It's been a WHILE, but here is my first post of 2012.

What a great winter we've had here in New England.  Very little snow so the roads have been totally clear and yet I only got my bike out a couple of weeks ago.  Yesterday was my first ride to work and back.  It started out quite chilly (35 degrees) but the ride home was a heck of a lot warmer.

The main reason for this post, is a race report for the "Columbia University Road Runners 5K" in NYC.  The race was on March 25th.  The best part about the weekend was catching up with both new and old friends.  The worst part was that Sue and Owen had decided to stay back in Salem.  Would you believe Owen picked going to see "Blue Man Group" over watching me do a 5K?  Of course, an easy decision for sure!

Lots of updates over the winter season to talk about before I get to the race report, so here goes.

• I won a free entry to return to the NYC Triathlon in July.  It was a Facebook contest where people had a "like" a photo.  I had more than 700 likes and was overwhelmed by the support.
• I was given a free entry to return and race at Hy-Vee over the Labor Day weekend in Iowa.
• I won a free pair of K-SWISS Kwicky Blade Lights from elite triathlete Angi Greene.
• Connected with elite runner and clothing designer Verity Breen who has been a source of information and encouragement as I prepare to race my first marathon in November.  She has selected me to be a brand ambassador for her line of clothing called "Thirty Birds".
• I have also joined "Achilles International" which is a running/tri club based out of NYC.  Their director, Kat Bateman, contacted me about joining.  I will race on that team a number of times over the summer.  The bonus about joining is that all members can race in the NYC Marathon.  I am hoping to do a marathon this year in the hopes of finishing under 6 hours.  If I do so, I have been told I can race the Boston Marathon as a physically challenged runner.
• The Pingree Girls' Swim Team finished 2nd at New Englands this season.  Two of our swimmers were selected as Swimming All-Stars by the local paper.  And the real kicker for me, is that the paper also selected me as the Swim Coach of the Year.  I had no idea I was even being considered, so it is certainly a great honor.
• And finally, I have decided to race in the the inaugural "Toronto Triathlon Festival" in July this summer.  It will be a blast completing in a race in my hometown.  Hopefully some old friends and family can come out and watch me race.  I just heard from the race organizers that they have selected me as Triathlete of the Month for March .

Now onto my first race on 2012.  This race was suggested to me by Kat Bateman from Achilles.  She suggested this would be a good opportunity for me to meet up some of the other Achilles runners.  I agreed and also realized I would be able to meet up with some "new" and "old" friends.

So I headed down on Friday morning after dropping Owen off at school.  The drive was uneventful and to save some money I packed a lunch and snacks.  The 4 hour drive wasn't really that bad allowing for stops along the way to stretch my legs and such.  I arrived in NYC and circled the block around where I would be staying on the upper west side until I found a spot.  I ended up parking on Riverside Dr (AGAIN) and would be able to leave my car there for the entire weekend.  I phoned up my friend Barbara from CAF as she was able to arrange an apartment for me to stay in.  I headed down to her place, lower down in Manhatten to get the keys.  We had a quick visit and I headed up to my temporary base around 78th and West Side Dr.  After getting all my stuff in the apartment I took some time to rest before heading to Brooklyn to meet up with my friend Miriam.  She is the owner of a website called ENDURAGUIDE.

Pizza at Anthony's in Brooklyn is amazing!

We have a mutual friend in Joan Murray with the USAT.  Miriam did a online interview about me a few months ago.  We were planning on meeting at the YMCA in Brooklyn and then we would be heading out for some REAL NEW YORK PIZZA.


OKAY...............here's where I stop and say, ARGH.  I started this post weeks ago and kept dreading finishing it and I don't know why.  So I am going to stop now.

Highlights of the trip were of course meeting Miriam and Kat.  Catching up with my dear friend Barbara Evans from CAF was AWESOME!  Just chatting and having dinner on Saturday night with her were so much fun.

But that's where this report ends.  The race was great!  I didn't PR my best 5K time, but I did manage to run  sub 14 min miles, which was my goal for my first race of 2012.

Here's where I now pledge to make at least one blog post for the remainder of 2012.  I PROMISE!!!

Finishing in 43:15.  Not a PR, but great for first race of 2012.