Circle of Friends

On Saturday I ran the Circle of Friends Women's "Mini-Marathon" (10K - 6.2 mile) race. I signed up for it knowing full-well that I was far from ready to run 6.2 miles, but this race has special meaning for me. It's the event that got me started running years ago (I walked it with a work colleague and was impressed and inspired by all the women of all shapes, sizes, ages, degree of fitness, etc. who were running), one year later I came back and ran the thing and was so completely proud of myself. This year the theme was "Circle of Friends", friends encouraging and supporting their friends in quitting smoking -- I have a passionate hatred for smoking, especially as my mother died of lung cancer a few years ago. Anyway, I was hoping to grab some of that old magical inspiration by participating in this race, and I can say the event more than delivered.

I started thinking that maybe I would do this race, way back in February when I started with the NYRRC beginning running class. As I moved forward and it looked like I was sticking with the running this time, it became more and more of a likely possibility. A month or so ago, I also started talking to some local friends about their maybe participating as walkers (it is a walking-friendly event) just because I know how inspiring the race can be and, at the very least, it's a morning in Central Park on a Saturday in June. Life could be worse. Anyway, Michelle and Luminita both became interested, and soon were on board with the idea.

Time has gone on and the running seems to be getting a bit stronger, so I wasn't too worried about finishing. I figured that I would run 3 miles of it, and then anything else I could do after that would be gravy. If worse came to worse, I could walk the second half of the race.

Sometime about a week or so before the race, my father called me and asked if I could do him a favor. My niece, Sophie, was going to be in New Jersey visiting them for a couple of weeks and they had a conflict for one part of her visit and he wanted to know if I could take her on the 11th & 12th. I realized that this caused an issue with my race, so I told him that I would be glad to have her over-night on the 11th, but that I was determined to do this race on Saturday, and Sophie couldn't exactly go wandering around Central Park on her own while it was going on. Well, this caused a whole huge back & forth issue with my father that I don't even know if I want to get into now. The bottom line was that I felt, as much as I wanted to see Sophie and was looking forward to spending time with her, these were important plans that I had had for months and I felt like I was doing my father a favor and was really jumping through hoops to accommodate him, yet he didn't seem to appreciate that this was important to me and that I seemed to be doing all the compromising. We had a big, blow-out fight over the phone on Friday afternoon that resulted in his hanging up on me. Fine. I didn't even care. It's not like he was interfering with plans I had to go out drinking or something. This was important because it symbolized a better direction for my life. This is something I lost a few years ago and I'm trying to get it back. So don't fucking mess with me. Anyway, he dropped Sophie off to me and I was able to make arrangements for her to spend time during the race with Ken who would be volunteering with my father meeting them to reclaim Sophie and THANKFULLY, Sophie being the fantastic kid that she is, was totally okay with everything.

Anyway, back to the race. Saturday had us up at the crack of dawn and out and to the train station with Michelle grousing good-naturedly about the early hour. Already we could see that it was going to be one of those absolutely perfect NYC days. What Paul would call a "Top 10 Day". Crystal clear blue skies, low humidity, unbelievably sunny, temps no higher than 74 or 75. Perfect. We easily made it into Manhattan and up to the Finish Line in the Park where we were meeting Ken. This actually turned out to be a good plan because there were some pre-race entertainment and a lot of activity that always goes hand-in-hand with a big event like this and so Luminita & Michelle were able to catch some of the excitement. It was also good because we were able to play around with Sophie for a while and she was also given plenty of time to become comfortable with Ken before I had to leave. Finally, it was time to make our way to the starting line, about a quarter of a mile away and so we said our goodbyes.

As we got to the Columbus Circle area, I think Michelle & Luminita were able to grasp that this was a pretty big event, by all the hordes of women who had taken over Central Park West. I love races that close CPW, you just feel like a part of something so huge. As we were making our way through the crowds, I was surprised to run into Harriet, also queuing up for the race. I introduced her to Michelle & Luminita and we then decided that we would run at least the beginning of the race together and see from there. After all the announcements and the national anthem, we were finally off. I think it took us about 2 minutes to cross over the start line, but then we were able to run at an easy, conversational pace with out too much zigging and zagging (quite unlike that 5K I had done about a month ago). As we ran up Central Park West I saw ahead two girls who had been in my beginning running class who I talked to about this race. As we ran up alongside them I greeted them -- we all yelled our hellos and Harriet and I pulled ahead. As we approached the West 72nd Street entrance to Central Park, I could see a figure crossing the street with a bike that looked awfully familiar. I said to Harriet, "I think that's my father up there" she was skeptical, seemed impossible to her that I would just happen to run into him, but as we got closer I became more and more convinced it was him. Finally as we pulled closer I yelled out his name and, sure enough, he stopped and turned, it WAS him. We stopped quickly, I told him that Sophie was with Ken, introduced Harriet and said that we were running together, Harriet made some comment about trying to keep up with me, and my father, of course, had to make some comment to the effect of, "well who is trying to keep up with whom? you look pretty good" (and indicating Harriet) meaning that I look like crap? Thanks Dad. Anyway, we kept it very brief and then continued to run. Harriet had her watch set for one minute walk breaks at intervals of ten minutes, so I followed this while running with her and it seemed to work out well. Running with her helped to pace me slow enough that I felt that I could run for a while. As we wound into the Park at 92nd street we turned up a hill and soon hit the 2 mile mark. Those 2 miles just seemed to go so quickly, running easy and having someone to talk to sure makes a big difference. Soon after here however, Harriet received a phone call and, since she was on call, she had to step off the side of the course and take it. I was forced to go on alone. The course was now winding up the hills on the west side of the Park, bringing us North and closer to the infamous Harlem Hills. Since we were running in the "easier" direction, I was determined to run the hills in their entirety this time (last week had only been able to make it about half-way up the big hill on the course). I ran up the back side of the Big Hill by pacing myself behind someone who seemed to be going at a slow enough and steady pace. Problem was, she soon started walking (ARGH!) so I jumped around her and found another runner to pace behind, which only lasted a moment or two before she also started walking. This was how my run up the hill went, weaving from runner to runner to pace behind until I was pretty much the only person running. But I did it, I ran up that whole hill. Not only that, but I got to the top and didn't collapse. I was able to keep going and used that nice, long downhill to recover, while still running. One woman blew past me here and I let her go, knowing that there was an even tougher, and longer, hill on the other side. Sure enough, she started walking very shortly into the next hill and I was able to pass her for good. This hill was much harder on me, and there was no one to pace behind at all, everyone had given up even trying to run it. But run it I did, it was long and brutal, but I was determined to make it and I am proud to say that I did it! Somewhere during the climb I had also passed over the 5K mark, so I knew I was also halfway through. I had accomplished my goal of running the first half of the course and climbing those hills. Whatever happened from here on in was gravy. I had to take a walk break after the brutal series of hills, but soon I was running again. In fact, I believe that the mile I ran after leaving Harriet was the fastest one I ran in the race. Closing in on mile 4, I saw a familiar figure (Ellen) on the hill that winds up along the East Side of the Reservoir, so I sped up as much as I reasonably could to catch her. I finally managed to pull up next to her and after walking a minute to catch my breath, we decided to run together. Ellen had had similar goals for the race, she wanted to solidly run the first half of the race, and just get though the rest, running or walking, depending on how she felt. Since we were together we decided to run as much as we could. Ellen was running a little faster pace than Harriet had been so it wore me out a bit quicker. We had to keep taking walk breaks, but it was okay, we just kept cycling from running to walking and back again. It never became a death match and we never felt like we needed to give up and just walk. There are hills through here too and the day (while delightful for sitting outside or strolling, etc.) was heating up a bit too, so I was happy to be able to do what we did. Right at the 5 mile marker we ran into Ken & Sophie cheering for the runners. They had been sent to marshall the course at that spot. Ut oh, obviously my father had not been able to find Sophie. I told her that he was here in the Park anyway, and we continued on to finish the race. Down around the bottom of the Park, I took my last walk break before the entrance from Columbus Circle. Ellen waved me on ahead and I was able to run up the last length of hill (about .25 of a mile) and to the finish, actually speeding up a bit as I got to the last stretch. As I ran up this part, I saw my father standing there cheering me and watching me finish. A first. (of course it had to be one of my slowest races ever, but at least he was there). Ellen finished right behind me and we both ended up feeling really thrilled that we had been able to do this race, this distance. Ellen was coming back from an injury and hadn't run more than 3 miles at one time in months. I haven't run this distance in about 5 years. We basked in the glow of our euphoria, I introduced Ellen to my father who then moved on to try and find Sophie.

After the race I was happy to regroup with Michelle & Luminita who finished in a very, very good time for walking the distance. Both were over the moon with their accomplishment (even despite some bad chafing for Michelle). Harriet finished soon after that, after having been sidelined by several calls during the course of the race.

Ellen, Ken, Harriet and I moved on to an outside table at Brother Jimmy's for some lunch and beer to do a post mortem on the day. Ellen, Ken and I moved onto to their roofdeck after that for more beer in the sunshine as we just couldn't let go of the spectacular day. I think I finally got home around 10:30 PM or thereabouts. It was a long day, but fun and deeply satisfying. It truly did turn into a Circle of Friends.