Oh, the humanity! (of the Human Race)

Ok - I will start by saying - I'm ok. And I really liked "racing against the world" as Nike put it... and it was fun to race with my friend anastasia (her first race ever!). With that out of the way....... this race was a grade A sh*t show.

Every single person was unhappy at the end - the course was just plain dangerous...but I'll get to that! First of all, the race started 45 minutes late (start time was supposed to be at 6pm). They made all 10,000 runners line up at 5pm. So, for nearly two hours, we stood in 87 degree temps and waited. And waited. It was stunning.

So, at 6:45 - we finally start running. Well, we don't...actually. It takes us 9 minutes to get to the start line... here's why. The "road" we ran on was 12 feet wide. Which may seem like a lot - but it's not. Especially not for 10,000 people... and, here's the best part.... you will not believe this.... you had to do two laps of the course, so the 12 feet wide road, quickly became 6 feet wide to share the road with the 6 minute milers and the 15 minute milers.

Did I mention the roads weren't paved? Because they weren't. It was gravel. With big rocks and occasional holes. I decided at mile 2, as the sun was setting (no, there was really no lighting) that I was just going to power walk the race and focus on finishing it safely.

Here's the best part - at one point, mile 3 for the slow pokes and mile six for the fast guys - the two lanes merged to go over a foot bridge that - NO JOKE - was maybe 5 feet wide - if that. So, we came to a standstill. I'm not kidding. I stood at that footbridge for 10 minutes. People were furious, screaming, pushing. It was not a pretty picture of "the human race". Oh - also? No portapotties on the course - I saw WAY too many p*nises (how do you make that plural?) - I felt like I was back at Angies house at bath time!

I digress.

So, people are literally losing it at the footbridge screaming that they wanted a refund.... turns out that someone was hurt on the five foot wide foot bridge and an ambulance came and got them. Ugh.

So, we're off again after 10 minutes.... and the people that lapped us are screaming "move it, move it, move it..." Holy crap. Seriously? It's not the Boston Marathon. Chill.

Mile four, Mile 5, Mile 6 - all fine. I'm power walking really doing great - passing runners... feeling great and safe and mature that I wasn't obsessed with running - I was obsessed with taking care of myself and having some fun.

Oh - here's my favorite part. Mile 5ish - I see a girl go down. So, there's an organizer next to me and I said - "there's a girl up there who looks like she's hurt" - he says "wha happen?" - which is New York for "excuse me, what did you say, Miss?" I repeat myself. And he says - "oh." and DOES NOTHING! Turns out she was just tying her shoe - but that's not the point!!!!

Did I mention I also ran this with one pupil dilated? It's a long story - but, added to the craziness of the day.

So, not unlike the Olympic Marathon, we finished in a stadium - it was so much fun to finish on a track!!! And - it was lit! And, there were no rocks! Beauty!!! So, finish. Run into Anastasia and quickly tell her that all races aren't like this! We were handed our medal and some hot water and a mushy power bar and sent on our way.

There was a concert - but interestingly, most runners left immediately after the race. A bunch of us talked on the way back to the city - it was so dangerous to have 10,000 runners on a course like this. It's a wonder no one was seriously hurt. We thought MAYBE the course could have handled 5,000. Maybe.

So. The human race. Wow. Glad I did it and glad it's over! :-) Cathy

The Human Race!

So on Sunday, I, and a big chunk of the rest of the world, will be running in the Nike Human Race. It's a relatively flat 10k course and will mark my biggest run in some time. I'm excited about it. Tonight I pick up the race gear. All runners must wear the race tshirt, it's just going to look SOOOOOO neat!! I think this is going to be a very, very cool experience.

I've been in the gym a lot - but find myself on the bike more than anything. That's something that came out of tri-training - I adore doing the random hill course at a challenging level for an hour. There's something I love about saying I bike 21 miles today....!

The weather's starting to turn in NYC - it ALMOST feels like Fall - so, soon enough, I'll be out and about in Central Park. I'll be doing their fall race series - which I just love.

I hope all of you are doing well!!! I will let you know how the race goes!

Did you guys watch the women's marathon? Unreal. Dita blew the others away and at age 38! There's hope for me yet. Ha! How do they still have something left to run a victory lap? I started to wonder if she knew she could quit running! I just can't fathom a 5:25 mile, let alone 26.2 of them. I couldn't even run that pace for a quarter mile.

And Dara Torres in the pool? She's like 41 or something isn't she? These "old" ladies are really impressive. I love the Olympics!

Olympics

Are you guys watching the Olympics? WOW! I love the summer games. Beautiful athletes, strong bodies, determined attitudes. Makes it easy to go to the gym tomorrow.

The Balancing Act

I promise I am still out here. Life has been so very crazy these last few weeks. I started work last week as the Fitness & Group Exercise Manager and I love it. However, it is a balancing act that will require more work. I leave for Dallas this weekend.

I am still getting my miles in, but I have had to compromise a bit and tell myself that 27 miles is close enough to 30 to call it a good week. I am still lifting 3x a week and really working the functional training. I have really enjoyed working on the TRX system of suspension training. I will be certified on that in September.

Tanner started school today so things should get a bit easier to juggle. Between the Brigade, the job, the family, my training, and studying, my eyes look like I am putting in 60+ hour weeks. Oh wait, I am!

I just registered the kids for school and found out their last day is mid-May. So I started to get an idea. Usually the schools have a date that they will count as completing the school year, even though it's a couple weeks before the last day of school. Hmmm....if this date is early enough, perhaps I could make it to Indianapolis in time to run the Mini-Marathon (half) on May 2.

It would be so easy with parents available to babysit, running on my home turf, and an extremely flat course. I might get heat stroke going from this climate to that one, but I'll take my chances.

I'm so excited about the possibility! I'm definitely going to check this out.