Well folks I did it. After a 5 hour bus ride, and an hour of figuring out the train system in Manhattan and an overnight in a creepy basement room in a dodgy Brooklyn neighborhood I ran the inaugural Rock N' Roll Brooklyn 10K. And my finish time was 1 hour, 12 minutes and 32 seconds which averages an 11.6 minute mile. Pretty darn good for this less than avid runner!
I would like to point out that I did this with no iPod which will have been my first foray into musicless running. It helped that there were DJ's setup at every mile blasting excellent jams for all us runners. Since this was their inaugural there was some serious disorganization (they need an event planner's assistance ahem ahem) but all said and done it was a great race in a great location.
Prospect Park is really gorgeous and certainly HUGE. Makes Boston Common seem like a back yard. Below are some photos of the day:
This was the T-shirt line. Those two tiny white specks in the distance are where 13,000 people were supposed to pick up their race T's. Hi, race crew if you're handing out bib numbers, bags and T-shirts it would save you lots of time to put the T-shirt in the bag and slap the bib number on it so we pick it all up at once. Just saying ...
This was the finish line, people began rolling in around 25 minutes or something totally ridiculous, damn overachievers!
I couldn't resist a shot w/ my swanky new medal in front of the swanky finish line rigging.
And a second unintentionally near an ambulance which I easily could have needed.
After a 45 minute walk back to my hotel, yes New York you are officially way to large, and a looooooong hot shower I met up with a friend in Manhattan and ate a big lunch and trolled the city taking in a gorgeous Fall day. Then after missing my 5:30PM bus, followed by missing the 6:30PM bus I forked over a large sum of money for a train ride which was quite possibly the best idea I have ever had. I slept 4 glorious hours the whole way and crashed into bed around 11:30pm.
The following morning I headed to Salem for the Witch City 5K. Following my amazingly smart idea the night before this was probably top five worst ideas I have ever had. Back to back races for the non-runner that is me, was hellacious. I was sore from the belly button down and thus this finish time was lacking as all get out. I finished at 37:50 which amounts to a 12 minute 11 second mile which is TERRIBLE even for me! That being said I survived back to back runs and I woke up and dragged ass over the finish line for both so I am proud of that!
Here's some pics from the Witch City 5K which ran through the heart of Salem:
This is Lauren and I freezing out tushes off at 8:30am, the shadow monster is Bert who came out as my chauffeur instead of co-runner due to some alcohol problems the night before :)
Random shot of the costumes ... which we lamely did not participate in.
Some punk rock broads ...
Pac-Man ... excellent
Lauren whipping across the finish line, as her birthday present I let her beat me in this race (HAHA)
And slowly rolling in to your far left in electric pink would be me ... emphasis on the slowly
And a shot of me dying ...
All in all it was a successful weekend! Coming up this Saturday is the Devil's Chase 6.66 Miler in back in Salem. Following that I'll be headed to Worcester for the Team 9/22/12 dress fitting with my Lo-Lo beans and then off to NH for my inaugural Ghoullog experience on Cranmore Mountain .. bring it ghosties! That will conclude my October races.
October 31st will also begin the 10 x 80 in 8. What is that you may ask? Well I have $800 left to raise. I need 80 ppl to donate $10 each in order to reach my goal by December 31st and I am instituting 10 x 80 in 8 to make it happen on time for the year! I have over 600 facebook friends, loads of awesome family and tons of randos that can all spare $10 for ALS so expect to be hunted come 10/31!
I am still looking for a November race, if you know of any Worcester local T-Giving Day races please let me know, Em and I are desperately seeking one.
And December launches the final month of my year long quest to raise $5,000 for ALS and run 1 5K a month for the year in memory and in honor of Grandpa Hudson. This will be a big month so expect big things in the blog, keep an eye out for emails, fundraising updates, blog updates, and the final countdown ... yah Ash, this time it's happening!
As always thank you for reading and keep following, you only have 2.5 more months to have to listen to me ramble on and on so suck it up and thank you!
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