Category Archives: Running

Running in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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We arrived in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina in the morning and met some of our fellow Antarctic marathon runners right way. They already had a group run scheduled for that afternoon, leaving from the Plaza Hotel where we were staying and going 2-3 miles toward Puerto Madero, by the waterfront. As tempting as stretching my legs after a 15-hour flight was, I was more excited to spend time with my parents who had flown from Brazil to see us. We ended up walking all the way to Puerto Madero together and some of the runners passed us by. They looked like the serious kind! Oh my, would I be able to keep up with them in Antarctica?

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Puerto Madero is now one of the poshest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. The waterfront by river Río de la Plata has seen a renovation in the last few years that brought high-risers and lots of restaurants to the area. Another landmark, Puente de la Mujer, is a beautiful harp-like bridge that links both sides of the docks.

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Walking a little further east, the four of us also made it to a natural reserve called Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur. This a huge marshy area with a large sidewalk perfect for strolling on a nice afternoon. Buenos Aires is the second largest city in South America, behind only São Paulo (Brazil), so this green area full of birds and trails is a welcome escape from the busy streets nearby.

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Knowing that my marathon was approaching, I did go on a jog a few days later. Although humid, it was an incredibly satisfying run, watching the sunset from the Women’s Bridge and passing steakhouses in Puerto Madero. Hmm… the juicy smell… time to write about eating!

Buenos Aires Jog
Puente de La Mujer

Running: Training for Antarctica

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Antarctica is just around the corner and I am ready! This past month of training went really well and I am very excited. Although most of February was nice, warm and full of perfect days for runs and hikes, we had a few snow showers and very windy days too.

 

Even though I wasn’t going to train with very long runs due to starting my training really late in the game, I was able to do a long run of 20 miles this past weekend! I did it in 4h35, which is very slow, but I’m very happy with my accomplishment since I had an upset stomach and it was cold and raining. The next day my feet were really sore, but a massage helped 😉

Cold and wet day
10 miles turn around point

It was also a busy month of promoting the fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters: several radio and TV interviews occupied my time. Click here to see the one from News 4 and click here to see the live interview from Fox 11. I had a lot of fun talking about Antarctica and BBBS. If you haven’t had a chance to donate yet, please go to:

http://bbbsnn.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=1133651

Interview with Reno Morning News

Interview with Reno Morning News

 

 

 

More: Antarctica Fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters

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As you know, I am achieving my dream of traveling to all 7 continents by the age of 30 very soon: not only I’m going to Antarctica in March, but I’m also running a marathon there. I am incredibly excited about the trip, but even more excited to have an opportunity to team up with the mentoring organization Big Brothers Big Sisters to help children in my community.

As a teacher, I see on a daily basis how adults can help shape children lives by being there for them. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program positively influences children self-confidence, provides stability, changes their perspective on life and encourages them to set higher goals. The high school graduation rate for children living in poverty in Washoe County, where I live, was 56% last year.  Recently I was pleased to learn that 75% of the age eligible “Littles” graduated last June. Since I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters, my “Littles” have also enriched my life in countless ways and I would like to keep supporting this organization.

In the spirit of my upcoming Antarctic adventure, I’d love for you to join me in making a difference in a Little’s life. Your contribution to Big Brothers Big Sisters will help provide one-to-one mentoring programs for at-risk youth in northern Nevada.

Join me by following this link and making a donation and don’t forget to check out my Antarctica journey on this blog Run, Eat, Travel, and More.

Thank you for your support! E.M. 🙂

www.runeattravelandmore.com

http://bbbsnn.kintera.org/antarctica

Ps.: Since I don’t have Facebook, I’ll love your help sharing a link to the fundraiser there!

Outing with with my Little

Outing with with my Little

Running, Eating, and Traveling in Napa/Sonoma, California

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I went to Napa and Sonoma for my friend B.’s 30th birthday and couldn’t have enjoy it more! It was a beautiful day in the 70’s to do my long run (10 miles in 2 hours). I left from the house B. was staying in Sonoma and with the help of Google Maps and I found the bike trail downtown, passing some missions, the city hall and lots of wineries.

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For some wine tasting we went to Arrowood in Glenn Ellen. Our wines were paired with cheeses and spreads that complemented each other so well! Dinner was at The Girl and the Fig, one of the restaurants I had ran by earlier when I was downtown. Because of my 10 miles, I splurged on a juicy steak.

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In Napa it was all about visiting my friend V. who lives there. She is an amazing cook and had made “empadão“, a Brazilian chicken pie. Amazing! Then she rode with me to Tahoe to go to M.’s baby shower, another Brazilian friend. Busy weekend of celebrations!

V. and I looking at wedding venues in Napa
Empadao de frango – Chicken pie
M.’s Baby Shower

Running: Antarctica Marathon Training in January

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I started marathon training very late in the game, with just 2 months to go, and the first couple of weeks were not easy. For the past few months I had this annoying pain on my right hip that just wouldn’t go away. I took x-rays and nothing… I went to the chiropractor and nothing… After a few weeks though, the pain has subsided and I am happy to say I have been able to train in January with no missing days. Well, it’s kind of a stretch to call my outings a run: 12 minute/miles. When did I become so slow??? But I feel that at this point I just need to take it easy so I don’t get an injury for training too hard. I’m not too concerned about my time as long as accomplish my goal.

Damonte Ranch Run

Damonte Ranch Run

The weather has been perfect for me: warm and dry. Perfect even for hikes in Galena and jogs in Tahoe since there hasn’t been any snow. However, since it’s still too dark after I get off work, I have been doing most of my short runs at the gym.

Hike in Galena
Tahoe Run

I am up to a 10-mile long run now. I feel good I would be able to complete a half-marathon in Antarctica, but is a full marathon still too big of a stretch?

 

 

More: Antarctica Countdown

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As you all know, I love to travel and have been to six of the seven continents. This March, the fiancé and I will be going on a trip to my last continent: Antarctica!

Antarctica is a huge land in the South Pole. To get there, we will be flying from the US to Argentina, and from there we will embark on a 10-day cruise. 99% of Antarctica is covered by ice: in fact, 90% of the world’s ice is there!

But, what is there to do in such a far and cold place? Each day we will explore the continent with a group: from kayaking to penguin and whale watching, there will be a lot to learn. On March 9, we will even attempt to run a marathon (26.2 miles!) on ice! Check out this article for 10 reasons to do this crazy trip: http://www.runnersworld.com/photos/10-reasons-run-antarctica-marathon.

I’m really excited, but also very nervous because I haven’t been training at all! The race is less than a couple of months away, so I decided to focus on training for a half-marathon instead. As the fiancé keeps telling me, we can just walk the latter half… unless we get frostbite! BTW, the marathon benefits “Oceanites“, an organization that researches the impact tourism has in Antarctica, among other things.

Check out my Antarctica Half Marathon Training. As you can see, I should have started before the New Year, but that didn’t happen, so I’m a week behind. No matter what the outcome of the race is, just achieving my goal of seeing all 7 continents by the time I’m 30 will be a huge accomplishment!

Check out this video of last year’s trip:

 

Running: Pennsylvania

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I told you there would be a running post soon! It’s a short one, but my runs have also been really short lately. I’ve been trying to get back into it, but it’s been really hard to do even just 2 miles. It’s been dark and cold, so I have been going to the gym a couple of times a week. So happy “Fitness for 10” opened a space downtown! It’s very convenient.

I’m also glad to write that I was able to get outside and run and couple of miles while in Pennsylvania for the holidays. It was cold and wet, but at least I went outside!

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It felt so good that when I got back to Reno I ran by the river even though it was icy and cold. I am running up to 4 miles at a time now!

Winter River Run

Winter River Run

2014 Summer in Reno: running, eating, and more

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I finally spent most of the summer in Reno this year and while I had plans to run everyday, go to the beach in Tahoe, and take short road trips here and there, I spent most of my time relaxing, going to Artown events, and eating. Not that I didn’t want to run: I tried, and one week I even did over 15 miles, but July in Reno is just way too hot, over 90, to be exercising outside. Even at night it was crazy hot, so all I could do was walk around Virginia Lake at 10 pm with the boyfriend. Not that I didn’t want to go to Tahoe either: I took the boys there as soon as I came back from Brazil, and then I had to work at the college for a week. I tried going to the beach after work everyday, but, of course, it rained non-stop that week and after that I just gave up; however, we did spend the day building a raft in Tahoe for our first day back to work.

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Nevertheless, it was a great summer with art shows, plays, and concerts. Every July there is an art festival in Reno called Artown. There are so many events to choose from! The boyfriend and I went to an art show of a Brazilian artist (Marcio Decker), a local performance of the Broadway show “Avenue Q”, and another play called “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, which attempted to show the audience a fun and quick version of all of Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies in less than 2 hours. Artown is not only for people: one day at the park they had the dogs do some paw painting. Slick and Parker are quite talented 😉 Finally, this summer, I went to a Lady Gaga concert at Harvey’s Outdoor Arena. Super fun, although I was expecting more craziness from her fans!

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I shouldn’t even start naming all of the restaurants the boyfriend and I have been to this summer. I think I only cooked twice in the past two months: my Brazilian pancakes for dinner, and American pancakes for breakfast. I think even the boyfriend was at the kitchen more than me, making lasagna and chicken croquettes. It was nice to seat on the porch watching all the Midtown action, or having friends over for some s’mores in my backyard. Speaking of friends, we went to a fun French party at the O.’s: nutella crepes, croissants, and lots of cheese, and another great get-together at T.’s where we watched “The Wizard with Oz” paired with a Pink Floyd soundtrack.

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As for the restaurants I wasn’t going to name, I have to give a shout out to at least a couple. A new favorite breakfast place is Little House on Center Street. For dinner, the Santa Fe Restaurant, a family-style Basque restaurant downtown, cannot be beat. Okay, now I’m hungry also thinking about the food trucks downtown, fish tacos from Bistro 7, sushi from Kei in Carson, and even the burger from Johnny Rockets. Although not a restaurant, the Greek Festival had an amazing baklava as always.

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Then on my last day of summer vacation, the boyfriend and I spent the day relaxing in Genoa. We went for a jog downtown, had a drink at Nevada’s oldest bar, soaked at the hot springs, and had a nice four-course dinner at David Walley’s restaurant. After all, you don’t need to travel the world to have a fun, relaxing, and nice summer vacation.

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Post-Marathon Running Update

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After the marathon, I took a break from running. A very long break. One month, to be exact. Since my right foot was hurting after the race, I went to the doctor and he advised me to take 4-6 weeks off, which at first I didn’t have any problem with, but I have to admit that when 4 weeks hit, I was itching to run again.

Mother's Day Jog with the Dogs

Mother’s Day Jog with the Dogs

The first time I tried, it was miserable. I took the dogs with me (it was Mother’s Day) and I couldn’t even complete a mile, but a few days later I decided to go on a night jog (it’s been too hot during the day) and I was able to do 5 miles non-stop. Now I’m back to running 3-6 miles 2-3 times a week, which is a very manageable amount of exercise. I have also added some personal training sessions a couple of times a week since I am still eating like a champ. Hopefully I won’t be looking too shabby this summer.

Full Moon Run

Full Moon Run

My First Marathon

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26.2 miles in 4h45m21 (10:53/mile)! I did it! What a great feeling it is to accomplish a goal! And I did it with only 14 weeks of training, instead of my planned 20, and no injuries!

My first marathon!

My first marathon!

The Monday before the race I felt confident and excited, but as Friday and Saturday rolled in, I started having massive headaches. Also, my hamstrings were extremely sore from doing Cross Fit. The day before, I got a massage to relax me, but even after that I was still about to cry as I didn’t think I would have it in me. Besides all the physical and emotional woes, I did make a point to enjoy my food. The boyfriend and I went to True NY Pizza Company in Sparks for a baked ziti pizza. Yup, pasta as a pizza topping might be my favorite new thing, but I think I’ll have to reserve the 1,000 calorie slice for marathon days only. Then, of course, dessert: frozen yogurt topped with Nutella and all sorts of sweets.

The day of the race I arrived at the finish line 5 minutes before, just in time for a quick picture and the national anthem. I started too fast, with a 9 minute mile right away, but during that first mile I met S., a 50 year old woman who had done many marathons before and was planning on finishing this one under 5 hours, just like me. Throughout the whole race we were near each other and without her, I would have fallen behind. For most of the time, there was no one else in sight, so seeing her a bit ahead of me, made me feel confident I was at least going the right way!

My first marathon!

My first marathon!

The weather was perfect (60’s), I was wearing my favorite clothes, including my compression socks, the water stations had Vanilla gels, and the course was mostly flat. Everything was falling into place when at mile 21 the right side of my right foot started to hurt. I had to run the last 5 miles on my tippy toes. Oddly enough, those were one of my fastest miles and I passed S. to finish strong. I got 3rd place in my age group (18-29)! Okay, there were only 5 people in my age group, but still, I not only got a finisher’s medal, but also an award!!! Overall, I was number 45 out of 86, right in the middle of the pack. Not too bad for my first marathon.

The boyfriend was waiting for me at the finish line with a sign that read “Run, E., Run. I have cheesecake.” And he did! When we got home he also had a cake with candles that said 26.2 miles. What a sweetheart! I’m also really proud of him and my friends S. and B. who ran the 10k distance for the first time.

After devouring the cheesecake, we had all-you-can-eat sushi at Hiroba’s, where I finished my meal with more cheesecake. The afternoon was spent lying on the couch, but a few hours later we got up to have a celebration dinner at Harrah’s Steakhouse. Nice dress, high heels, a 1995 bottle of wine, onion soup in an onion bowl, crab cake, steak with béarnaise sauce, and, of course, more dessert, a tiramisu in a cute chocolate cup. I pretty much ate all of the 4,000 calories I had burned during the race in one sitting.

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I can’t express how happy I feel to have achieved this goal: a marathon, under 5 hours, in my hometown, before my 30th birthday. Plus, eating and drinking all of my favorites for a whole weekend. Exceptional! One of the best days of my life. The very best part, though, was being able to share this experience the boyfriend. He was by far the most supportive person during this period, even a couple of days later, when the tiredness and crankiness finally hit me.

Thank you everyone for all the encouragement. I am grateful I have been able to share this journey with you as well. And no, I won’t be running another marathon anytime soon. Training was a part-time job, and now I need a vacation from it, although more baked ziti pizza and another massage do sound good right now…