Shape Up NYC

January 2012
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Where have I been?

Posted on January 22, 2012 by kymarie13

A better question, would be where haven’t I run? For the past couple of months my life has followed a routine that I have come to love. I call it, “Sleep, Run, Eat, Work, Eat, Yoga, Eat, Sleep, Repeat”. If it was done in pictures it would look a little like this (and yes, I actually look like that while I am sleeping if you are wondering).

Running has become a huge part of my life and has helped me learn a lot about myself that I might have never taken the time to learn. It has taught me many valuable lessons like “How to not get bored while running for hours straight” and ” How to yell at yourself so you don’t stop running.” Ha, but in all seriousness have learned many lessons. I have learned how to keep a routine even when life gets hectic, will power, stamina, how to quite my thoughts, not give up even when it gets hard and what it really means to work for something.

Running would be much harder if it was not for my running buddy Katherine, who writes the blog Sweat, Passion, and Tears, she has been a savior through this whole training process and has made it much more entertaining than if I were alone. While I am training for my multiple half marathons this year (my first is next weekend!) she has been training for the Paris Marathon, yes you should all be jealous. Not only does she get to run 26.2 miles around Paris, France she can eat amazing crepes after, I know I am jealous. Katherine and I have run many different routes around the city, each weekend it’s a new task to try and find a new route (even though Katherine is really in charge of that).

I have gone through many phases during running. Some include:

“I need to buy everything in the running store” phase
“I need to have at least 8 pairs of running shoes” phase
“I will wear my leg compression sleeves even when I don’t need too” phase
“I will eat froyo after every run” phase
“Running in anything hot pink makes everything better” phase ( I don’t know if this one is going anywhere)
“I will bore people who don’t run, by talking about running non-stop” phase (I think I may still be on that phase)
And my favorite ”I like to take pictures of myself before I run” phase

Sadly I never thought I would get a chance to ever use those pictures but now I have a reason! For your viewing pleasure the short-lived phase of “Kristine Before the Run”.

I know they are very exciting. I have a feeling the only running pictures I will be taking are before and after races. So finally after all those phases, I have figured out what running means to ME and it feels great. Everyone has their own reasons for running and I promise we do not do it to torture ourselves. After the first couple of months it actually becomes fun. So that is what I have been up to for the past couple of months, and I just didn’t feel like there was anything really exciting that I should write about until now (if you didn’t think this was exciting just keep your thoughts to yourself ).

Next weekend I will be running my first half marathon, the Tinker Bell Half in Disney Land. I am very excited and I will make sure to write all about it. I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a great year!

Filed under: Running | Tagged: Routines, Running, running phases, Tinker Bell Half Marathon | 7 Comments »

There is a New Studio in Town • SLT NYC

Posted on October 3, 2011 by kymarie13

I have had a new-found love for pilates, so one day when I was online looking for a studio I came across SLT • Strengthen • Lengthen • Tone NYC. The headline said:

“If Cardio, Strength Training, and Pilates had a baby… It would be SLT”

As soon as I read that I knew I had to try it. With all the running I have been doing, I have had a really hard time trying to find time to strength train and I thought this would be the perfect class to try. So today my sister, Molly who writes Damsel in a dDress, a style and wellness blog, decided to check it out.

SLT is based on Sebastien Lagree’s acclaimed Megaformer classes (called SPX or Pilates Plus) in Los Angeles. Sebastien Lagree is a celebrity trainer in Los Angeles but what sets Sebastien apart from the rest of celebrity trainers in Hollywood is that Sebastien designs, prototypes, manufactures, and distributes his own equipment. Sebastien’s first design was called the Proformer in 2003 which was originally designed to solve the problems of the reformer. In 2008 Sebastien designed the Megaformer which is the machine you use in SLT. STL is the first Megaformer studio in New York and opened a little over a month ago.

STL is a 50 minute class that is done entirely on the megaformer. The megaformer looks like a glorified reformer if you have ever used one in a pilates class. It is pretty simple to use, I really liked the design but that didn’t last long. As soon as we started I was like wow I am not strong. It was one of the most intense workouts I have been put through and I loved all 50 minutes of it. We did a series of different arm and leg workouts with names I can not remember at the moment because I was concentrating so hard on my form. I thought this was amazing class, it is a great strength training class that flew by, normally when I am doing weight training it seems to drag on but STL seemed to fly by. I thought it was a great combination of pilates and strength training. It is very similar to barre classes like Core Fusion, Barre Method or Physique 57 but you use a machine which I really like. Also like barre classes it is expensive :/

Which I don’t like but your first class is $20 and I highly recommend you try it once. After your first time a single class is $40. STL does offer packages and private sessions.

If you live in New York and you are a fan of barre classes or pilates I highly recommend that you check out STL. If you don’t live in New York there are also studios located in California, Boston, Atlanta, and Texas just to name a few. You can see a list of all the studios here. Trust me this was an amazing workout and I hope I can go back soon!

Filed under: Gyms, Workouts | Tagged: Megaformer, new pilates studio, Pilates, Pilates Plus, Sebastien Lagree, SLT, SLT NYC, SPX, Strengthen Lengthen Tone | 2 Comments »

Get out your Pixie Dust I am running in the Tinker Bell Half Marathon!!!

Posted on October 1, 2011 by kymarie13

So I am very excited to announce that I will be running my FIRST half marathon with Team Up with Autism Speaks in celebration of my younger brother CJ. When my younger brother CJ was 18 months old, he was diagnosed with Austim, chrone’s, colitis and autoimmune disease. My step mother, Tamara has dedicated her life to finding a cure for him and thankfully through organizations like Autsim Speaks and the start of her own company Real Food Real Life, CJ has made tremendous progress. Today CJ is 15 years old and much healthier. He is continuing to grow and heal more everyday.

With my new love for running, I wanted to run for a reason (anything over 6 miles should be for a reason or a purpose in my mind), so when I saw that Autism Speaks was participating in the Inaugural Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon, I decided that this would be the perfect race. I will be raising money in celebration of my brother CJ, my goal for this race is to raise $2,500. This will be my first half marathon ever, right after my 25th Birthday and at one of my brother’s favorite amusement parks, Disney Land in California!

I am doing a 17 week training program that starts on Monday, I am slightly nervous but very excited. I will be using the Run Less, Run Faster FIRST training plan. I am very excited to be using this plan, I got the recommendation from some of my biggest running inspirations, Gina from Walk to the Mailbox and Katie, from Katie RUNS This. I will be updating you on my progress here on my blog and on my twitter @kymarie13.

If you feel like giving me an early birthday gifts please feel free to donate now, you can check out my race page here. But honestly I am just happy I can share my journey with all of you and I hope to inspire other new runners. This is bound to be interesting considering I have never considered myself a runner. Below are some more pictures of my brother CJ, so excited to be running this race and it looks like CJ may be running the last half of the race with me!

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Filed under: Running | Tagged: Autism Speaks, Disney Land, Disney Races, Erica Sara Designs, FIRST Training program, Half Marathon, Katie RUNS This, race, Race Training, Run, Run Less Run Faster, Running, Team Up, Tinker Bell 1/2 Marathon, TinkerBell Half Marathon, Walk to the Mailbox | 3 Comments »