Week 27: Goats with jobs

And my first inter-borough run

I’m training to run the TCS NYC Marathon this year! This newsletter is a weekly recap of the highs and lows of training and my best efforts to stay mentally and physically healthy through it. This is week 27/36.

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I don’t take my phone out during my runs for pictures or videos which means sometimes I see things and then wonder if I imagined them. This week it was one (1) loose goat at Riverside park that I was extremely confused by, and then pondered the rest of my run. Turns out these are Goats With Jobs, regularly employed by the park conservancy to help clear brush. The more you know. Anyway, vote for Mallomar.        

How I’ve Been Training:

• Monday: Nothing

• Tuesday: 4.21-mile run, PT

• Wednesday: Vinyasa Yoga

• Thursday: 4.63-mile run

• Friday: Strength training 

• Saturday: 10.02-mile run 

Miles run: 19

first inter-borough run! brooklyn bridge was the highlight. everything after mile 7 sucked.

I have not been adequately preparing for these long runs, I think because of this weird scale shift my brain has been doing for the marathon. Other runners out there, let me know if you’ve felt the same: Ten miles, if I were training for a half-marathon, would be a huge milestone. I would be reaching my peak mileage, and I would treat each long run with that level of enormity, preparation, and sense of accomplishment. 

Because I’m so far from my peak mileage for a full marathon, I mentally diminish these mid-distance runs as not a big deal. I don’t have a good hydration plan, haven’t been fueling adequately, and haven’t even been taking the extremely small steps that would make me feel more comfortable overall (sunscreen, chafe stick, a hat, sunglasses, better running socks so I don’t lose more toenails 😐), mostly because it feels like I have so much further to go before I “should” need all of that. This makes literally no sense. Ten miles is a big deal, especially since just five weeks ago, I was still doing run/walk intervals. (Ten weeks ago, I literally said, “You guys, am I ever gonna run again lol.”)

I’ve decided my mantra for the upcoming weeks of training—I’m a mantra girlie now, apparently—is “respect the mileage.” Just because runners on social media are boasting about their 80-mile weeks, and hordes of run clubs are zooming past me on the West Side Highway, doesn’t mean 10 miles is easy, less of an achievement, or needs less preparation. TL;DR: This long run felt like hell, and I have got to figure out how to make them feel less like hell.

reflections, post-saturday run

What I’ve Been Eating:

For our last couple days in Portland, Maine, we ate potato donuts from The Holy Donut, a whole seafood spread at Eventide Oyster Co. (the highlight being brown butter lobster rolls), then Domino’s pizza ordered in for dinner. We finished our trip with a quick jaunt to Rose Foods for bagels before the airport. When I got back to NYC, I immediately made pasta with some farmers market cherry tomatoes I stashed in my freezer. I used my lack of groceries as an excuse to eat out the rest of the week. 

An egg and cheese on a scallion bun for dinner at Golden Diner with a friend, and some pistachio scotcheroos she pilfered from the Bon Appétit test kitchen for me (I miss being there for daily tastings). A giant chicken quesadilla from Metro Diner (went on a run, procrastinated on eating, this was the first meal of the day), a cookie sundae at Junior’s before finally seeing Stereophonic on Broadway (a fantastic play). A park picnic spread of crackers, cheese, and bubble tea. Fistfuls of popcorn stolen from a friend during Between the Temples. I bought some beautiful tomatoes from Millport Dairy and made this garlic-rubbed tomato toast.  

look at that color     

What I’ve Been Reading:

I finally finished National Dish by Anya von Bremzen and loved it. So much of my career thus far has been learning the rules and building blocks of global cuisines. This book felt like a graduation from that—a well-researched, gentle, thoughtful, fun dismantling of what “authentic” cuisine actually means.