This Train Don't Stop

           Today was the day of the Fitness Magazine 4 mile event in Central Park. My WW homie Cindy and I signed up for this event. Cindy ran a 4 mile run previously but I did not. I was hoping to run a few 5K's before I tackled the 4 Mile but I sprained my ankle while training for my second 5K of the season and was grounded for a long time. My WW leader, the fabulous marathoner Melanie, once suggested that since Cindy and I were pretty good at 5K's we should do a 4 Mile. But I was chicken because, one I didn't build up my running resume and two I did not have enough faith in myself to be able to run that far. When I went online to sign up there were no upcoming 5K's so I bit the bullet and signed up for the 4Mile.

Me and Cindy before the race

             If you have been reading my blog, you know I have been very apprehensive and doubtful. Even when I woke up this morning, my faith was shaky. Everyone else around me was so encouraging, I felt that I had to try. I met Cindy at the event. We were talking about the possibility of not being able to run the whole thing and saying we would walk when we needed to walk and run when we could. So when the horn sounded, we started jogging. Cindy is faster that me, so I waved good-bye as she ran ahead. A short while in, I felt so tired and slow. I also felt like I made a mistake signing up. When I train, I like running up hills but when I hit the first hill today, I struggled all the way up. It was early in the run, and I felt defeated, but I kept on running.
              When I got to the first mile marker, I was amazed that I made it that far. My time was 19:42 minutes. Boy was I slow, but I decided to keep running until I was too tired; then I would walk. But I kept running. When the next hill came along, I decided to walk up. At the top of the hill I started running again. I only saw one person from the race and I realized that I was way behind, running at my pace. Before long I hit the 2Mile mark at 29:10 minutes. I was tired but I decided to keep running. Now there are people running past me that are not even in the race. Groups of men, moms with running strollers and I am just slowly jogging at my pace. From time to time the race volunteers would cheer me on. Thank goodness for them because I really needed that encouragement. Suddenly on my MP3 I hear Elton John singing "This Train Don't Stop", so I decided that I would keep running. When I came across  hills, I walked up the hills again and started running at the top. I found myself at the 3Mile mark at 52:46 minutes.
              I thought about walking half of the last mile but a voice in my head said keep running. So I did at my pace. The next thing I knew I was at the homestretch. Cindy, who finished at 59.14 minutes, was there with her boyfriend Pete encouraging me to keep on running. So I did. I crossed the finish line at 1:05.22 minutes. I can hardly believe that because during my practice run/walk I finished at 1:12 minutes. Not only did I run almost the whole race, but I shaved time off my practice time.

Me and Cindy after the race

Cindy and Pete

              After the race, we went to lunch at a diner. While I was walking to my bus, I made two stops. First I rewarded my non-scale victory with new handbags. Then I wandered around a posh yarn store which really makes me miss my knitting and crocheting so I truly need to get back into it.

              I am so happy that so many people encouraged me to keep going from my family to my WW family because I really did not think I could do it. But I did and I am so proud of my accomplishment. Oh, and I will keep on running.