Category Archives: Sports Scene

The Importance of Embracing Nerves

A photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger with his arms outstretched and the word CONQUER overlaid his body, is pasted to a composition notebook outlining my marathon training plan. On the back is an image of me racing in the NYC 10K on a rainy Saturday last October – a tired smile plastered across my face.  Taped to the inside cover is a table listing out my scheduled mileage, cross-training days, and recovery sessions – a bible of sorts. I have carried around this journal with me everywhere the past 17 weeks and written out the details to every run, workout, and physical therapy appointments to date.  It is a constant physical reminder of a race I’ve had my eyes set on for quite some time now – the Marine Corps Marathon.

I began my training in Mid-June, as I wrapped up my 9+1 qualification for the 2017 NYC Marathon. My runs started off short and fast and over the past couple months evolved into longer, slower runs throughout Hoboken. On some of the hotter days, I thought to myself training would never end and I couldn’t wait for October. But then today, I woke up and as I scrolled through my Facebook feed I came across this post from the Marine Corps Marathon Facebook page and began to casually freak out.

How are we already down to NINE DAYS before the Marine Corps Marathon? I feel like it was only yesterday when I was struggling to complete my six-mile “long run” in the blazing heat and humidity. Even though I’ve been diligently training and focused on my goal of completing CRUSHING this marathon over the course of the last six months, I could not feel more anxious (and tapering isn’t helping).

I will, however, be the first to admit that the nerves I am feeling are ~good nerves~ they’re proof that running this race is important to me. I know deep down that the only reason I’m nervous is because I’ve never done this before – it’s exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.

I just need to embrace the butterflies and get them flying into formation on Sunday morning.

 

So I’m Running A Marathon

I haven’t always loved running. To be completely frank, I used to dread the thought of a running, but I think it’d be safe to say that I’ve fallen in love with lacing up my running shoes and escaping for an hour (or two).  Last March, I ran my first half marathon with my Mom and became instantly hooked to races. Not only do I love running races because I’m side by side (commiserating) with thousands of other runners, but because the electricity of the crowds really gets me going. My roommates, however, will say my favorite part is the medal at the end – I guess I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the bling at the end, too. Since that first half, I’ve run two more half marathons and four other smaller races.

As part of my 2016 New Year’s Resolutions, I made it my goal to qualify for the 2017 NYC Marathon via the 9+1 program. This program is a great way for NYRR Members to qualify for the race because it not only promotes the smaller NYRR races (9 races), but also encourages people to give back to the running community by volunteering (+1). With this goal in my mind, I knew that 2016 was all about getting into optimum marathon shape and staying injury-free. I had no intentions of running a marathon this year, but when one of my closest childhood friends texts me asking if I wanted to run the Marine Corps Marathon, I had to say “YES”.

Part of the reason I immediately said “YES” to running this marathon was due in part to the fact both my parents ran the Marine Corps Marathon 15 years ago. My parents started training for the 2001 MCM with a group of their close friend and eight year-old Meg would bike alongside them on their long runs, haul water, and cheer them from the sidewalk. This really sparked an insatiable passion for the sport at an early age. It would be an understatement to say that I’m so excited to make a “return” to the MCM and run in my parents footsteps. 

2016 is all about pushing my limits and running the Marine Corps Marathon is the perfect challenge.  Here’s to running my first 26.2, crushing my goals, and many ooh-rahs along the way.

My First Visit to the Jersey Shore

I had never been to the Jersey Shore prior to this weekend. I had also never been to a beach volleyball tournament, despite living in beach volleyball mecca in Southern California. Both these facts, made for quite an eye-opening experience for me.  My biggest worries that the beach was going to be exactly how it was portrayed on the MTV hit show, Jersey Shore. I can now report, that the part of the Jersey Shore that was represented on television is a sliver of the actual “Jersey Shore”. Though the actual beach itself and the fact you had to PAY (yes you read that correctly) surprised this California girl, I was excited to be sitting in the sand to watch Dave play.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my nice camera to Seaside Heights and couldn’t get any action shots, but I am happy to report, that Dave, and his partner Kris, made it to the finals. It was a very long day in the sun and sand, and I now have so much more respect for these beach athletes, as they are not only playing a physically demanding game, but they are also battling the elements (sun, wind, and very hot sand).

My goal for next year is to get in good enough shape so I can try one of these beach tournaments in the future. I love how challenging the sport seems and the fact that it’s on a beach.  My first (and maybe most important) challenge… being able to walk in the sand without tripping.

Grass Volleyball Tournament Round Two

A few weeks after MayFest, Dave and I got back in the car and headed to Horsham, PA for his second grass volleyball tournament of the season. This tournament was a lot of fun for me because I knew a few more people this go-around and was able to take lots of snapshots of the guys in action. Though it rained (well, poured, by my California standards), I once again had a great time watching Dave, and his partner, Kris, dominate on the courts.

May Fest

This weekend I ventured down to Hanover Park, Pennsylvania with Dave to watch him in his first (grass) volleyball tournament of the summer. Dave played in MayFest with his buddy, Doug, and they absolutely killed it. Not only did I have so much fun learning the different rules of the game (compared to indoor), but I met so many wonderful people in the volleyball community.

Here’s to many more adventures and tournaments this summer. Enjoy the pics!

Post NCAA Bliss

After a night of celebrating the Stevens Duck’s National Championship, Dave and I decided to explore the city on my final day. We had no real plans, but I had some ideas in mind so we started right off the 14th Street Path Station at Chelsea Market. I had taken Dave to the High Line, but he had never been to Chelsea Market before so we walked around before settling on some tacos for lunch. As a self-proclaimed Mexican Food expert (aka Snob), I give these tacos 2 thumbs up (just look at how generous they are with their guacamole servings!

With some food in our bellies to fuel the rest of our adventures, we ventured up to Columbus Circle and then Central Park before heading off to my favorite museum (and the only one I’ve been to), the American Museum of Natural History. As most of you know, I’m not a big art fan, or museums for that matter, but there is something so unique and cool about the Dinosaur and animal exhibits at the AMNH. Personally, I am a huge fan of the T-Rex as you can tell from the selfie below. Between’s Dave’s tired legs and my somewhat broken foot, we decided that we should probably head back, but not before a stop at the one and only Shake Shack! There’s just something about those burgers and custard shakes – what’s the secret?

Unfortunately, my time in New York passed by quicker than you can say “National Championship” and I was back on a plane to San Diego the next day. So many great memories were made that weekend – I’m looking forward to what comes next!

 

NCAA Champions!

On August 30th 2014, I met Dave and that night he told me how he was going to win a national championship. He took my phone and put the NCAA DIII National Championships (April 24-26) in my phone calendar and I promised I’d be there…

Fast forward to January 2015 and I’m sitting at home bored out of my mind, wishing I was back in New York City. I had thought about booking trips to New York to see friends, interview at companies, and pack up my old apartment, but realized that I should just book a surprise visit for the NCAA weekend in April. Despite the fact that it is incredibly difficult to make the NCAA tournament, let alone win it ,in my mind, it was a win-win. I would get to see Dave, be back in the city and get a ton of volleyball in! So I booked my flight for April 23-28, which would later turn out to be a mere 48 hours after my flights for Formal. Truth be told, I wanted this weekend to be a surprise but Dave had an inkling that I’d show up so I told him.

There was electricity flowing through the air when I arrived in Hoboken on the first day of the tournament. Everybody was buzzing about the tournament and looking forward to the Ducks dominating their competition.Stevens faced off against Baruch and won in an easy three set match on Friday afternoon. I stayed for the following quarterfinal to watch the other team, while the boys “scouted” and took notes on their tendencies. On Saturday, the team took on a rambunctious SUNY New Paltz team (and crowd) in 5 sets and advanced to the national championship game against Springfield! I felt like I was holding my breath the entire match and was so relieved to see them pull of the win. Phebe and I woke up early on Sunday morning to make signs for the team (see below) and got the arena early to secure front row seats! I can’t even begin to describe the atmosphere – I felt like I was at a professional sporting event with the jam-packed bleachers and chants flowing back and forth between the opposing sides of the gym. The boys pulled off a three set win against the Springfield Pride – they made winning look so easy!

That weekend Dave was also announced as the 2014-2015 National Player of the Year and First Team All-American among many other academic and athletic accolades. Huge congratulations to Dave and the rest of his team on a fantastic year! I’m excited to see what comes next.

 

Wait, I just RAN a half marathon?

The end of my college athletic career was one of the most difficult transitions that I’ve had to go through, and to be honest,  it was really challenging to plan for (along with the transition into the “real world”). I no longer have coaches telling me what to do or where to be;  there are no more teammates to count on in moments of weakness or for congratulatory high fives in times of success; there are no more fitness tests to pass or mandatory conditioning sessions to attend. The biggest change to date, is that now there is nobody holding me accountable for what I do (or choose not to do).

After I returned to San Diego in late December, I quickly thrust myself into as many running and fitness groups as possible, in an effort to regain that lost sense of camaraderie that I had once shared with my 31 other teammates. My week quickly began to fill up: Monday and Wednesday mornings were spent at November Project, Wednesday nights I found myself at Milestone for run club, the weekends kicked off with Friday After Work run group, followed by a combo of yoga and running at bRUNch club on Saturday, while Sundays I alternated between long runs and Glider Port Stairs at Torrey Pines. I threw down #VERBALS for almost all the workouts, which meant that I had to show up or face public social media humiliation (aka getting called out for not showing up). I became part of a bigger fitness movement in San Diego, November Project, and  was no longer just another individual running a route through another neighborhood; It felt good to be part of a “team” again.

In January, I attended every single workout possible and felt stronger than ever. I used to resent running because A) I am not very fast and B) it was commonly used as a punishment for not being fast enough . Now that I was running for myself and had no “times” to meet other than my own personal goals, I finally began to find my stride, both literally and figuratively. Running was FUN, Burpees were celebrated, and I started to “eat hills for breakfast”. Who woulda thought?

As the runs became easier and the mileage began to pick up (meaning I ran over three miles), a couple of people at November Project began talking about the San Diego Half Marathon in March. Before I knew what I was getting myself into, I was signed up and dropped my #VERBAL, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Thankfully I was able to coerce my fitness loving mother and NP superstar into running it with me so I had some sort of guidance throughout the next seven weeks.

My training plan originally called for increasing my mileage from my four mile max to pounding out eight miles the first weekend. I quickly threw that plan away (and all my hopes for running a half) and began to follow my Mom’s more carefully structured plan which included lower mileage until weeks 5-7, in which we would increase slowly to ten miles the week before the race.

Flash forward seven weeks and I’m toeing the start line for the San Diego Half Marathon, a surge of nervous energy fueling my empty, nauseous stomach. I woke up on Sunday at 4:30, sick to my stomach, unable to get anything down; by the start of the race I had been able to eat two orange slices: things were not looking good to start. Nearly two hours later and we’re downtown at Petco Park to check our bags and get ready. We immediately found some fellow NP (November Project) runners and huddled together to keep warm in true NPSD fashion #weatherspoof. At 7:20 the first wave took off and we began on our beautiful journey through San Diego, around the airport and Marine Depot, up Washington (the dreaded hill), through Hill Crest, and finally down Sixth Avenue until we turned towards the finishers chute on Fifth.

Two hours, ten minutes and forty seconds later, I finished. Three seconds later Ang came crashing into me at the finish line.

Three months ago I would of laughed at you if you told I was going to run a half marathon, let alone anything more than five miles. Now I find myself laughing, looking back at the fun I have on runs with my new “team”. Thank you to all those who pushed me both physically and mentally the last two months (including my Mom) – you continue to be a much needed daily source of inspiration.

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MY NPSD Team

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Like Mother, Like Daughter

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Meg: Focused; Ang: Fun

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Race Day Prep

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Bib: Check

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Training Partners

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Officially Retired

It’s weird to think that soccer is officially over. There were a lot of tears this weekend, lots of hugs, and lots of stories.  I could not be more thankful for my family, friends, team, fellow seniors, and my best friend Phebe, whom I could not have gotten through the past four years without.

Much love!

 

WE MADE IT!

WE MADE IT TO THE NCAA’S!  Today we found out that we got an at-large bid to the NCAA DIII Soccer tournament, one of 24 spots left. Six teams in our conference qualified, including: Chicago, Brandeis, Wash U, Emory and league champs, Carnegie Mellon. This is the first time in twelve years that NYU has made the tournament. The second in NYU Women’s Soccer history, and the first time that it has been done via “at-large” bid.

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I can’t put into words how an incredible of a feeling this is. Four years of blood, sweat, tears, broken bones, torn ligaments, bruises, and turf burns. I am so incredibly proud of all my teammates, past and present who have made this moment possible. This has not only been a personal goal of mine, but a program goal that was set four years ago and it is truly unreal to see how much everything has progressed in that time period.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet, because I’m so excited and there’s still a lot we have to do.We play Amherst this weekend at Nazareth College in Rochester at 1:30PM on Saturday.

You can read more information here!