Write All The Things!

Just FYI - I started writing this last Thursday and this is the first time I've been able to pick it back up. I even lost the sticky note that was supposed to remind me about all the things I was supposed to remember. I'm breaking it up so that this doesn't happen again.

So many things. They all popped up in the last couple of days. I feel like it might even be worth numbering them just so that I don't miss anything.

1. The Sunset and Suds 5K:

I mentioned this race in the blog a couple of days ago. It was sort of a last minute deal and I scrambled a little bit to get registered since registration happened in the Upper East Side. This would have been fine except that the store closes at 7, which is pretty early. That turned out fine. The day of the actual race, though, I was running even later and couldn't get a cab because it was raining. Rain makes hailing cabs in NYC nearly impossible because everyone and their mom is trying to do the same thing. Once I realized catching a cab would be impossible, I ran up a few blocks to Columbus Circle to catch the 1 train up to 103rd, near where the race would be starting.

I made it with 7 minutes to spare. My friend and race buddy Amortya beat me there. I got my race bib and chip and hurried to put both on. It was Amortya's first race and I could tell he was nervous. Once all was settled we ran over to the start line, and had approximately 2 minutes until race time. This was another small race and so there was no gun or horn, just someone yelling to go. We started out fast. I don't normally wear a watch, but I have an okay sense of pace and I estimated that we were doing an 8:30 right out of the gate. Morty commented that he was trying not to look at the other people around us because he knew it would make him run too fast. I was impressed with this insight, since I don't think it was something I was aware of when I started running.

We slowed down gradually. At the two mile mark we were just under a 10 minute mile and by the end of the race we were running a little over.We finished in 31:40. Afterward, Morty confessed that it was the longest distance he'd ever run! Pretty bold. Race souvenirs were pint glasses with the race name and sponsors printed on them. In a cool twist, runners got free beer served in those pint glasses after the race until 9pm! If I had been drinking it would have been a perfect arrangement. We did still stick around for a bit after so Morty was able to enjoy some post-race Blue Moon. He's already itching to do another 5K or even 10K.