she said it was my choice, so obviously i didnt have one: scotland 10k.

usually i struggle waking up for a race.. well, every race besides the 15k that began at 11:15.. that was awesome.  anywho, for 99.99% of the races i've run, it's been a pain to get out of bed when my alarm goes off.  i usually end up snoozing until the last possible second i'd have to get out of bed in order to walk out the door fully clothed and get to the start line on time.

it was refreshing that when the alarm went off before the scotland 10k, i actually felt awake.  i didn't feel like i was rushing around trying to get stuff ready (probably because i was a good girl the night before and gathered all my race gear together and put it in a nice neat little pile for myself). so yea, we got out the door and into a cab with the perfect amount of time to get down to 67th street and meet the ladies before the start.

when we got to the park, we ran into dena right at the entrance.  she was cute in her kilt as she practiced running with it on the sidewalk.  so many people were wearing kilts or plaid skirts! it made me wish i had thought to wear my little red plaid skirt over my running pants.  ahh well.  definitely nice to run (ha!) into her.  we ended up running near her and some of her running friends for a little bit of the race.  good looks.

it took us a while to get to the spot where meg and lisa were waiting.  he-who-must-not-be-named (yes, i am poking fun) couldn't believe how many people were actually up at this hour.  i reminded him that for the nyc half, i was already standing on 5th avenue with seth at 6:30am.  seriously, people who run never get to sleep late.  i'm pretty sure the brooklyn half starts at 7:30 in the morning.. which means i will be sleeping at allison's so i don't have to wake up at 4am just to get to prospect park for that absurdly early hour on a saturday.

once the race started, it took wayyyy too long for us to cross the start line.  typically, it'll take me around 5 minutes to get to the start.  sunday?  13 minutes.  that's right, it took 13 minutes from when the first runners began to when we actually got to the start.  absolutely absurd (but not as absurd as the nyc marathon... first runners out at 9:40.. me? 10:45 if i'm lucky.)

it was uber crowded so we did lots of lateral movement in and out of people. so much unnecessary running.  major boo.

i was just not feeling well on sunday at all.  i felt like i couldn't get into a rhythm, which was super disappointing because it was one of the few races in which we run around the park clockwise, which is my preferred direction.   no one ever agrees with me that clockwise is the easier direction and im beginning to think that something is wrong with me. why does everyone else feel that this direction is more difficult than running counter-clockwise? aaanyways, it didn't matter much on sunday because i felt awful even during the flats and downhills.  around mile 2, when we encountered the long uphill on the north west side of the park, i literally wanted to stop.  it took so much to not only keep my pace up, but to just keep myself going in general.  it was like heaven to reach the top and know that i now had the downhill of the harlem hills.

reason #1 why clockwise is better than counter-clockwise: downhill harlem hills.  DOWNHILL HARLEM HILLS, PEOPLE!

right before mile 4, he-who-must-not-be-named said he wanted to "stretch his legs" and see how fast he could finish this thing.  he went off and i stayed with meghan almost til the end when i got a surge of energy (essentially because i felt so crappy that all i wanted to do was finish).


reason #2 why clockwise is better than counter-clockwise: downhill cat hill.  DOWNHILL CAT HILL, PEOPLE!

rounding the bottom of the park to get to the finish line, i picked it up, excited to finish and excited to see the 'rents.  i saw my mom cheering right at the finish line, assuming my father was somewhere around with mr big.  big loves central park, mainly because it's a giant playground for dogs, so whenever my parents come out to a race, mom ends up cheering, and dad ends up elsewhere with the pup.

i finished in 1:01:52, 3 minutes after he-who-must-not-be-named, with a 9:58 overall pace.  i'm pretty happy with that.  it's not my best, but it also isn't my worst.

so yea, we met up right after the finish, got our scottish water, and headed to meet my parents and mr big. we waited for quite some time in the parking garage as it seems that half of the 10,000 people who ran the race parked in this exact garage.  how lovely.

good looks though when we got back uptown: i showered and mama brocks went to get us all bagels and fruit.

sweet deal.

next up? Japan Run - May 8.