Did it!

I'm back from Philly and I feel great. Philly was challenging for a bunch of reasons. First - I haven't been since I was a kid and I was shocked at how much homelessness there is and also, how unwelcoming the people are (i know I'm making generalizations - but, just my experience). A man made up a song - and dance - to describe how he wanted to "beat" me. It went a little something like this: "I'm gonna beat that b*tch with a bat" (repeated, while dancing around me). Now, you might ask, "Cathy - were you being obnoxious?" Fair question. No. It was 4pm and I was looking up at City Hall.... so, I - hardened New Yorker - was actually scared in Philadelphia.

Because of this, Kim and I decided to eat dinner early and hole up in our hotel room. I wanted to go to bed early anyway. The race started at 8:30 and I needed to figure out the subway to get to the start line - so, I was leaving at 7:15am. Kim, my best friend in a the world... had come up to Philly to support me. She has a two year old - so, she also looked on this as a chance to catch up on sleep - in addition to catching up with me! So, she decided to take a sleeping pill and make the best of it. Sounds fine, right? What's the challenge in this, you ask? Snoring. Like I've never heard before. Ever. It was unimaginable. It sounded like an idling Mack truck. And, I'm not kidding. At first, I was like - just, you know, try to think of the snoring as ocean sounds - try to find a rythmic sense to it. and fallllll asleeeppppp.

Didn't work. I didn't want to wake her up because I feel for her. The kid just doesn't sleep - and I wanted her to rest. So, I decided to try to sleep in the tub - at 12:30 - because I thought, you can close the door and get some rest. Welp. First of all, tubs.... not comfortable. Second of all, I could hear her THROUGH THE DOOR.... Lord.

So, I decided to go back out into the room. And, called my friend BJ because I thought maybe I'm exaggerating - maybe it's not bad and if someone else tells me it's not bad - I can fall asleep. I held my cell phone two feet above Kim so BJ could hear.... let's put it this way... he started singing the "Circle of Life" from the Lion King because she sounded like Mussaffah. I kid you not.

So, now it's 2:30am. I think - ok, cathy. You've had boyfriends that snore - you've coped. You've just got to get her on her side. So, I say, gently "Kim. Kim. Can you roll over?" "KIM" KIMMMM!!!" Dang sleeping pill. There was NO waking Kim up. So, I watched TV. Literally. It's four in the morning before my first ten mile race ever and I'm watching Saved by the Bell.

I managed to doze off for two hours - mind you, she didn't stop snoring at any point. Actually, excuse me, that's not fair. Kim stopped snoring the minute I had to get up to get ready for the race.... and I'm not kidding.

I made it to the start line without trouble. For the first time ever, I had to use a porta potty. Um. I had no idea what a porta potty actually is. It was horrifying. But, you gotta do what you gotta do....

It was a beautiful running day. 55 degrees. Sunny. They had opened the fire hydrants along the route so you could cool off a bit. This was the first time I grabbed water and gatorade along the run. I really needed it. It was fun drinking and running at the same time - and you all know - I LOVE throwing the cup off to the side.

Mile 3 through 5 were tough. Mentally. Ten seemed so far away. Once I got to six, I thought, I'm more than half way there - no stopping now!! I wasn't in any pain. I felt great running. Really, truly? I was just tired from the lack of sleep. Mile 9 was awesome - they were blasting the Rocky theme. And, then the last half mile was on the Philadelphia Naval Yard.... and there was no way I (with my Army brat status) was going to quit in front of a bunch of Navy guys...!!!

So, I did it. No walking at all. And, did it under two hours (which was my goal). It's funny - I think because I trained so diligently for the 10k distance - I do that and I do it well. The first six miles were around 10 minute miles. The last four, I was at about 12 minute miles. Tells me a couple things - training really pays off. And, it stays with you. My base is a 10k. And, I do it in a way that I'm proud of. To move to the 10 miler or half marathon distance, and carry my 10ish minute/mile pace - I'm going to need to step it up.

But, fundamentally - I feel great. My knees. My muscles. The only thing that sucks? I have REALLY weird tan lines.... I have the outline of my Ipod on my arm. Really attractive.

Thanks for all your support getting me through my first 10 miler!!!! Love, Cathy