One New Thing: Dash To the Finish Line

Well, I ran my first race today! Dash to the Finish Line, a 5K that started at the UN and wound it's way up to central park, to end at Tavern on the Green. It was so much fun! Basically, my goal was to jog the whole way... and I did. So I was a happy girl.

The excitement started yesterday, when I went to the Javitz Convention Center to pick up our t-shirts and numbers. This race kind of kicks off the New York marathon, which happens tomorrow, so all of us were picking up our numbers at the same time. This huge convention center was packed with marathoners from all over the world. Tall and short, skinny and pudgy, tons of different languages... and everybody was so excited, it was really infectious!

Then, Kim and I woke up super early and headed out into the dark, cold morning to run our first race. I think we were both nervous. What if I couldn't run the whole time? Should I bring my coat and try to run with it somehow? How does it all work? It ended up being really straightforward and fun though. They had these staggered starts, where they herd you into groups with similar running speeds. Kim and I got grouped with the slowpokes in the last group, which was fine with me! By the time we started running, I think the fasties in the first group were pretty much finishing the race. We patiently waited for our turn, and started jogging.

It was so strange and exciting to get to run on the blocked-off New York streets.  The 5,000+ of us ran up Avenue of the Americas, and it was lined with people cheering and clapping. What a strange and fun feeling--it made New York feel like a friendly place for once! I can't even imagine how many people will be there for the marathon tomorrow. Lots of the marathon runners came out for the race today dressed in fantastic costumes--we saw sumo wrestlers, geishas, lots of people draped in the flags of their countries, people in duck hats, a very happy man carrying signs about being happy--people really had fun. Lots of kids were running with their parents, too, which was really cute to see.

I think we sped up at the end--I was running really hard when I crossed the finish line. Kim said the announcer yelled her name as she was finishing! Our numbers had tags inside of them that time when you start and finish, and I guess they transmit information like your name and stuff too. And after the race you can look up your number to see what time you got. Very high tech! I finished in 35 minutes and 24 seconds, which I am very happy with. Then we celebrated with some hot chocolate from Wafels and Dinges. Mmmm.

We had so much fun that I think we are going to do another run on Thanksgiving. And we are thinking about training for a 10K now. All that marathon energy is really infectious! Tomorrow Elliot's cub scout troop is handing out water to the marathoners, so I am really looking forward to that.

-Kristin