I ran three races in February. I think this was an impressive feat because February is the shortest month of the year. Even more impressive, two of the three races were 10 miles or longer. Even MORE impressive, I ran a sub-2 half marathon, one of my big running goals for 2010.
And then I forgot to write about it all.
First up was the Valentine's Day 5K in Prospect Park on - yes - Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010 sponsored by Brooklyn Road Runners and Slope Sports. I found this race courtesy of my friends at NYCRuns.com. If you run in New York, you should be hooked up with this website. This is also how I found the super-awesome Coney Island Turkey Trot. Join! Now!
This was a nice run - one loop around the park, easy. I ran with Kelly and finished in 29:39. Lady Southpaw played the afterparty at the KofC and rocked the house as always. Followed the race up with brunch at the estimable 7th Avenue Diner & Donuts with the girls.
On February 21, I ran the Cherry Tree 10-Miler in Prospect Park, sponsored by the Prospect Park Track Club and Slope Sports. This is a tough, tough race - you may remember I had some trouble with it last year. This year, I had a great race (finished in about 1:32). I credit better training and overall fitness, gorgeous weather and my TNT BK teammates for the support and the coaches who cheered us all on.
And then, the very next week, I ran a sub-2 half marathon!
I ran the Scenic City Half Marathon in my hometown, Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 27.
The photo at the top of this post is of me around mile 11 of this race. Don't you like my arm warmers? I bought those with a Slope Sports discount I received for doing the Cherry Tree race. I gotta say, Kara Goucher is right - arm warmers rule. The weather was near-perfect for a long race - low 40s at the start, warming up to the mid-50s. I ran in shorts and an obnoxiously bright green t-shirt. I didn't want to wear a jacket, since I knew I'd want to ditch it a mile in, but I needed something. And that something was arm warmers.
This race was pretty all-around awesome. I was ready for it, I trained, and I had a goal: to beat two hours.
I was also battling a fair number of personal demons going into this race. Forget April - February is my cruelest month. I knew running this race hard and having a goal wouldn't eradicate my problems, but it would help me face them head-on.
There was a significant delay at the start because, apparently, the computer wasn't working to activate the start mat, and our timing chips would not register. The clock also wasn't working, but because I was wearing a watch I didn't much care about that. But I knew I wanted an official time. The race organizers should have told us to leave the start area and come back 20 minutes later, but they didn't. So we all stood around, freezing. (Thank you arm warmers.)
At 8:30 a.m., a half hour after we were supposed to start, we were off! To the strains of Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride." Remember that - it comes back into play later, much like the proverbial gun that, if shown in Act I, must be fired by the end of the play.
The race left Finley Stadium, the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga's football stadium, and headed downtown. The first mile or so was a little downhill, which gave me pause as I realized mile 13 would be a little uphill. Sigh.
Running through downtown Chattanooga for the second mile was neat - the river to the left, the aquarium to the right. Straight ahead - giant hill. The third mile was all uphill. I ran this mile on-pace but it was not especially fun.
At mile 4, my family was waiting for me outside the Boathouse restaurant on Amnicola Highway - waving huge green-lettered RUN LELA RUN signs. This was so cool, I can't even tell you. What a boost! Thanks, family! They were so cool that I missed the 4-mile marker. No worries, keep running down Amnicola. The city really should have organized the traffic cutoffs better - runners had to cross traffic heading into town to turn onto the Riverwalk around mile 5.5. I took a Gu here.
The Riverwalk is one of my favorite places in Chattanooga - scenic path that runs, yes, along the Tennessee River. It's very pretty and I just let myself enjoy miles 6-7. Just before the Mile 8 marker, my family was back with their signs. Yay! They told me later that I looked better than everyone around me. I'll give TNT credit for that one.
The next mile was a sick, sick uphill. I've run it before, but not this fast and not this far into a run. Up, up, up, past UTC's practice football field and into the Bluff View Arts District. One more family surprise at the top of the hill!
I'd been keeping pace with a guy for the first 8 miles of the race or so, but I lost him on this uphill. This is partly because I knew what lay on the other side of the uphill - a very serious DOWNHILL. We're talking a nearly vertical downhill here, the result of a course change due to some bridge construction. After I passed my family and headed past the Walnut Street Bridge into the quadbuster, I passed the guy. He was not very happy.
Over the Market Street Bridge onto Frazier Avenue - not bad. I've never run over the Market Street Bridge, but it used to scare me to drive over it as a kid because it sings. It's a drawbridge and driving over the metal grates produces a weird humming noise. Some spectators on Frazier, but my mind was on getting uphill - again - to cross the Veterans Bridge, home of many speeding drives to high school (which I passed in the process - go Bruisers). Never run the Veterans either - but it's neither very scenic nor very fun for running. My legs were sore at this point, and I still had to go back uphill to the top of Bluff View again. Ow. More Gu.
Finally, downhill to the 11-mile marker, which I inadvertently missed while grabbing water. Sweet, sweet swooping downhill back into downtown. Got some water in me and got my legs back.
Little rise, almost missed the 12-mile marker, which had blown over. At this point, I hadn't looked at my watch in a while because I didn't want to know how close I was to my goal. But I figured I was feeling good, I had to be close. So I started singing. To myself. Loudly. "Nobody gonna break my stride, nobody gonna slow me down, oh no..." (This apparently works well as a mantra because I later found that I ran this mile at a 7:42 pace, which is pretty unreal for me.)
Uphill, uphill, ow. Into the homestretch, past the 13-mile marker, stadium in sight. Then the clock came into sight. Hey, it works! And it says...1:58?! I shrieked "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"...and SPRINTED full-on into the finish. High knees, high arms, I was Usain Bolt, people. Hit the mat, look at the watch...
1:59:32 says the watch!!! I did it! Got my medal, had my chip clipped, got a bottle of water, and saw my friend Jody who caught my photo finish. My mom appeared with my fleece and my dad and uncle with their cameras. Time for brunch!
When the official results appeared, I gained a whole second!
1:59:31. Take that, February.
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