I am loving this Marathon mania. I spent four and a half hours today standing the cold cheering on all the NYC Marathon runners! I had such a fun time even though I didn’t have any friends with me. I screamed the names of as many people as I possibly could. One guy’s shirt said “Bacon!” so of course I yelled BACON! to him, much to the amusement of the people surrounding me. This lady didn’t realize people had their names on their shirts and said to me “You know half the city!”

The excitement actually lasted all week. Yesterday I volunteered at the marathon expo to fulfill my volunteer requirement to gain guaranteed entry to next year’s marathon. My job was shouting “Have your registration and IDs ready!” for four hours. It was a shock I even had a voice to cheer today. Also, did you know screaming for hours can give you a headache?! I’m used to only screaming for 5 – 8 seconds.

Here I am looking all official at the expo where I ran into Missy. I had no idea she’d be there since she has nothing to do with the marathon!

Looking official at an event like this gives you a ton of power. I could have told these people anything and they would have believed me. I probably should have used that to my advantage with a few of the boys I saw there.

And last Sunday, a week before the marathon, I ran the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5 mile race. After my first post-injury run – which was way too fast – I went into this race determined to keep it slow.

I decided to rely heavily on my Garmin and run the race at a 10:30-11:00 pace. I met up with Fiona before the race and that made the time fly. I’ve chatted so much with Fiona on Twitter over the last eight months or so about Core Fusion and running and life, I can’t believe first met at this race. We talked and took part in the organized group stretching session. I really wish I thought to take pictures! Sometimes I am a terrible blogger. It was fun being part of a crowd stretching to someone’s instruction from a stage.

We started in the corral together but I told Fiona to go off ahead of me since I would be trying to run slower than she planned. I put my headphones on and played my slow songs playlist. I LOVED it. If you ever want an excellent playlist for a relaxing run, I highly suggest this one. Each song made me feel overjoyed and they were all slow so I never felt pressured to pick up the speed.

SLOW SONGS PLAYLIST

A few quick notes on every single song. OK maybe not so quick after all since there were 15. Paper Aeroplane by Angus & Julia Stone is just awesome, I learned it from Erin Jacques’ Music Yoga Flow at exhale. Erin has the best taste in music. You and Me is one of my favorite new Dave Matthews Band songs (seeing him in concert for the 13th time on Friday — thanks GRWAM!) and I always think about putting it on a race playlist, but then change my mind because it is pretty slow. Well this was the perfect time and the perfect song. It makes me so happy. Sideways. So, so good. Download that right now. Citizen Cope is awesome and the song is slow and contemplative and sexy.

Anna Begins, I mean, of course I would choose this — do you know me at all?! I might have started singing out loud during this one. I started wondering during this song how Adam Duritz can write such emotive lyrics and at the same time write ridiculous things on Twitter. And just the other night the other night he revealed what I (incorrectly?) thought his beautiful lyric from A Long December actually means. Tweeted Adam, “You look across a crowded room to see the way that light attaches to a girl” means “When she stands by the window, I can see thru her dress.” Lovely.

It reminds me of that time he went on Howard Stern in a bunny costume, sang the most incredible version of Round Here, and was completely incapable of acting normal or seriously answering any of Howard’s questions.  Howard even said to Adam, “You’re making a lot of jokes today, I really wish I could have a serious discussion about your pain.” My thoughts exactly.

In Adam’s defense, he came out on the stage before his show in 2009 and made a pretty awesome political speech. Anyway. Heart Skipped a Beat. I will never stop loving this song that I learned from Rachel. Every time I hear it, I am shocked by how unique and amazing it is. I got to see The XX live for free at Central Park this summer and they were incredible.  Just a Boy is another one I learned from Rach and it is uplifting and chill and beautiful. Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd is a sweet Dave Matthews Band song that I always liked, but never loved until my favorite Core Fusion Yoga teacher started playing during class. Now it is one of my favorite songs of all time, and whenever I am on 55th and 3rd I smile. Hard to Concentrate — learned it from my brother’s wedding CD, included it in my Divas Half Marathon race playlist, love it so much. Turns out I like RHCP more than I thought. Sun Comes Up, John Legend, awesome. Yes, I have it from the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack. Don’t judge.

My new favorite band is Mumford & Sons and White Blank Page is so sweet and powerful at the same time. B*****s Ain’t S**t lifted my mood even higher than it already was because it never fails to give me a good laugh. I love how serious Ben Folds sounds, like he truly does not give a f*ck where the bitch was at as long as his mothaf*ckin pockets was fat. I believe it.

County Road by Jack Johnson and Paula Fuga is so pretty! They sang it as his show this summer and I came home and downloaded it immediately. Love that I got to use it in a race. I’m really into songs lately that include dialogue — other examples include Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and I Wish That I Could See You Soon by Herman Dune. Candlebox’s Far Behind was a favorite of mine the first year of college. My roommate only knew, like, six songs and she had them all in a continual loop. This was one of them.

This was also the perfect song to sprint to at the finish line because it gets intense! Yep, I finished the race to my second to last song, but my perfect timing was not compromised. I had an iPod issue when I took my jacket off at Mile 2 and had to start Just a Boy over midway through, so I *would* have heard every song. So even though I didn’t run to Winter Winds, another Mumford & Songs song, just know it is awesome.

Back to the race!

The entire run was so chill and so much fun. It was a perfect fall day and ideal running conditions. Even though I wasn’t running super fast, the miles flew by. It was all so easy! No knee pain, no ankle pain and no hip pain (my right hip flexor was painfully tight before the race but loosened right up). For the first time in my life I drank coffee before the race and I did fine with that too. I was really into my music and my thoughts and the beautiful scenery of the park. I was totally in the zone; I didn’t even notice the photog at the bottom of Cat Hill (which we ran DOWN). That is how you know I was in my own world since I usually seek the race paps out. I had a hilarious writing idea for the blog but of course I forgot it as soon as I stopped running.

As I got to the last mile I felt strong and I knew I could start to push my pace a little. And since I held back the entire race, I was strong enough to really sprint at the end! I never get to do that the way I’d like because I’m usually so beat by that time. Here I am sprinting through the finish — feeling great!

I needed this race – running on a gorgeous day without worrying about time reminded me why I love to run.

Official time: 53:00
Official pace: 10:36

And Garmin says:

Thanks to this race I am confident that I can get back on a running schedule and start getting in some long runs again. After all, I have a marathon to run in 363 days.

I completed my third half marathon of 2010 and of my life! I am so excited to post my recap  – next week. I mean, it seems a little soon to post a race recap for a race I haven’t even washed my hair from yet. Also, I am waiting for the official race photos. As you might know, there is little I like more than staring at good pictures of myself for hours on end. So, we wait.

But while I am being selfish and making you all wait a week for a post full of pictures of myself, I won’t leave you totally hanging. Without giving too much away about my race, I will tell you that my music pushed me. It motivated me; it started me off strong; it gave me a happy miles 4, 5 and 6 (especially 5!); it got me through a great deal of pain; it helped me finish strong.

This was, without a doubt, the best race playlist I ever created. Up until recently, my running music had been feeling stale. I’d been using the same songs for months and I needed a change. Thanks to some really great friends, Core Fusion classes and a wedding, I was able make a playlist comprised almost entirely of songs I had never used in a race before. The freshness and awesomeness of the songs was exactly what I needed. This playlist is so good that I haven’t been able to stop listening to it — even after spending ALL of last week tweaking the order and songs.

DIVA HALF MARATHON TOTALLY AWESOME PLAYLIST, YOU GUYS!

Not to bore you, because this might excite no one but myself, but I’d like to describe some highlights from the list the entire list. Learning to Fly, first of all, is the perfect first song for a race. It isn’t too fast, it is extremely inspiring and the very first line is “Well I started out down a dirty road. I started out, all alone.” AMAZING. Following that up with 1901 was an excellent choice as well.

When the Day Met The Night - my favorite line of any song ever of all time is quite possibly “Well he was just hanging around then he fell in love and he didn’t know how but he couldn’t get out.” Try running to this song without shouting that line out loud. Just try.

Black and Gold, just awesome. It kind of surprises me every time I hear it because it is just so good. Hard to Concentrate is another one like When the Day Met The Night, it just kind of fills me with hope that someone might love me that much one day. Beggin’ – try to run to that one and NOT do a little head dance while running. Just try. And Home — my favorite song right now, period. Lifts me up when I run and when I don’t run and when I remember it exists as an example of perfection in music. And the chorus is perfect for running singing. Same goes for I Wish That I Could See You Soon. Whenever the girl goes “do you” in response to the guy, I can’t help but shout along with her. Another great one to sing along with is Breakin’ the Chains of Love.

Sunlight, Animal and Trees are powerful songs that are fun to sing along with — or, in my case during the race, mouth along with. Hard. All The Girls and F**k You are LIKE PARTIES IN MY EARS! Fun, exclusive parties that make me more awesome than everyone else.

Cardio 6 is this techno-y song from Core Fusion Cardio that I had to practically climb mountains and beat up people and cry and scream and beg and jump through mud and walk over fire to get into my possession. I finally got my hands on it but no one knows the real name of this song, not even Shazam and VCast Song ID. If you’d like a copy, let me know and I will email the file to you.

Riverside (Let’s Go) has funny lyrics, like this one: Me plus you that equals better equations. We must do subtraction of your clothes.  You can’t help but laugh, even if you are in your final miles of a half marathon and your knees are in so much pain you feel like you might quit. Also, it an awesome techno beat. Other great songs from Core Fusion Cardio include DJ Got Us Fallin In Love Again, Move For Me, It’s All Good and, especially, Can You Feel It. ACTUALLY — SUPER ESPECIALLY DYNAMITE. I love that song so much. How can one song be THIS MUCH FUN?! Sexy Bitch might be a CF Cardio song too. Not sure. Either way — love them all.

Breathe Me, Shooting Stars and Remind Me are all great to run and zone out to because you can just get lost in your thoughts. Those songs, along with Black and Gold, are all from my favorite Core Fusion Yoga class.

And what is a race without mashups? I’m in love with my choices for this race: Juicy Dollars (so good), Pon De Foley (thanks LBD!), Mr. Boom Boom Jones (needed to get my Counting Crows in), United State of Pop 2009 (so. much. FUN.) and Absolutely Tik Tok (which I don’t even remember hearing).

Paper Planes is another one that always shocks me by how good it is, and Son’s Gonna Rise is the perfect song for your last mile — the lyric is also my mantra on my RoadID — In a mile you’ll be feeling fine. Although to fit it on my RoadID I had to revise it to read: INAMILEYOULLBEFEELINFINE. Amazing to hear this when you are struggling towards the end. Just repeat that to yourself — in a mile you’ll be feeling fine. Of course, I loved hearing The Final Countdown during my last mile because, yes it was my final countdown, but also because I got images of GOB (from Arrested Development) in my head doing his ridiculous openings to his magic shows. The Final Countdown is his theme song. And it is a great song to push you to the end.

[Source]

I always time my race playlists perfectly somehow so that no matter what time I finish and whether or not I PRd or had my slowest race, I ALWAYS finish the race during the last song on my playlist. Don’t ask me how I have this strange and useless talent, but I do. So as soon as I heard my running staple, which I tacked on at the last minute, Say Hey (I Love You), and also saw the finish line, it was just so fitting. I do have to note that I enjoyed the songs during the first 6 miles much more than the rest because once I start feeling pain, I stop noticing what song is playing until it is midway through — if I even notice it at all. That said, the songs during the last couple of miles, where I forced myself to push through the pain and speed up to finish strong really helped. More on that next week during my race recap.

I learned the majority of these new songs from my brother’s wedding CD (all tracks on album Matthew & Mallory), Rachel, Bess, Core Fusion Yoga, Core Fusion Cardio and Andrea from exhale Boston. I love finding new running songs — which brings me to my next point.

Last week I received an email from a reader named Brian. The subject of the email was “This is awesome”, so immediately I knew I would either be reading something great about my abilities as a blogger, or spam. It was the former, although the latter might not have been so bad because I get some pretty funny spam sometimes. Like this one: This post is so amazing, I almost spontaneously conceived a child just from reading it. Just incredible.

Alas, Brian was not spam. He is just a guy training for the NYC Marathon this coming November who came across my blog and really liked the idea of my Running Songs page — but he had the idea to take it one step further:

Your running songs section is an awesome idea, and I was wondering if you had space for anyone else to add their favorite running songs? Everyone’s got their favorites, and I feel like we could create one kick-butt list.

UH YEAH! Love this idea!

SHARE YOUR RUNNING MUSIC ON DSB

So, I am putting out a call to all of  you to share your favorite running songs with me. I will create a separate page for readers’ running songs suggestion (and keep my own Running Songs page for myself). If you have a blog, I will link your list back to you.

So here’s how this will work. Comment here or email me a list of your favorite running songs. Feel free to include any other details you think is important — like, “good songs for hills” or “fast beats” or “dirty, explicit, vulgar songs that simultaneously shame and amuse me.” Or no details at all. Whatever you want! Once I get some submissions, I will add to the Readers’ Running Songs page, and we can all learn new workout music and waste spend even more money on iTunes.

Wow, seems like all I’ve been writing lately is race recaps, huh? Well, that will change because this week I’m reviewing the brand new Core Fusion Lean & Toned DVD — and giving away a copy as well!

For now, though, RACE RECAP!

I love racing. Running with such a big group, trying to PR, trying to have fun, being in Central Park, crossing the finish line. There is seriously no rush like racing and I am so happy I started running less than a year ago.

As you know, I planned to PR and beat my previous 4 mile time of 40:00 exactly. Part of the reason I was intent on PRing was because I knew I could run faster (my 5K PR had me at 9:16 miles!) and the other part was that the 10:00 min mile NYRR record put me in the 10:00 – 10:59 minute mile corral. My friends who I run with are all in the 9:00 – 9:59 corral and it would make it easier and more fun if I could start with them instead of them having to come back to me with me! And if I could run 10:00, I could run 9:59. Or faster.

I planned ahead with a kickass playlist:

Yeah, that one is a winner. I plan to use it for my next race or two. I started with Dog Days Are Over because it begins slow, but I didn’t realize just how perfect it was. Lyrics:

Run fast for your mother and fast for your father, run for your children, for your sisters and brothers,

The rest of the playlist was just as motivating.

I decided for this race I would, for the first time in my racing (and general) life to NOT be insanely early. I wanted to get to the corral 10-15 minutes before the race started. Standing outside in the cold is not my idea of a fun time.

Walking to the race was coooooold. But my plan did work and I got to my corral 10 minutes before the race was set to begin. Score! My friend Melissa had some train troubles and was running late, but about a minute before the race was beginning I spotted her walking on the side of my corral (where she came back to be with me)! I started yelling out her name and she came to me, so out of breath as she had to hightail it to the corral. I was relieved I found her because she had a goal of a 9:30 pace and I really wanted her to pace me. I knew I could crack 40:00 on my own but I wanted to push myself even harder . . . and I wasn’t sure how hard I would push on my own.

The race started and my amazing playlist started and Melissa and I started running — fast. I knew I was going fast for a first mile. Our initial strategy was negative splits, with the first mile around 9:45. Uhhh yeah that wasn’t happening. We were going faster than 9:45. I neglected to get my Polar RSX300SD set up to start as soon as the race started, so it started a little after the race began — but even so, I could gauge from it that we were going faster than planned. But we both felt great! My music was awesome, I was in my groove, the weather was gorgeous and the first mile passed so quickly I could not believe it. When we got to the first mile marker, I had only gotten to hear 2 of my songs!

Mile 2 was not so euphoric. Our pace was getting to me bigtime. My knee started hurting and, even worse, my chest was hurting. I recognized this pain from the other races where I pushed myself too hard (WTC Run to Remember, 5th Ave Mile) and it really hurt. I also got the right side ribcage pain I used to get before I (1) knew how to pace myself (2) was used to running and (3) knew the breathing trick — breathe in on the right foot and out on the left. Old ribcage pain, I had forgotten all about you. Damn.

I was not feeling well. But I was pushing through. Luckily I was still going pretty fast which meant the next mile marker came up quickly.

Halfway done. I was struggling. I was suffering. But I could do this.

The hills got really ridiculous during this mile. Melissa was able to run ahead of me and tackle the hills, but I kept her in sight. If she got too far ahead, I was fine with that. I went into this race knowing that she had plans to run faster than I did. She has also been running for years, whereas I have not even reached my one year anniversary yet! And she ran the NYC half about 6 minutes faster than I did. It would not have hurt my ego in any way if she sped off ahead. That said, I kept her in sight and was able to get back alongside her once the hills leveled out. I was still having a hard time, although my knee wasn’t hurting so much anymore. Sometimes I would have to press down on my ribcage pain to try and calm it, and my chest was not happy with me, but overall I was pushing through. Melissa seemed totally fine and I was a little envious.

Before I knew it we were at the last mile marker. One more mile to go and then I could STOP RUNNING. Really, that was the only thing getting me through the pain. Knowing that soon (in less than 10 minutes!) I could stop running. How glorious!

I felt a little better at this thought and got a bit of a second wind. I was happy again, although still in pain, but still running fast, just not as fast as when we started. I looked over at Melissa and for the first time saw her struggling. The last mile is where it all caught up with her and here is where I was able to pace her instead of the other way around. How amazing is it running with a friend like this, where you can push each other, motivate each other, inspire each other and just BE there for each other. Sometimes I get so lazy with blogging and consider giving it up, and then I think of someone like Melissa — how I wouldn’t know her if not for blogging (she commented on a post and I emailed her back and the rest is history) — and there is no way I could give this up. Even if I can just post once a week, that is fine by me.

But I digress.

We were nearing the end. I was waiting for that final turn that comes right before the finish line in almost all NYRR 4 mile races. At one point I thought I saw it, but it was my brain playing tricks on me. But! I saw a race photographer! My dream in life! You all know how much I love race photographers and being in pictures and really, pictures of me in general. I got so excited that I took that look of misery and despair off my face, tried to grab Melissa to pose with me, and then smiled and waved at the photogs.

Melissa (on my right) did not care to smile and wave with me. But you can’t tell what a hard time I was having, can you?! I am a professional photograph taker. A model, if you will.

Mallory said it looks like I was photoshopped in with the three real racers around me who actually look like they are running a hard race. But I promise you I was suffering and in pain. I just love pictures!

Finally, finally, finally we got to that last sharp turn before the finish. Once we got past that, I took off. I wanted to do my best to sprint to the finish. Although sprinting might not have been exactly what I was doing, I did speed up and run through and I. Was. Done!

I could stop running. And stop I did — but, holy wave of nausea! I got scared for a second I would throw up, but I didn’t. Phew.

My official time is 37:43 — a 9:25 pace!!

I blew my goal out of the water!! Honestly, I would have been happy with anything under 40:00, but this was better than I ever thought I would do — especially since i have done ZERO speed work or training at all. I have to give a lot of credit to my friend Melissa for pushing me here. However, my chest pain lasted the rest of the day and I was not feeling great. I know that with better training that won’t happen. My knee hurt a bit too, but some ice took care of that and the pain didn’t last. What did last was the hamstring and glute soreness. Never really experienced that after a run! After my NYC Half Marathon, my quads were burning for a week. But I guess the hamstring and butt soreness comes from running fast rather than running long distance. Anyone care to corroborate?

And now we have plans to work a lot more on speed. Especially because we signed up for a HALF MARATHON in October! We will be running the Diva Women’s Half Marathon on Long Island. It is flat and it is fun (champagne and roses at the finish, tiara and boa stations throughout!) and we both want to improve our current half marathon times. And the best part is we have ALL SUMMER to train — none of that rushed training like for the NYC Half.

And as I’ve mentioned, I am running the NYRR 9 + 1 this year to qualify for the 2011 NYC Marathon. I’m already 5 races down with just 4 to go (plus one volunteer). I already have a few more in the pipeline and I am very excited. As the weather gets warmer, I look forward to running outside a whole lot more — and really, warm weather is the reason I started running in the first place.