Hills

I ran 3.5 miles this am and incorporated hills.  I know there will be some bad hills in the NYC marathon, at least bad fro someone who is used to flat terrain so I definitely have to make sure my quads are used to some hills.  The highest hill we will have to do is from the start....Verrazano Bridge.  We start on the bridge about 100 feet up and climb to a little over 250 feet, then trek down.  There are some steep hills in Hoboken, the Verrazano is a bit more gradual but the height is almost the same.  There are other areas which the climb will be comparable (other bridges) and the bastards have mile 23-24 a gradual climb up Fifth Ave.  Bastards! 

I did two loops up two sets of decent hills.  The first loop was ok.  The trek up was not fun, but not horrible I kept a decent pace and did not feel out of breathe.  The second loop was a whole other story.  My pace felt like it was at a stand still.  I know I was moving but it felt like it took forever.  I used the decline down to catch my breathe and finished another mile easily after that.  Overall I am tip toeing into hills, but hopefully come November I can do more laps.  The 18 mile tune up race in Central Park is Sept 23rd and that is three loops around Central Park, which is very hilly so that will be a good test to see if I am up to par or if I need to do more strength training. 

Brendan made an amazing dinner on Tuesday night and I ate the Chard Casserole, this is the recipe.  I highly recommend it, it's quite healthy and hearty enough for me to eat as a meal.  Anyway, I always like casseroles better after the first night, they just get more flavor or something.  I got myself a big ole piece of casserole and watched Bizarre foods. Brendan loved this one because he is a big shellfish lover and it was about the fishing area in Greece.  I do not like shellfish.  Something about the texture just grosses me out.  I have tried them all more than once and on one I can kind of like (king crab).  Anyway, I had to look away because watching them catch, cook (sometimes) and eat the fish was literally making me want to throw up chard all over the couch.  I really do like that show, but not when I'm eating.  Eating is a sacred time for me and when someone even talks about something gross my mind can make a chocolate cake taste like a sea urchin.  Weird but true!