13.1

Last weekend I ran the NYC Women's half-marathon in Central Park, my first half-marathon, and after 3 months of training, I can't believe it is already over.  When Megan first talked me into signing up there was still snow on the ground.  We would wake up early every Saturday morning and run in the freezing cold while the ice cold wind smacked us in the face as we ran along the Hudson.  In fact, one morning our path was covered in sheets of ice and we had to hold on to each other and slide across the path most of the way.  So I guess it was too much to ask for a sunny nice race day in April.  Instead we got pouring rain the ENTIRE race.  I'm talking the kind of rain that is pelting you in the face so you have to close your eyes while you are trying to run up steep hills with thousands of other women; meanwhile, hoping you don't slip in the water that is puddling up under your feet.  But we are two tough woman and we didn't let the rain stop us!

A lot of people told me before the race that their first half-marathon was the worst and then it got better as they did more.  Hearing this made me nervous and I was scared to know how I would be come race day, but on race day I was so mad at the rain that I didn't even think about the nerves.  Our theme song for race day should have been something empowering, instead we found ourselves humming "Blame it on the Rain".

Despite the pouring rain, soaked shoes and socks and blistered feet from the soaked shoes and socks and the fact that I could wring out my clothes at the end of the race, I felt really good.  We did two laps around the big loop in Central Park which was no easy course.  Overall we think we had roughly 20 hills.  Some not so big and three or four long steep ones.  Luckily my smart running partner suggested we train in the park along the loop so the hills were no surprise; unfortunately while training we only did the loop once on our runs so the second time around on race day was even worse because we knew what to expect.  I am so proud of us, we pushed through the steep hills and made it to the finish line.

I am so glad I was able to run in this race and even more so with my wonderful friend, Megan.  We trained together the entire time, talking every step of the way.  Each week as we increased our mileage I was amazed at what I could do.  The thought of training for a half-marathon was frightening but I honestly didn't feel like it was that bad because I had someone to do it with me.  I will admit there were mornings I didn't want to get up but once I did I was feeling great.  Megan was so encouraging, she always made me feel like I could do it.  She was there to keep me at a could pace, she mapped our runs, forced me to ice and stretch and even carried water for me on her life belt while we trained.  So thank you, Megan.  This was an amazing experience and I never could have done it with out you!!

map of our course

The lovely Kristin Davis was at the starting line to wish us luck