A first marathon for AIDS- In Memory of Imette St. Guillen

I was so surprised last week. I did 6 miles over at the Waterfront site, after two weeks of running on my own (due to necessity- being in NYC and also just being bummed).

Just because I'd been missing the waterfront/mall/museum mile runs, on Saturday when I arrived, I said I'd do the run with the slowest group (17 minute miles) just to be on the safe side.  Plus, and this was my real issue, they were doing the 1/3 ratio that I'm in love with.  I did 15 minute miles on the run1walk3, so that's my gig and I'm stickin' with it.  Since they try to keep us at about 1 minute behind our actual pace,  I was supposed to be running 16 min. miles anyhow.

So, why'd we  end up doing 15:30 miles for SIX MILES?  And that's the raw split time, not even counting my partner Mickey's potty break, or the fact that we walked a couple laps due to the heat.  Seriously?  Coach was right- 6 miles was way easier than one!  I wanted to keep running when we were through.  I actually had a problem at one point- I wasn't sweating.  The nicest vendor in front of the National Museum of Natural History gave me a handful of ice, no charge. That was refreshing.

Mickey loved that it felt like we had the city to ourselves.  And it did- no tourists for the first time in a while.  The mall hasn't been killed by the heat, so everything is green, and we run pretty early.  Toward the end we had to slow up to let a HUGE group of 8th graders (said the t-shirts)  cross the street in front of the Grant Statue.

My maintenance runs this week were similarly breezy.  I just took myself up to the Wal-Mart on Rt 1 (hey, it's an easy landmark) and back home. 

Now, I was supposed to be at the Waterfront today to do 7 miles, but I slept in.  No, don't frown at me, don't boo me- I was writing, stuffing, and sealing envelopes for my fundraiser!  So if you're reading this, know that you probably got your letter at the expense of a group run.

I'm making a treat of going to Huntley Meadows park tomorrow to run under that shady canopy instead.  For 7 miles.  And I'm going to move up to a 1/2 because if I can clock 15:30 at a slow 1/3, I need to push up the effort a little. 

 And I'm excited!  Who'd've thought I could do 6 miles at one time so easily?  Man, if I get the $2100 in time, 13.1 is gonna be a piece of cake!