Hello, I Am Running the 2018 TCS NYC Marathon

Hello! I am so excited to announce that I have signed up to run the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon. I’ll be running as part of Fred’s Team, raising money for cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in honor of my mom Joan, who passed away from the disease in November.

I’ve been dreaming about running a marathon since my early 20s, when I would jog around Astoria Park three days a week. I’d get Runners World magazine and read articles about how to train for one, but I could never get beyond running an hour and doing the occasional hill repeat day. For years, an hour was all I could handle. This was partly a mental block, and partly because I would often try to do too much too soon and get injured.

Me and my mom before 1999’s Cow Harbor 10K. I was a little baby!

Now that I am older and wiser, I’ve finally gotten a handle on things. I’m ready. To start training, at least. I could not run a marathon right now. But I have nine months to prepare. I could either have a kid or train to run a marathon. I think we all know which is the path for me.

Please visit my personal fundraising page and, if you are able, make a small donation. It’s okay if you can’t. Convince your rich friends to do it instead. 🙂

When I started this blog in September, my main goal was to run a faster Cow Harbor 10K race in September 2018. I thought it would be fun to spend a year tracking my progress. This blog has turned into so much more than that, and I’m proud that it will now be a place I will document my first-ever marathon training.

And! The fact that my first marathon will be in NYC – my home for 19 years and soon to be again – makes me so happy. There’s no other city to which I’d rather lose my marathon virginity.

Meanwhile, I did a very nice and very cold 10K’er this morning. I’d worn two pairs of gloves for my pre-run dog walk, and my fingers were freezing. So for the run I wore three pairs of gloves.

Believe it or not, my fingers were still cold.

I felt good today. My muscles are finally healed from the Fred Lebow Half. I had two Clif Bloks pre-run and, as usual on Fridays, held off on breakfast until I got to work. For it is once again…