What a whirlwind week it’s been! Last night I was able to get on the earlier flight back to New York from Las Vegas but still didn’t get home until 2am. Unfortunately, Marc, my co-worker, and I learned an important lesson last night. If you land in New York City after 11pm at anytime the taxi stand manager said that cabs only arrive every five to ten minutes. Therefore, we waited in the cold for over an hour.

After crawling into bed around 2:30, I slept like a rock until almost 1pm. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck, not refreshed at all. I guess that’s what happens after being crammed in a middle seat of a six hour flight.

I ate brunch while relaxing with Bo, catching up on our weeks. I knew that the only thing on my agenda today was to do a seven miler in Central Park. Therefore my brunch was toast, peanut butter, and a banana paired with a G Series Fit.

After checking the weather report a few times, hoping that it would miraculously go from 22 degrees to 43 degrees in the hour before my run. Unfortunately that didn’t happen so I bundled up and got stoked to log the miles.

Okay, maybe excited isn’t the right word to use. I was apprehensive of how my body would react to running seven miles after running three days in a row, traveling across the United States, and feeling very dehydrated.

I ran up Lexington Avenue and then cut over to Central Park so that I could ensure that my miles included hills. The half marathon I’m training for has a number of large hills which means that I can’t be fully prepared unless I spend each long run in the park.

Luckily, I enjoyed this run more than I expected because it was my first chance to enjoy Central Park during the winter outside of a race. It was serene, quieter than normal, and the barren trees gave the entire park an eerie feel.

These flags, in front of The Plaza Hotel, show just how windy it was ruing the entire run.

I waved goodbye to the statues and headed into Central Park with a goal of keeping 10:00 pace during these middle miles after my two slower warm-up miles towards the park. Right before my first round of hills I had two Honey Stingers which I absolutely loved! I’ve never tried these before but am in love. The pink lemonade flavor wasn’t too sour or sweet and they didn’t irritate my stomach.

Instead of doing one round of Cat Hill and Harlem Hills I switched my run up today and did Cat Hill once and Harlem Hills in both direction due to turning around at 110th and 7th Avenue. Through the cold wind and freezing temperatures, along with a few fun snow flurries, I kept my pace at 9:58 until my final mile where my legs were showing their exhaustion. Instead of pushing them too hard I did my last mile at 10:03.

These are the runs that make me a stronger runner. By doing my best to run each long training run in the park, my legs will slowly but surely become adjusted to the hills and I’ll be able to power up them, as Gia requests, versus dreading them.

Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to enjoy a long bath with a shake and some bath salts.

Don’t forget to enter the Friday the 13th Gaiam giveaway!