I woke up at 7am, but instead of hitting the gym, I had to get some work done. Because my run with Justin was at 9am, I needed to get some work done beforehand to make up for the fact that I’d be skipping out a bit later.
At 8am, though, all work stopped – it was time to get ready. I don’t know what the rest of you do, but I typically don’t shower before going for a run or workout. I’m just going to get all sweaty anyway, so what’s the point? Much easier to just wait and shower after! However, since I was going to meet a celebrity for the first time (and meet him in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, no less), I showered, pulled my hair into a cute bun, threw on one of my favorite running outfits (green top and white skirt), and even put on a little bit of (natural-looking) makeup. Dress to impress!
Unfortunately, all that “dressing” put me out the door at 8:33 instead of 8:30, so I wasn’t able to catch my building’s shuttle to Columbus Circle (closer to where Justin was staying). I would still be on time, but now I had an extra mile of running ahead of me. But hey, what was I complaining for, right? That’s like those people who take the lazy way to the gym (side note: do gyms with escalators like that even exist? Stupid). I was on my way to run – might as well get in some extra mileage by running there! I had to battle a lot of morning businessperson crowds (yeah, dumb idea to run at 8:45am in midtown), but 2.1 miles later, I was at the Waldorf and ready to go.
While I waited for Justin, I noticed that I was getting really sweaty (yes, in the air conditioned lobby). All of a sudden, I realized that in general, I don’t sweat much when I run… but as soon as I stop, I sweat like crazy. Does anyone else have that issue? It happens when I come back from the gym too… just never paid much attention before. So much for getting all dolled up for the run!
It took me a bit of time to find Justin and his manager, but we finally found each other and were set. Grant (Justin’s manager) wasn’t going to run with us, but Justin’s friend Amy was joining us as well, so we had a nice little group. We walked from the hotel up to the corner of the park (a much better idea than dodging all the midtown businesspeople like I had done to get there), and once we hit the park, off we went!
Amy’s sons both play tennis, which is how she knows Justin, so they spent a lot of time talking about that as we walked up. Once we started running, though, we didn’t do a lot of talking – just focusing on the run! Amy was much better than either Justin or I at talking while running, and she’s a pretty experienced runner herself, having done several half marathons. However, the one thing I thought was funny was that since Grant (Justin’s manager) read my initial e-mail and set the whole thing up, I don’t think Justin knows my background as a marathon runner. I mentioned while we were running that I had done a lot of marathons, and I talked about some of the ones that I had run, but I don’t think he knows I broke the world record! Clearly I am almost as much of a celebrity as he is 🙂
We headed up along the east side of Park Drive until we got to the reservoir, then did two loops around, and headed back down to the southeast corner. Along the way, we stopped at water fountains a few times and I got further proof that I only seem to sweat much when I’m stopped. So bizarre! I have no idea why I’ve never realized that before, because thinking back, it’s usually true.
Justin and Amy and I said our goodbyes at the corner of the park, with some number exchanging… I’m actually going to watch the Open tonight! It’s a very tennis kind of day 🙂 Meanwhile, by the time I ran back to my apartment, I was very pleased to see that the final distance on my GPS was 10.22 miles, and in 91:34 (a pretty-speedy-for-a-long-run 8:58 pace). 10 mile run, I have conquered you at last!
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Lest we wondered about your encore…THIS is a VERY good one! You continue to surprise and amaze me!
That is kind of crazy that the manager didn’t prep him on your experience. I would want to know if he was setting me up with some crazy person running!