So, of course, I left my apartment late. I thought I might just have enough time to get to the subway and make it up where I needed to be. Like, JUST enough time. Running to the subway, however, I realized that I didn't have my wallet, so how the hell was I going to get on the subway?! I had to run back home and, once I emerged again, realized there was no way I'd make it in time. I wouldn't have been quite so concerned with getting there right on time, but I was meeting Amortya, who was nice enough to pick up my bib for me. Thus, I hailed a cab.
Cabs are expensive. The only redeeming part is that I was able to take a nap on the way to the race (also a dangerous thing to do. I'm probably excessively wary of cabbies taking overly circuitous routes). I finally arrived at the Engineer's Gate at 90th and 5th because the 102nd Street entrance was closed (at least I read enough on the race site to know that!).
I had taken not five steps into the park before realizing I'd made a grave mistake. I brought a backpack with me to the race. You can't do that anymore and I knew that! All NYRR races now mandate that checked bags can only be standard issue plastic and that all belongings need to fit inside. I had a backpack full of clothing I planned to wear immediately after the race. For a wedding. A WEDDING.
Immediate panic. I only had 15 minutes before the official start of the race, which was also nearly a mile from where I was. I ran to Road Runners headquarters on 89th and grabbed a bag. Before I left, I made sure I could stuff my entire backpack in there (I could). I then ran like the wind out of the building, into the park, and toward the start to check my bag and meet Amortya.
I think I got there with approximately five minutes to spare. I'd been texting back and forth with Amortya to meet up, and he mentioned the line to check bags was long. Ugh. So I proceeded to run toward back check to see just how long this line was.
It was LONG. Like, if I'd known how long it was, I wouldn't have bothered going to the bag check area at all because it extended so far away. I have never seen a baggage line this long in my entire running career. We could see the looks of horror on other runners as they queued up behind us. After meeting Morty and getting my bib, I told him he didn't have to wait for me because the race start was imminent. But he is a champ, and he waited it out. I heard some guy say runners aren't allowed to have bags inside bags (although I've done this before) so I panicked and took all my wedding stuff (dress, heels, you get the picture) out of the backpack and put it into the plastic bag, trying to obscure the fact that there was an entire backpack in there, too. It must have worked because no one said anything and I felt very stealthy.
We ended up crossing the start at around 7:10. Amortya asked what pace I wanted to keep, and I responded with 9 minutes per mile. I thought even that was ambitious because lately I just have not been feeling speed. I'll have to explore that later. Anyway, we stayed together for the first lap until Morty finally blew by. As usual, I was surprised it went as quickly as it did. Also, I have something cool to show you. Check it out:
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| The fruits of my erratic labor |
Amortya ran it in 2:26:15! That's an 8:08 average, folks. And the only reason it wasn't 2:20 or lower is that he spent 6 miles running at my turtley pace.
Well, I said it would be a weekend report, too, but this is already too long. Suffice it to say I had a semi-successful long ride on Long Island on Saturday. This coming Saturday, I plan to celebrate my birthday by riding in the New York Cycling Club's Escape from New York ride. I'm just trying to get the miles in!
New favorite phrase: "tendency to perpetrate heinous acts of what-the-fuckery"!
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