Those who risk, win: Christmas window displays

Today was my last long run before the Louisiana Marathon. I just love that sentence. Except for the part that includes the word marathon, since I know I still have to do the ultimate long run. BUT, for now, I'm pumped. Taper time is the best. And the worst, because literally as soon as I stopped running I started panicking about all the different things that could go wrong in the next two - three weeks. Figures.
Before my taper could officially begin though, I had to do the 20 miler. Well, technically, the second 20 miler. My first round of 20 was split up though, so this one counted more as the full 20. Of course it was something that I didn't really WANT to do, but something I HAD to do. Originally I planned on taking today as a rest day and running it tomorrow. After seeing the weather report for both days though, I decided to scrap that plan and get it done today. There's a 10 degree temperature difference, which might not seem like a lot, but trust me when I say there's a huge difference between running in 40 degrees and 30 degrees. As you may be aware, my goal is to run the Louisiana marathon in 4 hours, or slightly under 4 if I'm feeling really awesome that day. In order to do this, I know there is a pace I have to keep and a way to fuel properly during the run. So really today was my trial run. I figured if I could do the 20 miles in 3 hours, then I could do the 26.2 in 4, giving myself an extra few minutes for those last 6 miles if necessary. I am happy to say that after my run today I am 99% sure I can run it in 4 or less. My 20 miler today clocked in at 2:56:04. That's right. You saw that. UNDER THREE HOURS! With hills! I actually set new PRs for a 10K and a half marathon today. So, sure, I'm a little worried that maybe I over extended myself today and that I can't match that on marathon day. On the other hand, I don't see why I can't match that. It didn't feel like a mistake on my part. I knew what pace I had to keep and I basically managed to hold around that pace for the entire run. Sure I lost my running partner around mile 14. And by lost I mean abandoned. So, no man left behind clearly means nothing to me when it comes to smashing personal records. I suppose that says something about me as a person but I really don't want to delve into that right now. By now I'm sure you're dying of curiosity to see my route. Don't worry, it's coming. Be aware that I miscalculated though, so I had to walk/run an extra mile back to my car at the end. Which is why the start and the finish are not quite next to each other. Sure I COULD have run the last mile, but I just felt like that was pushing it. So, here it is.

Besides this lovely run, I had a nice Christmas, in case you were wondering. We went to NYC for the night, just because we can. I love to look at the window displays and see the giant decorations. Plus the shops at Bryant Park are always good for a little trinket or gift if you want something different/locally made. Of course all we got was some Max Brenner chocolate, which is neither different nor local, but it was so worth it. Here are some pictures of NYC and some pictures of when we got back and spent time with our lovely puppies again. Oh, and some more Disney pictures I drew. Still can't get that princess face right. Oh well. Enjoy it.

Stella hates the paparazzi.

The planet windows are Macy's, the library window was my favorite display at Lord and Taylor's.

This Christmas, as a throwback to our first Christmas together, Ryan and I went to New York City for the night. The first time, we went down on Christmas day and spent the day looking around at all the Christmas decorations in the city. It was nice because, being Christmas day, there were no crowds anywhere, including the ice rink at 30 Rock. Even if we didn't go skating, it was nice to be able to look down and see the whole thing unhindered. This year, we went down on Christmas Eve day and spent Christmas Eve/Christmas morning in NYC. Unlike the year we went on Christmas day, on Christmas Eve night, NYC is PACKED. At least, midtown is. Where we stayed, at the Gem Hotel, down by 1st and 2nd, there was essentially no holiday cheer and you couldn't really even tell it was Christmas. But, you could see Katz's deli from the hotel, so it all evened out for us.
Of course the first stop once we arrived was Katz's. You really should get a sandwich from Katz's at least once in your life, if you can. The pastrami is AMAZING. Buuut since the last time we went, last November, I got a pastrami sandwich, I figured this time I would get a corned beef sandwich. Bad choice. Not that the corned beef was bad, it's just that the pastrami was better. Lesson learned there. Next year, it's back to pastrami for me. I will make a sandwich trip to NYC a yearly tradition, I'm 100% certain Ryan will have no arguments on that. As a fair warning though, the sandwiches are a biiiiiiiiit expensive. Worth it, but expensive, and they are cash only. So, take heed before you go in. To be safe, if two people are eating, bring at least $50 in cash. Obviously more if there are more of you eating. Then again, if you're not big into eating piles of meat, you can share one sandwich between two people and safe yourself a bit of money there. Enough about the sandwiches though, I know you're DYING to know about the Christmas displays.
First, we decided to walk from the hotel to midtown, because, well, why not? It was only 3 miles and, in the words of Ryan, "if you can run a marathon, you can walk 3 miles." Point taken, so we did. The walk wasn't so bad actually, even if it was a little chilly. On the way we saw the Empire State building all lit up red and green, but I didn't take any pictures of that. Sorry. When we got up to all the good stuff, we checked out window displays and 30 Rock. I really like the Lord and Taylor's window display, even though I didn't get any pictures of that either. They had different scenes made out of cardboard cutouts, totally vintage and totally cute. Bergdorf Goodman's display was all the different seasons, which was really neat. Saks had a story of a Yeti, (apparently it's a thing), and a video that was projected on the side of the building every 4 minutes. Rockefeller center was amazing, as usual, but so crowded we only stayed long enough to get across the plaza. It was seriously over-packed. Then on the way back to the hotel, we trekked through Times Square and stopped by Macy's to check out their display.
The next morning, we went to breakfast at a little bakery that happened to be open. The food was nothing exciting, but we did get some red velvet cupcakes to go, which ended up being delicious. We left the city around 10 am on Christmas day in order to get home and eat dinner with the family. We unwrapped our gifts and wrapped up the night by watching Love, Actually. Overall a great trip to NYC and a great Christmas.
If you were wondering what I got, don't worry, I'll fill you in now. If you're expecting me to tell you all about the new running gear I got, you're going to be highly disappointed, as I got 0 in the way of running anything. Believe me when I say that's quite alright though. Ryan got me an amazing bracelet and necklace set that I absolutely love. I was really surprised by the gifts too, as I wasn't expecting jewelry of any sort. The only thing I said I wanted for Christmas was a Jimmy Graham jersey, so to get a bracelet and necklace was completely surprising. I'm doubly happy about the jewelry though because they're perfect for wedding jewelry. Don't worry, there's a picture at the end of the post. Ryan and I also got two camping chairs, which were straight off our registry, and perfect for the summer. For now, they're hiding in the back of our closet though. We also got a pizza stone (SCORE!), some baking sheets, and of course, a ton of gift cards. Oh yea, and back in NYC I bought a great new Adidas sweatshirt. It's tough to find the NEWEST Adidas gear around here ever since the Originals store in Cambridge closed. Anyways, today I decided to hit the after Christmas sales at Target and the malls and see if I could score anything. Mostly I went for the wrapping paper. My trip was a definite success though, considering everything at Target was 50% off. I got the wrapping paper, some bows, gift tags, a cute little wooden Merry Christmas sign, and best of all, two rolls of FAT lights. Then I went to the mall and got some workout clothes from Old Navy. You didn't expect me to go shopping without getting at least something to wear during running/boxing did you? Now I'm busy drooling over a pair of North Face boots that I desperately want, but really shouldn't buy. But since this post has spiraled out of control, I'll just leave you with a thousand pictures, some from now, some from our first Christmas in New York, we'll see where this goes. Enjoy.

Ok, the first two, I feel the need to explain. Having Picasa on my phone, I have my photos auto-backed up to Google. As part of Picasa, there is a feature called Auto-awesome. This feature puts different effects on pictures, depending upon the picture. Sometimes it collages, other times it puts a burst of photos together to make them move. In this case, it added snow and twinkles to this picture. I LOVE this feature, so I had to share both photos.