the queens english: it's over the 59th street bridge, not the atlantic ocean.

flushing meadows park, ny

2011 queens half-marathon: race #2 that i was able to convince (trick?) seth to run.  so yea, he showed up late thursday night so that we could do all the pre-race stuff on friday.  we went down to central park friday morning to walk around as seth has only run around the park and never got to actually enjoy himself.  yes, folks, running is not enjoyable.

once nyrr opened at 1pm, we walked over to pick up our bibs and t-shirts.  it was perfect timing because then we were able to just get in the car and head out to long island before all of manhattan left the city for the weekend.  seriously, the city is deserted in the summer on weekends.  where are all the people? somewhere where the heat doesn't get trapped between the buildings and settle on the concrete, successfully making one feel like a chicken about to lay a damn fried egg.

anywho, out to long island where it's a good 5-10 degrees cooler and where mama b-rocks had cooked some chicken parm and baked ziti.

like the awesome 25 year-olds that we are, we went to bed by 10pm. on a friday.  yes, we're that cool.  in our defense, if you had to wake up by 5:40 am (or whatever time you'd have to wake up in order to be ready to leave by 6), you'd be in bed by 10pm too.  my first thought when my alarm went off at 5:40 and i saw that seth was already up and getting ready was, "i don't wanna be up.  i can't believe i sign up for this voluntarily."  seriously, wtf is wrong with me?

at least nyc wasn't having a ridiculous heatwave like last years' queens-half when it was already 85 by 6am.  that was just unfair in every way.

so my parents bring us to the start where we meet up with lisa, carly, christina, and joe.  we do some chatting and whatnot and i find out that the course is different from last year.  i hadn't actually looked at the course online and just assumed it would be the same as last year.. turns out, i'm an idiot.  the course basically looped around the park twice, meaning that we got to go through that long stretch where there's no shade and no water TWICE.  awesome, nyrr, awesome.

the first 10 miles were definitely the roughest for me as i felt that we did a lot of stop-and-go.  the more i stop or the longer i walk at each water station, the harder it is for me to get back into a rhythm.  and i dont know if it's all in my head, but i feel like my feet hurt more if i do a lot of stop-and-go during a long run.  also, i didn't bring my chomps with me and i got super hungry.  gotta go to amazon and buy me a giant box of them for the remainder of the training season.

the last mile or so i got so anxious to just be done with this race that i completely picked up my pace.  that's typically what happens... i just get so miserable that i run faster in order to finish quicker.  i'm so jealous of people who run faster because well, they have less time of being cranky and miserable.  although there's a thought- do people who run faster even get cranky and miserable during a run?  do they actually enjoy themselves?

as i get closer to the finish line, i see my mom over on the side.  funny how easy she is to spot at any race.  perhaps it's the bell i bought her? or her booming voice that carries a good 400m?  anywho, as i get closer i see that there's someone with her.  could it be?  yupp cuz there he is... my mr "have fun at your race tomorrow."  silly gooser.  i like surprises :-)

now i DEFINITELY have the energy to pick it up to the finish.  i find seth right at the finish where he crossed a few minutes before me.. and he's miserable.  welcome to my life, sethy. so i get me some gatorade and a delicious plum and we go in search of my 'rents and he-who-must-not-be-named.

remainder of the day? pancakes for breakfast.  glorious nap on the couch.  good ol' fashioned bbq for lunch.  pure perfection.

next up on my road (ha!) to the 2011 nyc marathon:

1. 8/21 long training run #2
2. 8/28 bronx half-marathon
3. 9/25 nyc tune-up 18M
4. 10/2 diva half-marathon
5. 10/9 staten island half-marathon
6. 10/30 poland spring marathon kickoff