THIIIIS IS HOWW WE DOO IIIT!

10K... Check! Yeah, baby! All done! I completed (without a taxi, which WAS Plan B) the Westchester Medical Center Quarter Marathon. It was an absolutely incredible experience. Where do I begin? Hmmm...

Well, Claire and I got to bed relatively early last night - pretty much after I made my previous post. Then we woke up at about 7AM. I hopped in the shower to wake myself up/ get "warmed-up" for the race. Claire was smarter than I and had a bowl of cereal, while I woofed down a handful of almonds. As I was getting dressed, I said to Claire, "Should I wear the shirt that they gave us in the registration bag?" To which she responded, "Of course! Everyone will be wearing it, but I'm going to wear my long-sleeve running shirt because it's so cold." Having received the answer I was hoping for, I suited up with the really cool running shirt the race coordinators provided us. We swung by Claire's house, picked up her running shoes, got some tea from the deli, hopped on the train, and we were on our way.

We arrived at the race location only to see that Claire's prediction about everyone else wearing the shirts was horribly wrong. I looked around, searching high and low through the crowd... I was the only herb wearing the race shirt.

...yeah. Then my wise (ass) girlfriend decided to throw this loving comment out there just to make me feel like even more of a tool: "Wow! You're like that kid who goes to a concert wearing the shirt of the band that's playing." Real nice.

Luckily, once the half-marathoners started, I was able to see a few other fellow herbs wearing the race shirt. I looked at one guy wearing it; and I squinted my eyes and nodded JUST to let him know - You are not alone, friend. After that, we got our little warm up/ stretching on. Before we knew it, it was 9AM. LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

I had already informed Claire that I would not be keeping pace with her. So, we pretty much separated right from the start. I found a couple of people that were keeping a really comfortable pace for me. I stuck with them for about the first 2 1/2 miles. The combined total of those first two miles was 16:21.0... not too shabby. I was feeling great. I had scoped out the route a couple of times, yesterday, trying to figure out where the tough hills were and stuff. I knew that, according to the route that I had signed up for, the last 3 miles were flat and downhill. I figured that I didn't need to save too much energy for the end of the race because there wouldn't be any hills to climb. WRONG! In between the time that I registered and today, they rerouted the race. We just made a U-turn and took the north-side of the parkway back. The last 2 miles of the race were mostly incline.

My whole strategery was shot.

Not only that... Mama and Papa LazyRunner were waiting at the wrong finish line. Gosh Darnit! I apologize for using such harsh language, but that's really how I felt. I ran to some dude on the sideline and asked if I could use his phone real quick. He let me, but it was an iPhone. Therefore, it had no service.

I wasted a minute + trying to get a signal before I said, "Eff it!" and continued my run. The hills were tough... I am not even going to lie. Not only did my pace diminish, but I took frequent walk breaks. All in all, I think I walked a combined total of 3 minutes. The time for my first 3 miles was extraordinary (for me :). I finished them in 25:01.8. Boom! I knew I was getting killed on the 2nd half of the race though. I didn't even bother to look at my time, but I still tracked it. Your ready for it... Miles 4 and 5 were longer than my first 3 combined - a whopping 32:34.5. Eff my L, right? I passed the sign for the last mile and decided to finish strong, like bull. I saw the finish line and got SOOO Happy! As Emz would say, "Happy. Happy. Me. Me!" As I got closer, my enthusiasm dropped because I saw that they were making us make another U-turn; and the finish line was another quarter mile down the line. Thanks, jerks! They really know how to bring a brotha down. I still finished as strong as I could. My final time was 1:05:35.5. Claire kept her pace the whole way; and despite falling during her 5th mile, managed to catch up to me and finish within 30 seconds of my time. Luckily, she didn't hurt herself too badly with the fall. She just has a booboo on her knee. Perhaps, I should have stuck with her from the start. Maybe not... she doesn't take walk breaks EVER, and I certainly needed them.

I gots my finishing metal! My first one! And then just got really excited because I had accomplished this goal that I set for myself way back around April. Next time, I know that I could do much better. I will have to stick with my training plan and leave the bacon cheeseburgers behind. Another lesson learned is to make sure that I know the correct route. Haha! I won't let any of these things bring me down because the bottom line is that I finished, and I had fun! And technically, I PR'd. Haha!

Thanks to everyone that helped me with this.

Your posts, comments, and support really motivated and pushed me when I definitely needed it. You got this lazy guy to show up and perform on race day. I can't thank you enough.

Mama and Papa LazyRunner figured out the finish line mix-up and met us after we finished stretching. They're the best! My number 1 fans! This was the final result.