Seriously, you could just feel the energy! I was so excited to be a part of such a big event in our city. Since there were so many runners, they had to break everyone up into three groups to get their chips clipped, we were in the 3rd group (farthest away from finish line) and we were the last post. So, we wound up clipping only about 10 chips each and giving about 200 runners directions to everything from "how to get to the east side of the park", to a very important "where is the nearest bar?". We soon realized that our main job would be to cheer for the finishers and tell them how great they did. One guy kissed me!!! Then looked at Jake and apologized. Hahaha
Here we are! Volunteering our socks off! Wasn't it a beautiful day?
we weren't able to see him....
we weren't able to see him.... 
Or her......
Or her.....
Or her.
I couldn't get enough of it. We were there all day and we still went home and watched the WHOLE thing on DVR. I already knew that Paula Radcliffe won, but I had to see if it was as close as last year. She finished 2 minutes faster than the second place runner. That is amazing. She lead the entire race. This woman is incredibly inspiring to me. She works so hard and endures mountains of pain to do what she does. She has run 10 marathons and won 8 of them. She holds 4 of the 5 fastest women's marathon in history. Not to mention many awards and other world records.After watching the race, I realized that this is my thing. I love running, watching running and talking about it. Even though I do not perform at an elite level like these women, watching them made me want to be awesome. It was such a great experience to be there.
The (corny) end.
Labels: i have a crush, jake, marathon, running
