#41

Disclaimer: This is me changing the rules. Why? Because I can. #41 originally was: "do a pull-up". I've never been able to do a pull-up. I never will be able to do a pull-up. So, I'm changing #41 to "run a half marathon". Conveniently, this is something I've already done. 


So, around Thanksgiving of last year, I was trying to catch a Metro-North train from the 125th street station so that I could go home and eat turkey. The M60 bus from LaGuardia had been delayed in traffic, leaving me with mere seconds to spare before my train left. Because I'm me (and I pack light - for easy running), I decided to chance it. I bounded off of the bus two stops early and sprinted across 2 city blocks and up 2 flights of stairs.

My lungs almost exploded.

It was there that I decided that I needed to run more. Somehow that turned into me running a half marathon 11 months later. October 4th was the big day. It is a road race named for Grete Waitz (a Norwegian who won the NYC marathon 9 times!).

Unfortunately, my sister-in-law Krista was unable to run because of a foot injury. Thankfully, she served as official race photographer (a job I have held for the past 2 years).

       

My brother, Austin, and I get ready for the race. (Our pre-race was un-officially sponsored by Halls, as you can see)

About 10 minutes before the race started, I moved into my starting corral. I start wondering whether or not this was a good idea (I'm leaning towards not). With a singing of two national anthems, we were off.

My first lap around the park goes well. Krista tells me that I went faster than anticipated (we were measuring my times against glacial movements).

Austin finished 00:00:15 behind his personal best time (which is pretty damn good). Ironically, he slowed down in the last bit because he thought he had his personal best in the bag. I would tell a little story about "assuming" things, but he can kick my butt.

 

Post race pose, or why I need to stop giving the "metal sign" in photos. I was feeling fine here. Little did I know that things were about to go south. Fast. 

 Here is my post-race breakfast. Long story short, it did not stay my post-race breakfast for long. After the entertaining ride home, Krista gave me some sport beans and put me to bed for a little nap. Two hours later, I awoke (still in my running clothes) completely refreshed. Since all I'd eaten all day was sport beans and Gatorade, we had an awesome Greek dinner.

All in all, a solid day. However, I do not think I will be running that far anytime soon... unless I'm being chased.

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