the queens half marathon
Sunday, September 20, 2009 posted by Reagan at 7:11 PM
put this in your pipe and smoke it...
this morning i woke up at 4:30 am all in the name of running. we were going to queens to run a half marathon! yay! fun! right? see for yourself.
5am head down to the subway platform.
5:15 get on the A train. it's running local, boo!
5:45 at 42nd st stop and get on the 7 train. also running local. booo!
6:15 get off at the last stop on the 7 and see the line that wraps around the block and literally goes up 4 blocks, just to get on the shuttle for the starting line. we are supposed to be there about 15 minutes before the race starts to get our numbers. race starts at 7am. not panicking.
7am we are still in line. the race has started. contemplate going home.
7:20am finally get on the last bus going to the start
ok, this is where i'll stop with the time line. it got old. we are driving along, driving along...then we see a huge pack of runners.
the shuttle driver says: you have to get out here. i can't take you any closer because of all the runners.
us (the entire bus of pumped runners): are we close to the start?
driver: you are a little more than three miles.
this is where i start to get super pi**ed off. jake, mike and i sort of throw back and forth the idea of going home....or should we walk to the start? well, all the roads are pretty much blocked off, so we would have to walk all the way to the train anyway, so we decide we are going to walk the three miles and run the race.
long story slightly less long, we get our numbers and bags checked just in time to CHEER ON THE WINNER!!!! then proceed to start the half marathon by ourselves an hour and ten minutes late. completely alone. the three of us. most of the roads were no longer blocking off traffic, so we had to watch for cars which was annoying, but it was kind of fun to run the race alone. and i was really able to relax and enjoy and unfamiliar route. we didn't see really anyone until we started catching up to the walkers around mile 9, but then there were quite a few of them. i was glad to at least not come in dead last place. even if we were the last people to start the race.
(my cute lover)
this morning i woke up at 4:30 am all in the name of running. we were going to queens to run a half marathon! yay! fun! right? see for yourself.
5am head down to the subway platform.
5:15 get on the A train. it's running local, boo!
5:45 at 42nd st stop and get on the 7 train. also running local. booo!
6:15 get off at the last stop on the 7 and see the line that wraps around the block and literally goes up 4 blocks, just to get on the shuttle for the starting line. we are supposed to be there about 15 minutes before the race starts to get our numbers. race starts at 7am. not panicking.
7am we are still in line. the race has started. contemplate going home.
7:20am finally get on the last bus going to the start
ok, this is where i'll stop with the time line. it got old. we are driving along, driving along...then we see a huge pack of runners.
the shuttle driver says: you have to get out here. i can't take you any closer because of all the runners.
us (the entire bus of pumped runners): are we close to the start?
driver: you are a little more than three miles.
this is where i start to get super pi**ed off. jake, mike and i sort of throw back and forth the idea of going home....or should we walk to the start? well, all the roads are pretty much blocked off, so we would have to walk all the way to the train anyway, so we decide we are going to walk the three miles and run the race.
long story slightly less long, we get our numbers and bags checked just in time to CHEER ON THE WINNER!!!! then proceed to start the half marathon by ourselves an hour and ten minutes late. completely alone. the three of us. most of the roads were no longer blocking off traffic, so we had to watch for cars which was annoying, but it was kind of fun to run the race alone. and i was really able to relax and enjoy and unfamiliar route. we didn't see really anyone until we started catching up to the walkers around mile 9, but then there were quite a few of them. i was glad to at least not come in dead last place. even if we were the last people to start the race.
(my cute lover)
this was the strangest race i have ever run in my life. a race with more than 10,000 runners, and we ran the whole thing in complete silence alone. so weird! even though i had a totally bad attitude and had to be talked into staying, i'm glad i did. because it will be a fun story to tell my kids. btw my dad has a similar story from the marine corps marathon. it was the first one ever and it sounds to have been equally disorganized. i'm not sure i'll be running the queens half again.ps now brace yourselves. queens seems to have a strangely enormous amount of WILD EXOTIC BIRDS nesting everywhere. parrots! parrots with enormous nests that have like 25 birds living in them. and they are squawking like crazy and flying around. weirdest thing ever. i would love to hear more about this if anyone reading knows more. please explain.
Labels: half marathons, running
