Meet NYCRunningGirl

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  My name is Abby and I grew up in Syracuse, NY.  I'm not sure how often I'll update, what I'll be writing about (well yes, probably running stuff!), how interesting it'll be, etc, but if I inspire at least one person (or can keep motivating myself to be a better person, runner, writer along the way) then it'll be worth it!  And for those of you that already have blogs, you can now read about my life (if you want), instead of me just stalking you reading about yours. :)

When I was in 7th grade, a few of my best friends and I ran Cross Country.  It turned out that I was naturally pretty good at running, and I loved it.  I recently found these ribbons while cleaning out some boxes in my mom's house!

At the beginning of 8th grade, my friends decided to join the swim team (I probably would have drowned, and hate(d) cold water) so I signed up for Cross Country again. After a few days of practice with a new coach and without my friends, I told my coach that I felt like I was going to throw up after ever run, and quit the team.  Duh, I was just out of shape (I think I secretly knew that, but didn't tell anyone else that that was the reason) and was sad that my friends weren't there anymore.  That was the end of my Cross Country career.  I missed the bus rides to Invitationals on the weekends and the feeling of placing for my team, but friends are really important during those terrible awkward teen years, and I guess it wasn't enough to make myself get back into shape and keep working hard.

I didn't run again for many years.  After college, I found myself working and living here(!)

with a boyfriend that I was mad at for most of our relationship, so I got back into running to clear my head and get un-mad at him several days a week.  He also encouraged me to run to lose some weight.  I was 120 and 5'7".  We're no longer together.  Yay!

A year later, I decided that paradise on the beach was a little too perfect for me, and I missed the East coast, so moved here

and began running here:

I probably never ran more than two miles, but am not sure because I definitely didn't have anything fancy like a Garmin at this point.  In the summer of 2009, my boyfriend (a different guy than the one mentioned above, thankfully!) and I rented a car in NJ, which meant we had to return it to NJ.  It was a hot beautiful day, and he suggested that after we returned the car, we'd take the PATH train back to NYC and run from Battery City to his apartment on the UWS.  Which is 7 miles.  I hadn't run 7 miles since 7th grade. And I was a lot older and a lot less fit now.  But for some crazy reason, I agreed.  It was horrible not fun.  I was definitely not in shape to run this far and wasn't in the mood to push myself.  I walked a lot, I wanted to cry, and wanted to kill him by the end of the run. Somehow, we're still together, and even though I couldn't walk the next day, I was hooked again.  And by hooked, I mean obsessed with running.

Within a few months, we were training for our first half marathon, the 2010 NYC Half.  I didn't get in through the lottery, but wanted to run so badly (even though I had really not liked running very much just a few months earlier...) that I raised $1,000 so I could run as part of the American Cancer Society team.  So quickly, running had become one of my passions and I found myself arranging my entire weekend schedule around a long run.

When I registered for the NYC Half, I put 2:15 as my projected finish time.  I ended up finishing in 1:57:47!  This only furthered my obsession with running, because I knew I could push myself harder to get a PR at my next half.  Since then, I've run 2 other half marathons, and am running the Brooklyn half again in 6 days, and of course am hoping/praying/doing everything I can to get another PR.  Also, as of the last few months, I'm finally officially faster than I was when I was in 7th grade!  And I'm running most likely running the Philadelphia marathon in November, which will be my first.  If I commit....