I am behind.
I went to NY over a week ago for NY Toy Fair (NYTF). It was a long and grueling week which left me with little to no time to train. i honestly thought i would get a lot more training sessions in that i did. it is very frustrating.
Upon arriving in NYC on Friday, Feb 14th, i was greeted with snow and sludge. gross and definitely not the way i wanted to start of my week. Saturday morning, i checked my calendar and saw that i had 30 min to spare, so i jumped on the treadmill to get "something" in before my meetings would begin. it was extremely boring but i was able to run just shy of 3 miles and squeezed in some strength and conditioning, too. then i was off to Javits center to meet with the Toy Industry Association for a pre-NYTF press meeting. Shortly after, i received email after email letting me know that half my team was delayed due to weather conditions. Normally, it wouldn't be an issue, but we were hosting our first blogger breakfast the following morning and i also had the Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards Dinner that night. You can see how i may have felt slightly stressed given that i only had a few hours to semi-prep the blogger breakfast room and get ready for the TOTYs. Luckily, all of our gift bag samples were shipped to javits and i had most of my PR samples with me from my last trip to NYC, plus i was able to get help from a friend in our trade marketing team. So, the set up wasn't too painful and with 1hr left to spare, i raced back to the hotel for the TOTYs...
The night was great. I was able to see old colleagues and watch Spin Master receive TWO TOTY Awards. it was very exciting and for those of you that don't know, the TOTYs are the "Oscars" of the Toy Industry, so this is a huge honor. :-)
after a rather late night, i headed back to the hotel to sleep for roughly 4hrs, to begin what would be the next super crazy, hectic days that is NYTF. Up at 5:00am and back to Javits to finalize the blogger breakfast. My team had arrived in the wee hours of the night, so they were just as tired as I was, but we did it! We hosted a successful blogger breakfast with 50 fantastic bloggers and then headed up to our showroom to continue to talk to press about our amazing hot toys for 2014 and what will be hot for the Holidays. (Can you believe that i am already talking about the holidays?!?!?)
anywhoooo.. the next 4 days were just as manic as the first two. Segments on The View and Fox and Friends, local & national press, double events every night and so on. it was a fantastic show for us. Amazing coverage and excitement for what is to come. That being said, trying to fit in a work out was tough and to be honest, trying to squeeze in a trip to the ladies room or a bite to eat was just as tough... although, i wasn't able to work out, i bet i clocked a minimum of 10 miles a day during the show and events. If only my Garmin looked a little classier or i brought my Fitbit, i could have tracked my steps! :-)
By Friday, Feb 21st, i was able to get to the pool. it was probably the most crowded pool i have ever seen. it had 3 lanes -- 2 for lap swim & 1 for aerobics. needless to say, it was a good thing i was doing drills for technique and not for speed. :-)
although i did dry my hair before stepping out into that cold and nasty abyss. i think the germs from the week were already in my system. by the end of the night, the cough had set in.
UGH.
Saturday was my soon-to-be sister-in-law's (Christy) bridal shower. When i woke up, i decided to NOT run. i could tell that i had a "fight" on my hands. so, instead of joining my brother and Christy on a 4 mile loop, i stayed in bed and took as many Musinex and Advil I could and continued to drink as much water as possible. At the shower, i think i drank 4 pitchers of water. no joke. i also peed about 100 times.
(TMI? :-) )
Finally, Sunday - i can go home and boy am i ready. With a cough that mimics a fog horn and a nose that runs better that i do, i take another cold and sinus pill and head for JFK. Surprisingly, i make it through the flight with no major coughing spells, but i did manage to go through multiple packs of travel tissues and hand sanitzer. :-)
arriving home at 5:00pm... i realized i needed to skip our "re-commitment" party. Not that i am not committed, but i know i needed to rest and i didn't want to jeopardize getting anyone else sick. So, i managed to make a small bowl of pasta before falling asleep at 8:00pm! Seriously, 8pm?!?!
so today is Monday, our rest day. and thank goodness for that. i took off from work today and tomorrow in hopes to have a mini-vacation. but this is now turning into re-coop days. i did do our strength and conditioning drills today, so i am happy about that, but i also feel weak and tired and the cough and runny nose are worse. UGH.. just what i need, right?
so by missing a week and getting sick, i am nervous about the weeks ahead. last week, the team had their second build phase, where hills were introduced in both the bike and the run, plus the coaches timed everyone on their swim and i missed it. i think my running pace is still within the time that is required, but running hills, not so much.... and hills on a bike, it is has been a while, so i know that will be a struggle. the only thing i have going for me right now is that i know my swimming is pretty decent.
that being said, what can i do? it is what it is, right? i just have to suck it up and know that it will get better. i will get better - physically, mentally and healthy!. i will kick this cold and conquer the challenges ahead.
now that NYTF is over, i will finally have time to breathe. it is Go Time. i know that i have some bumps in the road ahead. i am a workaholic and i know that work will always pop up and my brothers wedding will take away a couple of weekends, but i am determined and that is all i can be, right?
so, lets do this.
enjoy some wacky pictures from my trip to NYC.
love always,
Rachel
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