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Posted 04 June 2006 - 10:25 AM
The night before the race I called my cousin to let her know I picked up her fiance’s race packet and she told me that the subways in NYC were flooded so he had to walk home from work so he wasn’t home in NY yet (it was around 9:30 PM). He usually drives down to NJ on the weekends to visit my cousin so she told Mike to drive down in the morning since he was pretty exhausted the last time she spoke to him.
As usual, I didn't get much sleep the night before and ended up getting 4 hours of sleep. I woke up at 6:15 and drank a bottle of water, washed my face and proceeded to get dressed and made a pot of creme brulee coffee, some egg beaters, and Boca sausage links. I wasn't as nervous this time around like I usually am so maybe after a year, I am getting the hang of it now.
I didn’t know if Mike would make it to the race but he showed up at my door around 7:30 AM and told me he walked over 2 hours to get home (I was thinking that was probably about 8-10 miles with traffic lights and cars) WOW! He said his legs were a bit sore but he was still planning to run the 8K. Needless to say I was very impressed with his determination and great physical shape! I don’t think I’d have energy to run a race on such little sleep after a long walk home. My legs were sore thinking about it.
I told DH he didn’t have to come to the race this time since I think it’s getting a little boring for him to come every time but he decided at the last minute to come with the kids since our town was also having a special celebration in the same area as the race. The weather was cloudy and humid from all the on and off torrential rain from the past 2 days. I hoped it wasn’t going to rain and luckily the rain held off during the race!
DH dropped us off in a nearby parking lot and Mike said he has applied for the lottery system for the NYC Marathon in November. He has a 50/50 chance so I hope he gets in! This would be his first marathon if he gets picked. He has run many half marathons and says if I sign up for the half that is going to be in September, he’d be interested in going too. My running buddy May couldn’t come to the race this time but she is also interested too if I sign up. I’m seriously considering running the half and will decide in the next week or so while the registration fee is less costly. I think half of me is scared to death that I won’t be able to find training time since DH is going to start school soon and that will definitely change things and the other half of me really wants to do this.
About the race finally…lol! I told Mike to go ahead to the front since he runs much faster than I do at a 7 min mile pace and I stayed towards the back. There weren’t as many people at this race compared to other races I’ve been to but it was a nice crowd of around 600 people. The course was mostly flat with lots of tree-lined streets passing through residential areas, a railroad track and some turns. It was very quiet and the first 3 miles were fine. I found 2 women early on to follow around my pace up until 2.5 miles when I ended up passing them. One of them lost her headband so I stopped to pick it up and gave it to her. There were some funny things I didn’t expect to see like a neighbor who had his garden house out spraying runners who wanted to cool off which was funny and a funny stuffed old lady made with paper mache holding up a sign to “Keep Running!”
It seemed like forever to get to mile 4 probably because I am not familiar with the area and I was having a difficult time breathing properly with the high humidity and allergies. My legs felt fine (yay for Pilates!!) but I felt congested and started to feel stitches in my side. I continued to concentrate on my breathing as much as I could and slowed down my pace. I was surprised to see a big hill in the last leg of the race and usually I end up sprinting to the finish line at the last half mile but this time around, I told myself that I just need to finish it without stopping to walk. When I made it up towards the hill, the course turned and became flat again. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and just did not have it in me to run any faster. Mike was on the right side in the opposite direction and I had trouble finding the finish line…lol! Usually the finish line takes up a whole street but this time, it was on the left side of the 2 lane street which caught me by surprise. I was running on the right side and later Mike told me he was wondering where I was going…lol! At last I found the finish line and I was done! I didn’t really care too much about my finishing time since I haven’t run as regularly the past 2 months. I finished it in 51:59…not my personal best time but given the weather conditions and my inconsistent running the past 2 months, I felt good about it. Mike finished around 35 minutes.
I found DH and the kids who had been walking around to see the different vendors. The kids had a blast getting free balloons, candy, popcorn, cookies, frisbees, pens, whistles, wristbands, etc… There was a nice breakfast after the race with assorted bagels, fruit cups, bananas, plenty of Powerade and water bottles. My SIL and BIL came later with their 4 kids so the boys had lots of fun walking around with their cousins. There were so many bagels leftover afterwards that they opened it up to the public and told my SIL she could take as much as she wanted. It was raining off and off after the race and by the time we got to our car, it was pouring rain. I’m glad we left when we did!
Sorry this got so long and THANKS for reading!
P.S. Sorry no pics this time...I wore the same outifit as the last race...lol! I always wear Thorlo socks when I run ever since Rachel (rachinaz) sent me a pair last year. They are the BEST running socks EVER!! Thank you again Rachel for saving my feet!
But I know you could do this. I really think anyone who can do a 10K can do a 1/2 marathon with just a little more time. And you've already run further than that in training runs.
