Hope and Possibility

Today I ran my first official race in New York and let me say...I was pretty happy!

I was really good last night too. I limited myself to one cocktail and went to bed at 10:00 (loser!). Right before bed I read Coach Ramon's game plan for how to run the race. Basically, he said that if you run a 9:00 mile pace that you should stand up with the 8:00 milers. I felt kind of bad for doing this because I felt like I would be the one that was going to be run over by the real 8:00 milers. But then I realized that this is probably what everyone does, and why I am usually so pissed off when I am standing in the section that I think that I should be standing in (and then have to plow through a bunch of runners who really aren't at the pace that they say they are...does that make sense?). He told us to take the run out slowly. 85% of runners start their races too fast, and he wanted us to be the smart 15%. At Cat Hill we should take it easy and swing our arms really LOW. On the downhills we should make sure that we are not overstriding. Other than that, it was sort of play it by ear: if you felt tired, slow down, if not, you could settle into a nice pace and then kick it up for the last mile.

I ran my first mile with what I felt was a nice comfortable pace. I clocked a 9:10 for it, and was pretty happy. I knew I would have to make up those 10 seconds to average a 9:00 pace, but I wasn't freaked out about that at all. I knew I could do it. Cat Hill? Not a problem! I just kept my arms swinging low. In fact, I logged a 8:56 on that mile.

I was feeling great, but I didn't know how long I could keep it up. I felt like I was getting a higher kick then normal (= faster turnover). Next mile was 8:27. Hurrah! I was kicking butt.

NOW was when I felt tired. But I had to keep it up because I was doing so great. I found someone to keep my eye on (a couple in matching Princeton T-shirts) and tried to stick with them. I could tell this mile was slower. Maybe it was all of the little sloping hills. 8:44.

Ok, time to pick it up. I was exhausted but started to kick higher, I only had one more mile. I really pushed it in. 8:07!!!! For a final time of 43:25. AND we got cool medals.



It was also cool because Anthony Edwards was there for the race. (You know? Dr Green from when ER was still cool?).

Anyway, since I was so exhausted I took forever to get water and stretch. I had the best intentions of cheering on the rest of my team, but by the time I was done stretching the race was pretty much over. Bill and I walked over to Magnolia and I rewarded myself with a delicious cupcake. And then we came back to sit on the lawn and see if I won any cool prizes (like a treadmill or a trip to a bed and breakfast). I didn't.



(this is me just chilling after the race).

Oh and NYRR is so cool. Not only do they break down all of your results, but they also tell you the weather conditions during the race.

So here were my results:

536 Overall, 137 Female, 61 Age group, Pace 8:40, Age Group and Female 196, Age group % 55.7%, 70 degrees, 76% Humidity, 5mph wind

So now I am going to do nothing for the rest of the day except work on my sewing! Hurrah!