That Time I Was (Sort Of) On the Red Carpet

I’ve begun doing a lot more social media in my current job at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It’s fun, challenging, and something I’m super fascinated by. When I was tasked with live-tweeting a brand new, huge-for-us event, I was ecstatic. I mean, we had a real red carpet and press and photographers and everything! I know, so fancy.

The premise: A comedy night to raise money for the NYC Chapter of LLS. Going into it, I thought I’d just be watching the show: tweeting jokes, photos and random little tidbits. However…I got an all-access pass to go whereever I wanted and was specifically tasked with taking “behind-the-scenes” photos. I’m so beside myself that I’m going to brag now. I can’t help it.

Fun photos:

They were all SO nice. I felt lame with my head buried in my iPhone all night (and creepily snapping random pictures) but I’m okay with it. The jokes were hilarious and I laughed my way through the entire night (and the back pain from standing for so long).

I started to write out some of my favorite lines, but there’s just too many. (If you want, scroll through #LOLwithLLS to read some little snippets!) The most noteworthy occurrence had to do with Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers’ credit card. I’ll have my pal Seth tell you about it – I’ll wait:

(I’ll take the credit for announcing tweeting the end of CreditCardGate to the world, thank you.) AND THEN…the best part. At the end of the night, some colleagues and I were hanging out in the green room, just sitting on a couch waiting for a few things. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey had left to go to a birthday party.

But…Amy (first-name basis, yep) came back! She sits with us on the couch and starts chatting. I’m normally not this fan-girl-ish, but it was the most amazing moment. She asked us all about LLS and Team In Training and truly seemed interested in what we had to say. She kept commenting on how great of a cause it is and how glad she was that she could help. She explained that Spike TV wanted them to come to that party and tell a few jokes, and they said no because they would be at the LLS event. Spike TV then offered them $100,000 to come, so they said they would if they’d just give the $100K to LLS. (!!!!!) Sidenote: How do I get people to pay me $100K for attending a party? Suggestions welcome. Tina actually mentioned it in her “skit” (is that what it’s called?), saying :

Spike TV said if you get in a car and do 3-5 minutes of comedy we will donate $100k. We were like no, but then we were like, hey free car ride! So we’re going and we would very much like that donation to go to Beat AML (one of LLS’ initiatives). We’ll see you at the party!

I thought the donation was a joke. It wasn’t. I want to cry just writing this because that’s so incredibly kind and helpful to our chapter.

Alright, my bragging is over. I hope you enjoyed. On to the running. Just a few little updates on some key workouts from the last week. Brooklyn Half in 7 days, ahhh!

• I did a 6 mile sort-of tempo run last Thursday along the west side of NYC.

I LOVE running there along the water. (And not just because it’s super flat. I swear.) I ran after work and it was a pretty hot day, so I was roasting. And hungry. The goal was 4 miles at 9:00 (with a warm up and cool down) but I was struggling and turned it into a warm up with 3 tempo miles and a longer cooldown. Not the best, but that’s what happened. Average pace: 9:21.

• I ran 10 miles last Saturday. It was so-so. I waited until 11:15 AM to start (DUMB) and by then it was, again, hot outside.

It was tough but I thought my splits would be worse than they were. I was dragging until Beth and Kim started texting me encouragement and reminding me I could get iced coffee at the end. (THANKS ladies!) My last mile was the fastest for the day at 9:43. Average pace: 10:11. 

• Last night I ran 6 miles. It was supposed to be a tempo run but it did not work out that way at all. I was tired and it was basically just a 6 mile run. I spent more time taking photos than I should have. Whoops.

Average pace: 9:58. (And then I got to hang with Jennie & Ashley for the NFL Draft!)

• I’m running a 10K in Central Park tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain the entire time, so that’s fun. I’m planning to add four miles onto the end since this is my last long run before the Brooklyn Half next weekend, but we’ll see what my level of miserable-ness is. I do love running in the rain, but not so much when I have to drive an hour to get home.
• I’m worried that because I didn’t end up using the More/Fitness Half as a training run (AKA I went all out), I ruined my chances for going sub-2 in Brooklyn. Yeah, I got the PR…but that wasn’t really my main goal for this season. I needed almost a full week to recover from that race (SO SORE!). And then the next week I skipped a long run when I had family in town.  Lesson learned.

Phew! That was a lot of words. Your turn: Have any good celebrity stories? Any races coming up? Has the heat been getting to you while running, too?