Ellipses

Election? What election? I’ve got a marathon to run (left work early to get my number and chip at the Javits Center)….Thank you friends and family who emailed me about the story in yesterday’s New York Times. It’s interesting, because before I even read the article I was saying how I was afraid the crowded course would bug me….. Mikeroscopic forwarded me a link to this profile piece, with video, about Joe Bastianich (partner, with Mario Batali, of one of my favorite restaurants). Bastianich lost 45 pounds training for the NYC Marathon, and this article details how he got fit and trim without dieting or giving up entirely his favorite piatti italiani… To all my fellow fans of elite runners, the Men’s Olympic Marathon team (golden Ryan Hall, surprising Dathan Ritzenheim, and huggable Brian Sell) will all be in the NYRR booth at the Expo Friday afternoon (specifics HERE)…I also saw, when I picked up my bib today, that Magdalena Lewy-Boulet will be in the Saucony booth tomorrow afternoon (at either 3 PM or 4 PM)… And in somewhat linkable news from my industry, the semi-original approach to flapping up blogger support for books from Thomas Nelson includes this review copy request page….. Rounding up some of my favorite elites for you, Anthony Famiglietti and Shalane Flanagan both won their respective 5K Championships recently, and Kara Goucher (currently prepping for her own big Sunday) won the 10-mile Championship. Who doesn’t love a winner? Or at least a finisher?….

Liz Robbins’ A Race Like No Other was reviewed in the most recent episode (#111) of the Dump Runners Club podcast (grazie, Matteo)…. Liz will also be signing books and answering questions at the Expo this weekend (Crawford Doyle rocks for being the bookseller-at-hand)… And, if you wish to peruse the many reviews that have been popping up for this book, rather than buying a copy and reading the whole thing for yourself (which, um, YOU SHOULD DO), click through the bullets.

• Mood swings
• Video: Tina Cervasio
• Hidden gems unearthed
• She was at the cross-country championships as a fan
• Favorite spectating spots
• New York’s greatest day (with video, from the Wall Street Journal, no less)

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Triple-Booked

It’s 11:30 PM and I am home, waiting for my third engagement of the evening to begin: the 12AM television broadcast of the first day of the Olympic Track & Field Trials. I want to see the 10,000M Women’s Finals — Shalane, Katie, Kara, Molly. We already learned last week during the relay that the only thing I’m willing to stay up late for is running, so it follows that I sit here, margarita-happy, waiting for a perfect hour of T&F.

I had two parties tonight. I can’t remember when I last went to a party that didn’t involve either a $200 wedding gift or a child-safe toy wrapped in curly ribbon. And now I have two in one night. Perhaps I overdid it in my preparations: eyebrow wax, pedicure, and blow-out. Plus, I ate pasta & popcorn for dinner, so I wouldn’t have to worry about that first drink going straight to my head. Despite the Absorption Strategy of Nutrition, I still managed to fit into my skinny jeans (Tier 1). Wow. I also blithely wore my blue tank top, which has tracer lines ofsequins all up the front. (The last time I wore this top was after the Disney World Marathon, when I met some Hansons-Brooks DP runner who was on the team for like a milisecond.  Since I am an old married woman, I am unused to the kind of attention the blue sequins summon. It was as if I had no head, and no legs. Also, some dude thought I was “his age,” which meant 27ish. I believe him because he just moved here from Wisconsin.)

I was so excited I fit into my Tier 1 Skinny Jeans I took a picture on the subway.

First party of the night was MZ’s going away shindig, on the West Side in the 40’s. MZ was our team captain at the relay this weekend, and she’s moving to San Fran. It’s a bummer to have just met such a great person, and then for her to move across the country, but on the up side I have someone to run with when I go there for RWA next month. Also at this party, I wanted to see if I’d recognize my teammates showered, dressed, groomed and sweet-smelling. Yes, I did! And, we all agreed: GMR 2009 is on. Realization: although I am impressed with my 8:30’s, no one else is. I clearly need to step it up before I start getting props from this crowd.

Speaking of my relay friends… Wednesday evening I ran my jiggity-jig 3.5-miler home from work, and as I headed over the bridge I heard cries of “On on!” ricocheting ahead of me. Freakin’ hashers, heading to a bar in LIC. I pulled up next to a lumbering one of them, told him I’d spent all weekend racing his compadres, and then blew past him. No hasher was going to beat me over my 59th Street Bridge. I paid the price for that later, when my engine stalled and my nice 8:30 pace shifted way down. So: 3.5 in 31:35, with my legs reminding me of what I’d put them through this weekend.

Back to Friday night [I have seven minutes to wrap this up before the OT’s]. My second party of the night was a birthday party for CC, my colleague and friend, at the Boat Basin Cafe.  I’d never been there before, and if it weren’t for the young crowd, I’d have deemed it perfection. Strong margaritas, an al fresco setting, pop music over the speakers, a view of the sunset. Oh, and doggies are allowed. Turns out, not only was CC celebrating her birthday, but she had also gotten engaged just hours before.  I stayed for two drinks and seven text messages, then happily headed home.

Yesterday after work I ran two lower loops, plus a little spit of the paths, through the park with EN. Despite the humidity, my aching knees, and our chatty pace, we completed 4.3 miles in 39:45. [Trials have started.] Am sure EN considers that slow–sorry dude–but it was enough for me. Man do those lower loops reek of horse manure. I’ve about had it with the horse & carriages; those beasts should be running naked through a pasture somewhere, instead of hauling starry-eyed tourists around. [Well done, Galen! 13:06 for the men’s 5000 m semifinals.]

Shout out to N., who understandably has a crush on Anthony Famiglietti. I have a crush on Kara Goucher, so am going now to watch the last laps of the women’s 10K finals, my third event of the night.

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