Today’s run: 3.66 miles, 38.82 min, plus 1 m on treadmill, 10:30 min. YT: 614.26. This run saved the day: I left the apartment sluggish and confused, and finished it energized and excited to get in and start work. Magical.

Today’s run: 4:05 miles, 42:46 min. YT: 570.31. I had cramps for the first two miles … what the hay was that, body? The second two miles were decent though. Streets of Chinatown seemed weirdly empty. Is that because it’s the end of the month and no one’s doing the marketing until Sept 1?

Yesterday’s run: 3 miles, 30:20 minutes. Ran intervals – 7, 6.5, and 6 minutes miles, with some short walking rests. I think I’m definitely getting stronger. But still hate the treadmill. It makes me feel crooked.

Lasik day! I’ve acted like a grown up these past days in preparation – eating well, going to bed early, etc. Let’s do this thing. Not running today because I need to be at work early and then have the “surgery” in the evening. That’s OK – I’ll be ready to run tomorrow.

Today’s run: 8.03 miles, 1:24:42 plus 1.56 mile cooldown. YT: 554.56. This run was almost identical in pace to my last 8-miler but my muscles and energy felt solid all the way through. Who was that Sara who yesterday had to spend the entire day in bed due to lack of energy? Screw my hormones.

Lots of rain spanking my eyelids today. I love running in the rain!! This one took me under the Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn bridges, and then into Battery Park. In other words, my typical run – but apparently I had never done it on a Sunday morning because there was more going on than usual. I saw a delicious looking farmer’s market just south of the Brooklyn Bridge, a deaf-people’s convention at the seaport, bunches of tourists in neon rain ponchos in Battery Park, and a weathered homeless man (or sea captain?) with a tremendous fire-red beard that told me he wasn’t as old as he looked.

In other words, lots of people out and about, rain be damned.

Today’s run: 3 miles, 30:11 minutes. Too tired in the a.m. so I went to the gym and did 10 minute intervals with a little weights (a very little).

Today’s run: 5.04 miles, 52:10 min. Plus Saturday’s run, 4.08 miles, 43:35 minutes. YT: 536.87. Ridiculous humidity and white skies. A lot of sweaty runners.

My trainer said to me, “You’re like a horse – you speed up when you’re close to home.” So true!

My last mile was my fastest – somewhere around 9:15, even while dodging Chinatown pedestrians.

I’m trying to build speed, so after the first mile as a warmup, I spent .25 mile of each mile trying to keep my pace under 9:30. This seems like a way to start building speed without hating my runs. As a result I ended with a 10:20 average pace. Most of my recent runs have been around 10:40.

Next time I’ll go for 9 minute quarter miles.

Finally, grateful: This was my first pain-free run in  a while. I’ve been having a hip thing. Hopefully my light week last week was enough to wrangle it.

Today’s run: 5:05 miles, 55:25 minutes. Just over 80 degrees; humidity 60 percent, according to online. Can that really be right? I felt like I waded through this run, as reflected in my pace. Oh well. Proud to have it done.

Sparkpeople update: Ever so instructive to see what 3 beers does to my daily calorie count. Not to mention the slice of pizza that I absolutely REQUIRED walking home afterwards.

Today’s run: 3:77 miles, 40:12 minutes, plus 2.05 miles treadmill at the gym. YT: 520.03. It took a ton of mental cheerleading to get me out the door this morning – still recovering from a fun weekend I think. But the run was perfectly fine, and I had good energy this evening at the gym.

A few words on eating. Generally, I don’t diet. After years of tinkering, these days I eat fairly healthy, tons of vegetables, but drink too much wine and occasionally buy soft serve from those cute little trucks. Thus will never be slim. But I’ve realized that I’m just an idiot if I don’t lose a few pounds during this whole personal trainer escapade. So today I logged my foods in Sparkpeople, looking for those “hidden” calories that I down while thinking I’m madame svelte.

Turns out that a little harmless nibbling on trail mix ads up pretty fast. Still, ended the day with about 1700-1800 calories – which seems about right, since I did almost 2 hours of exercise.

In the midst of all this ridiculous working out, I got sore arms and legs this weekend not from pumping iron, but from playing an obscure Swedish lawn game that involved a lot of standing and throwing sticks. Who woulda thunk it? And yes, it was fun.

Today’s run: 8 miles, 1:24:48. Thursday’s treadmill run: 1 mile. YT: 514.21 miles. The heat and humidity broke again; gorgeous day. To the man with the double-wide stroller: Your twins are cute, but why would you walk in a lane that’s already being split by two directions of runners and bikers??

Twenty-one miles this week. Still four miles short of what I should be doing to finish the year with a 1000 miles.  But it’s the first time I’ve cracked 20 miles in several weeks. So it’s a victory of sorts. Plus, 10:35/mile is a good pace for me for an 8-miler.

Introverts have to take extra-special good care of themselves in NYC. To spend time alone in this city requires you to fight the current. I literally had to FORCE myself to stay in last night, after being social every single night this week, and get a good sleep. Result: Total rejuvenation. Great run and looking forward to a great day, with friends and fun and sunshine.

“We go light it up, like it’s dynamite…”

Somehow this post didn’t save correctly… I found it blank in my drafts folder. But it was for 2 treadmill miles at the gym.