So, I had this plan to run my very first Marathon ever here in NYC this year. I ran my nine NYRR races last year and volunteered multiple times. Early this year I got the e-mail that I am eligible to register for the 2015 NYC Marathon, I logged into my account, plugged in my credit card number, paid $227, waited, made my decisions for baggage, got injured (again), waited, and cancelled my entry. Just like that. Well, as always, this is all on me again, because I was being treated in PT for a strained quad in my left leg and still decided to run the Brooklyn Half. After that I promised my physical therapist that I would not run for at least three months which would have been until around end of August. Considering that to that day I had not been able to run a half-marathon without getting injured I thought that I was so not ready to run a marathon. Maybe for fun? Just for fun? Nah. As I told others, I am running not to socialize or be part of a fun event. I'm there to challenge myself, to race others, to always giving my utmost best. I have a goal for my first marathon and it will not be "just finish." Don't laugh but I do want to finish with a 3:30 time, i.e. an average pace of 8 minutes per mile. Crazy? Maybe. But it is a goal. So, yeah, I cancelled, kissed my money good-bye (warning: rant coming up in a few paragraphs down), and deferred my entry until next year.
Photo by MarathonFoto
With the marathon out of the way, I couldn't just sit at home that weekend and pout (well, it was one of my children's birthday and we had a over-night Halloween party that weekend anyway and I was tasked with making pancakes and waffles, which was one of the reasons why her friends really, really, really wanted to come over for a sleep-over, i.e. I really couldn't have run the marathon without letting her down - maybe my injury was a blessing in disguise?) so I ran at least the Dash to the Finish Line 5k aka "The Other Way to Cross the Marathon Finish Line." I did the same two years ago and I am proud to report that I gained enough fitness to match and beat my results from that year and was finally able again to run an average sub-7 mile in a race. Last time I did that was in the spring. I finished in 21:19, ran on average 6:52 minutes per mile, placed in the top 500 out of almost 10,000 finishers, 28th out of 500 finishers in my age group, 3rd in my team.
Photo by MarathonFoto
Compared to two years ago, this year's iteration of the Dash was massive (Edit: I have to take it back; it was pretty much the same then as it was this year). Ten thousand registered runners for a 5k! You can imagine that the first mile was really crowded and nobody but the runners in front was able to really run. The last two miles were a lot better and running through the streets of Manhattan (unfortunately, one block short of running through Time Square) and having tons of people cheer you on was awesome. The course seemed to be quite easy especially since it felt like it was going downhill most of the time, but it was probably just flat in general. All in all, it was a worthy substitute for the Marathon on the fun scale. Wait, did I just call a marathon a fun race? I do not want to regret these words in November next year! Better get myself into the right mental state.
Here is hoping that 2016 will be the new and better 2014. While I still have four more races coming up (over four consecutive weekends starting on the 22nd of this month) I doubt that I will get any PRs or awards this year. I just want to finish my 9+1 (not actually needed because I am guaranteed for next year due to my cancellation, but just for the sake of achievement) and do the NYCRUNS winter series which is always a lot of fun.
Now to my rant. Why do I have to say adieu to my money that I spent on a race that I cannot run due to illness, injury, or what not? This year I got lucky and got into the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miles race in Washington D.C. but had to cancel due to my persistent problems with my quads (and I couldn't really justify the expenses of traveling there and renting a hotel room etc.) Luckily, the organizers offer a forum where sellers of race entries can find buyers and a web site where you can officially transfer your registration to somebody else. You were able to do this until a certain time before race day, i.e. plenty of time for the race director to plan accordingly for the big day. It sounds so easy and I just cannot come up with any reason why that cannot be done for NYRR events. There are probably a few caveats, like encourage and enforce that an individual entry is not sold for more than it cost the original buyer, but it seems to work very well at the Cherry Blossom. NYCRUNS offers something similar to their members. You can cancel up to two races per year for whatever reason (up to a week before the race, and with doctor's note up to one day before race day) and get race credit for it. They even absorb the costs of the loss of runners that cancel last minute. Again, NYRR, why can't you offer something similar? It's not like you don't have the money and means to at least try something like that. Think about it! Many runners would love to have a service like this, I bet!
And there he goes!
On a different but very similar note, my youngest kid ran his very first race last weekend at the Ronald McDonald House Fun Run. He was so excited to run and he was the first one to be up and running that morning, waking everybody else up. It was a quarter mile run in Central Park and hundreds of elementary and middle school children met up that morning for some fun in running. He was very sure of himself that he would cross the finish line first but in the end he came in fourth in his heat. Due to the number of children, they were subdivided into age groups (one group per year of age) and then each age group was divided into heats of sixteen children. So, only 16 kids were running at a time and since it was not scored there were no winners. Wait, no. Everybody was a winner and got a ribbon as award. The real awards were only given to the top fundraisers. Now I want to convince him to join the children's run after my next race, the Race to Deliver, and then keep me company on my training runs so he can build up to a 5k. He is only 7, so he's got plenty of time, and there will be plenty of races in our neighborhood for him to participate.
Apropos Race to Deliver 4 Miler: I ran this race last year where I ran my fastest pace in an NYRR event. This would be a good opportunity to make it my best race for 2015 as well, no? Anyway, I found this video on YouTube that covers this race and you can see yours truly for a split second at the 10 second mark and for a bit longer at the 25 second mark. Just look for the bald head sporting a pony tail!
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