I found out a little secret that RCN seems to have been keeping from us- the internet works semi-consistently during the morning/daytime hours!  While this isn’t convenient during the week, it’s a great time to post before I head to Philadelphia today!

So much has happened since the Hurricane, I don’t even know where to begin.  I’ll leave it at a brief 3 recaps:

It is still upsetting seeing and hearing about the devastation in some of the surrounding areas in the Tri-State area, but it has been uplifting seeing and hearing about everyone who has been willing to help out.  Last weekend I went out to Far Rockaway with Jess and Emily so that we could help Occupy Sandy.  It was great to be able to finally do something to help rather than just sit around being discouraged that the storm created many changes.  

At this point everyone knows that the NYC Marathon was cancelled for 2012, but this was another bittersweet moment.  NYRR’s decision to cancel the marathon was supportive for families and communities who are still deeply impacted and dealing with serious repercussions from the storm, however, it was an upsetting outcome for the thousands of runners planning to run the NYC Marathon. I did not get into the NYC Marathon for 2012, but I was planning to go and cheer on all of the runners on November 4th.  Out of interest and curiosity, and the need to get in some miles in the park, I made my way over to Central Park on the morning of November 4th anyways.  It was amazing.  Marathon runners were everywhere.  Families were cheering on their runners.  With or without the race the resilience and dedication of runners out weighed the official cancellation.

I feel extremely lucky that the only post-hurricane set-back that I have dealt with at home is delayed recovery of Cable and Internet.  My office building was not as lucky.  It was completely destroyed in the storm and the whole firm has been indefinitely displaced.  So in the past two hectic weeks all 300+ of us have relocated (twice) and have now temporarily settled into an office space near Rockefeller Center.  I am extremely excited to be there during the holidays, but it has been a bizarre couple of weeks adjusting.  

Through all of the craziness I have rediscovered the sad truth that when I am stressed out I don’t turn to running to clear my head, and I certainly don’t do as well at sticking to the type of pre-marathon lifestyle that I had become accustomed to.   Instead, I have been opting for comfort food and getting hung up on the work that should be getting done but has been difficult given the displacement circumstances.  The past two weeks has essentially been serious taper time and carbo-loading.  Definitely not ideal, and definitely not what I was planning.

Last night was the only intentional carbo-loading night over at Adriatic with Christa and Anna.  

It was a great girls night and the portions were so big that there was even enough for a random breakfast reheat:

With the Philadelphia Marathon one day away I have decided to whole heartedly embrace the mind over matter theory.  I know that I physically can run 26.2 miles because I’ve done it before.  Not only that, but I’ve done it with much worse training plans (also read as non-existent training plans).  I may not be as prepared as I was hoping to be, but I refuse to look at the past two weeks as a set-back.  I will break 5 hours tomorrow even if I have to skip to the finish line (right Foski/Anna?) To help push me to the finish I’m working on a new playlist, reading a little Kara Goucher and stocking up on GU packs and ShotBloks.  I’ve heard Philly is a great course and hope that that will help keep me motivated as well.

Regardless of how tomorrow turns out, I’m excited to head to Philly to meet up with my sister and mom for the weekend!  I hope everyone running the Philadelphia Marathon and Brooklyn Marathon tomorrow has a great race.  GOOD LUCK!

What I’m Running to: Bittersweet- Ellie Goulding