Loved it, loved it, loved it!

This is what 20,000 runners looks like (or a portion of them, anyway). I’m in the aqua top and black running skirt, 837th row, 69th from the left.

Goal for the race: would have been happy with 1:20:something but was really drooling for 1:19:59 or less.

Out of bed at 5:40, did the usual pre-race rituals: shower, huge glass of water, cup o’ coffee, eat, poop, dress, pin number on outfit, chip on shoe, mess with hair for inordinate amount of time – then at 7 we left to pick up Lara.

Nick drops us off at the starting area at 7:30, leaving us in the midst of 20,000 people, which oddly enough, was not at all as crazy scary as I’d expected! In fact, the only time I felt the enormity of it was on the first downhill dip where you could see everyone in the far distance coming up the other side…it looked like thousands of stationary heads stuck in tableau, then eventually you see the wave is moving en masse.

Anyway, Lara and I immediately tackle the port-o-potty lines, which again, considering the turnout (19,111 finishers) weren’t bad at all. Then we find Matt holding his lime green “RW Forums” sign, next to Marianne and Leo, waiting for other forumites to appear, though we moved on soon after so we didn’t get to meet anyone else.

One more porta-potty stop, then gear-check and it was time to seed ourselves. We were aiming for 8min-ish miles, and Matt had warned us to seed aggressively, so we stood near the 7min sign. I didn’t get a warmup mile because the amount of people finally seemed too daunting to try and find a clear enough area in which to run, so I bounced up and down a bit.

Someone sang a terrible rendition of Star Spangled Banner (because singing in one key is just so boring), then the mayor spoke, and we were off!

Lara and I stayed together for the first 5 miles, but when she stopped for water a second time (I didn’t take in anything this race), I continued on my own. I felt really strong for the first half (though my ankle was a low-level bother for the later miles) and was reminded of why I like longer races: slower pace, just more time doing it.

As far as “crowd support”, I never pay much attention to it, but I did see one fragile old guy, happy as hell, waving from a hospital bed parked on the sidewalk while 5 people in hospital scrubs stood next to him, cheering us on.

Eye Of The Tiger was played ad nauseum (or else I just heard it once and then couldn’t get it out of my head) and there was that one guy, alone with his guitar and amp, strumming Stairway To Heaven which is a really great song if you’re stoned and lying on the couch, but maybe not so invigorating for a race, so I laughed and wished he’d play Eye Of The Tiger.

The course itself is excellent; except for the turns going around City Hall, it’s a straight shot down to the Naval Yard and all those people get spread out pretty well, so it wasn’t difficult to keep pace.

Around mile 8 I started messing with my head, “oh look, there’s an ambulance, I wonder what it’d be like to stop right now and get in it?” The feeling passed. In the 9th mile, near the Naval Yard, I was happy to hear a couple guys behind me, “It’s just a quarter mile after the Naval Yard sign” and the other guy says, “Cool, that’s just a lap around the track, right?” which somehow made me feel better.  Funny that, because I had my Garmin on and knew exactly how much I had left to go. Maybe just realizing there were two people who could still talk was soothing.

I see the Navy Yard sign and pick up my pace, then the finish banner comes into sight and I’m thinking, “GOD DAMN IT I WILL GET MY GOAL!!” and I was not denied – crossing the line at 1:19:23! Woohoo! Last half mile was 7:16.

Lara crossed a minute after (the girl kicked ass!) and we got our food bags, met up with Matt (who came in at 1:07:05!!), Marianne and Leo again and jabbered for awhile until it was time to meet Lara’s man, Jeff, who drove down to take us home (thank you again Nick and Jeff for the primo chauffeur duty).

So I am feeling great for Steamtown, this is where I wanted to be before starting official marathon training in June. Now all I have to do is take a few days off completely and hopefully my ankle annoyance will disappear entirely, then one more little 5K in a couple weeks and my Spring Racing Season will officially be closed.

Was quite a good season actually…ups, downs, freakouts and doubts, but some good numbers in the end. And with that, I am off to enjoy what’s left of this not-so-lazy Sunday.

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