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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

You never forget your first time



My first half marathon was October 9, 2009. It was the Westchester Running Festival sponsored by Westchester Medical Center. The start line was at Westchester County Center at the Bronx river Parkway and proceeded South to Scarsdale and then back up to the finish at County Center.


The day before my husband and I decided to drive it - BIG mistake. It was a LONG drive! I do much better when I don't know what I'm getting into. The next morning we all met at County Center. It was cold and we were all a bundle of nerves. It was pretty well organized except that they ran out of running bibs and had to hand write mine.


My friends and I found our spot with the slow runners near the back of the 700+ runners. We stayed together for most of the time but at about mile 7 one went ahead and one fell behind. I was on my own. There were entire mile stretches where I got lost in my own head - with only a handful of runners around me. I was able to high five my husband as he was headed back North while I was running South. He seemed to be making great time - ahead of another friend who is always placing and winning trophies. That gave me a big burst of speed. For some time it felt like it would never end but I remember be shocked to suddenly see the county center. It seemed to rise up over a hill and I truly couldn't believe I was going to finish this thing. I got it done in 2 hours and 42 minutes. My husband finished in 1 hr 51!


My friends weren't so happy with that race because they didn't like that it was there and back as opposed to a big circle. What I didn't like was that by the time Ifinished no one was there to cheer me in! Just really my friends and family. Massage booths were shutting down already. They actually ran out of medals and had to mail me mine weeks later. What a bummer! Regardless we were all very excited for each other. We trained properly. No one was injured or so incredibly sore. It was a grand finale to a season that began without being able to run 60 seconds a few short months prior.

1 comments:

JSeager said...

WOW! I'm impressed!
And beautiful layout on your blog :)