Fit City: NYC

Well, I’m fully in a New York state of mind this week! I got into New York on Monday night and have had quite a bit on my mind ever since. But my plan for the week was to spend my days doing what I do at home — writing, running, networking — and my evenings seeing old friends. So far, that’s been going according to plan!

I’m really happy because I’ve been right on track with my healthy goals. I hit the grocery store Monday night, didn’t drink Monday or Tuesday, and have been working out and eating healthy meals at home. I feel great! I wish I had been this well-behaved on all my past travels. (Study abroad? Hello, six week bloat fest!) It takes a little planning, but healthy living usually does — the travel thing isn’t that big of a deal.

Tuesday afternoon I needed to do my long run. I’m not sure why, but I was dreading it. I needed to do it — my body needed it, my head really needed it — but I had a bad feeling about it. Honestly, I was having a pretty rough 48 hours (guys — enough said) and my whole self just hurt. Like, my friends were checking in on me to make sure I wasn’t watching entire seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy” in a “Valley of the Dolls” haze. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had a total “My life is in shambles and I can’t pretend otherwise” day, but this was one of them. I finally forced myself to go run at the latest possible time. I was planning to run in the park, but I wasn’t sure how many miles I could coax out of myself. I didn’t sleep well, it was a really bad day…I just didn’t care about the miles.

But when I started running, it was like the piece I posted yesterday. I know I emote a lot, but oh my God. I just felt everything and it was like I couldn’t stop running. The hills were killing me, and I was really out of breath, but I was afraid to stop; I felt like it would just hurt so much more when I stopped. So I ran and ran, and I only stopped because I was running out of time. Ten miles later.

I guess I was pretty upset.

Running didn’t solve my problems, but I just…needed to move like that. It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve run 10 miles, but I did it on a day when my body wasn’t really in the mood for it, when excuses were ready and waiting, and when I could have checked out. It’s just like my feet knew what needed to happen.

Once I showered, I felt much better. My body felt good, my head felt better. And I was actually pretty excited because I was having dinner at Citrus with Melissa from Fitness NYC! We’ve become blog friends, so I was excited to meet in person!

After serious consideration, we ended up choosing Citrus, which is Latin-Asian fusion. Everything on the menu looked great, but I had decided to keep it light and order two appetizers for dinner. First, the Citrus chopped salad: romaine, sweet potatoes, pumpkin seeds, chayote, avocado, jicama, and sherry-hibiscus vinaigrette. (I ordered it without cheese.)

And then, for reasons I can’t explain, all I really wanted was the crab cakes! Jumbo lump crab cake with citrus aioli and mesclun greens, to be specific.

I don’t even like crab, but for some reason, this just sounded so, so good. And it was! That aioli was phenomenal.

The only problem was I sort of planned to have a light dinner before I went and, ya know, ran 10 miles. And running long distances kind of kills my appetite. The dinner was really good, but the lack of carbs in the meal was not what my body needed, so I made my bedtime snack was good and bready to compensate.

Best of all, Melissa bought me the BEST treat: Bethenny Frankel’s Skinny Girl Margarita!!!

It’s not available in Michigan and, well, it’s tequila…and it’s skinny…AHHHHH! I can’t wait to enjoy this on my “in which we binge drink” night this weekend!

For lunch today, I needed Sabra hummus in my life, along with some green veggies, so I hit the grocery store for a new container of Sabra. I also picked up a little salad and a fresh soup — white bean and fresh spinach. The soup is from Hale & Hearty, which was my favorite workday lunch spot when I lived in the city. Now I remember why!! I put the Sabra on a slice of Nature’s Pride, grabbed an apple, and declared it everything that was missing in my life.

Today is an off day from running, which is great, because I am seriously wiped out from yesterday’s long run. I need to do some pilates, and I’ll probably walk around town and check out some things, but it’s not a day to get carried away and overdo it.

Then tonight it’s more dinner/drinks on the town!

Have a great day!

Tagged as: Central Park, dining out, Food, healthy food, New York City, running, travel