A Staten Island Ferry Tale

Yes, I stole that title from Sex and the City.
What better way to mourn the end of a vacation filled with wine, beer, amazing weather and views, than to go to Staten Island at 7 am on a Sunday.

I started to wonder on the flight back from Sonoma if Mike and I were a little crazy to do a half marathon the day after our return to NYC with jet lag and recovering livers. But it turns out a week of rest did us both some good!

The Staten Island half course was great. Amazing views of the Manhattan skyline, not too many hills, although the ones that were there were strategically at hard points of the run, and just one out and back. I even saw Mike as he sprinted toward the finish :o)

There were a lot of locals out cheering us on which was fantastic. At mile 3 there were a group Staten Island "gentlemen" trying to cross the street. The conversation was as follows:
"I'm scared to cross the street!"
"At least if you do you will get stepped on by a lot of hot women"
Various high fives and chest bumps ensued.

At mile 9 there was a woman with a smokers voice yelling "drop your cigarette and keep running!" (cue maniacal hacking laughter). These folks do not help the SI stereotype.

But I digress. As I said I was worried about this race coming off a vacation, and most importantly it was my first one since my injury. I felt great the whole time until about mile 9. I started cranking up my pace way too fast I think. And when I saw the mile 12 marker I was expecting it to say mile 13. So the last few miles were brutal, but I pushed through and knocked 12 MINUTES off my Bronx half time, and this was post-injury! So I'm pretty happy. Mike did amazing as usual, he is so fast it's insane. He also got his best time yet, which I won't tell you, firstly because he'd get mad and second because you won't believe me.

I still don't know how I'm going to get another 13 under my belt. I've run longer in this training program, but RACING is a different story. We'll see how it goes. I'm going to focus a lot on strength training over the next few weeks and physical therapy will be critical. Oh, and I quit drinking :o)Crazy right? Starting a pool as to which day I will cave.

I have decided though that even after TNT is over I will still wear my shirt to as many races as possible. The support is just amazing. This race especially, there seemed to be so many TNT people cheering us on throughout the race as spectators, not to mention the other participants racing. It's just such an amazing feeling to have that support, and it boosted my energy several times when I needed it most. "Go Team" has taken on new meaning for me. I can't say enough about this program, and I can't wait to cheer others on in future events.