New York City - The Road to Realising the Dream

Taken in Niketown Store, NYC :)

Hello everyone! :)

I am still here in the States... I figured that since I'm at my last destination before heading back home and that I've time at the moment, I'd like to share about my NYC experience in a few parts... Because it deserves to be in that manner and that I have so much to tell!!! Hehe ;)

So, let's start with my training regime for the past 3 months leading up to the day of the marathon... When I found out that Captain was going to join me in NYC, I was super excited and grateful at the same time... This was because she was an awesome companion back in April when we both went to Paris for my birthday marathon and that I was going to share my dream this year with her again :)

So, we both decided to train together this time around for the marathon... This was the first time that I actually had a proper training regime and that I was actually training for a marathon 3 months prior to an event! :p On the last 4 marathons that I've done, the longest training that I've done so far was one and half months before the race that was the Paris one... Talk about discipline :p

Of course, I had a goal in my mind for NYC, and that was to attempt and complete the race in less than 4 and half hours... I have two sub-5 and two sub-5:30 in my belt... So, a sweet sub-4:30 would be a perfect present for my last marathon of the year... Hence, I told myself that I was going to really train for it, rain or shine... And the fact that I was going to invest a lot by coming all the way to the Big Apple, I had to make this a worthwhile trip no? :)

So, captain and I started our training during the fasting month... We dedicated our Tuesdays for our speedwork and strength workouts, Thursdays for marathon pace runs, and the weekends for our LSD runs... The other working days were dedicated to easy runs that would accumulate to 60-70km in total per week... And there were also races that we took part in October (adidas King of the Road, The North Face 100 and New Balance Real Run which was both in Singapore) as part of our training...

After our first LSD during the Ramadan month in Putrajaya :)

Military ratus ;)

Pic credits to Missy 

Before leaving Singapore :)

Pic credits to Captain

The last LSD before flying off to NYC

At the end of October, I was happy and lil' proud of myself that I've trained well... Here's a snapshot from my dailymile on my training:

100 miles+ for the month of October... A first for me :)

And of course we ran in Central Park just to acclimate ourselves to the supercold weather...

Our 2nd run...

The day before the marathon - our last 5km run...

I have to say that it wasn't easy for the both of us due to the fact that we had to be super committed and discipline with our program - and that meant sacrificing our social (yes, I do have a life!) or family gatherings and handle the banters and dissatisfaction from 'non-runnning' friends at the same time... You gotta be in our (running) shoes to understand people! ;)

And of course, there were days where I just didn't want to run, but I had to force myself (with positive thoughts!) and that captain was around to push and motivate me to do so :)

Nevertheless, our close running friends were very supportive throughout our training months... And not to mention, my super understanding parents and closest friends... Alhamdulillah and supermad ❤ for them :)

And just like the first pic in this post: Nothing worthwhile was ever easy; and I am glad that I followed the program and pulled it through :D

Next: iRan New York City :)