My Longest Race So Far

This morning I did the Fred Lebow 5 Mile Race. My time was 44:53, and I am very happy with that!

I got up at 7:00 this morning and had some water, dry cheerios, and a little bit of peanut butter (the breakfast of champions).

Since we live in an old tenement building in NYC, we have no laundry facilities in the building. Our one real luxury is that we drop off the laundry and get it washed and folded. It is actually pretty great. It doesn't cost much more than doing it myself at the laundromat, and I am willing to pay it to have the free time. I'm buying my Saturday. The laundry ladies do a good job, and have an amazing ability to pack an insane amount of laundry into one bag. We will bring it in 2 bags, and somehow they always cram it into one when it is clean and folded.

Last night I went out to dinner with a friend, and Rick picked up the laundry. I should have unpacked the bag when I got home, but I was tired and wanted to go to bed. So after my breakfast this morning, I had to try to find my running clothes in the crammed full laundry bag.

Rick was still sleeping at 7:30, and I don't think he was too pleased that I turned on a light. Of course my running clothes were all the way at the bottom, so I had to unpack almost the whole bag to get to them. And if I am going to unpack the bag, I might as well put the clothes away at the same time, right? After a few minutes I heard Rick say, "Can I help you find whatever you are looking for?" while his head was buried under a pillow to block out the light. I think this actually translates to "Stop making all that noise, and turn off the light. I'm trying to sleep here!" Lucky for him, I had just found what I needed and got out of there.

I didn't leave the apartment until 8:00, which was a little later than I planned on. I got to the subway and saw a few other people in running clothes with chip timers on their shoes. It is easy to spot who else is going to the race. I also spotted this little guy:

I'm going to call him Randolph the Rat. He was galloping all around the subway platform, and he seemed to be having a great time. No fear of humans at all!

The subway came, and I got on. When we got to the next stop, I saw that an express train was there. When jumped off the local and walked across the platform to the express, the doors closed. "Oh well," I thought, and walked back to the local. Then the doors closed on the local train! Crap! I missed them both! That never happens. I was already running late, and now I was really kicking myself. I should have just stayed on the local train. It took another 5 minutes for the next train to come.

Finally I arrived at Central Park. There were a lot of people in line for the port-a-potties (as usual). But, when you are running a longer race, you want to make sure you go before...

This picture was taken after the race, so everybody is gone.

I had only a few minutes to spare, and I had to check my coat and get to the starting line. At the last minute I decided to take off one layer, and I am so glad I did. The temperature was in the mid-40's and sunny. In that weather you warm up pretty fast.

The first mile was pretty slow. You are running in a huge pack of 4400 people, so it takes a while to thin out the heard. I ran into my friends from TNT, Elizabeth and Sara, about a mile into the race. I was pushing myself for this one, so we didn't stay together for the run. I picked up the pace for the next 4 miles.

According to my watch:
Mile 1: 10:06
Mile 2: 08:39 (easiest part of course, downhill and flat)
Mile 3: 08:45
Mile 4: 09:08 (hardest part of course with a big hill)
Mile 5: 08:14 (long and flat)

Distance: 5.0 Miles, 8.0 Kilometers
Date/Time: Jan. 12, 2008, 9:00 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 44 Deg. 53% Wind Calm

There were 4409 total racers (2065 women).
My overall place was 2315, my gender place was 737, and my age place was 312. Finish Time 44:53, Pace/mile 8:58.



That's me, Elizabeth, & Sara (post race)

And that is Larry the Lighthouse. He runs the NJ Marathon with that thing on!

Breaking down the finish line.



After the race, I went to my gym. Now, that might sound crazy after running a 5 mile race, but it isn't! We had a Water Shut Off Notice on the door of our building yesterday.

I knew that if I wanted a shower between the hours of 10am and 2pm, it wasn't going to be possible at home. Thank goodness for the gym membership! I took a shower there before going home. Here is what our street looks like this afternoon: