One day until Friday! We can do this. Sourabh and I didn't end up making it to the beach on Monday since I had so much studying I needed to get done, but we did go to a nice local park and got amazing Indian food from a local restaurant. I had one of my favorite dishes, baingan bharta (an eggplant stew, basically), and it caused both of us to say "wowww" after tasting it.
Either the beach or a hike this coming weekend is going to be my reward for a good week of studying -- we're heading back to NJ again, just from Friday to Sunday evening. I definitely tried to earn it today, and I'm hoping the next two days will be equally productive!
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| Why does train travel seem so much nicer than air travel? |
Tuesday night, after we got back from Jersey, I celebrated being back in NYC by sweating it out at Uplift Studios with the deceivingly perky Shannon (she seems so nice until OUCH you cannot lift another weight).
This class left me drained, but I loved every sweaty minute of it. Shannon had an awesome playlist that included old school hip hop and a few fantastic throwbacks, like Aqua's "Barbie Girl." This picture is basically a preview of what the lucky winner of my blogiversary giveaway will get: sweat, smiles, and sparkle. Yup, of course I wore a Sparkly Soul headband to Uplift! :)
Speaking of Uplift, I updated yesterday's post on free and discounted fitness around NYC after hearing that they are slashing class prices in half for off-peak class hours through Labor Day. Check out the updated post. If you can make those class times, take advantage of the great deal!
Yesterday morning, less than 12 hours after the class, I met Ashley for a farewell run. She's leaving today for Geneva, Switzerland, where she's been given an amazing work opportunity. I am so excited for her, but I'm sad that she'll be gone! Since marathon training started, we've worked out together several times since our marathons are the same weekend so we matched plans quite often. It was wonderful to have an early morning workout buddy and I'm sad to see her move!
Since she was working from home on her last day, and I had no plans besides studying, I offered to meet her in Gramercy for my 55 minute easy run. We headed west and hit the High Line. We'd planned on going down the West Side Highway, but Ashley proposed we run the High Line. I'd never run it before so I was totally game!
It was totally gorgeous and was such a fun new place to run in New York City! If you can make it down there before 9:00 AM, when the crowds start to arrive, you should. I'd walked it with my mom before, but it's a totally different experience to be running up above the sidewalk, with flowers and foliage at your sides and skyscrapers in your sightline.
After descending from the High Line, we headed toward the West Side Highway run path, logging a few more miles on that route, before turning back towards Chelsea and Gramercy. There was a nice breeze, which always feels like a huge blessing when the humidity is high.
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| Hudson filter for the Hudson River running shot, obvs. |
The run turned into 50:45 minutes instead of the 55 planned minutes. We could have found a few loops to make it 55:00 minutes, but my legs were feeling extremely tired after Tuesday night's totally-awesome-but-totally-kicked-my-ass Strength class at Uplift Studios. The heat was also starting to beat down on us, and since we were right by the delicious Barry's Bootcamp protein shakes, we decided to end early. Yes, cold smoothies made our decision for us. You can't blame me, right, Coach Jess?
OH HEY, speaking of Coach Jess, look whose running coach was featured in Runner's World!!
I feel like a celebrity just for knowing her :) Although this morning I'm doing those hill repeats, so I may be less smiley after those...
Red Mango Giveaway Winners!
Temperatures on the East Coast continue to be absolutely sweltering, so I'm pleased to announce the three lucky winners of $25 in fro yo and smoothies Red Mango! They are...
What do you do when you lose a training partner? What are your hot weather training tips? Am I going to survive hill repeats???
