Thank you for all the love and support on yesterday’s post about my new job! I am truly so excited to start my new chapter (I sound like a broken record at this point ha) and I can guarantee you are going to be super annoyed with my posts about my outfits 😉
Warning: long post, lots of pictures. Pretty typical of me but I feel the need to warn you. 🙂
So last week at this time I was in Binghamton for a long weekend of relaxing, food, family, friends and racing! The Binghamton Bride Run 1/2 Marathon was my first half marathon ever last year, and I think it may be one of my favorites. The route is perfectly challenging and good for a PR, without the crazy overcrowding of NYC races. Plus I can just drive to the start versus getting on the subway early or taking a cab which is muchhhh less stressful! Once I arrived on Thursday, I had Enterprise pick me up at the bus station (pretty sweet perk when renting a car through them), grabbed an iced soy latte and met my brother for lunch at my favorite diner, Broadway Diner. As usual, I had to have the greek chicken salad with honey mustard on the side.
Later on I made my mom, brother and I an awesome healthy meal since I knew the rest of the weekend would be indulgent as all get out. Baked teriyaki chicken, sauteed mushrooms in coconut oil, and roasted sweet potatoes topped with coconut almond butter. Why is cooking at someone else’s house so much better? Answer: because your mom does the dishes. 😉
Friday morning I woke up and went for a 4 mile run in absolutely gorgeous weather. My hometown is really beautiful on the 40-some days of sunshine we actually get a year!
Hills galore!
My brother and I went to another one of my favorite cafe’s called Corbin’s for brunch. It’s one of the healthiest restaurants in the area and not one that many people know about even living there. I had eggs with pumpernickel homemade toast, bacon and homefries (nothing is cooked in oil even for a calorie savings) and we shared an order of buckwheat banana pancakes with sugar-free syrup. Absolutely delicious and great way to begin carb-loading!
I did some shopping at TJ Maxx then headed to my hair appointment. This is my favorite part of being upstate is getting my hair done by my friend Sherette at Friends & Co. She is so ridiculously talented and I swear my hair looks better and better each time. We spend hours talking and laughing with the 2 other stylists (Patrick and Keith, both AMAZING as well!) and I leave feeling wonderful every time. My perfect blonde hair being just a perk of going!
Later on Friday night my brother and I took my mom to an early mother’s day dinner at her favorite restaurant Little Venice, a Binghamton staple. Truly the best italian restaurant you’ll ever go to, mark my words. Drew and I split their bbq baked chicken wings (so much better than fried) and THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. I had never had their pizza before but since I needed to carb up and pasta kills my stomach, we gave their pizza a whirl. This was the margarita pizza and the little bits of fresh mozzerella were so easy to pick right off for me. The sauce and the dough was just magnificent.
A few hours after digesting, I picked up Brenda who had just got into town and we went out with our friend Lisa to downtown Binghamton. Back in the good old days, we used to party every weekend at these bars and were the life of the party. Turns out at 26 years old, we were the oldest people there besides a group of 45 year old men from out of town who were there for something to do with golf. We had a drink, took a picture, and went to Denny’s. So old. (Side note: we had blueberry pancake puppies and they are life changing. Please don’t judge.)
Saturday morning I met up with my high-school health teacher who is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known in my life. We had breakfast at Broadway (of course) and spent a good chunk of time catching up on each others lives. So great to have a mentor like him, and I love that he is wildly successful even after retiring. He travels the country giving speeches and lectures from his book, Zen and the Art of Public School Teaching. If you are a teacher, I HIGHLY recommend reading this. Even if you aren’t, the man has such a way with words it’s really incredible.
Brenda and I then headed to get coffee and to the expo to get our race stuff. Then it was off for froyo round 1 where we discussed future business plans that I can’t wait to explore!
I headed down to Pennsylvania to scoop up John and visit with his mom for awhile, then we met back up with Brenda and my brother for pizza at Joey’s in Endicott. This was delicious, but a little too cheesy so once it was scraped off there was basically no sauce left. Next year, I will be carb-loading at Little Venice!
…Picked up my friend Amanda and we met my friend Jordan for froyo round 2. Absolutely no shame. Also, I love these people. So much.
Let’s just say I spent all weekend trying to get Brenda to back out of this race. I was SO over it from the moment I woke up Saturday from not getting enough sleep. By the time I knew I was only getting 4 hours of sleep before the race as well, I wanted to scream. I woke up Sunday pretty miserable but sucked it up of course. We had no time for coffee but it ended up being fine somehow. We parked a few blocks from the start and met up with our friend Adrienne who we ended up running with the whole time which was such a life saver. Having the added motivation and person to talk to really helped us and it went a lot smoother than I thought it would. The hills from last year seemed like nothing this year, but by the time we got to mile 10 we had only stopped once and Brenda and Adrienne were ready to kick it into gear. Unfortunately, this is always where I fall short. I am TERRIBLE at picking it up for the end of a race. In spin class, hell yeah I can find that energy and bring it home- probably because that’s what I get paid to do. But in a race, I’m terrible. Once we passed mile 11 I was really lagging behind them, so I told them to go because Brenda had a HUGE PR if she kept up with Adrienne. I felt so terrible that last mile and a half, but instead of walking I just slowed down a ton and this guy and I fed off each other to push one another to the finish. I wish I got his name because he really saved me and I think I did the same for him! Once I saw my brother and John at the finish, I booked it and ended up finishing in 2:22:31, only a minute off my PR!! And Brenda? She finished in 2:19, giving her an 11 MINUTE PR FROM LAST YEAR! I am so, so, SO proud of her!!
The exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks after this one from the lack of sleep for multiple nights before, and the culmination of all the emotions you go through during a big life change. Drew and John took me to Friendly’s (I have been craving this for literally 4 years) so I could eat every single thing I wanted to at that moment: french toast, french fries with honey mustard, runny eggs and bacon.
Luckily post-race I am too sick to eat much so I just had a few bites of each thing and was good to go. Except for the fries… those I dominated. Drew and John had banana fosters pancakes while laughing about how stupid it is to run a half marathon. LOL love my support team 😉
Enter in a nap followed by a little more food that my stomach wasn’t accepting. Long bus ride home with terrible anxiety (does anyone else ever have anxiety after a long workout? Sometimes a lot of cardio does that to me but I also turn into a baby when I’m overtired) and having to wake up 4 hours after I got in to teach spin. I came right back to my apartment and crashed for the day. Felt reeeeal good.
What’s your favorite race you have participated in? Any repeated ones?
JEN SPINS NYC 
Your posts always make my day. I love how you talk to people during a half – I cannot imagine being able to breathe, let alone carry on a conversation. I did the 10K last fall and I know I am stronger now than before but I cannot imagine a half, although it is on my bucket list before I turn 50. I have 3.5 years to get over the fear and do it
Your sweet comments make my day! 🙂 You definitely have to build up the aerobic capacity to talk during running but its doable! I used to die trying to say one word but yoga really helped me figure out the proper way to breathe during exercise and also i have to scream/yell during spin so it comes natural now! Go after that 1/2 girlfriend, its just 2 10k’s! 🙂
Hi 🙂 I always love reading your blog! You asked about the anxiety after an intense/long workout, that probably has to do with hormones! Have you ever had a real good check up on your thyroid and other hormonal stuff? I have thought more than once reading your blog that some of your health issues could be hormonal. I myself have Hashimotos (an auto-immune thyroid disease) and some things really sound familiar! Often doctors don’t recognize mental problems like depression as a symptom, but lots of thyroid patients have this when they’re not treated right! Might be worth it to check it out 🙂 good luck with all the new things happening in your life! X Carry (from the Netherlands, sorry for spelling mistakes etc)
Hi Carry! Thank you so much for reading 🙂 I was actually just tested for thyroid and hormonal issues along with all other health blood tests and everything came back 100% perfect! Mental illness runs on my dads side of the family so I am just prone to depression and anxiety! Thanks for being concerned, thats so sweet! 🙂
Good to hear it was all tested already! I wish you all the best, hopefully less stress will do you good 🙂
Ps: did they also test your thyroid antibodies? Doctors usually don’t check, but it is important. Sometimes levels come back normal, but the antibodies still are super high. That can be a sign of the autoimmune disease, but not strong enough yet to influence hormone levels, but still can have effect on you. Not saying this is the case, just to rule it out haha.
Sounds like such an weekend. I definitely see Brenda all the time at the gym 🙂 although she has no idea who I am. I really hope to take another one of your classes! Oh and it’s always a hit or miss how much I can handle eating after running.
Great post and recap! I haven’t done repeat races yet, but I know I will. It will be great to be able to pick races next season based on previous experiences.
Your hair is super cute!
You would be the perfect brunch companion! I want to go to Friendlys now for some banana fosters pancakes!! Have you been able to try Clinton St. Baking yet? Seriously the pancakes!!