"Each step is one less step you have to take."

That's what an old-ish man told his running partner as she (and I) made the halfway mark at the Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5k this morning. Technically this wasn't my first 5k, but it was the first one I ran through its entirety -- no walking breaks!

Total time: 33:51 seconds. Bizarre, considering I ran/walked this one in about 31 minutes but I'm just glad I fought every urge to stop running and walk instead and finished it. One step at a time. Thanks for the advice, old runner man.

Speaking of old people, there were runners of all ages this morning. The female overall winner was a 16-year-old (ah, to be an energetic youth), while there were 70-79 year-olds who finished in less time than I did. To be honest, one of the things that kept me going was seeing kids as young as 6 and old people run past me. If they can do it, why can't I? (Also, kudos for being ridiculously fit.)

Week Without Coffee - DONE!

I don't know why I chose to give up coffee as part of my to-do list. Yes, I like a challenge, and yes, a part of me likes to inflict pain on myself, but I also like to think that I wanted to test myself in case I ever got addicted to something and needed rehab. I know now that rehab and withdrawal from serious substances must be AWFUL. (I'm rooting for you Lindsay Lohan!)

I started my Week Without Coffee on a Saturday. I figured with two days of the weekend under my belt, I'd be more capable of facing the work week sans cafe. Did it really make a difference? Meh.

Because I knew I would forget about this whole blogging on a regular basis thing, I kind of live-blogged (does Google Buzz count as blogging? Sure.) the entire week.

Monday, Day 3 of Week Without Coffee. I want to cry. I want chocolate. (Honestly, I don't think Monday was the hardest day. I was just half asleep most of the time.)
Day 4 of Week Without Coffee. 1 cup of black tea at 7:30, 1 withdrawal headache at 10. Nice.

Day 5. Woke up with a headache, first thought: iced coffee, mmmm. I'm not caving! (I lay in bed ready to give up on this, I swear. But as much as I love coffee, I am also hard-headed. I did not cave.)

Day 6. At the elevator on my way to my desk, I want to cry. Upon opening my inbox, I want to cry. Cofffeeeeeeeee. (Did I mention I wanted to cry? But at the end of that day, I surprisingly got a lot done. Random burst of productivity or was I actually getting by without my preferred caffeine dose?)

Day 7. I'm pretty sure I'm craving comfort food as a substitute for coffee. I can't stand tea right now. (I remember having a cup of black tea - my 2nd - on my desk and wanting to fling it against the wall. But I didn't. I also didn't finish it. I also skipped a new workout I really wanted to try because I was exhausted, hungry and had no patience for hoity-toity men who do yoga without their shirts on. I want to workout, not have a fashion show, damnit. Be flamboyant in your own space. I considered getting an iced coffee because technically the last time I had coffee was the Friday morning the week before, but I didn't. Instead I had some Chipotle. No regrets.)

You'd think after all this the first thing I'd do on Saturday morning was have a cup of coffee. But nope. I had a banana and black tea and went for a morning run. AND THEN, I had coffee with my pancakes. Aaand then I passed out on my couch having barely finished my cup. Ah, gotta love having a high caffeine tolerance. 

What did I get out of all this? I learned that if I ever need to go to rehab, I would cry. But I might also make it. And that if I didn't have coffee, I'd compensate with chocolate, cake and other junk food. I'll stick to coffee.

Week Without Coffee - Day 2

Yesterday was the day I started my week-long torture. Honestly, if I had more time and money, going a week without coffee would probably not have been on this list. But, it goes with the theme of challenging oneself, so I'll do it. Begrudgingly.

I started the day with a cup of black tea and cereal - blech. That combination is probably the saddest excuse for a breakfast. I figured, I plan to be indoors and catching up on old episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 (oh the 90s!), so why do I need the extra caffeine? The cereal was just because I was lazy. I don't know whether it was the cup of green tea later in the afternoon and a 2-hour nap after (or the fact that I was kind of hungover), but I never really felt awake until after dinnertime.

Today is Day 2. I plan to get some work and errands done, do a short run, and have a laidback dinner. It's 9 AM and I've had one cup of black tea. How many more to go? We'll see.

Midday Update: I've been up since 7:45AM, went to bed at 1AM last night and had 2 cups of black tea this morning. I ran one errand outside and I could use a nap right now. Dear god. A whole week of this. Time for some green tea?

#15: Shooting Range - DONE!

When I told people I wanted to go to a shooting range the responses were either along the lines of "Awesome!" or "Um, why?". I'm not a violent person (I swear), and I don't have any intention of becoming an NRA member, but I always wanted to shoot a gun and see how well I'd do. Those water shooting games just don't compare.

A couple of weeks ago I went with my friend Judy to Westside Pistol & Rifle Range in the Flatiron district. It's the only one in New York City and it's very easy to miss if you're not looking for it.

We went to the basement of a building where all the magic happens. First was an introductory class where a 60-something balding man covered in tattoos demonstrated what to do with a rifle (IE don't point it at someone, always have the safety on, etc). He also showed us how to put bullets in a magazine (I snickered in my head because this is such a completely different use of the term "magazine" from how I use it in my 9-5 day job).

Now, if you were to imagine a shooting range, you'd probably imagine the location dominated by men. The instructors and staff were mostly male, but the class we were in had 5 women and 2 men, boyfriends of 2 women in the class. Those two women made me look like a genius. Who wears heels to go to a shooting range? But any class where I'm not the most confused one is a great class by me.

It took some getting used to and my rifle-holding form was probably poor because holy crap those things are heavy, but it was FUN! I mean, how many opportunities do you have to fire a weapon without worrying about, you know, getting arrested for something?

Here's one of my targets:

Not bad for a beginner, eh?

After shooting a few rounds (I believe we got 50 bullets), we walked over to the Shake Shack for some burgers and milkshakes. If we had beer instead of milkshakes we might as well have grown testicles.

They gave us a card for 50% off our next visit, so who knows? Maybe I'll aim (ha! Sorry, it's been a while since I used a pun, right?) to get everything in the bulls eye next time. The expectations for this visit were really more like "Don't shoot yourself or someone accidentally." Mission accomplished!

Perdoname, discuplame, lo siento

I've been MIA from the blogosphere, and I'm sorry. I don't like giving excuses, so I'll honestly just say that it's because I don't like blogging. There. I said it. I'm a web editor, and I hate the internet.

But I started this blog and this list, which is now looking impossible to accomplish in less than 6 months, and I will follow through with it.

To continue from the last post, I did go to the Spanish conversation class at the New York Public Library. Turns out, compared to complete beginners, mi espanol no es tan malo. We did short skits, and I played a nurse. Ha. Too bad I don't think there are any more classes anytime soon, because it really does help to speak in the language rather than just read and write it. I haven't picked up any of my Spanish books since then. Maybe I'll download an iPhone app to help. Know any?

What else have I been doing since June? I went on a short trip to Rhode Island...where the uneven streets made me twist my ankle. It's been a week and it's still slightly swollen. I'm giving it till Wednesday to try getting back to my 5K training plan again. You're messing up my timeline, injuries.

Pretty!

Deep fried balls of seafood? Yes, please!

That's it for now, but stay tuned for a post about #15. Fun!

No Es Bueno

I've put off going to a Spanish conversation class at the New York Public Library twice now. I can't remember the last time I read a full chapter from any of my language books. In fact, I now owe the library $4 from overdue charges. (Guess that's my way of supporting our public services.)

But tomorrow, I will go! Yo voy a... attender?... la clase de espanol en la biblioteca. No excuses!

30-Minute 5k - Almost There!

I wasn't supposed to run this 5K. I signed up several months ago expecting the pain in my left ankle to be gone by June and here we are in June and it still isn't fully healed. I even got to the race course late (thanks to MTA's weekend service and my need to pee) and decided to skip walking the 5K altogether and do the 3K walk later that day.

But turns out the 5K race just started when I got there and the lady at the booth said I could walk the entire thing.

Maybe it's the New Yorker in me, maybe I'm just impatient, but when I got to that race course the thought of walking while everyone else was running became ridiculous. 3 miles is a long freaking walk.

So I started running. I think I ran for 10 minutes before I started feeling some pain so I decided to walk the rest. I walked to the finish line where the clock read 30 minutes and something seconds.

I'm still not sure how that's possible, but hey, that's a pretty damn good time for someone who hasn't run since January.

I am icing leg as I'm typing this and hoping everything's OK tomorrow. If it is, then I'll be signing up for another 5K in July or August and maybe actually show up on time.

Oh, and if you have the funds, please donate to the YAI Network who hosted this race. They're a non-profit who hold several programs for people with disabilities and their families. Picking this race wasn't a random decision for me -- it's for an organization that truly deserves support for all the great things they do.