Sunday, December 14, 2008

nyrr holiday 4 miler.


yesterday i ran the new york road runner holiday four miler and it was very, very cold. i think it was even colder than the 10k in long beach last month; my teeth didn't stop chattering until the third mile... when i started the race, i couldn't feel my legs moving, so i didn't feel tired, but it was also hard to move fast. despite that, i ran an alright race... i placed 586 out of 4878, 108 out of the 2709 women and 30 out of the 1118 runners in my age group.

when i woke up for the race i was wondering 'why do i do this?' i mean, why get up at 6am on a freezing saturday in december? why skip an awesome holiday party the night before, just to be rested for the next morning's run? i don't have to, so why do i? these thoughts drained my energy as i did my pre-run rituals and walked to the train.

i got on the 6 at union square and this guy sat down across from me. he was also in running gear, and when he saw the chip on my shoe he gave me a big smile and a good morning. immediately i thought, this is why i run. and as more and more race-bound runners got on the train uptown, that thought only intensified. by 103rd, when we all got off and treked toward the park in that silent runner comraderie, all doubts as to 'why?!' were erased.

there was a hill at the finish that we had to walk up if we wanted to go back around and collect our bags or cheer on the rest of the runners... heading up, we were walking into sunlight, and all i could see were about 50 runners siliohetted in the morning sun, lingering steam from the exerstion of the run hanging over them... the scene was so beautiful and i thought, this is why i run.

(thank you so much amy, for bundling up and coming out to see the start and the finish! xo.)

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