5119th place

/ in the starting corral /

if you told me 10 years ago that i was going to be running a race... in manhattan... with my husband... in 36-degree weather (!!), i definitely would have laughed at you! in fact, i recently saw a list of my goals from nearly 10 years ago and there was no mention of a desire to tick running of any sort off of my life's to do list. but i guess we all make new goals and new lists and new aspirations and this was part of mine!

/ my number and tee shirt /

it has been a challenge to get back into the running since we moved back, so i signed up for the washington heights salsa, blues, and shamrocks 5k in order to stay motivated! unfortunately the weather has been so cold and snowy that i didn't get out to run nearly as often as i should have so i really thought i was going to struggle through this race. the course started out on a hill, which i took really slowly partially because i was afraid of getting tired too soon and partially because there were soooo many people! as good as the subsequent downhill was, i knew there was a big uphill right in the middle of the race. but the musicians stationed along the course and my personal cheering party (aka reuben) kept pushing me along and i felt like i was really in my zone by that point. one more uphill and it was all downwards from there until the finish line. i felt like i still had plenty of energy heading down the hill so i pushed up the speed and ran - really ran! - toward the finish line! official time was 34:55 (or 5,119th out of 6,220) but the true accomplishment for me was actually running the whole thing.

and perhaps it's the endorphins still talking, but i was looking at some further races for later in the year because... why not? queens 10k in june? staten island half marathon in october?? maybe i'll sleep on it first....