I'd always dabbled with running, on treadmills, in the wrong shoes, but after a health scare in the late '90s that turned out OK, I promised myself I'd run a 5K to celebrate. After that, I was hooked. I graduated to marathons and completed six in three years. I was never fast, but with each marathon, I got faster and stronger.
Then, work and life took some unexpected turns, and although I still ran now and then, I put on a ton of weight and exercised less. In 2011, I got into the ING NYC Marathon and felt I had to do it -- it was the NYC Marathon after all. I'd done it years before and had a blast and I didn't want to defer. I haven't realized until recently how much heavier I was then. I want to cry sometimes when I look at pictures. I remember going to the expo for the marathon to pick up my bib and shirt and hearing another much smaller and obviously much faster runner say to a companion, "You can tell who the real runners are." I'd trained as hard as I could (I even remember one long run in Central Park in a driving rain that got into my eyes and mouth) but the race was still a disaster. Spectators lined the course and I remember lots of good things from that day, but I also remember one spectator telling me my T-shirt was not hiding my size. Over all the high fives and shouts of "You go girl" along the course, that's the comment that sticks with me. Around mile 25 or so, I was in Central Park and workers were clearing out the Port-a-Potties - that's how late it was. There was a slippery mess on the ground and some of it splashed onto my calf. It took me 7.5 hours to finish. I crossed the finish line at nighttime and felt like hell. I wheezed after I crossed. Yes, I earned this medal. This is a picture of what raw tired looks like.
I did two more marathons after that -- Philadelphia and Dallas -- and my performance was not quite as bad as NY, but it was not great. My times were still embarrassingly slow.
So I have been buckling down. At my age (I won't tell you what it is, but it's up there), I am determined to beat my times from my previous marathons. My goal is to complete three marathons this fall within six weeks. All are very different races and for each, I have very different plans.
The Wineglass Marathon in Corning, N.Y., takes place Oct. 6. It is pleasant, flat and fast. I hope to finish in 4:40 or less. That translates into 10:40-minute miles the whole way and it will be a PR - personal record - for me. I'm trying to push my body so that a 10-minute mile (or faster) becomes my "feels like nothing" pace. I was there once and I can get there again.
The ING NYC Marathon is, well, like no other in the world. Every time I think of it I get wistful. I'll be running it for a charity, Team for Kids, that is affiliated with New York Road Runners. After Hurricane Sandy took lives and forced the cancellation of last year's ING NYC Marathon, and after the bombing of the Boston Marathon (I'm a journalist and I'd covered both disasters), I began feeling selfish as a runner and decided I wanted to run for more of a reason than just my own benefit. Team for Kids is a good fit for me. I love children and this group provides programs for kids in the inner city in NY, other places and even in Africa. I raised money for them for the Brooklyn Half Marathon and like what they are about. That's me to the right of the guy in the white T-shirt. NYC is a rough race. It goes through all the boroughs and every bridge you cross is a windy hill. My goal is to finish in under 5 hours without injury.
Finally, I'll be running the Anthem Richmond Marathon on Nov. 16, four days after my birthday. This is a meetup for the National Black Marathoners Association and Black Girls RUN!, two organizations that are important to me. Thankfully, this race is flat and fast - just what I will need after NYC.
It's funny, I ramped up my running a year and a half ago when the stresses in my life escalated. It has helped me handle things and even though I am a back of the pack runner, I began posting my accomplishments on Facebook and Twitter just because. But this seems to have unexpectedly inspired some others, and I know I've been inspired by other runners and athletes, so I thought I would create this blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account to provide a space for people to share about their runs and their accomplishments. It helps when people support each other.
This is me ...
....and even though right now I live in Maryland and New York (that's another blog in itself), this is where I run most days, Central Park. This is my "Cheers," where everybody might not know my name, but a lot of the regulars -- the long-legged speedwalker from Harlem, the woman who used to always be with her two dogs, now just one :-( -- know my face.
Looking forward to taking this trip along the pavement with you.
