This Morning Melina Ran the Half Marathon in 20 degree weather!

race!

1.) get up at 6:30, go to bathroom five times, eat strawberry pop tart. those things are better than energy bars. none of those inconvenient minerals or protein weighing youd own. stare outside. dark and windy. put on 4 layers of clothing: green sleeveless shirt, orange fluorescent turtleneck, red fleece, purple windbreaker. Attach timing device, the "ChampionChip," to shoe.

2.) stumble out of the house, take the subway to west 86th and jog across the park to the start line.

3.) you know it's going to be a long morning when you have to chip the ice out of your water cup. 19 degrees and windy. fingers numb. feet numb. race director tries to instil some spirit into us. he is fairly effective. i take my fingers out of the fingers of the gloves and ball my hands up inside my gloves.

4.) started out at a nice slow pace because i was behind 1000 people. so forced to stay at 9:15 minute/mile pace for the first couple miles. no, literally 1000 people. then gradually started picking it up. and -- hey. how was I at 36:00 for 4 miles? wow, i guess this is going better than I thought. stay easy, stay easy. I get a huge throbbing pain in my right hip, the protestations of an understretched muscle. quiet, muscle. if i tried to stretch you this morning, you would snap. trust me. i stopped at about the 5th mile and stretched out the hip and it quieted down a little bit. all kinds of runners. they keep yelling at everyoen to stay to the left of the cones or theyll be dq'ed, but every 3rd person is runningm to the right of the cones. thus, in the crowd, you cant see ahead of you, and trip over the cones and kick them halfway across the street by accident. kind of dangerous! okay 6 miles around the park and still feeling great. the old cross country instincts kick in and I'm passing a lot of people, particularly when cresting the hills, as my old cross country coach taught us.

5.) let's pick it up a little more. holding steady at around 8:40 miles (the goal had been 9). only start to feel like crap half way through the secondlap, rigth when dad says i'm supposed to be picking it up, according to running "experts." huh. what do they know. crap! okay, I pick it up a *little*. then a little more. okay, now my right foot's crampign a little because my new shoes aren't quite broken in enough, still stiff. oh well, just two more miles.

6.) Finish just under 1:53, the Urban Caballero is there hollering, and holds me up as I stagger back west across the park. I remember to return my microchip from off my shoe. the support staff is really nice, and I'm totally trouncing this course.

7.) go home. take very hot shower. eat gigantic plate of waffles. feel pleased with self. put on race shirt. take nap.