Top 10 of 2010: #9 Villanova Women’s XC Repeats as NCCA Champs
I was never a college athlete, so my opinion here isn’t qualified by experience. But when you think about it, achieving national success at any sport while a full-time student (two-a-days? 20 page papers? Office hours? Oh yeah, sleeping?) is quite astonishing. And to win back-to-back national titles, as was the case for the Villanova women’s cross-country team this year, requires a special level of dedication, perseverance, and tenacity. The fact that speedy senior Sheila Reid nabbed the individual title makes victory that much sweeter. Congrats, Nova women.
Top 10 of 2010: #10 Kara and Paula as Pregnant BFFs
[With 10 days left in 2010, I’ll be counting down my quasi-scientific ranking of the top moments of the running world this year. Check ‘em out every day until the 31st!]
The Kara and Paula saga had a banner year in 2010. At the outset, they were fierce rivals: Paula, the marathon world record holder, will be the hometown favorite at the London 2012 Olympics, but marathon up-and-comer Kara has beat her on home turf before (the 2007 GreatNorth Run, anyone?). Though they had both been vocal about making time for family before Olympic training began, the last thing anyone expected was to see them hamming it up for the New York Times (and at the 2010 NYRR Mini-10k). It was as if someone had taken the film “Without Limits” and adapted it for the Lifetime set: fierce, camera-ready competitors-turned-BFF, now more likely to be swapping diaper bags than racing titles. Very cool, ladies, but let’s amp up that competitive fire again before 2012, okay?
It’s quite likely you’ve already seen this video, or read the story about 16 year old high school junior Holland Reynolds, who literally crawled to the finish in this week’s California state high school cross-country championships. Her determination earned the state title for her teammates and coach, debilitated by ALS. I had to repost the video here, as I’m sure it will be a long-standing source of inspiration. To Holland, your running career looks awful bright.
Proposal: Given that (a) puppies are bipartisan objects of affection and (b) YouTube videos of puppies generate enormous page views, then (c) cable news stations should incorporate 24hr PuppyCams in their tickers.
I seriously can’t think of any logical reason why anyone would oppose this.
Post-Marathon Goals
Yesterday marked my return to running post-marathon; 3 conversational miles with Lauren around a sun-soaked Central Park reservoir. I’m happy to report I have no residual soreness from last week, aside from a few twinges, and the challenge now will be regaining peak strength. This was a primary topic of discussion for Lauren and myself: how do we proceed? If we just ran a marathon, what’s keeping us from resuming moderate-mileage training right away?
Well, for one thing, I can tell my muscles are still tired, and I’m not about to go injuring them right away with a 10-miler. So as I figure out the exact timetable for my return to training, here are the milestones I hope to hit next:
- Run the Joe Klinerman 10k and Ted Corbitt 15k in December 2010 (time goals TBD)
- PR in the Manhattan Half-Marathon in January
- Place in the top 10 in my age group (20-24) in an NYRR race
- Go sub-8:00 min/mile in an NYRR race
- Long-term: Run a sub- 1:45 half marathon and a sub-4:10 marathon in 2011
My current PRs are as follows:
- Marathon: 4:42:57
- Half-marathon: 1:58:12
- 10k: 51:20
- Mile: 7:06
I think these goals are realistic, though somewhat ambitious, for me. All of these PRs were set during periods of minimal mileage, as I was training merely to cover the distance. If I can ease back into 30 mile weeks and toss in a few 15-16 milers in January, I should be in good form to break my half-marathon time with a decent margin. Breaking the age-group Top Ten is plausible because I’ve regularly finished in the top 50, even placing 11th at the Percy Sutton 5k this summer, so I hope to accomplish this sometime in the spring. The pending 10k and 15k races in December are favorites of mine, and will round out my completion of the NYRR 9+1 for 2011.
The long-term goals are the truly ambitious ones, but I don’t think they’re unreachable. By 2012? Totally. The key to achieving all of these goals will be staying healthy, and I’m going to start by strengthening and conditioning my weak spots (ITB, core, hamstrings).
One Marathon Later, And I Realize I Can Actually Run
The last week has been a nice change of pace from my usual running schedule. Marathon fatigue didn’t settle in until Tuesday, at which point I realized I was truly exhausted. In fact, I totally underestimated how much mental energy went into running 26.2; by Wednesday afternoon, my brain was mush, and I regretted not taking a day off just to clear my head. But otherwise, I’ve been totally indulging and pampering myself: sleeping in, stretching, eating candy and ice cream, vegging out and watching television. Not that I don’t do these things anyway, but I don’t usually do them to excess. :) It’s clear that my body is in recovery mode, and I am rewarding it for withstanding several long months of hard training.
But on that note, I’ve been thinking a lot about what the road ahead looks like for me. I’d been thinking about my post-marathon goals even before the race, but within the last week, I’d say I’ve had a revelation. The marathon was an overwhelming experience and a dream come true, but when I finished I didn’t feel completely fulfilled. In the first 36 hours following the race, this sense of hollowness bothered me. I thought I’d feel totally satisfied with myself. But today I figured out why I didn’t, and it hit me like a ton of bricks: I want to get fast.
Let me explain. For the past two years, I’ve been training for this marathon. And two years before that marked my return to running after more-or-less quitting in high school. I had a pretty terrible high school track experience. After doing well in modified, I came to high school with high hopes for myself in the middle distances. But my coach put me in sprints, and tried to correct my midfoot-strike to a forefoot strike. The result was three consecutive stress fractures. I was perpetually on the disabled list, and after freshman year, I never got to set foot in a race. I quit the track team senior year, after a podiatrist and rheumatologist diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis. I was advised not to run. For four years, I heard nothing but “you can’t” (“you can’t run distance” “you can’t strike midfoot” “you can’t race” “you can’t run with arthritis”). It was really disheartening. I didn’t start running again until the end of my freshman year in college, and even then I felt shameful, as though I shouldn’t be doing it or I’d risk another stress fracture. I stuck to the treadmill, fearful that I could break at any moment. I eventually started road races again, building up ever so slowly from four-milers to 10ks. All the while I thought I’d be injured at any moment. When I committed to running the marathon, I knew I could definitely cover the distance endurance-wise, but I worried that my body wouldn’t withstand the training. In other words, the past four years of running have been characterized by an underlying mindset of restraint. And today, it occurred to me: YES, I CAN.
I just ran a marathon. I mean, I just ran a marathon! There is no reason for me to think I “can’t” run, or I “can’t” go fast, or whatever. Maybe I’m prone to injury, but there are plenty of great runners out there who get injured. It’s a fact of life. While I am very happy with my first marathon experience, I am hungry for more. Part of what made me have my revelation today was reading all the recaps of runners my age. Runners who also had debut marathons much, much faster than mine. There is nothing shameful about a 4:42 marathon, but I KNOW in my heart I can do much better. What makes me embarrassed about my time is not the numbers on the clock but the guilt in my gut of knowing that I intentionally, deliberately held back. I’m positive I had a 4:30 marathon in my bones on Sunday, but I didn’t let myself push hard enough.
So if the past four years have been about proving to myself that I can run, I want the next four years to prove that I can run well. I feel as though I’ve just awoken from sleepy haze of low self-confidence. Now I want to get fast. I want to prove to myself that I can be a good runner, maybe even a great one. A competitive fire has awoken inside of me. It is going to take time, and I am not naiive to think that I can start churning out 50-mile weeks and 7:00 pace 10 milers overnight. In my next post, I’ll turn out a game plan for my concrete goals for the near future. I am recharged and ready to go.
My Recap: The 2010 ING New York City Marathon
It’s been four days since the marathon, and I wanted to let it sink in a bit before I wrote a recap. I think the best thing to do would be to write it in two parts, which is why I wrote a mile-by-mile report earlier in the week. But now I’m ready to hash it out. And if I could sum it up in one sentence, it would be this: I want to do it again!
I want to do it again, for good and bad reasons. I had tremendous fun. It went by too fast. I made a lot of mistakes. I ran smart. I want to improve my time. I know I am capable of better. I already miss the happiest day in New York, the happiest day of my life.
Let me start with the bad. Right off the bat, the marathon was not my best run, not by a long shot, and that was tremendously disappointing. Aside from one underfueled training run (and I knew at the time I underfueled), I actually never had a really bad run. Mentally, I was always so excited because each run was another brick laid along the path to the marathon, which has been my dream for years, and each run went by effortlessly. I’ve never really struggled with motivation, so I haven’t had to train myself mentally. But I arrived at the starting line anxious, because I put so much pressure on myself to have the best run of my life on Sunday, and I never really shook that anxiety. I would liken the experience to running with a slight head cold: it doesn’t dominate the experience, but you notice something’s “off.”
Second of all, some precipitating factors set me up for a less-than-stellar race. Most people know my ITB was not 100% through this training period, and though I’m not injured, I held back. Further, in the week leading up to the race, I was literally (LITERALLY) so excited I could not sleep. I never even got tired. I was running (pun intended) on pure adrenaline for 72 hours straight before the race. So even though I showed up at the start alert and enthusiastic, my body was already extremely tired, something I realized as soon as I started running. I could decide to be upset about this, but in the end there was nothing I could do about it; I didn’t want to fight with my body, and I know in the future I won’t be that anxious.
Now for the good! My parents and siblings all arrived at my apartment on Saturday night to sleep over. They slept in while I woke up to split a cab down to the ferry with Tracy (Harlem represent!). She was a great pre-race companion and kept me sane during our sunrise travel. We talked about everything from our marathon plans to what was going on in US Weekly (ha!) until we split in Fort Wadsworth, where I went to the blue corral. I did a good job of layering and stayed warm until I got to the foot of the bridge. I think the start might have been my favorite part of the race—yes, I cried. It was pure magic. Frank on the loudspeakers, hundreds of volunteers cheering from the sides, the magnificent weather…finally, the moment I’d waited so long for was here. Definitely something I’ll remember for life.
It was quite difficult to settle into a groove, which didn’t really happen until mile 6. I was very conscious of trying to keep a slow pace in the beginning miles, since everyone advises not to go out too fast. I focused on enjoying myself and soaking in my surroundings, giving kids high-fives. Whenever I got nervous, I played a game with myself: find signs on the curb and try to translate them into different languages in my head. It worked!
Crossing the Pulaski Bridge was a tremendous boost, and provided the best views of the race. I wish someone had been there to take my picture! Coming off the Queensboro Bridge, I have to say I was a little underwhelmed by the sound—only because Brooklyn had been SO LOUD! Still, the disappointment faded quickly, since my family was waiting for me on First Avenue. This was another one of the best moments—I had hoped they weren’t too cold or bored, but when I reached them, they were cheering so loud and were so thrilled! I had never seen my dad so happy. This gave me a lot of confidence, and I kept chugging along until I found my next cheer section: my college friends and boyfriend. They had somehow taken over half a block in the east 70s, and they got the rest of the block—people I didn’t even know!—to cheer for me! I stopped to stretch and thank each and every one of them. For as long as I live, I doubt I’ll ever receive such a warm reception.
The real work started after that. Honestly, by mile 17 I was more tired than I’d ever been on a run. I told myself to keep it together and keep an even pace. Even when I hit the blinding sunlight down Fifth Avenue, I shrugged it off (but because I was squinting, much of this stage of the race is hazy to my memory). I ran with Amani Toomer leading into the park, which was a thrill in itself. I had envisioned the remaining miles to be emotional and I imagined getting a second wind, but I was truly too fatigued to do much else but keep running. I charged around Columbus Circle and up to Tavern on the Green with the singular desire to finish. When I crossed the line, I didn’t cry (as I thought I might), but I smiled so wide it hurt. Finally, I was a marathoner!
There are two important things I’ve taken away from this experience. First, my outlook on life has changed entirely. Spectators will say to you, “I can’t believe you just ran a marathon!” But if you’ve run one, you don’t see what’s so unfathomable about it. No challenge is insurmountable now. Spectators look on in disbelief, but marathoners are believers. That is the difference.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, I am so incredibly grateful to the family and friends who supported me in person and electronically. I have never, ever felt so loved in my life, and I feel more than blessed. The fact is, running is something I love to do, and I would run a marathon by myself for the joy of it. But the fact that I have so many terrific people in my life who actively came out to watch me do something I love to do is beyond thrilling. The very, very best part of the day came later that evening, when I was sitting in my apartment with my family, foam-rolling as they talked. My younger brother said, “I want to run a marathon now!” My sister agreed. My dad, a lifelong smoker, said he wants to quit and run-walk a race with my mom. I couldn’t be more proud.
![Yes, it’s been more than 24 hours since the finish of the race, and I just want to post briefly to say I finished healthy, strong, and happy. I am beyond thrilled and I’ll have a full recap here shortly.
And speaking of recaps, I’d like to remind everyone that I am creating an index of all 2010 ING New York City Marathon race recaps. PLEASE email me a link to your race recap by Sunday, November 14 at rnyrecaps [at] gmail [dot] com so I can begin posting them! Reblog, retweet, rehash, refuel, re-whatever you have to do, and spread the word! I love reading everyone else’s reactions to races, don’t you? So please help me facilitate the process for everyone. Thanks a million!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lbld46L5E01qdqcf4o1_500.jpg "Yes, it’s been more than 24 hours since the finish of the race, and I just want to post briefly to say I finished healthy, strong, and happy. I am beyond thrilled and I’ll have a full recap here shortly.
And speaking of recaps, I’d like to remind everyone that I am creating an index of all 2010 ING New York City Marathon race recaps. PLEASE email me a link to your race recap by Sunday, November 14 at rnyrecaps [at] gmail [dot] com so I can begin posting them! Reblog, retweet, rehash, refuel, re-whatever you have to do, and spread the word! I love reading everyone else’s reactions to races, don’t you? So please help me facilitate the process for everyone. Thanks a million!")
Yes, it’s been more than 24 hours since the finish of the race, and I just want to post briefly to say I finished healthy, strong, and happy. I am beyond thrilled and I’ll have a full recap here shortly.
And speaking of recaps, I’d like to remind everyone that I am creating an index of all 2010 ING New York City Marathon race recaps. PLEASE email me a link to your race recap by Sunday, November 14 at rnyrecaps [at] gmail [dot] com so I can begin posting them! Reblog, retweet, rehash, refuel, re-whatever you have to do, and spread the word! I love reading everyone else’s reactions to races, don’t you? So please help me facilitate the process for everyone. Thanks a million!
The Day-Before To-Do List
Tomorrow is the marathon. I’ve been waiting for this weekend for years. And you’d think with such long-term aspirations I’d be a little bit more prepared with just 24 hours to go! The good news is, I did the training. But here’s my checklist for everything else:
- Clean up my apartment (for family coming to stay overnight)
- Go grocery shopping
- Gather throwaway clothes for the start in Staten Island
- Affix name and bib to running clothes
- Paint my nails
- Prepare a breakfast to take to Staten Island (celiacs like me can’t eat bagels!)
- Find out where friends & family plan to watch along the course
- Make sure my phone and clocks are ready for the end of daylight savings
- Coordinate transportation to the Staten Island ferry in the morning
Ready, set, go!
My, have I longed to see this. Marathon Weekend 2010, here we go!
