The Night Before the Race

I should probably be asleep already, but I'm totally keyed up for tomorrow's half marathon and not quite operating on Austrian time yet. If things go well, I'm going to try to beat 1:57:36. If not, I'm just going to enjoy the setting. It's supposed to be sunny with a high of 63 degrees, so it should be a very pretty day for a race through Vienna.

At the end of last year, I decided that I wanted to do a race abroad. I figured it would be an interesting experience and a good way to force myself to plan a real vacation. The Vienna half came at the right time of year, and I had always wanted to see Vienna someday, so here I am. So far, I think this was a very good choice.

After an early morning workout at our hotel, my travel buddy R and I saw a performance at the Spanish Riding School. Those Lippizaner stallions are serious athletes! I wish I had pictures to share with you, especially of the jumping, but cameras weren't allowed. Seeing the show really made me miss riding. Unfortunately, riding is tricky in NYC. I used to go up to Riverdale, but it's a long trip from the upper east side and I'm always short on time these days. It's also very expensive. If I ever strike it rich and have oodles of time on my hands, I'm buying a pony and taking up dressage! (I prefer ponies because I'm short.)

Anyway, after lunch, we saw a stunning performance at the Philharmonic and then watched a beautifully staged but rather bleak opera (Dialogues des Carmelites) It was a lot of sitting, but hopefully my legs are rested and ready to go!

I've charged my Garmin and my shuffle. I've taken out my knee bands, my throw away jacket and gloves, my pre and post race sweats and my race outfit (capris, t-shirt, sleeves and lucky hat). I've got my chip on my sneaker, and I've located pins to pin on my number. As I type, I'm chugging some more water...

So there's nothing to do now but try to catch sone z's. Wish me luck!

-Gym Belle-

Hi From Vienna!

I arrived in Vienna this afternoon just in time to head over to the expo and pick up my packet for Sunday's half marathon. I'm beyond excited because 1) I'm in Vienna, 2) I'm here with one of my best friends from college who lives halfway around the world and 3) I'm ready to race! The expo was like most that I've been to, meaning that there was tons of great stuff that I wanted to buy but probably don't need. I limited myself to three Bondi Bands (one says "Run Vienna") and two cute workout tops (presumably a brand not available in the U.S.). When I signed up for the race last fall, the website was all German. I managed to successfully register, but apparently I ordered myself both the men's t-shirt an the women's. Oops! At least they're different colors! I'll post all my pre-race thoughts tomorrow. Right now, I need to get some sleep! Auf wiedersehen! -Gym Belle-

Greetings from South Africa

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm remote blogging today from the Sabi Sands Private Game Reserve in South Africa. After spending a week in Cape Town for a college friend's wedding, I've ventured inland in search of animals.

So far, it's been incredible and I've seen most of the animals I was hoping to see including lots of zebras and a few giraffes. On last night's game drive, my first, we also encountered a herd of ticked off elephants. I was surprised when we followed them, and am more so now that our guide has confessed that he'd truly been scared they'd attack. He suspected that a, shall we say, frisky bull was after the females and that that's what had them stressed. Fair enough, but I'm hoping that was the last Jurassic Park moment of the trip.

As I write this, I'm sitting on my porch watching impala prance around in the distance. It's pretty surreal.

Lest you think I'm completely off topic, I did check out the lodge's gym this morning. I haven't actually worked out, though. There was a bee. (I know, I know. An elephant "mock" charges me, and I still manage to snap photos, but a teeny little bee sends me running. Go figure.) I did go on a one hour bush walk this morning. That has to count for something.

In Cape Town, I managed to squeeze in a few beautiful runs along the water. I was amazed at how active everyone there seems to be. There were tons of runners and bikers, and Garmins chirped all around. I suppose that's not so surprising in a beach town, but I'd never seen that kind of mainstream athleticism outside the U.S before.

I also dropped in at Cape CrossFit. It was quiet because of the holiday season, but still a pretty awesome experience. CrossFit is a community as much as a workout philosophy, and it was cool to see just how global that community is. On January 1, that toenail that I'd been concerned about finally snapped off. I've decided that the fact that I'm way less fazed by this than I thought I'd be must mean that I'm really a runner now. Perhaps it's also a good omen for the year to come.

I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry