Hello. It is only 12pm on a Sunday and I feel like I already went through a full day.

I spent much more time than planned last night creating the perfect 5 mile race playlist for the Poland Spring 5 Mile Marathon Kickoff race. I based it off the great playlist I have been using during my training runs but amped it up a bit and changed some things around. I removed songs that I knew I would miss but were not perfect for this particular race. I listened to lots of songs and tested them out. It was a lot of work but in the end I wound up with this:

I included the genre list in here because I thought it was hilarious that Girl Talk was labeled “Gangsta.” Haha!

When I finally had it, I knew it was the perfect playlist in the perfect order to keep me feeling good throughout the 5 miles. The total time for the music was about 55 minutes, which I felt was ambitious yet doable. I figured I would get to hear all the music; if I was making a really great pace, all but one song.

Around 11pm, I went to bed, content with the playlist and with enough time to get a good night’s sleep before my 6:35 alarm time. And then I couldn’t fall asleep. I was jittery and shaky and my jaw was killing me and as the time went by I kept thinking about how many hours of sleep I would be getting before the race if I fell asleep right then. My mind was racing. Maybe it was because of my 2 hour late afternoon nap that day or maybe it was race jitters or maybe it was just one of those nights. Eventually I decided that I was too hot to sleep and some AC would help. After I got that on, a squeaking sound started in the wall. I moved to the living room to try and sleep there, but the sound was even louder in there. The sound was coming from IN the wall between the bedroom and living room. I started to really freak out. Eventually, the sound stopped and at some point I fell asleep.

I woke up on my own 5 minutes before my alarm and jumped out of bed. in there!

A few minutes after 8:30, the race finally began. I didn’t hear any starting gun or sound, but it must have happened. As a result, I have no idea how long after the official start I reached the start line. Once I got to the start, I pressed play on my iPod and start on my Polar HRM. For once in my life, I did not try to weave around people and find a clearing. I just enjoyed the start of the race and knew I could always speed up later on.

I looked down at my watch a minute later to get an idea of my pace, and the screen read CHECK FOOTPOD.

Shit! I forgot to start my footpod, which is how my distance and pace gets tracked. I started to get upset and annoyed at myself. In my mental checklist, I never once factored starting my foot pod into it. While waiting so long for the race to start in my corral, it didn’t even occur to me. Damn.

At this point I had 3 options:

1. Pull myself over to the side and turn my footpod on (requires a 5 second button press)
2. Keep running to not lose any time but beat myself up the entire time and lament not tracking my speed, distance and heart rate
3. Keep running to not lose any time, enjoy the race, stop caring about something so inconsequential and just have fun

Although my tendency is to lean towards option #2, based on past experience in running and in life, I opted for choice #3. In the time I had spent worrying about what to do, I already missed taking in the beauty of Central Park in the fall and enjoying the sites in my run up to that point. As soon as I made the decision not to stress, I noticed just how gorgeous my surroundings were. I realized how perfect my music choices were and I felt great. I started smiling and literally did not stop for the next 2 miles!

I did think that other runners/spectators might think I am a crazy lady for running, clearly alone with no friends surrounding me, with a huge goofy smile plastered on my face. But I just felt so great and was so happy to be there, I didn’t care!

The first song, Dreaming of You by The Coral, went by very quickly. I couldn’t even believe how fast it ended, I must have been so sweeped up in the beginning of the race and my HRM issues. Next up was a Girl Talk song, Here’s the Thing, which immediately put me in a great mood, and that is when my smiling began. I couldn’t help but mouth the words, wishing I could just sing out loud! Especially one line in particular that I can’t say on the blog. But Melissa didn’t impress the other runners when she did it, so I decided it would be a bad idea for me to sing as well.

By the way, here is the race course:

This was my first time running the big loop! I want to do it more when the weather warms up, it is gorgeous.

Back to the race. OAR’s Hey Girl always makes me happy when I run and today was no different. My smile continued. And I love the way the park smells. I was running at a decent pace and not pushing myself at all. I was breathing carefully and felt no pain. The weather, so cold while waiting, felt perfect and I removed my jacket and tied it around my waist. I don’t remember which of these events came first, the mile 1 marker or my current favorite running song, Say Hey (I Love You) by Michael Franti (who I saw in concert with Counting Crows in August), but both perked me up big time!

When I saw the mile 1 marker, I could not believe it! It was, without a doubt, the easiest mile I have ever ran in my life. Total opposite from my 1 mile race last month, huh?

The clock at this point said 14 min something. I had no idea how many minutes I began after the race actually started, so I decided to use this time for my starting point and keep track of how many minutes my miles were from there.

Hard Candy by the Counting Crows is always a lot of fun to run and mouth lyrics to. Especially the lines that go . . . actually no. Every line is fun to run to. Try it sometime. I tried to alternate genre of my songs, so after Hard Candy was another Girl Talk song, Shut the Club Down. This song is so much fun! I only added it to my running playlist last week but look forward to many more runs with it. It made me feel great, smile some more, enjoy mile 2 and not care about my HRM.

Help was next! I had the idea to find an upbeat Beatles song for my run last night and if you have ever seen Love in Vegas or listened to the CD, the remastered songs are awesome. And my best friend Emily was in that show for 3 years — in fact, her boyfriend did a rollerblading routine during Help in that show, so whenever I hear the song, I always think of him skating up and down the ramps and flipping in the air. Help is fast and fun and quick. During the song I battled a hill, so I really did need Help!

I’m not sure which came first, the next Girl Talk song (Once Again) or the mile 3 mark, but I decided to do something I had never done before: take water from a water station! I was started to feel a little blah and needed a pick me up. I tossed a tiny sip to avoid any cramps, threw the cup in the garbage and was back on my way. At this point, my right hip started acting up, but it wasn’t so bad that it affected my pace. More of a nuisance than anything. But the time at mile 2 was 10 minutes after my mile 1 time, so I knew I was keeping a good pace!

The next song was Einstein on the Beach, one of my favorite Counting Crows songs to run to. I used to have it earlier in my playlist, so it was nice to hear it later on today. The song has one of the best beats of all the Counting Crows’ songs. Best lines to mouth/sing out loud to during my early morning runs when no one is around me? “The world begins to disappear, the worst things come from inside here.” Love it.

I interrupt this wordy post to show you a picture of the very nice race t-shirt:

OK back to the main event: The race was definitely becoming more challenging by this point. My smiles were gone and I was just trying to get through it. Dave Matthews Band’s Alligator Pie (Cockadile) came on at this point, and as excited as I had been for this song and it’s intense energy and beat, I barely remember hearing it. I must have been really struggling at that point if I wasn’t able to enjoy or even take much notice of the song.

Luckily, the next song was one I really needed to hear: Say Hey (I Love You), again! Being my favorite running song and easiest way to get my spirits up, I knew I would need it twice in this race. I do wish I split the two instances up a little further because I felt like I just heard it, but it is OK! I felt pretty good and started smiling again. Then I saw n official race photographer and stared right at his lens with a giant smile on my face. That picture BETTER come out! I am never in any race pictures! I began to wonder how many other photographers I passed without even realizing! Next up was another Counting Crows song, Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby. Counting Crows songs are just so upbeat and fun to run and sing to!

Sometime during this song I saw the water station signifying the approaching 4 mile marker. I became SO happy at this point seeing that there was about to be just 1 mile left in my 5 mile race, 4 completed. I started thinking about how just a few months ago I told the boy, after some unsuccessful attempts at running that running was simply not for me. My hip hurt, my knee hurt, my chest hurt and breathing was difficult. Then I had a successful but challenging 25 minute run, which was an amazing accomplishment for me! After that, I kept with it, and here I am a few months later not only running in a 5 mile race, but feeling really great at mile 4!

I decided to grab another quick sip of water at the station, only this time it was a little harder to quickly make my way back. Oh, well. I approached the 4 mile mark (again, about 10 minutes after mile 3) and almost immediately my bad knee failed me. The pain was sudden and intense as I realized I could barely bend my leg. My legs had started hurting as well, and I had to really slow down. I think it was a combination of all the hills in Central Park and my slightly faster than usual pace that did me in. That and the fact that my knee pain usually starts at around 4.5 miles.

I stopped feeling as great and I just wanted to finish. Each recognizable spot during the race brought me a sense of comfort — the crossing the 102nd street transverse, seeing 5th avenue on my left, seeing Essex House (right near Core Fusion) on Central Park South. And now I finally saw the Time Warner Center on my left, and knew I only had 7 blocks to go. The banana guy was near me, and once again I thought about how hot he must be in that banana!

This race finishes at the NYC Marathon finish line by Tavern on the Green. I wanted to speed up so I could get this race over with and finish strong, but my knee was having none of it. My breathing was also getting more difficult. And a torturous uphill that approached. I hadn’t noticed the hills being particularly bad during the race, which was strange since it is Central Park! But here I felt it. My upbeat song, Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That by Robert Randolph was uplifting but successful in speeding me up. I do believe that if it wasn’t for my debilitating patella femoral pain, I could have sped up and finished by the end of this song. Since that was not the case, my final playlist song, Lord of Tranz – Sanctificum by DJ Tiesto came on.

I put this song last because I knew that if I got to it, I would need it to give me the final boost I needed and push me through the finish line as best I could. I decided to do my best to sprint but the course had narrowed and I was squished with a lot of other runners here. I sped up as best I could before the finish line but a true sprint was impossible. One minute into this song (perfect indicator of pace, huh!), I crossed the finish line strong, proud and, once again, with a huge smile on my face!

I was smiling for myself — look how much I had accomplished! I was smiling for the official race cameras — would I finally make it into a photo? I was smiling for the boy — who came with my camera and strict instructions to take my photo as I ran through the finish line.

The boy was to recognize my approach by my hot pink headband.

A few seconds before I finished, the banana guy finished and the announcer made some joke about how some people here are bananas. It was a funny joke (clearly I killed its delivery/message) and I laughed and kept that smile straight through the finish line. But the boy was distracted by the banana as well. While he didn’t take a picture of him (too bad!), he also missed my finish line cross.

However, I saw him in his great finish line spot. I was so impressed that he grabbed such a great spot and I smiled right at him as I crossed. But he was looking straight past me. I walked over to him, stood in front of him, and tapped him on the shoulder. Boo. My bright pink headband failed to catch his attention and the race was over. So I made him take a picture of me then.

Here I am right afer the finish line (see the boy’s great spot!), post race glow!

I am kinda bummed that my placement of the boy at the finish line failed to result in a photo of me (same thing happened with Rae at my first 5K). Oh well, he tried his best! It really is hard because so many people cross the finish line at once.

So the race was finished! I felt really, really amazing! Yes, my knee was killing me and I couldn’t bend it and could barely walk. Yes, I was freezing. But I set a goal for myself after my 1 mile race, and that goal was to run at a comfortable pace and enjoy myself. I am happy to say this goal was achieved!

I felt so good during most of this race. Running 5 miles was not too hard at all! I do need to work on getting stronger (ahem, Core Fusion) in my legs so I don’t suffer as much leg pain from running going forward. I am SO happy I ran in this race and was able to take part in the NYC Marathon kickoff event!

OH! I almost forgot to discuss my official time! That’s because I am so much less nutty about speedy times after my 1 mile experience! But I am so happy to announce that I did awesome! Running at  comfortable pace the entire time, my official chip time for 5 miles is 51:19. That is an average 10:15 mile! I am so happy!

Race pictures are up on the site, now, and once again I am not in any. There are so few photos are all! There is this one with banana guy. But really, why bother having ptofessional photographers along the course if you’re only going to put up a few pictures?

I passed on the delicious chocolate chip bagel that saved me after the 5th Avenue Mile because the boy and I had a delicious brunch in mind. Brunch turned into breakfast when we realized it was  too early for brunch places to be open, and we enjoyed a fantastic meal at a diner! We split an egg quesadilla and a belgian waffle. Mmmmmm….

As cold as I was before and after the race, as much as I declared loudly and to anyone who would listen that this race would signify the end of my outdoor running for the year . . . well, racing is addicting. Achieving goals is fun and gives working out a short term purpose. And it feels SO great when you cross that finish line. So . . .

I registered for another race! The boy and I will be running in the Race to Deliver 4 mile race on November 22. Since I have an intense fear and hatred of the cold, the plan is to cab it to the start line and arrive 15 minutes before race start. As soon as the race is finished, cab it right back home! Yes, I am a baby when it comes to being cold. But now I have another race to look forward to. And 4 miles seems like the perfect distance — it is a nice distance but not so much that it will kill my knee. And I get to run it with the boy (who couldn’t run today’s for work reasons).

My knee is still pretty bad. I’ve been icing it. Also, my right arm is killing me. My right arm is my good arm (the left had the injury) so I really hope this is nothing serious! How did I even hurt it? I also did fine without my HRM! I was mostly disappointed because I was hoping to check its accuracy with the known 5 miles, but I’m pretty confident in its readings and know that any issues are due to my calibration errors. I do plan to recalibrate on a real track as soon as I can get to one, although it likely won’t be until next spring. It definitely felt freeing not being tempted to look down at my wrist at all during the race. It helped me to enjoy the run and just take it for what it was — a fun event. The miles came and went and why do I need to know exactly how fast I am going or how long I have until the next mile? It is definitely necessary when training, but during a race I have to say my experience was heightened without using it! I do plan to use it in future races because it is a great tool, but now I know I can get by without looking at it and have a terrific time, which is how I plan to do it.

Anyway, I’m going to the Seattles from Thursday to Sunday to see a brother, a Mallory and a puppy, and I have writing class until late Wednesday, so I won’t be around much this week to post blogs. I do have a post about gym memberships and a fun photo shoot I was part of, so I will be back at least once more this week!

I am still in shock that I ran in a 5 mile race and did a good job! Have you ever accomplished something you at first thought was not for you/you could never do?

Thanks friends!

Edited to add: I made it into a race photo after all!

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