AHA Wall Street Run 2012

On Thursday, May 31 I ran the American Heart Association Wall Street Run. It's a 3 mile race around the Financial District. I ran it last year and was excited to try it again but with an actual time. (Stupid bib and website issues screwed me last year. My watch said my time was 22:00 even in 2011.)

So this year I didn't have the luxury of dicking around my apartment for an hour before the race. I was having the day from hell at work, left to run this thing, and then had to head back to the office. God bless 16 hour days!

T and I met at the Tribeca Equinox to get changed for the race. Conveniently, it is located right near the starting line. We got dressed and met up with the Professor. Then we waited for the race to start.

And we waited some more.

And some more.

The race started 7 minutes late. The announcements were lame and no one could hear. There are also no corrals for this race. I love watching people figure out where they think they should line up.

I finished my itsy bitsy bottle of water waiting for the race. I tried to lighten my load for this 3 mile race (I even ditched the Garmin!) and brought much less water than I normally carry. It was so humid though that I guzzled it while listen to Valerie Bertinelli run her mouth about Weight Watchers.

Finally they shot the gun and we all took off. Five hundred yards in and I had an awful case of dry mouth and was gasping for water. No time to stop though and I just keep trucking. T swears that there was a water station after the first mile, but I don't believe her.

I saw my friend S, who was volunteering for her 9+1. I waved and gave her a holler. Soon after, I decided that that IT band strap was driving me crazy (I forgot how sweaty it can get) and went to pull it off. Oh wait, I forgot how secure the velcro on that bad boy is and actually had to stop (try finding space in a sea of runners to stop) to get the thing off me.

The nice thing about running the same course is having a general idea of where the finish line should be. It couldn't come soon enough though. Something about the heat, the dust, the pollen, and the fact that I had to go back to work, and I felt like complete crap. And I had wicked blisters from my Nike Frees.

Next time I run this race I am going out drinking. Who's with me?