Disneyland 1/2 Marathon: 9/17/06. Personal Worst (PW): 2:31:06
More Magazine is a magazine targeted specifically to women 40 and over. To enter the More Marathon you must be female and 40 or over. To enter the Half Marathon, you must enter as a team. One member of the team must be a woman 40 or over, the other member must only be female. All runners start at the same time; half marathon times are combined for the teams with the top three combined times winning awards. You are not required to run with your partner. Each runner also runs their own race. Since all marathon entrants are women over 40, the winner of the marathon will always be a woman over 40.
I entered the half-marathon with Colleen, a young woman (20) who I had never met, as my partner. I met Colleen through mutual participation in an online forum for runners at HalHigdon.com. Participants are part of the "V-Team." Colleen lives in NYC and very enthusiastically agreed to partner with a VTeamer she had never met before (me). Thank you Colleen!
I am going to tell you about the race itself, eventually, but first I am going to expand a little about The Race. Every woman should try to come to New York and experience this race. 6000 women participated this year. The Half Marathon is, by far, the more popular of the two races. I would guess that fewer than 1 in 4 entrants opted for the full marathon. Teams were comprised of mothers and daughters, aunts and neices, grandmothers and granddaughters, and girlfriends. Entire families of sisters, aunts, and daughters traveled to New York to run (or walk) together. Husbands, fathers, and children cheered from the sidelines and encouraged their women to go for it! My own group consisted of two sets of mother/daughter teams, two sets of sisters, myself and Scott's cousin's girlfriend, Linda.
I got into the city on Friday afternoon, met my posse, and we all went together to the health & fitness expo. Last year the expo provided us with Poise pads (for incontinence), fiber bars (for regularity), acidopholus pills (to prevent yeast infections), and Campbell's soup (because women over 40 have no teeth left). This year, thankfully, the expo became a health fair. I had screenings done for chloresteral, glucose, bone density, BMI, and blood pressure. No Poise pads.
On Saturday afternoon, I met fellow V-Teamers Colleen, Jess, and Julio for a lovely Italian dinner in at Cara Mia in Hell's Kitchen which was a 10 minute walk from the Holiday Inn Midtown on 57th Street. Thank you Jess for making the reservation at 5:00 -- it really paid dividends on Sunday! I'm going to have to remember for future races and long runs to eat an early dinner the night before. I experienced no intestinal issues on Sunday.
Now, I have to sidetrack to tell you about Colleen and Jess. These two young women, to me, really define what More is all about. Colleen is a dynamo! She is only twenty years old, but is a full-time college student at Columbia, works as a nanny, trains with dedication for marathons, and has raised over $3800 (twice!) for Team in Training, without once ever soliciting any participants on the V-Boards by way of her blog or in person. Jess, is a young woman in her twenties who has a really cool job in New York, trains like a maniac, and just seems to have it all going on right now. These two women give me hope that there are plenty of smart women out there who can tell the difference between Lindsey Lohan and real life. Check out our picture above.
After dinner I laid out all my clothes for the race. Brown Triks skirt and pink "I Am The Big Bad Wolf" shirt. We went to bed early having set the alarm clock for 5:45 am. I slept fitfully. By 4:30 I was awake. It was dark in the room, the only sound being the traffic noise from outside and "crinkle, crinkle." I wonder what that is? I was as still as I could be. "Crinkle, crinkle" again. Then again. I turned on the light -- it stopped. Light off, "crinkle, crinkle." Ok, that's enough. "Linda," I whispered. "Linda. LINDA!" "There's an animal in our room!" Yes, folks, a New York City mouse had found a snack in our room that the maid had left behind under the nightstand. I knew there was a reason I never stayed at Holiday Inn. But I digress...
Sunday's morning temperature was 38 degrees. I exchanged the skirt for tights and put my pink shirt on top of a long sleeve tech shirt. It may be balmy in Ohio, but it is freezing in New York. Linda gave me a pair of gloves and we got to Central Park and basically froze our asses off until the race started. Our group lined up between the 10 and 11 mile markers for no particular reason. I knew my pace would be faster, but at least it kept me from going out too fast. Most participants didn't line up correctly and I was passing walkers two abreast for at least the first three miles. Oh, well.
The half marathon race course is two loops around Central Park. I wish I could tell you more than that about the scenery, but I was too focused on my own race to pay much notice. The course is very hilly. Basically, up one hill and down another for the entire loop. Then repeat the same thing. I had one thought in mind as I started the race: let my body be in charge this time. I wore my Garmin 305 so I could check on my pace, but unless I started out doing sub 8:00 miles, I was not going to put the brakes on. I made sure my pace was even and slightly uncomfortable. The course was crowded. We were only given a path approximately 4 feet wide so I was continually having to bob and weave my way through the course. The loops are hilly. I dug in. I thought about my mantra, "I am the Big Bad Wolf," I took inspiration from the fan support and signs that said "Dig, Mom, Dig." After all, I may not be their mom, but I am a mom. As I climbed the hills, I thought about all the stair climbs and hill repeats I have done these past six months. I let my body rule. At mile 11 when my legs were tired and I had a painful side stitch, I let my brain take over. "Don't slow down," "You're almost there," "Sprint to the finish." As I approached the Finish Line, I couldn't help it, I had maintained such focus for the entire race. I had done my best. I began to sob. I feared the paramedics would think I was having an asthma attack and pull me out, but I made it. I spotted the guy with the camera and raised my arms: Victory!
More Half Marathon: 3/25/07; PR: 2:09:52.
For the record, My Garmin lost the satellite and then just quit entirely before I hit mile 10. But here are the splits that it did record. My average pace for the entire 13.1 was 9:54/mile.
Mile 1: 9:54
Mile 2: 10:11 (includes a potty stop)
Mile 3: 9:16
Mile 4: 9:14
Mile 5: 9:39
Mile 6: 9:25
Mile 7: 9:20
Mile 8: 9:53
Mile 9: 9:53
Garmin died here.
I can't help looking at those splits and asking, "was that really me who ran that race????"
1 comment:
BRAVO, Wolfie!!
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