Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

cheerleader minnie mouse
Originally uploaded by Elysia in Wonderland.
Sometimes I think I can be quite a smart person, and then there are other times when I wonder how I've been allowed to get this far in life.

A month ago I ran-walked the NYC Half Marathon and (in retrospect anyway), it was a really great day. Less than a week after that race, I signed up for another one.  Today in Central Park was the More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women's Half-Marathon.  Where my race actually left the Park and hit the streets, this one stayed within the confines and took two circuits (and a bit) of Central Park springtime fabulousness.  My knee has still been cactus and admittedly I've been doing too much eating, drinking, slothing and not enough training so right across the board I wasn't feeling fit enough for today's 13.1 miles.

But that didn't stop me from getting up early and cheering on my training buddies Flock, Flora and also Reeds (who had flown in all the way from Texas to haul ass in the sunshine).  I was so excited for them as they rounded the bends and ran towards me.  I was sensibly standing at the Central Park Boathouse - in the easy vicinity of both coffee AND toilets.  Mind you, this was a race just for women, so you can imagine the line up for the loos!

And I unleashed my New Yorker a few times too, yelling at stupid tourists who tried to play chicken with the runners and bolt across the running course.  Why can't people just wait a couple of minutes until the runners have gone past?  Ridiculous.  But on behalf of the 8,000+ ladies out there today, I let the tourists have it.  The race volunteers didn't mace me either, which was a relief.  Let's face it, I think I just said what they were feeling anyway.

But do you know that despite all the cheering I was doing, yelling till I was hoarse and clapping until my hands hurt, it didn't occur to me until AFTER the race that I could have actually walked this thing today.  I paid for the race, I had registered for it all, and yet I didn't bother to collect my race materials cause I knew I wasn't up to the run-walking.  But there was nothing stopping me walking it.  Where the NYC Half had prescribed a 3-hour time limit, today's race had a 4-hour time limit so I would have had heaps of time to dawdle along at my own pace. And yet not once did that thought pop into my head.  I mean, honestly.  Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Reeds was also kind enough to include me in her family dinner (well, late lunch) this afternoon so I almost felt like I'd run the race with her.  We all traded war stories about electrolyte Gu, needing to pee at inappropriate times during the race, and how good it feels to have people cheer for you and give you that little extra push to keep going.  Glory days.