You guys, that whole turning 30 thing? J/K.

I turned 18 today on the 18th. Or…I ran my 18th half-marathon. I’ll spare you and just link to my recaps page rather than each recap.

I actually signed up for Brooklyn when I was in Puerto Rico, sitting with a cocktail in hand with a little Twitter FOMO as I saw everyone else I know registering. I’d heard before that people loved this race, and I didn’t want to miss out this year.

Since the race was in Brooklyn, so was the packet pickup, at the Old Tobacco Warehouse.

NYRR is awful for making us have to see all these terrible views to get our bibs.

They had a little “pre-race party” going on, but I was flying solo and had dinner plans to get back for, so I took a few pics and headed back for said dinner.

They had this alert system sign up. I saw this at the Chicago Marathon, but have never seen it in NYC before, but it makes sense, given the events in Boston last month. Thankfully, the few times I saw the alerts on the course, they were at green.

HERE’S WHERE THINGS STARTED GOING WRONG. I grabbed pizza with Ashley and Bo. My stomach issues have been so much better lately, and I’ve been able to eat a bit more dairy, so I didn’t think much about ordering pizza instead of my regular pasta, even though I don’t usually have pizza or dairy before a race.

It was delicious, but it was filling. After the pizza and a few glasses of wine, I was in bed by 10 for my early wake-up call.

Not all of us wanted to wake up early.

Good morning, Brooklyn.

I was in the first wave (yes, this race was so large – 30,000 runners – that it had waves). The corrals allegedly closed at 6:30 and I figured the subway schedule that early might be messed up, so I took a cab and got near the start around 6:25. I ran into Beth and a few other runners who were in the second wave and thought I might start with them. I was standing there until Steph said hi. We don’t see nearly enough of each other, and we run around the same pace, so I decided to jump into the corrals with her and start off with her.

She’s running Vermont next weekend, so she wanted to go relatively conservatively. I didn’t really train for this race, so I wanted to do the same. We started out at a 9:10 pace, and held anywhere between an 8:40 pace to a 9:20 pace…until mile 8. I’d felt kinda gassy the entire time and had that feeling of a bubble in my stomach, and I’d taken a few short walking breaks in hope of the feeling passing.

Until mile 8, I was loosely targeting a sub-2 race. Considering how hard I worked to originally break sub-2, it’s crazy to me that this is now something that is basically in reach so long as I’m having an okay day.

But I was not having an okay day. I stopped at a bathroom at mile 8.2. I looked at my watch then, and I was around 1:15. If I kept around the 9:00 pace I’d been keeping, I could still do sub-2. But with that stop and walking, that mile ended up being a smooth 13:24. The next two miles were back on track at 8:59 and 9:10, but another bathroom stop at mile 12 and an 11:39 and 11:47 last two miles as I ran/walked my upset stomach in got me across the finish line in 2:09.

As for the course, I wasn’t crazy about it. The first few miles on the streets of Brooklyn were kind of cool, but then we went into Prospect Park and its hills. The stretch from the park to Coney Island seemed interminable, although that probably had to do with my upset stomach, but reaching Coney Island was an awesome end to the race.

As I saw the ocean to my left at the finish, I considered moving to Florida or California or somewhere where every race could end at the ocean.

Shaya and I look super-hot, no?

I love this picture.

Afterwards, I met some friends at Okeanos for brunch. We’d decided to head away from Coney Island for brunch to avoid the crowds a bit, and given my still-somewhat upset stomach, I’m glad we did. I got this French toast, and it was delish.

What have you learned from not-so-good races? Today, I learned to accept that I was still happy to have finished this race, despite my stomach issues. I did start beating myself up that I’d stopped for the bathroom and run a slower-than-usual race, but I’m going to choose to move forward and just accept that although Pizza Envy is a very real thing, I just need to avoid it if I want a decent run. Also, what’s your fave pre-race dinner?

Tonight, I was thinking about how I used to blog so much more – a few times a day when I started on Tumblr, but even once I moved over to WordPress, still sometimes twice a day.

On Facebook, I saw that tomorrow is a former coworker’s birthday. She’s going to be 26, Facebook told me. How is she only 26, I thought? It was a few years ago that I worked with her. (Oh right, she was an intern.)

I was 26 when I started this blog. I’d just moved to New York, and I didn’t know a ton of people, didn’t have many hobbies and hadn’t yet assumed such a big commitment with Junior League. I wasn’t coming home and sitting on the couch with Bailey every night, but I wasn’t as busy as I am now. As I wrote a few years ago, it was the perfect time to lose weight. And also start a blog, apparently.

More to come on all of the below soon …

But after finishing a ginormous project today, I met up with Tina and Monica for a wine and cheese media event at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods. I keep telling them I hate wine, but they refuse to listen, so…

Dear Theodora: there is nothing about that angle that works for you.

Dear Green Dog: that angle always works for you.

After, I stopped at a Lyfe Kitchen media event my friend Steph invited me to. Lyfe is a company that’s launching as both a line of restaurants and food that will be available in a grocery store. Again, I’ll write more soon, but the premise is that it’s all healthy and low-sodium. Which you would think would be a recipe for no taste, but the taste of the frittata I had was actually really flavorful.

Anyway, that’s a taste of what I’ve been up to. What have you been up to lately?

Five years ago, I left D.C. to move back to the NYC area. Coming from a close-knit Italian family, I felt so far from home sometimes, even though I could still get home by train or car in just a few hours if I ever really had to. I missed missing out on birthdays and simple family gatherings that made up the fabric of a family’s shared experience. I won’t lie – I moved up here just as much for career reasons, too – but family was a huge part of my move.

And being able to hop on a train and be home in around an hour yesterday to see this little muffin (my cousin’s daughter) for her second birthday: absolutely priceless.

And being able to spend the day with my mom, my best friend, on Mother’s Day? Sure, there was some fun stuff going on in the city that I missed this weekend, but I wouldn’t trade spending Mother’s Day with my mom for anything. (Um, nor would she let me. Please see: Italian mother, only child.) We went to breakfast at Raymond’s, a relatively new restaurant in Ridgewood, a few towns over. We spent the day just hanging out together at home and then had dinner at my favorite restaurant in NJ, Portobello. (Her request, not mine, I swear!)

I’ve read some posts today about those who have lost their mothers, those who are going through difficult times with family, and I’ve thought of friends and family who have or are having problems having children, and I wish peace to all of them as I hug my mom a little tighter. A very special happy mother’s day to all of those new moms and moms-to-be!

For years, my buddy Tina has been bullying me to try CrossFit. She’s obsessed with it, and she thought I would enjoy it too.

Since I’m usually either training for something or have otherwise committed myself to another fitness program, there’s never been a great time to try it. I didn’t want to try it and then potentially love it but not be able to commit to it.

But yesterday, I attended a Reebok press event, and we were able to pick several different activities to participate in. It was basically like summer camp but for adult fitness writers.

So I tried CrossFit.

As I descended the stairs at the box (god, I hate myself for just using that word), I wondered what the hell I’d gotten myself into.

Is this some sort of torture device? Will I have to heave myself up and over it…with one pinky? Blindfolded?

A rope chair?

We met our coaches for the day: Christmas and Annie.

They both gave us some background on how they got into CrossFit and what it means to them. Annie told us a story about her six-year-old daughter trying on a pair of jeans that were tight in the legs. “That’s because I have strong legs like my mama,” the kid said. Annie said that CrossFit had helped her to view her body for its strength, not for what it wasn’t or what it couldn’t do, and it’s obvious that her daughter is catching on to that healthy attitude, which is great.

…And then it was time for the WOD, which stands for workout of the day. (Another word I never thought I’d use.)

We split up into teams of three and did box jumps, kettlebell swings and burpees for one minute each, for three rounds.

After each transition, we were told to high-five our teammates. The first time, I thought that was super cheesy, but as I got more into the workout, I got more into the high-fiving.

Those nine minutes went by really quickly…and I survived my first CrossFit experience!

Thoughts? There’s no denying this is a good workout. I was drenched in sweat after just nine minutes (and a short warm-up before that.) However, I don’t know if I’m into the whole cult of CrossFIt idea, and it’s not cheap. I would definitely try it again, though.

Reebok provided me with a complimentary workout and cute outfit (and shoes!) All awkwardness is mine.

Are you part of the CrossFit cult? Runners – how do you balance CrossFit with running?

My Uplift partnership ended on Sunday (full review TK soon), so it’s obviously time for my next challenge.

While I do enjoy working out, I need different challenges and training programs to keep me engaged and keep it fresh.

So, on Monday, I walked over to New York Health & Racquet and handed over my credit card in exchange for that shiny key tag for a temporary membership. (BTW, Laughing Lotus gives you a key tag when you buy a package, which I did, for my sanity. I don’t actually have multiple gym memberships.) I have a triathlon coming up, so I needed a pool…and NYHRC is close to me, and I know myself. Proximity is the second most important thing to me, after cost. I don’t want to waste any more time than necessary walking or subway-ing to work out. (Which is why most of my favorite workouts are in the Chelsea/Flatiron area.)

I’d quit Equinox last year because it didn’t fit my lifestyle at the time. It is a gorgeous gym with great classes, but I haven’t missed having a regular gym membership much. But, with the tri coming up, I need a place to swim, so I joined NYHRC. They have month-to-month memberships, which is amazing. The minimum commitment is two months, which is perfect, since the tri is in about 6 weeks.

In addition to the pool, the gym also has a yoga studio that they heat for hot classes and a sundeck where you can hang out. Not too shabby.

So, I’ll be swimming and probably trying out some of the other classes over the next two months, as long as I have this membership and then likely quitting again to focus on marathon training.

Apropos of nothing, I saw someone tweet this the other day, and I loved it.

What about you? Are you a gym member or Team I Don’t Need a Gym?

This weekend, I nourished my soul. (And my belly.)

A friend had a Derby party on Saturday, and I made deviled eggs for the first time ever, using Anne’s healthy deviled egg recipe. It substitutes Greek yogurt for mayo. I think mayo is gross, so yogurt > mayo, always. (Relatedly gross: cottage cheese, sour cream.) It takes a lot of patience to carefully peel the eggs, and I ruined the first two eggs as I tried to tear the shells off, but then I calmed the eff down and got into an eggshell peeling groove and remembered why cooking can be so therapeutic.

[Thanks to Jen for this photo. Go over to her blog and congratulate her on her PR and say happy birthday!!!]

Yesterday morning, I ventured down to NJ bright and early to spectate the NJ Marathon/Long Branch Half. Part of what has made any great race so enjoyable for me has been awesome spectators, so it was rewarding to be on the other side for some awesome runner friends, even if it was chillier than I realized.

I haven’t spectated many races, because if I’m free for a race…I’m usually running it … or am lazy and snuggling under my covers… so I expected to have some serious race FOMO yesterday, but I was really happy and excited for everyone else’s great races and PRs and only had a tiny twinge of FOMO walking back home after I got back into the city.

Then last night, I had Ashley and Bo over for dinner, and I made tacos/fajitas. (All pics via Ashley.)

Proof that I cook sometimes. Or push peppers around in a pan, whatever.

Bo made the margaritas, and he made them strong. Hey, I’m not complaining.

How’d you nourish your soul (or belly!) this weekend?

Last week, I walked into Uplift for a class with Steph. I was running late, and ended up sprinting down 23rd Street to make it on time.

I walked in, flustered, and the class studio was dark and Steph was standing outside of it.

With a devilish grin, she told me it was just going to be me. “What do you want to do?? Personal training? Class?”

“Um…you’re the instructor? You can decide!”

(I was secretly hoping she’d say training!)

“Okay, let’s do a personal training session.”

IF YOU INSIST.

I worked out with a trainer to help me drop the 50 pounds, but I haven’t regularly worked out with a trainer since, so this was a nice little treat.

Steph may look all sweet, but she knows how to kick your ass. Hard. Since she teaches Cardio, I thought it would be a high-impact, heart-pumping session, but Steph went after all my muscles with heavy weights. Check it out below! (Obviously, modify appropriate to your own fitness level. The weighted exercises are meant to push your muscles to exhaustion, so keep that in mind.)

The “running lines” was running between cones, but you could just pick two points (I originally wrote two pinots…where’s my mind??) to run back and forth between.

As part of a partnership with Uplift, I’ve been receiving classes for the past two months in exchange for blogging about my experience. Through tomorrow, 5/5, you can get 10% off by using the code losingweightinthecity while checking out. Next week, I’ll be posting a recap of these past two months!

Have you ever walked into a class and found it was just you? What happened? Did the instructor do a class for just you or do something similar to what Steph did?

If you’re a runner, you’ve maybe looked into your running form a bit. You probably know if you are a heel-striker or a forefoot-striker, and you might have shoes that address this.

But have you ever considered your walking form?

Yeah, me neither. But New Balance brought a bunch of us up to the New York Botanical Garden, and it’s not like there was anything pretty to see, so we learned a bit about our walking form.

I walk plenty around the city but rarely with the intent of doing it for exercise – although it can be great exercise, of course – but my walking form was certainly nothing like these ladies’ form.

Wait! Now it is! Or…I’m going to fight someone. Either way.

We got up to the Botanical Gardens, and met our awesome crew: New Balance Fitness Ambassador Holly Perkins, Good Form Running/Walking dude Grant Robison and two adorable Botanical Gardens tour guides.

We did some walking around the park before stopping to get walking lessons from Holly and Grant.

Okay, this looks pretty. Let’s stop here.

If you clicked on the link above, you’ll see that Grant is no joke of a runner. He competed in the 2004 Olympics and ran for Stanford. He began to learn about adjusting form after dealing with his own injuries, namely plantar fascitis.

We walked back and forth across this plaza, learning about walking form. The world of walking form, according to Grant:

1. Stride: Don’t overstride. You end up locking your knees when you do this, and cause more impact on your joints. Shorten your stride so you land with a bent knee.

2. Foot strike: You know how heel striking is bad for running? It’s good for walking. You should also have a soft, not clunky strike, according to Grant. I prayed that he wouldn’t catch me shuffling across the plaza. I’m terribly clumsy and drag my feet way too much when I’m walking.

3. Posture: Holly talked about this one. Use your butt, use your abs to walk. You might look like a bit of a tool, but you’re walking more efficiently. You should also be walking with bent arms, rather than with straight arms, because otherwise you’re bringing too much tension into your neck and shoulders.

He talked about running the Twin Cities Marathon, hitting the wall and needing to walk, and really realizing the importance of form, knowing that being extremely fatigued, his form wasn’t the greatest.

Look, we kind match the flowers. They hooked us up with these outfits: pants, top, jacket. NB is a former client of mine, so I usually love their stuff anyway, but this outfit seriously hit out of the park. The top has really cute drawstrings on the side, the pants have a really cute tulip detail at the knee, and the jacket is a good length. I’ve felt kinda chunky lately, but I felt great in this outfit – I thought it was super-flattering. Gia’s wearing the layering tank, which I thought was really cute, too.

The event was to launch the 1765 walking shoe. Gia and I asked what made a walking shoe different than a running shoe. I typically wear lightweight shoes these days, so it’s definitely heavier than my running shoes. The bottoms are also more enforced to provide more stability. Walking shoes are typically a bit less cushioned than running shoes, since walking is lower impact than running.

Afterwards, we had a little cocktail reception in the gorgeous Stone Mill.

Gia and I hung out with our new BFF, Holly. We asked her how, if you’re a woman walking with a bag, you should compensate for form. Switch your bag from arm to arm, she told us. (I know that is actually easier said than done. It feels incredibly unnatural for me to put my bag on my left side.)

Do you ever walk explicitly for exercise? Whether it’s for exercise (as in, walking briskly to get your heart rate up) or just strolling – where’s your favorite place to walk? Mine is around my neighbor, Madison Square Park, with my friend Bailey, or on any beach.

…did you know it went away?

Okay, maybe. Running since the D.C. Half , my motivation has waned. I trained pretty hard for that race, trained my heart out for Marine Corps last year and I was a bit mentally burnt out. I wanted to get back to some classes and cross-training, which I always slack on when I have a race on the horizon. I’m pretty bad at balancing both running and cross-training, but I’m hoping now that I’ve been cross-training/yoga-ing more, I’ll miss them more while training and get better at re-incorporating them.

Also, it is FINALLY NICE OUT IN NEW YORK. When I’m not training for anything, I’m more than happy with three miles. A little less than 30 minutes, totally a workout. I set out for three, got to the water (about 1 mile in) and decided I’d definitely do four. I got to 2 (my turnaround point) and decided to do just 1/2 a mile more to get to a very nice five for the day.

Why else is my mojo back? I have the Brooklyn Half coming up…and I’m also doing another sprint tri in my hometown in June. I’m not all that into it – I signed up for it with Ashley before her big news and now she’s not doing it but I talked another friend into doing it for her first tri so I’m in. Now, um, to commit to a gym for the next 6 weeks so I have a place to swim…

But most importantly, there’s been so much running motivation on the Internets lately:

Anne had an amazing PR in at the Nike Women’s Half

Meggie BQ-ed!

So did Laura! (Dear Laura, please write your race recap, thanks )

And two good friends have decided to run their first marathons:

Anne and Emily – and I am so proud of both of them.

And would like to take at least a little credit for it.

Oh, and marathon training will be starting relatively soon. I have a score to settle with sub-4, so I’m itching to get after it.

Have you been lacking in running mojo lately? How’d you get it back? Are you leaning towards signing up for your first marathon? (Do it!!!)

I drank a lot of wine and had a lot of fun in Sonoma, but the real reason I was there was for my friend Emily’s wedding.

The festivities started with an adorable school bus ride to the venue. Caitlin and I remarked that we seemed to have gotten a bit taller since the last time we were on one of those.

L-R: Alexis, Sarah, Caitlin, Liz, Emily, me and Julia

It took us to Cornerstone, which is a gorgeous venue with lots of cool art/architecture installations, across the street from Gloria Ferrer, and one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been to for a wedding. (Although, I am from NJ. The bar is not very high here.)

The format of this wedding/venue was actually really similar to Anne’s wedding: outdoor ceremony in the grass, dinner in a tent and dancing in a barn. Even the chupah was similar to Anne’s wedding tent.

At one point, the rabbi mentioned something about being present in the moment. When you are staring out at a vineyard in Sonoma, it’s pretty hard not to be.

[photo via Caitlin]

I am SUCH a wedding sap and apparently didn’t take any pictures during the ceremony because I was crying too hard to operate a camera or phone, but it was a beautiful ceremony and Emily and Justin literally radiated so much happiness and love. At one point, the rabbi asked us all to take our sunglasses off so that the happy couple could look at each of us in the eyes and see our happiness and blessings for them. Or, um, my makeup dripping down my face. Either one.

Dinner was in a beautiful tent with lanterns strung across the ceiling.

For dinner, I had the chicken with asparagus and some sort of potato pancake-y thing. I don’t remember a damn thing about how this was prepared, other than deliciously.

Wedding sunglasses at attention.

More wedding sunglasses.

Hava Nagila! (True story: there’s some Italian song my Italian mom likes to hum to Bailey and she sometimes ends up humming Hava Nagila instead…)

They had an awesome playlist, and I danced my face off.

The next morning, the farewell brunch was hosted at the Macarthur Hotel on the veranda, and it was gorgeous.

[photo also via Caitlin]

The brunch was AMAZING. (Again, I haven’t been to many post-wedding brunches, so the bar is fairly low here, although Lindsay’s post-wedding brunch in Maine had lobster, so that is a definite contender.)

Do you see that guacamole and pico de gallo goodness in the foreground of the plate? BREAKFAST ENCHILADA, ladies and gentlemen, BREAKFAST ENCHILADA. I relish in any opportunity to have guacamole before noon. The bacon was also among the best bacon I’ve ever had, and that one does have a pretty high bar.

It was a beautiful, happy weekend and I’m so happy for Emily and Justin and happy to have been able to witness their happy day.

Married people: favorite part of your wedding or thing you’d do over again? Non-married people: anything a part of your dream wedding? After this wedding, I’d say that naming the specialty cocktail after my dog like they did (SO FREAKING CUTE) may be on my someday list. Also, a brunch with breakfast guacamole.