Cat Wants a Medal!: DID IT!

And with that, my first 10K has been accomplished, pretty well at that!

Race Recap, shall we?

5:24AM. I wake up to Married with Children on the TV. Shoot out of bed and get ready since I know my husband won't begin to stir until the 6:00AM alarm goes off and I have tons to do.

6:20AM. We are on the road, making perfect time.

6:36AM. Over the GWB already and parking...in a lot that's about 5-7 miles away from the starting line...(this is where things go...out of my control and I can't stand it).

7:00AM. Still waiting on line for a shuttle to come pick us up from the parking lot. There are about 100 people ahead of us. Finally, a caravan of buses come.

7:20AM. Get to the race start/registration area. I'm optimistic, but it looks like this:

Ok, not so bad.

What you can't really tell from this picture, is the line from that middle tent extends far beyond my cameras wide-angle view.

7:45AM. Race Start Time...We're still waiting to get our bibs. For the race we signed up for months ago.

8:00AM. They announce that the race is not going to start until 8:30. BECAUSE THERE ARE ABOUT 2,200 PEOPLE STILL ON LINE TO PICK UP BIBS. Oh, and a ton still left in the parking lot waiting for buses.

8:20AM. We are finally just waiting for the race to begin. We kill time with pre-race photos.


Hah! Somebody's totally not awake yet.

"Is my bib on straight?"..."Yup."

People still getting dropped off, still waiting for bibs. Line is longer than ever!

8:35ish?AM. We are OFF! Quite uneventfully. I'm actually not sure if people just started running on their own, but we followed and quickly we make a turn and suddenly we are on the ramp for the George Washington Bridge (Lower Level).

Least amount of traffic, ever.


Blurry Tunnel Shot. Boo.


Camera break. You can see the husband glaring at me to keep moving. He's training for the olympics aka his company's corporate 5K.

He took the camera away, but got this shot of me. Who has two thumbs and is running a 10K over a landmark?

Why are my arms so red? Really need some Photoshop up on this computer.

Stop speeding in the work zone, Flash.

AWESOME view.

This was all miles 1-2. I feel like we were keeping a decent pace, actually an enjoyable one. I would know exactly the pace if Runkeeper didn't go crazy. More on that later. We continued into Palisades Park (I think?) and we decided to run past the first water station.

Definitely being hung on a wall somewhere.

At this point, the camera had to be safely tucked away in my side holster, that was super annoying to run with. I was way too sweaty from the humidity to hold a camera.

There was a split for the 5K and 10K. I have to admit, I was extremely JEALOUS of the 5K runners at this point. I was really sweaty and thirsty and just wanted to lay on the grass. But we trudged along, finding the first mile marker of the race...Mile 4! I was thrilled. I COULD TOTALLY DO TWO MORE MILES! And change.

The best is, after mile 4 we seemed to be traveling all downhill! HOW EXCITING! Until we turned around at 4.5 and had to go back.....

Took a quick break for some water and slowly jogged up the hill. It wasn't steep, just CONSTANT. I saw the Mile 5 sign and thought YES I'M SO CLOSE. Which kept translating in my head as "You only have about a quarter mile to go!" I don't know why. So that last mile sucked. Until we turned to go down hill to the finish line/post party area.

AND I SAW IT.

AROUND SOMEONE'S NECK.

THEN MORE PEOPLE.

And that's when I started running what I believe was a 7-8 minute pace to the finish line.

Well, what I thought was the finish line. Silly me, of course the finish line would be a sharp right angle 70 feet away. Clock time said 1:13:06. I think the chip time will be around 1:10. Which I am THRILLED about!

I GOT A MEDAL.

CAT GOT A MEDAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Something to hang. Somewhere. To prove that I RAN A GAZILLION six FRIGGING MILES AT THE almost CRACK OF DAWN IN THE UNBEARABLE not really HEAT OF THE SUMMER spring. I've already got my grandma story mapped out.

We both got medals. So did the first 2700 other people that finished.

We grabbed our free shit (Vitamins, shaving cream, insect repellent lotion, muscle milk and a local race guide) and headed over to...A LONG SHUTTLE LINE! YAY MY FAVES.

Let's talk about Runkeeper.

Actually, let's look at what Runkeeper thinks I did today.

Olde Faithful, ye let me down!

The only thing that is correct is the time. Which is good, because we were sitting around for a while after the race before I remembered to turn it off, which is why I think we did a 1:10ish.

Miles 1-2 (I think?) I ran out into the Hudson River apparently.

I ran 8 miles overall.

With a 9:29 average page...LOLZ.

So, I have no idea how I did. Again.

But who cares? There was beer to get. We headed over to Bronx Ale House for a post-race party brunch date.

Unfortunately...I REALLY WANTED THEIR CORN FRITTERS, GARLIC FRIES AND WINGS.

Frittata it is.

But I had beer. REAL beer. And it was glorious.

Reppin' my hood!

Who will prevail?!


I love how swollen my eyes are in this pic. And that it looks like I'm singing an Irish drinking song and swinging my glass around. YES, the medal came with me.