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.

So I’m thinking of doing things differently this race. Instead of my usual scurrying/weaving around slower people at the beginning, I would like to not waste that energy, instead keeping myself contained, then speeding up as an opening occurs. The problem with that is I don’t trust myself to be able to surge later and make up for lost time…will I have the energy? This method scares me but I’m sure it’s the best way to run the race.

Cluster-fuck in mind, I have two goals; one that I can live with and one I think I could get if everything went hunky-dory. Here’s hoping either of those occur.

Meanwhile, my ankle thing that made itself known exactly a month ago (and which I’ve finally accepted as my first real injury) has just now stopped being a source of worry. It’s a tendon strain that didn’t want to heal, which wasn’t helped since I wouldn’t take 2 consecutive days off in a row. I finally got more serious with icing and ibuprofen (600 twice a day for 4 days) and started wearing an ankle wrap at home so I wouldn’t inadvertently point my foot, which aggravated it.

My plan was to get through Broad St. and then if I needed to see a doctor, do it right afterwards since my racing season would pretty much be over anyway (save for one Garmin-less 5K I’d like to do mid-May). Looks like that won’t be necessary (whew!) but with every little niggle and twinge I’ve been dealing with, it’s made me insanely grateful for the fact that I can run at all. Every step is a beautiful thing.

So as far as running, last week after my nice tempo run, I took it pretty easy. I managed to get a 13-miler in last Sunday, which because of races and ankle crap, was the longest I’d gone in all of April! This was unusual for me, because I really enjoy going longer, but I had to be prudent.

In the end, I came out with 44 miles for the week, 10 less than I’d originally scheduled, but the most I’ve run this month. It’s a pain in the ass to be hobbled!!

Yesterday I did my last pre-race speed session (ala Tinman), whose advice I highly respect (though I’m only following the last week of his advice). So I did 4xmile at race pace, but added a minute to the recoveries since that advice was given to a faster runner. It was fun to do them at 10M pace, like doing tempo intervals, so it didn’t feel anything like a speed session.

Today and tomorrow I’m up for 6, then Friday has 5 with 3 200m strides and then a day off.

Lara and I will hit the expo on Friday where we’ll each get an exciting bonus gift since the race is sponsored by Blue Cross and Lara and I are both members. OMG…it’s a free pair of Blue Cross socks! Can’t wait.

Then Saturday it’s pasta dinner with a lovely group of forum friends (oh, how I love those forum get-togethers) and Sunday, the race. But I’ll pop in here before then. Who knows, those Blue Cross socks might deserve an entry of their own.

I thought I’d made good progress, but Saturday’s race was yet another eye opener in that it became clear to me that I’m a constant overstrider, my shin comes straight out in front of me, ensuring a heel landing. Not what I thought I was doing! I thought I was a mid-foot runner, lol.

But having these photos is like a treasure and I hope all of you get the opportunity to see yourself in pictures or video, because there’s really nothing better (save hiring a coach, which will eventually be my next step) than seeing yourself objectively and from afar.

For any disappointment I may have had in realizing I’ve been running inefficiently (overstriding is like running with brakes on), I’m kind of thrilled actually, because when I fix it, it’ll be a speed/economy freebie. Plus my running photos will look tons sexier.

So it was very timely that on the evening after my race, a fellow forumite, Moth, posted a link to a NYT article on Sara Hall complete w/video and illustration of running drills. Just what I needed! So Sunday night I played around at home with the drills and yesterday went out on a run concentrating completely on landing forefoot/midfoot. What an important difference (for me).

The byproduct of keeping my feet underneath me, besides the lack of “braking”, was that my posture was more upright, less leaning at the waist (as you can see me doing in the photo above), so I didn’t have to think about pulling my shoulders back to straighten up.

It was also interesting to revert to my old way for a few strides than the new way and compare the difference. Afterwards, as I cooled down, I did some of those drills again, to reinforce the feeling and to scare the people walking around me on the sidewalk.

I’m lucky to be without any calf pain today, as that’s the usual price you pay for switching landings and I ran this new way for 7 miles (you’re supposed to be more gradual when you do that sort of thing, but you all know I’m a freak). Anyway, I plan on working on it for as long as it feels comfortable and today’s a 9-miler.

Other than that, the next race is Broad St. and while I thought that was my goal race at the beginning of the season (at Coach Ladd’s suggestion, the coach I had one session with last Fall), as Winter dissolved and my training kicked up, I knew that the Clean Air 5K was my one true Spring goal, since it had so much importance to me in terms of first race significance and improvement.

That said, of course I’m looking forward to Broad St. but the potential of it being a big ole cluster-fuck (with 16,000 finishers last year) is making me think “go with the flow” and just have a good time. It’ll be an automatic PR since it’s my first 10-mile race and of course I want to do well, but I don’t have the butterflies I had before last Saturday’s race and it’s a relief not to be all freaked out about sticking in speed sessions between now and next week.

In fact, speedwise, last Saturdays’ race is my speedwork for the week, so I’ll do a tempo, but no intervals. Next week I have 4xmile on tap and then the race. In the meantime, I want to take it easy and work on this forefoot/midfoot thing, so hopefully, my updated form will be ready and waiting for my slither down Broad St. Sunday after next.