Starting off the year having to get the medical boards recertification out of the way put a serious damper on my athletic efforts because I was spending all of my scant free time studying. Nonetheless, I planned a “celebration half marathon” for the weekend following the test in which I would return to an old stomping ground (New York City) and blast away all the stress with a rousing 13.1 miler. When I registered, booked and paid for the trip, I had this fantasy about studying on the treadmill as I trained, walking the dogs outdoors in the early spring chill and being at least semi-ready to do that distance. Ha ha! None of that happened. I finished the exam, got on a plane the next day and showed up in New York woefully under-trained. I had done a local 10k (The Rockdale Rambling Run) the weekend before but that was the limit of my distance, and I spent much of that one walking. Even though I did pass the board exam, I never said I was a genius. I may be smart enough for a 400 question test of medical minutiae but I’m also stupid enough to do a half with only a couple of 5ks and a 10k under my belt.
Photo credit to NYRR.org
It was a beautiful 50-degree spring day in Central Park when I gathered together with 7402 other women for my first ever all female race. Deena Kastor ran with us and, of course, won the race when she finished in 1:12:51. I, being so much slower, was on my first lap when she came along for her second lap–but for about 2 seconds we ran side by side. It was pretty cool! Untrained fool that I was, I was much slower and finished two full hours after Deena did due to the considerable walk breaks I took. Nonetheless, it was great fun and really did jettison the emotional detritus from those stressful months of working two jobs while studying for the godawful test.
Here is a photo of me that I’m not allowed to have because I didn’t pay them for it.
I finished smiling, as always, but with a sore Achilles tendon that nagged at me for months afterward until I beat it into submission with stretching and the usual physical therapy exercises.
New York was the 25th state in my “race in all 50 states” quest and I had a wonderful weekend there. I saw the play “The Audience” with Helen Mirren, caught up with some old friends and had some very nice meals, including the post race feast shown below:
Yep. Food is one of the reasons I run.
And so is this:
I love the bling.
Next up: Oregon, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Alabama.
Boldly running where I've never gone before 