Thunderstorms threatened this year's Museum Mile Festival, but the husband and I didn't let that stop us from taking a leisurely stroll up 5th Avenue to see the crowds, the chalk drawings and the street performers- and a singularly fun drum performance at the El Museo del Barrio. It started to sprinkle around the time that we reached the Guggenheim, but the storm rolled by without much distraction.
By the time we reached the Conservatory Garden in Central Park near 106th Street the skies overhead were blue and the sun was setting with fiery brilliance. From there we walked across the park and sat down to a delicious pasta dinner, for I was running my first race the next day!
The JP Morgan Corporate Challenge is a 3.5 mile race through Central Park that loops from 72nd street on the west side up to 106th and then back down the east side.
There were 15,000 people running from companies all over the city, and it was both fun and challenging for me. Dodging through so many people is a chore and a huge energy expenditure, especially for a novice runner like me. I've only been running for 2 months and, having just completed the Couch to 5k program, this was actually the longest distance I had run to date. Maybe this was not the smartest decision, but then it was also a last minute opportunity in my case (someone else had dropped out). In the end I did alright, with my time hovering around 35 minutes. Not what I had hoped for, but perhaps a goal time of under 33 minutes was unrealistic for someone so new to running. I came in 8,645th place overall, and in 2,974th place out of the female runners. Daunting numbers, but I'm still proud just to have ran.
The competitive side of me is using this as ammunition. In two more weeks time I'll start training for a 10k, and maybe, just maybe, a half marathon waits for me somewhere in the future.
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