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A Carrie Bradshaw Day
Today’s goal when we awoke? Spot a celebrity. We were bound for Central Park. Magazines and tabloids snap shots of exercising starlets there all the time…
I had my eyes peeled for Katie Holmes, Donald Trump, or at least an Olsen twin. No luck on this chilly Monday. We did see a Zack Galifinakis look-alike though…. so that’s something.
I harnessed my inner Carrie Bradshaw today, forgoing my flat iron for some French braid waves. I adore Sex & the City ever since E! Network started airing reruns during my long treadmill sessons :) (My favorite is Charlotte.) Today’s Carrie hair inspired another Carrie favorite: my first Cosmo.
But first, back to our Central Park stroll.
My parents and I entered the park next to The Dakota, at Strawberry Fields. We followed the pathways through the enormous park next to lakes, ponds, playgrounds and sports fields. When we came upon the Jackie Onassis Reservoir, I was ready to RUN!
I came prepared with some Nikes!
The jogging track around the perimeter of the lake is about 1.58 miles, and I cruised for 3 laps while my parents found a coffee cart. ( Now you know where my obsession comes from!) The loop was full of other joggers and walkers. I plan to return tomorrow to squeeze in a couple more laps before my consultation with my surgeons. Central Park is so GREEN, I just want to enjoy it as much as I can!
(Yes, I wear my purple pants a lot. Can you tell I like them?)
We used the Map My walk app again as we covered ground around Central Park, Upper Manhattan, and along the Hudson River. Add another 17 miles to the vacation total. We are on a roll! Walking everywhere is a great way to get some exercise on vacation, and in New York it’s often faster than driving anyways. You can also avoid the cab-induced car sickness. Triple win!
After a snack we walked westward to the Hudson River. Riverside park has a boardwalk out over the water which was disappointingly brown today.
We were ready to take a break from walking, sit in a cafe and order some coffees. (Yes, we have an addiction. No, we don’t want to fix it.) “The Great American Health Bar” boasted espresso, coffee and cappuccinos in its windows – perfect. We were seated at a table and given a menu. I picked an Almondcchino, & my dad picked a Mint Mochacchino. When the server took our orders, he said we could not stay for coffee because they had a $10 per person minimum. He literally grabbed our menus back and picked up our silverware. I guess that was our queue to leave….
No worries, Cafe Europa let us make our simple order and we were caffeinated in no time ;)
By 6:00 we were ready for a cocktail and dinner. Since I’d turned 21 at school this year, my parents and I hadn’t properly celebrated with a drink together! At Delta, a Cajun bar & restaurant, we toasted to another successful semester.
I knew that I wanted to try a Cosmo at some point on our New York City ” vacation” because of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda’s infamous girls nights out. The lime & white cranberry made this one a little tart, I loved every sip!
And here I sit in my apartment blogging. What a very Carrie way to end the day. :)
An Unusual Walk
Currently my physical activity is limited to walking. And not the freakishly-fast-olympian-style walking. More of a stroll. (This is because any sort of exertion that increases my heart rate and blood flow will cause my cheek to swell which is detrimental to its healing from surgery.) If you know me, you know that I am not a stroller. The whole time we were in New York, my parents kept telling me to “Slow down and enjoy the scenery!” Which is exactly what I’m being forced to do right now. Don’t you love irony!
Surprisingly beautiful for a field full of dead people.
Today’s walk was in a pretty unusual location. A cemetary. My school actually has multiple cemetaries on its premises…not as eerie as it sounds. They are very pretty and peaceful places! It was the coolest weather for a cemetary walk too, warm but overcast and grey. Kind of drizzly…very ominous. I love exercising and staying fit, so I walk (leisurely for now) daily. Usually around campus, but I’ve been getting bored with my same ole’ route so I decided to venture out and find a new place to explore.
Everyone says find an exercise you enjoy. That’s easy for me. Running – duh. But I am also in love with exercise in general, so I understand that not everyone shares the same passion for sweat and soreness that I do. I will say that if you have not tried zumba yet, you ought to. But the EASIEST form of exercise that is enjoyable is simply walking! It’s still an aerobic activity, meaning you have plenty of oxygen and aren’t struggling for breath. Though your heart rate is not increased nearly as much as more intense exercises like running, biking, or swimming, if you walk long enough, you will still burn calories and utilize your leg and core muscles.
Walking a few miles a day and counting calories is how I’ve managed to maintain my pre-surgery weight through nearly 7 weeks without working out. Everyone should be outside enjoying their surroundings anyways! Especially in these gorgeous days of summer. Seriously, this hour in the cemetary certainly beats an hour wasted on the computer or TV.
Fresh Air > Facebook
I brought my camera along on my walk (obviously) and had some fun taking pictures of some wild flowers:
But the second I moved on, continuing along the path, I turned the corner to see a whole FIELD full of flowers!
Note to self: wear flower-field-running shoes next time. ;)
If you’re not an exercise enthusiast, still consider finding a place to walk and enjoy. The fresh air and peacefulness of nature will do your mind some good, and your brain will thank you for the break from cyberspace :)
Hmmm, not sure this cemetary will be so “peaceful” come Halloween….might just have to do a Haunted Workout!
Wake Up Work Out
5:45am – alarm goes off.
5:57am – Out the door for leisure bike ride
My body has come a long way from just 3 weeks ago when my “physical activity” amounted to 5 minute walks around our hotel courtyard. While I am in no running shape, I have built up my walks to around 2 miles each morning and each evening. Occasionally I’ll go on an easy bike ride next to my mom while she jogs or do some light stretching and balance exercises. So this morning I decided to do them all back-to-back for a true workout! You gotta work with what you’ve got. Because my mom jogs before work, we started at 6am. Once you lace up your shoes and get outside, it really gets easier to be awake at the crack of dawn (during summer vacation I might add!).
Well….not according to my “walking partner” Missy…..
She would not be accompanying me on my early morning route.
My mom jogged two miles this morning (Sadly, this is more than I have run in a month. I’m going through withdrawals of endorphins). It was beautiful out, even though it’s supposed to be ugly and in the 100’s by this afternoon. And I got to wake my legs up with a cruise on my bike.
Next I ditched my bike (and my mom), turned on my Garmin GPS watch and headed out to the neighborhoods. At just 6:30am, it was silent. I finished my two miles in under 40 minutes (not impressive, I know. Right now, walking is more to get my body moving than to get some serious cardio exercise. It’s a slow process.) Meanwhile, Missy snoozed away!
Leg 3 of Wake Up Work Out was in the comfort of my own living room with some mellow morning music playing. I stretched my entire body, starting with my neck and ending with my calves. Next, a series of balance exercises like Tree Pose, Dancer’s Pose, and other things I made up as I went along. 85 minutes total, and while I wasn’t sweating or breathing heavily I felt like I had worked my whole body and EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS! All of this should help when I start my training again in just 2 weeks. “Real” workouts are coming!
My music selection, odd as it may be, was a ‘blast from the past’ type of thing. All CD’s that I had and forgot about. It’s funny how years later I can still remember the lyrics, yet I couldn’t tell you what I wrote my English 205 persuasive essay on last semester.
Missy was not forgotten! She went on a mini-walk with me after she fully woke up. Rough life…
Time for breakfast: Oatmeal with Cinnamon and Craisons!
