New York City, Baby!

Joy here...After my double-double workout at my gym where my awesome spinning instructor and then The Trainer took turns putting me through my paces (which is nothing out of the ordinary), I hopped on a plane for New York City.  I had an all-day meeting there for work planned for Friday, and so I figured I would just stay for the whole weekend.

Central Park

My workout plan while away was extensive:  I was going to run in Central Park; I checked out the gym at the hotel; I was going to run up Fifth Avenue in the early hours of the morning...in short, I wasn't going to let my training slide due to travel (like it usually does:  I wrote about this problem with training and travelling in September 2010, February 2011, July 2011, and November 2011, just to name a few).

But, perhaps unsurprisingly, while I got up bright and early on Friday morning to run for 50 minutes on the treadmill in the hotel's gym before my all-day long meeting (not even a lunch break!), that was the last run that I managed during my weekend in Manhattan.

Times Square

Instead, there was lots of walking around and shopping and eating, but if you're me and your travelling companion isn't a runner, then it can be hard to make that person wait for an hour while you get your workout in.  (In my case my NYC partner in crime was my sister who left her kid at home to meet up with me for the weekend and have some sister bonding time.)  It somehow seems rude to leave them sitting there waiting.  The alternative is to wake up really early before they do, but that also doesn't really work, because chances are you were out having a lovely dinner until late at night the evening previous, so do you really want to wake up extra early only to be tired and grouchy all day?  It's quite the dilemma.  I opted for not pushing my own agenda and putting my running to the side for a couple of days, but with that 1/2 marathon getting closer and closer, I can't afford to do that very often.

The view from my hotel room.

Since my life after being a professor has involved travelling a fair bit, and since The Man and I try to get to Malaysia at least once a year, this issue with working out and travelling is one that isn't going to go away any time soon.  I guess I've just got to figure out how to screw up my courage enough to be a bit rude to those I'm travelling with so that I can get my run in no matter what.  I can just take a page from the New Yorkers' book and be pushy and aggressive, getting what I want and still being loved for it!

Over and out,
Joy