Finally ran!

So this past week was kinda bad on the exercise front. Not until today did I get to exercise. And it was a decent one - a 45 min run - 7 km in 41 mins. Kinda decent. Then a good stretch session. No running outside is foreseeable tomorrow as it's been snowing all of today and the forecast is saying the same for tomorrow. But we are planning a nice, long gym session :) Now I need to relax - been running arount the entire day!

Wake up call at 6:15 - I'm kinda used to it though. Then some energy drink and on the turbo trainers we jump - 50 mins. Hot muesli for breakfast and now ready to work. May try to go to the gym tonight to do some weight training.

The story so far...

Well, here's the story so far:

Sport has become a constant part of my life approximately 2 years ago. That's when I've moved from the US to Bucharest, Romania and, partly due to the boredom, I've started going to the gym on a regular basis. At first it was spinning and then I've started to run. A few months after M (who has now completed 3 Ironman events) convinced me to start training for a marathon. I thought he was crazy! Me - a marathon?? But then I was crazy enough to sign up for the Budapest marathon. And in September 2007 I've finished it in 4 hrs 23 mins. And here's a photo of M and I running it. It was still pretty early on so hence the smile. The last 12 kms were painful! But still finished very happy. So after I've recovered (a good month or so) I signed up for the next one - Barcelona!

Barcelona was a wonderful marathon held in early March 2008. Weather was amazing and the organizers have done a wonderful job. Even though I wasn't feeling in top shape, I finished this one in 4hrs 7mins and felt fantastic crossing that finish line! My recovery was much faster than for the first one. Three weeks later I've ran the Warsaw Halfmarathon finishing in 1hr 51mins.

So, it wasnt' that much of a suprise when I've decided to run yet another one and one of the biggest in the world - New York City Marathon! Being held in November, I've had the whole summer/fall to prepare for it. As in the meanwhile we've moved to Warsaw I was able to run outside very consistently (Bucharest and it's wild dogs can deter you in that respect) as I wanted very badly to break the sub-4 barrier. I was ready to go on November 2 2008. The crowds were intimidating but I felt very secure about the course as I lived in NY for a big chunk of my life. It was very emotional to do it as deep down inside I knew that this was the marathon to complete. And boy was I right. The course proved itself to be very challenging. But I've stuck to it - did not break sub 4 but came in almost as close as you can get - 4hrs 1min. And here I am crossing the finish line:

So, of course the question was - what will my next challenge be? The answer was a kind of no-brainer - triathlon! I've seen M competing in them and, while challenging, they look like so much fun. Of course, a few challenges will come into play as I cannot swimm very well and my bike riding leaves a lot to be desired. So, this is how this began and we shall see where it will lead me to....