Healthy Kidney 10k and Some Random Stuff

Healthy Kidney 10k in 56:29

(For those of you who just wanna get down to the knitty gritty)

It's not like I've never been to Central Park. I've spent many a day walking the streets around the park. I've just never run there. I was kind of nervous about it. People always talk about the hills there. I wasn't sure how I would handle it, especially since South Jersey is not known for it's hilly terrain. I did do a 7mi long run on a hilly route some weeks ago though. I think it helped.

Anyway, I left work early on Friday. Went to NYC to pick up my race packet. Then stayed at my aunt's in Brooklyn. I didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn. The A train is right outside and stops at the park. It's about a 30min ride. I snapped a picture before I left. Actually, I took a few, but I'm just showing this one.

I'm actually wearing my Healthy Kidney 10k tech shirt

So I made my way to the porta potties. The lines were not ridiculous at all. But then again, there were like 20,000 less people than my first race. I met a nice lady (I think she was French) who told me about her marathon experience. She had started running in August and ran a marathon in November. Good for her. I could never do it. She also told me where in the park I had to worry about the hills. I lost her after walking to the start. But she was kind enough to snap this picture of me.

So the race starts, and I actually got to jog to the start. During Broad Street, it was so packed we creeped to the start. Then it started to pour. They said rain for that night. The weather man was a little off, as usual. I have to say that the run was a blur. I don't remember too much of it. I don't think. I do remember being stuck behind people that I just couldn't get around. Yes, less people, but also, not as much space to run. Somewhere around mile 2.25, there was a significant hill. And again at around mile 3. Then after that, I couldn't tell you what happened. Garmin started acting a fool, so I had to turn the damn thing off. I need to delete old runs. The memory is full. But the thing is, it usually does that on it's own. It kept telling me to hit enter to delete old runs, but it wouldn't. It just kept yelling at me. I was hoping for pretty graphs and such. I especially wanted to see the elevation. Oh well. So I spent the rest of the run not knowing how fast I was going or how far I had left to go. The mile markers aren't helpful to me at all. I don't know why.

So mile 6 comes around and I'm completely forgetting that the distance is 6.2 and not just 6. I speed up just to find that I had more running to do. That last .2 was just the longest ever. It didn't help that there were signs showing 800m left and 400m left. It took forever. Probably because it was going uphill. Okay, so now the race is done and I was hoping for some Gatorade. I guess Broad Street spoiled me. They just had water. I took two cups. I didn't stop for water during the race. We all know from my first experience that I can't run AND drink out of a cup.

Afterward, I met a nice guy, named Michael who was kind enough to take a picture for me. He introduced me to his wife, Diane. They were a cute couple. I should have taken their picture. Anyway, Diane started running at 40. She's been running for almost 20yrs now. She looks like she's been doing it all her life. That's awesome. That just goes to show that it's never too late. I guess I have a lot to look forward to. Also, Diane calmed my nerves about the BK Half. She told me that if I can handle Central Park hills, then I can handle Prospect Park hills. Good to know. But what isn't good is that my right head of fibula injury made an appearance around mile 4. I'm guessing. Garmin was shut down at this point. So I'm resting a bit. It usually goes away as mysteriously as it came. We shall see. Right now, it's up in the air. If I'm not better, I won't run it, but I will still go to NY because I love it.

I had Michael take another picture. I was looking like who did it and ran.

Okay, so on to random stuff about my weekend.

• During the race, I was running behind this guy wearing a shirt saying, "Life begins at 1938." And he looked every bit of his age. Heck, even older. But what got me is that his lower half was in great shape. He probably had the tightest bum in the park. He must have started running when his mama spit him out.
• I'm trying to understand why I always have to pee before AND after a race. Why isn't one potty break ever enough?
  
• I carried my suitcase up and down way too many steps. My arms are sore. Does running up subway steps with a suitcase count as hills training?
  
• Some dude on the subway asked me to treat him to a cup of coffee. If he was a bum, he was decently dressed. He asked for Starbuck's specifically. Starbuck's? Dude, if you're down and out, why are you asking me to buy you some expensive ass coffee? What bum is sipping Starbuck's? I did question him and told him he needed to drink at Dunkin Donuts instead. Anyway, I didn't buy him a cup. I think he was trying to get his hussle on.
• I will travel from Brooklyn to the Village in the middle of the night for good falafel. It's quicker to go there than some place in Brooklyn anyway. Brooklyn is huge.
  
• I was so spoiled by not having to drive anywhere. I got a rude awakening this morning when I realized that I couldn't drive to work and read my book at the same time. Damn.
• I need to throw an old school house party. My aunt and I were dancing around her apartment to some old school jams. Why don't they make music like they used to anymore?
  
• Regular peanut butter disgusts me. I call myself trying to have a lil something to eat before the race. Since I only eat natural peanut butter, it smelled like whatever hydrogenated oil they use. And it hardly tasted peanuty. I took one bite and tossed it out. I couldn't get the taste off my tongue. It was there during the race too.
• When did white folks move to Bed Stuy? I couldn't help but notice. Ain't nothing wrong with it. I'm just sayin'...black folks can't keep cornrows, dreadlocks, big booties, hip hop or Black men. And now, we're losing the hood too. LOL
• Everyone should check out Milon on First Ave for some good Indian. And the service was AWESOME! My glass was never empty.
  

Me and Kim at Milon

• I was really disappointed with The Organic Grill. I treated myself to brunch after the race. The food looked good but was bland. I had tofu scramble, soy sausage and blueberry pancakes with a cup of chai. I make better chai, tofu scramble, pancakes AND I use a better brand of soy sausage. Oh, and they didn't have real maple syrup. It's been so long since I had that fake syrup crap. But that's the chance you take when you're away from home. Or maybe I'm just a food snob.

• I should set my mp3 player to random play all the time. I've got a lot of good stuff stashed that I haven't listened to until yesterday.
  
• Not too many radio stations are worth listening to, but I love me some Kiss FM.
• What happened to all the cuties? I usually see fine men everywhere in the city. I guess they don't like to play in the rain.
  
• I can't wait to come back in two weeks. And then the week after.
• If I could live there, I would. Maybe my aunt would get the message if I refuse to leave her couch.

Alright, that's enough of my randomness. I'm out.

Photo Saturday at a 5k

Don't feel like blogging. I'll just share some pictures. Enjoy.

Killing time

Some scenery

More Scenery

Guess who?

Auntie Rosie and cousin, Joshua

Picnic area

People actually go kayaking here

And canoeing too

Getting my music together

And we're off

The fam again

I love this tree

So I took a picture in front of it

Check out my lil guns

Post Race Recovery Run

I took an extra day off. I was sore. But I was pretty feeling decent today. So I headed to the track after work. It was nice and easy. Nothing else to report. And on that note, I'm out. Activity Route: Track Elev. Avg: 36 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 07:43 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 57 F temp; 86% humidity 57 F heat index; winds SE 5 Performance Distance: 5.00 miles Time: 0:47:46 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 33 /mi Calories: 555 Notes Cool Down = .36mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 55 +0' 22 6.0 -0.2 0 ft 2 9' 36 +0' 03 6.2 -0.0 0 ft 3 9' 29 -0' 04 6.3 +0.0 0 ft 4 9' 28 -0' 05 6.3 +0.0 0 ft end 9' 20 -0' 13 6.4 +0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 33 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Broad Street - My First Race

I was due for a long run yesterday. And it was important that I get it in. See, last Sunday, I cut my 7 miler short due to the heat. Two days before, it was 36 when I ran. Two days later, it was 80. Yeah, my body wasn't feeling it. Anyway, I had 8mi on schedule yesterday. But I wasn't feeling particularly motivated to do it. So what did I do? Saturday, at the last possible minute, I went to the Not For Runners Only Expo in Philly and signed up for the Broad Street Run. I also signed up for the ING Philadelphia Distance Run while I was there. I got a $10 discount. So why not?

Anyway, I don't know how all you folks do race reports mile by mile. I don't remember one mile to the next. But if you wanna hear my story, here it go...

I set my alarm for 4am. Wait, let me back track. I woke up at 2:10am and couldn't get back to sleep. Then my alarm went off. Why so early when I live 30min from the race? Because there would be about 26,000 people there and I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be caught up somewhere. Anyway, I ate my favorite raw breakfast, made a cup of yerba mate chai, then made half a PB&J for the road. I figured I'd be hungry again before the race started. So I thought.

So I get there, jump on the train to the race start. But first, I stop at the porta potties. I had to go. No biggie. Then I signed up for a free sports massage. There may be pictures of my ass somewhere on CBS. Some dude came by taking pictures while I was on the table. Anyway, while waiting a long time for the massage, I had to go to the bathroom again. But I didn't want to miss out on it, so I waited til I was done. At that point, I thought I was gonna pee on myself. Yeah, it was that bad. My first race was gonna be a disaster. I prayed to God that I wouldn't have an accident. The lines were off the hook. Yes, plenty of porta potties, but thousands more people. I went to the front of the line and asked the guy if I could go or else I was gonna go. Luckily, he let me go. God is good!

Okay, so off to the bus to drop off my gear. I wore pants under my skirt and a running jacket. Then off to my corral. I figured I'd be in purple according to the finishing times. But I wasn't thinking. I had never raced before so I had no finishing time, and they put me whereever. Whereever would be green, two corrals behind purple. There were so many people, I couldn't even get into the corral. While waiting for the start, I had someone snap a picture for me.
I brought a homemade energy drink with me, but decided against running with it. My thinking was that I was hydrated enough. Especially since I felt the need for another potty break before the start. Of course, that didn't happen. Instead, I prayed to God, not that I'd have a good race, but that I could hold it during the race.

Okay, so the race starts and I'm just annoyed. This is one hell of a group run. It was a pain trying to get around people. I had to get on the sidewalk a few times. I was zigzagging down Broad Street. I was using my fingers like turn signals so that people knew I was going in front of them. I said a lot of excuse me's too. I didn't want to cut anyone off. And now I see why headphones are against the rules. It can be very dangerous with all those people. I ran past people whose music I could actually hear. I can't even imagine. You could jack yourself up and somebody else.

Anyway, I notice somewhere around mile 2 people are walking. What already? Why did you sign up for a 10mi race if you're gonna be walking in mile 2? And no, they didn't look like they were Gallowalking. They looked like they were Done. And is it just me? Maybe it is, but I found that people breathe way too hard. I know it's a race and all, but how are you gonna make it to the end if you sound like you're about to die early on? I passed this guy, also somewhere around mile 2 who sounded like he needed some medical attention. My goal was to take it easy, not start out too fast, and make it to the finish without wanting to die.

The first water stop was after mile 2. But I passed it by. There was another after mile 4. I took a cup, almost choked myself. I can't run and drink out of a cup at the same time. Water bottles I can do. Cups I can not. I stopped somewhere after mile 6 to get some Gatorade (yeah, I learned quickly from the choking water incident). I figured I could use a lil pick me up to get through the next 4 miles. I was also kinda nervous about having Gatorade. I've never had it on any training runs. And I wasn't sure how it would affect my stomach. Long runs tend to send me running to the bathroom afterward. I don't know why.

Mile 7 comes and I'm picking people off. There are lots of people walking at this point. Mile 8 comes along and I'm not feeling it. Then I check the elevation map to see why. It's all flat from here on out. I hate a really flat course. I'm not a fan of the track or the treadmill because they are flat. It takes so much more energy to move myself forward. Anyway, as I was running, I could have sworn that I saw this guy I used to be in love with back in the day on the sidelines. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was him. I heard him speak, the voice is what I remember. It was him. I looked at him, he looked at me, I kept it moving.

Okay so mile 9 comes along. One more to go. Why is the last mile of a run the longest part of a run? And it didn't help that my Garmin was beeping before every mile marker. So when it said 10mi, I still had a bit to go. I'm sure it was from all the zigzagging. I finally cross the finish line and it starts pouring. It was raining before, but now it was ridiculous. I was pretty sure that I was mostly covered in rain and not sweat. I was proven wrong once I stopped running. All the sudden, my eyes were burning from all the salt. I got more Gatorade, picked up a bottle of water and walked past the soggy pretzels. I didn't see any other race food.

I just followed the crowd. I ended up at the Wachovia Center parking lot, but couldn't for the life of me figure out where the buses were that had my stuff. I asked some dude. He told me it was all the way back by the finish in the Naval Yard. So, I walked back. In the rain. Not fun. I'm getting cold. And I still had to pee. So I get back to the area and still can't find out where the buses were. I finally found it after asking like five more people. I was so glad to just put my jacket on. One little layer made a lot of difference. I ate my half of PB&J sandwich. And finally, I went to the porta potty. And guess what? There wasn't a line. I started walking back to the parking lot AGAIN. I passed this girl who looked all broke up. I think she was gonna cry. Poor thing. There were quite a few people limping and such. Ten miles is no joke, but I felt fine. Today, my hips and quads are sore and a little stiff. But I'm doing okay. It's the migraine that followed the race that had me laid up and home today.

And that concludes my first official race report. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope to catch up on blogs soon. I've just been really lazy. I'm sorry. I've missed birthdays, showers, races, runs and just general stuff y'all like to talk about. Forgive me. Heck, I ran four times last week and didn't blog any of them. Sometimes, it just beez like that. Have a great week!

Activity Route: Broad Street Run Elev. Avg: 61 ft Location: Philadelphia, PA Elev. Gain: -138 ft Date: 05/03/09 Up/Downhill: [+91/-229] Time: 08:51 AM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fog/Mist 59 F temp; 100% humidity 59 F heat index; winds SE 3 Performance Distance: 10.07 miles Time: 1:32:58 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 14 /mi Calories: 1117 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 39 +0' 25 6.2 -0.3 -46 ft 2 9' 05 -0' 09 6.6 +0.1 -14 ft 3 9' 13 -0' 01 6.5 +0.0 -13 ft 4 9' 15 +0' 01 6.5 -0.0 +3 ft 5 9' 07 -0' 07 6.6 +0.1 -33 ft 6 8' 57 -0' 17 6.7 +0.2 -13 ft 7 9' 01 -0' 13 6.7 +0.2 -9 ft 8 9' 15 +0' 01 6.5 -0.0 -13 ft 9 9' 10 -0' 04 6.5 +0.0 0 ft 10 9' 08 -0' 06 6.6 +0.1 0 ft end 8' 29 -0' 45 7.1 +0.6 0 ft Versus average of 9' 14 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com