“But First I Have To Run”

I am blogging from a super-soft couch in Fire Island and I can physically feel my Crohn’s disease/potential colitis/faulty foot/mental craziness melting away. It’s a beautiful thing.

My goal for this weekend is to stay as unplugged as possible. I’m surrounded by a very very very cool breeze, awesome friends, tons of food and a refrigerator filled with wine and apple cider.

After this evening, blogging is not a priority. Tweeting is stupid. I don’t even know what Facebook is anymore.

But, as always, running is a priority. Some habits I simply cannot — and don’t want — to break.

I talk about my nice friend Lauren all the time, and how she takes good care of me and does kind things all the dang time. This weekend, she invited our group of college girlfriends out to her house in Saltaire. We agreed to take today off in order to take an early ferry out to the island.

Of course, for me, that meant doing some finagling with my weekend running plans. With the Las Vegas Half Marathon rapidly approaching (December 4!), I want to keep my mileage up.

I woke up at 5 am today — on my day off — to bang out 10 miles before Lauren’s very firm “be at my apartment at 8 am” orders. I’m not one to mess with the girl in charge.

I actually hopped out of bed as soon as my alarm went off because I was excited to run. My stomach felt very blech when I got up, though. I spent lots of time in the bathroom before making it out the door around 5:40. This routine is getting a little old, but it’s getting better, so I’m not complaining. Really. I’m not.

Also, this:

Did the 38-degree reading keep me from wearing short shorts? It absolutely did not.

So I leave my apartment, and I start running toward Central Park. I am cold. My legs are immediately bright red. It’s a great time. Also, my stomach is rumbling.

“This is going to be so much fun,” I thought to myself.

And, actually, it kind of was.

I hit up the Reservoir first, which was a massive mistake. The path was still pretty much washed out from all of yesterday’s rain, and I was walk-running on the little step alongside the path. That is a dangerous way to live, by the way. I don’t recommend it. Falling off the step and twisting my ankle and snapping my neck is probably how I’m going to die. I’ll accept that if I have to.

Mid-puddle jumping I made a necessary bathroom stop. The bathroom was warm, so I really didn’t mind it too much.

Then, at precisely 6:15 am, I met the delightful Kelly at Engineer’s Gate. Kelly so graciously agreed to join me for a few miles. I like that she’s not afraid of early mornings and frigid temperatures. We also spotted Katie, and I made her join us, too.

These two girls are the reason I survived my run today. The miles somehow flew by. I didn’t think I’d be able to keep a sub-9:00 pace because I felt kind of empty and sluggish, but apparently once I got off the Reservoir (miles two and three) I did just fine.

I did have to ask semi-politely if we could stop at the Boathouse bathrooms. I was pretty pumped that they were open! Katie and Kelly kindly (alliteration!) waited and then we kept on running. We chatted about the fact that they’re both running the New York City Marathon next weekend, and I assured them that I will be yelling as loud as possible on First Avenue as they both fly by.

The sunrise was stunning and I geeked out about it.

All of a sudden, I had wrapped up 10 miles and it was long weekend time. Wonderful!

Kelly and Katie, thank you thank you thank you for slogging along with me today. You really did keep me going when my legs were sleepy and my stomach was grouchy. I appreciate it.

So that’s what I did this morning, at a very early hour. I ran. Because I didn’t want to head out of town for a long weekend without getting some mileage covered.

That’s my life now. I don’t mind it.

I had roughly 8 minutes by the time I got back from the run to thaw out, shower, pack and get over to Lauren’s. I made it.

And, if I had to, I would have showed up un-showered with a half-packed suitcase if it still meant I did my training run. I’m not sure if that means I’m dedicated or stupid or just plain gross, but while you guys debate that I’ll be sucking down a hard-earned glass of wine. And while you continue debating the order of my priorities, I will move onto glass number nine. Enjoy. I know I will.

Now here I am, blogging in my leg warmers (not the same pair I ran in), feeling very relaxed. Before we got to Fire Island, we made some very important stops.

We went to Target…

We got very important comfort food for lunch…

We rode a ferry…

We bell-kicked on the ferry…

Well, I jumped on the ferry. Not very well, I should add. And the girls keep telling me that my new hat — which I like very much — makes me look, and yes I quote, “a little homeless.” How rude.

Lauren decorated the house for this festive Halloween weekend, and it is fantastic.

We also took a brisk walk on the beach and went on swings and saw many deer. Life is good.

See ya later, Crohn’s. Sorry I have to relax now and get rid of you. Sorry you suck.

A few final thoughts:

• Today is Emily‘s birthday. Go wish her a happy one!
• Tomorrow is Katie‘s birthday. Wish her a rockin’ day, too. Tomorrow.
• Today is the last day to vote for Ali On The Run in the SHAPE magazine “Top Blogs” contest. If you cast a vote, I will appreciate it very much and then I will quit the constant campaigning. I promise.

Have a great weekend, everyone!