Running in the Rain!

I'm heading up to Central Park tonight to do a short (ceremonial) fair well run with RUNNYC! It's been so long since I've gone up to run in the park and it looks like this will be my final chance to do so before surgery next week. I'm a little bit bummed because it's raining here in NYC, but as my grammar school track coach, Mr. Guano always said, "It never rains on a runner". :)

See ya in CP!

Free Ballin' !

Just in case you've been in sort of a cave (as I have been) for the past 3-5 days and haven't seen this, I thought you might enjoy a laugh.

If anyone can tell me whether they figured out if this was staged or not, please let me know. Real or fake, it's still mighty hysterical!

Have a spectacular week ... and remember to "be well and stay happy!" :)

PDF Champions Marathon Team - Spots Available!!

PDF Champions Marathon Team

2009 Marathon Spots Now Available!

Are you interested in joining in the fight against Parkinson's by raising funds for research, education and advocacy? The Parkinson's Disease Foundation (PDF) Champions program is pleased to announce that we have secured several spots in four of the world's major marathons for 2009 - New York City, Chicago, Boston and Berlin.

PDF provides all runners with fundraising tips, singlets for race day and continual support throughout their marathon journey. All marathon spots must be secured at least 5 months before the race date. If you are interested in running for PDF, please contact Patrick Johnson at (800) 457-6676 or info@pdf.org to find out the details of our Marathon Program.
The 2009 PDF Champions Marathon Team has spots available in the following four major marathons:

ING New York City Marathon New York, NYNovember 2009 The premier event of New York Road Runners, the ING New York City Marathon is one of the world's great road races, drawing more than 100,000 applicants. The race attracts many world-class professional athletes, not only for the more than $600,000 in prize money, but also for the chance to excel in the media capital of the world before two million cheering spectators and 315 million worldwide television viewers.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon Chicago, ILOctober 2009The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is the pinnacle of achievement for elite athletes and everyday runners alike. This year, over 40,000 people joined for the race. Would you like to be one of them next year?
Boston Marathon Boston, MAApril 2009The world's oldest annual marathon, the Boston Marathon has distinguished itself as the pinnacle event within the sport of road racing by virtue of its traditions, longevity and method of gaining entry into the race. In 2008 nearly 22,000 runners completed the race. With PDF, you have the incredible opportunity to participate in this race.

Berlin Marathon Berlin, GermanySeptember 2009The Berlin Marathon is part of the marathon series, World Marathon Majors, together with four other large and tradition bound races: Boston, Chicago, London and New York marathons. In 2008, 35,000 runners in Berlin were cheered on by more than 1 million spectators.

For more information, please contact:
Patrick Johnson, Development Coordinator
(800) 457-6676 or info@pdf.org

You can also read about other PDF Champions and their inspiring efforts to raise, funds, through marathons and other creative endeavors.

Thank you for your generosity.

Marathon A-listers... such amateurs!

I was reading this article a few minutes ago and it got me thinking, why do we think it's such a big deal when A-listers run the NYC marathon? Well, I should actually rephrase that, because I don't think many New Yorkers actually care, but why does everyone else get hyped up about it. Yes, it's so very nice of them to run for charity and to also spend 4-hours surrounded by "normal" people, but really, why all the hype? What makes them different than the other thousands of runners out there shedding sweat and tears to raise money or just achieve a personal goal?


Although I must say that I found Actor Ryan Reynolds' post marathon comment quite humerous. After crossing the finish line, he told the Daily News, "I am going to allow three to four hours for my scary marathon face to go away and then I am going to eat my body weight in raw dough"

Huh! That's a heck of a lot of dough!! But let's get serious, only an amateur would care about their "scary marathon face". The rest of us just embrace it and go get drunk to numb the pain and to forget about how silly we look walking down the street. :)

But I am feelin' him on the dough comment. Personally, I dream of Philly soft pretzels after finishing a marathon. yum!!!!!!

I Feel it All !

NYC MARATHON 2008

Wow! What a show yesterday!



It may have been a bit chilly for spectators, but what an unbelievably perfect day for distance running!


Watching a marathon (especially in NYC) is truly magical. It's so hard not to let the passion that flows from over 37,000 hopeful, energetic, and enduring marathoners permeate your soul. It's incredible! And there's just something about the buzz of this city that puts the icing on the cake.. and make's you "feel it all". :)


Congrats to all the 2008 finishers!!!

All Aboard!

Where will you be at 4:45am the morning of November 2, 2008? If you are planning to join the other 40,000 some people running the 2008 New York City Marathon tomorrow morning, you'll most likely be getting ready to hit the road to get on over to Staten Island.

And if you're planning to make your way to Staten Island via the Staten Island Ferry, you may just see my bright and smiley face at the ferry terminal. I've signed up to volunteer tomorrow to help as an escort and "unloading marshal". I'm not certain at this point if I'll be actually on the ferry or just at the terminal (Staten Island side), but I'm pumped to help out in any way I can!

Hope to see you there!



Best of luck to all our NYC 2008 runners!

PS: Remember to turn your clocks back tonight!

"Favorite Thing" Fridays - COME BACKS!

Everybody loves a come-back!

So, now that I've answered the question, "Is she still alive?", what about you? Are you still out there? :)

Wow! Well, its certainly been a while since my last post. I just got increasingly difficult to keep posting since I felt that most of my posts just focused on my hip/hammy drama. And since in the last (almost) two months, I haven't really been doing too much running and nothing had changed with my injury, well, there seemed to be little I wanted to write about.

Watching everyone gear up for marathon season has been so difficult. I'm okay with not running one this fall, but I'm not okay with the fact that I still can't run.... well, can't run fast and frequent like I normally would be. Also, my new career as a medical circus poodle has consumed my life and temporarily sucked the passion out of my very being. ...and yes, I have become a bit of a drama queen!! However, things in the circus poodle realm did take a bit of a twist a few weeks ago. Let me explain, but let me start from where I left off in the summer...

Since my labrum tear diagnosis in early August, I have been on a steady recommended diet of slow, flat, infrequent running. I have complimented this insufficient meal with a few servings a week of the elliptical and swimming. As you may recall, following my diagnosis my Orthopedist, Dr. Bharam said that he wanted me to go to physical therapy because he did not feel comfortable operating on me until he was certain that my symptoms could not be fixed by PT treatment. In his words, "I treat patients and symptoms, not MRI films". I found this very honorable, but frustrating since, in my mind, it meant that the saga would continue. He sent me to his "go-to" Physical Therapist, Ben Gelfand (owner to S.T.A.R. Physical Therapy) in midtown who spent a decent amount of time assessing me and asking questions. He prescribed two weeks of VERY slow and flat and short (could this get worse) running. Ben had a great sense of humor and I like his action plan, so I was content with backing off and logging my progress. After two weeks, I e-mailed my progress to him, which really wasn't all too promising. After a few weeks of phone tag and a long over due conversation, I was set up with an appointment to meet both Dr. Bharam and Ben together at one place.

Finally, judgement day arrived (or at least that's what if felt like) and I met with both Bharam and Gelfand to discuss my fate. After another evaluation and a significant conversation about my progress (or lack there of), they decided that surgery to repair my labrum tear would be the next best option. And so there you have it... I'll be going in for the procedure next month with the hopes that my symptoms have been related to this injury or that they will be better treated by first fixing this deficiency in my hip.

When I first met with Ben he promised me the Broad Street Run in 2009. And not just a "you can finish" the race, but a " you can race the race". When we met to discuss the surgery, Ben assured me that I would be underwhelmed with the recovery. A few days on crutches, a few weeks until I was returning to activity and then a few months (4-5) until I was out running.

Oddly, I had peculiar dream last night which concerned my recovery. I dreamt I already had the surgery and had just woken up in the recovery room. To my surprise, Coach Cane was in the next gurney and he had just had the same surgery. After saying hello and exchanging the normal niceties (of course) I jumped to my feet and started walking. Everything felt great! So great that I was like, see ya Coach Cane and I went in the next room where there was an indoor pool and I started swimming a few laps. ha! I mean Ben did in fact tell me I'd be underwhelmed by the recovery! Anyway, my hip and hammy started to hurt of course and so I went back to tell Coach Cane who immediately said, I told you so. ha! ...That Coach Cane, such a wise man!

So...back to reality and now it's count down to surgery day. I'm back bloggin' for now.. but the true comeback starts November 18th. Stay tuned!