On a trip to NYC, Let's Run a 5K in Central Park!

A week after running my 1st 5K, I went on a trip to New York City (! I had caught the running bug, and wanted to do another race while in the city that never sleeps!

Well, I decided I wanted to run said race when I was already in NYC! Needless to say I only had a pair of Uggs, that I definitely wasn't going to be running in!

So the night before the race I signed up to run a Charity 5K Central Park, Park Run. "Wow! Only $35! but the experience of running in Central Park in 30 degree weather will be worth it!" At least thats what I thought. Now, I still needed sneakers, Luckily for me,  I was just reading about these amazing new Nike running shoes, the Nike Flyknit, Free Runs, and decided I needed to have these shoes because they were probably amazing running shoes! They actually ended up not being very amazing, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I wear a small shoe size, The perfect size 5. Which believe it or not is a very hard to find when I'm just casually browsing the clearance shoe rack at over priced department stores, and even more difficult to find when you are on a time crunch and running a 5K in less than 12 hours!

At last we found Nike Town a store somewhere in New York that we somehow passed by twice before realizing where it was. I don't know how I missed the Nike Town letters, or the window display of Nike Sneakers, so I will just blame it on the cold weather this Florida girl isn't used to.

The morning of the race came, and I was running it with a few people from the group I came to NYC with (It was a college club field trip). We got lost on the subway, somehow took the wrong train, It was absolutely freezing! (Okay for me it was) Oh and my feet were already hurting, I could feel the blisters forming, and we hadn't even made it to Central Park.

Okay, so we arrived, and we realized there was no packet pick up, or bibs, no t-shirts, oh yeah and no medal either. Wow, this has got to be the most expensive race ever! Oh we are in New York City- thats why.

We start the race, It is now 33 degrees, I am frozen, and the group of us fall behind the elite runners. My ankles are hurting, I'm pretty sure my toes are frost bitten. Oh, and I'm not wearing socks because these sneakers are basically like socks on your feet, and barely provide any support. Here is a picture to give you a better idea if you aren't familiar with these expensive sock shoes.

I also attempted to avoid some hills by going "around" which actually took me to the outskirts of the park, and we ended up running close to six miles all in all, and never actually made it to the finish line. If there even was a finish line. To this day I'm not entirely sure where we were supposed to be running, but at least we got a nice morning tour of Central Park, ended up in "Spanish Harlem" and had to take like 3 trains back to the hotel, and walk another mile, and pass it, and have to be tourists and pull out Apple Maps to get back to the warmth of the Sheraton Time Square.

It ended up being a very memorable run, the experience was great, and I was very fortunate to have the experience to see Central Park in a new perspective. It was my first time in NYC, and I am proud to say I ran a race through one of the most well known parks in America.

I don't have too many pictures since getting a new phone, but here are some pictures from the run. Notice how my ankle is propped up? Yeah it was pretty swollen, not sure if it was the shoes or the temperature. Actually no, I'm going to blame the shoes. The very expensive shoes. ( That I have only worn twice!)

Notice my crazy layered outfit. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a sweat shirt, a scarf, leggings, sweat pants, ear warmer head band ( I have no idea what those are called) Oh and my super cool Betsey Johnson cross body. Remember I had to be resourceful. I had no idea I was going to be running my second 5K in New York City!

Why I sign up for races, and why you should too!

As a kid I hated running, I had asthma, I wasn't fast, I was short, I had short legs.

I'm still short, still not fast, but I no longer have asthma, so thats one thing going for me.

I needed to find a hobby, something to do for me. 

I was battling depression severe anxiety, panic disorder, and bipolar disorder, and needed an outlet, something to get me out of bed in the morning.

That is when I started running.

I started running slow, mostly a slow jog/walk with lots of heavy breathing.

I had a goal, and that goal was to finish the 2014 Disney Princess Half Marathon.

At this point I did not realize how far 13.1 miles truly was, but I knew I was going to finish, even if I had to crawl across the finish line!

******************Spoiler Alert***********************

I DID IT!!

But that part comes later.

However, since I did complete the distance (in an upright position) I am going to tell you why you should run, or jog, or walk, or cartwheel a race, no matter what the distance!

It will make you feel accomplished, The feeling you get when you cross a finish line is like no other. It will make you feel like a million bucks! A lovely thing called a Runners High will come over you, and you will want to do another race, and another race even if you had a challenging time getting to the finish line!

You want the bragging rights! Wear your race t-shirt proudly, take a "selfie" with your medal, or race bib. Buy one of those distance magnets or stickers to display on your car so now everywhere you go everyone will know you are a bad ass runner!

You want to run in an awesome costume! Okay, maybe this is just me, but I love to run in costumes. Not only do they make for awesome race pictures, but it helps you stand out from the crowd, and it feels damn good when spectators, or volunteers personally call you out wishing you luck and boosting your confidence.

You meet amazing people! Everyone has an amazing story of why they started running! They are inspiring, and most other runners are extremely friendly. During my first half I became sluggish around mile 10, and for the last 5K I had two amazing women walk with me, and share stories. We encouraged each other to jog, keep going, and cross the finish line together!

Remember, It doesn't matter what happens between the start and the finish line, it only matters that you cross the start line, and the finish line

Nervous for your first 5K? Trust me, It can't be worse than mine!

The title says it all. Almost 1 year ago, November 2nd 2013, I ran my first 5K. I signed up, and barely trained. At the time I figured, "Oh, This can't be too hard? How far can 3 miles actually be?"

Yes! I had never run 3 miles before! I think the farthest I got was a mile in my "training". Well, of course the day of the race came and I thought I knew everything there was to know about running a 5K. In fact, I was so over confident, you would have thought I was an Ultra Runner!

The race was called the Gingerbread 5K at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee, FL. It ended up being a great race, but being the running noob that I was, I had some minor blunders during the race.

First, when I got to Give Kids the World Village, I promptly and over-confidently went to pick up my race bib, I forgot the exact number, because it ended upsetting wet and I had to throw it out. I am thinking it was 1044, or 1046, but that doesn't really matter.

I was given a ticket to pick up a race shirt at the finish line, well for some reason either I didn't hear the last part, or I was too concerned about not getting small cotton t-shirt with a gingerbread man on it, that I ran (just kidding I walked because I'm actually out of shape) to the t-shirt booth and picked up my lovely brown 100% cotton t-shirt.

"Oh crap! What am I going to do with this shirt now? I can't possibly wear it, because it will be too hot, and I want everyone to see my fancy running Nike tank top I'm wearing, plus I this shirt is too long and it will look like I'm running with no pants on!"

Okay, time for plan B. Where was I possibly going to put this shirt! I had like 10 minutes before the race started and there was no way I was going to be crossing that starting line last!  (I'm an ultra runner in my head,remember?)

So I decided to tie this t-shirt around my wrist, kind of like a sweat band. Well, It ended up looking like I tied a dirty rag around my arm, since it was a gross brown color. So its time to start, and I go line up. I am very nervous, but decide to just put on the running playlist I had been working on for longer than my training, and just go!

We started to run, I put on my Runkeeper, before we crossed the sensor mat, and started my music, which actually took a while to start playing so I had to walk and fiddle with my phone for a bit. At this point, my first song starts, and it's Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. Unfortunately, this upbeat song made me feel like even more of an ultra runner, so I went hard, I ran and ran, like I was trying to beat all the little kids around me, and all the people pushing babies in strollers. I can only imagine how pitiful I looked. By the time we got to mile 1, I felt like I had run 26 miles! "Wow! a mile is actually a decently long distance, how the heck am I going to run another 2.1!" The whole competing against strangers went on for a while. I somehow dropped my water bottle somewhere, and there was no way I was going back for it! I was parched and figured there would be a water stop soon..

Thankfully I came across one around mile 2.4. I drank 2 cups of water, and despite the tightness in my chest, and cramps in my tummy, I pushed myself to run. Ignoring my stupid Runkeeper app that kept telling me my pace was 21-25 minutes per mile. The crowd support was great. I was exhausted but they helped me to keep going. When they cheered for me, it made me run harder and faster. I felt sick, but when I saw the finish line, and may photographers, I knew I had to finish strong.

I crossed the finish line and promptly vomited off to the side with nothing to catch it in but my brown race shirt. Luckily I hadn't eaten anything that morning so it was just water, and the nice race directors gave me a new shirt when I told them I was running with the stomach flu.

Well, I finished and it felt amazing. Even if I felt like death for the next few days! I hadn't stretched, because obviously as an ultra runner in my mind, I was too good for stretching. So naturally I  was very sore!

Below  is a picture from my first 5K. It was truly a memorable experience. Especially when it hit me, I was going to be running a half marathon in a little over 3 months! What was I thinking when I signed up for that!!!