No breakfast, no coffee, 1/2 mile sprint, 1 hour of stressing...good start so far, right? Michael and I took a few minutes waiting in the port-a-potty line before starting our run so we were like 7 minutes behind the race clock when we started. The weather was awesome, 60 degrees F and mostly sunny. Our race plan was to go 11 minute miles and finish in 7 hours. You start at the 90th St entrance in the park and run north to 102nd st, turn around and come back and then start 9 inner loops of the park (each loop being 4 miles). Yes, I said NINE loops. Remember, this is a 60K, which is 37.2 miles, which is roughly 1 and 1/2 marathons. After the first mile we ran into Matt, a super fast runner that used to work at Conde Nast with me. He ran 1/2 of the 1st loop with us and then split off. Then we ran into CREW peeps John and Christine and their horse sized puppy at 102nd St for a quick hello. As we wrapped up lap 1 I decided I'd give full disclosure to Michael on some issues I've been having. I told him that I've been having pretty bad dizzy spells lately and have even fallen over before. Not that anything would happen today, but, if I should fall over and start having seizures I thought Mikey should know what to tell the medics. He was strangely OK with that info. (Writing this a month later, the dizzy spells are now magically all gone.)
Lap 1 down. I was STARVING since I missed breakfast so I sucked down a few pretzels at the aid station. There were 2 aid stations roughly 2 miles apart which was nice. I'd take water and pretzels or chips at the start/finish aid station and then gatorade at the other aid station on the west side. Lap 2 down, this isn't so bad. Lap 3 down, still not so bad. On lap 4 we picked up CREW members Neil and Jesse, who I haven't seen in ages. They both did a lap and a half with us which was the like miles 18 to 24 and I was starting to fade. Like just about every race I've done this year I was racing on ZERO fitness and no training. I wanted to chat and catch up with the guys but I was also starting to shut down inside. It's my body's way only way to get back at me for this abuse. So I didn't talk all that much, hardly at all. Mikey, on the other hand, OMG! The boy can chat like all get-out!
Let me break here and say Michael is one of the nicest, well intending, considerate, and well spoken people I know or have ever known. I take great comfort in knowing that Michael exists because this guy is so nice and altruistic that I can go to bed at night knowing it is OK for me to be evil to my core. For every ounce of distaste and disgust I have against humanity, he has 2 ounces of faith and hope in mankind. There is balance in the universe! His ability to gab is second to none, and I must say quite impressive. Even with a non-respondent running partner he could fill the air with his thoughts and ramblings. I feel honored and privileged to have experienced such a master at work, it was transcendental. Luckily, I grew up with 4 sisters which enabled me to master some skills of my own - to effectively go deaf on demand.
Laps 6, 7, and 8 progressively sucked more and more for me. I was sucking wind, taking walk breaks up some of the hills. My sister Jen and her fiance Roger came in to watch the race and I was glad to see them on each lap. Michael's girl, Alison, also came in to cheer on Chatty Cathy, and even though I didn't know her all that well I was glad to see her on each lap too! The final lap I remember clearly. Michael could have easily took off a few laps earlier with a stronger pace but insisted on finishing together. That was cool of him. Or, perhaps he knew someone talking to himself with no one around would look insane so he wanted my dead body to continue marching along next to him so he could keep talking. Anyway, I remember the last lap not being so bad except for when I had to get moving again after one or two of the walk breaks, that was excruciating pain.
Michael and I finished in 7 hours 27 minutes which is a 12 min/mile pace. I swore on that day I would never do another race I didn't train for again. But I'm flying down to Florida next week to do the Goofy Challenge in Disney, a 1/2 marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. But seriously, after that, no more races with no training. It makes them less fun. Special thanks to everyone that came out to join us on that day, it meant a lot to see you even if I wasn't able to talk much. And Michael, seriously, thanks for being out there man. It would have taken me over 8 hours for sure if I was going solo. The evil thoughts I was wishing on you while you were talking took my mind off the pain. You're a saint and a savior, don't ever change a thing. Out!
