You must be 21...

May 19, 2007: Healthy Kidney 10K

Racers: Lyle, Mary, Kathy, Mel, Shirley

This was a whirlwind trip. We left at 4 pm on Friday afternoon, had dinner at a service plaza along the thruway (yum!) and arrived at our hotel in Tarrytown about 11:30 pm. It was Mary’s birthday, so a small celebration was in order before we retired.

The first thing we noticed as we walked in the door of the hotel was the front desk clerk—an overweight middle-aged man with a really bad toupee. He had on a very short tie. Mel asked him where the closest lounge was. The man explained where it was, but added the following caution, “But in New York State you must be 21 to drink.” He was dead serious. He wasn’t joking. You should have seen Mel trying to convince him that she was in fact over 21. Had we entered the twilight zone? A young man standing nearby who witnessed the whole thing had quite a chuckle.

After we stowed our luggage in the room, we headed out for the birthday celebration. As we walked through the hotel lobby, we got last minute directions from the clerk. He gave us good, detailed directions, and then added, “But you must be 21 to drink.” As we exited the hotel we almost busted a gut laughing. All 5 of us are old enough to be grandmothers.

The sports bar we went to was obviously a local hangout and it was perfect. I’m sure we looked like we were “from away.” Mel was quite a sight-- dressed in a hot pink velour lounge outfit, carrying a sparkly silver purse. The rest of us looked normal. We had a good time and when we returned to the hotel, we couldn’t help but toy with the clerk. As we walked in, Kathy said “they served us and we aren’t even 21!” The clerk peered over his reading glasses staring at us in disbelief.

By the time we got to bed it was 2:30 am. We needed to get up at 6 am, and we did. It looked like it was going to rain. But by the time the race started the sun was shining. I walked this race, as I had been experiencing a pain in my left thigh for a couple of weeks and the doctor thought it might be a stress fracture. I was scheduled to have a nuclear bone scan on Monday. So I followed doctor’s orders and walked the entire 10K. Walking fast is hard. I almost came in dead last. But the cool thing is that as I crossed the finish line the rest of the gang was there to meet me, and one of the photographers took a group picture under the banner. This was also the first race in which all of us wore our “Women on the Run” singlets.

We hurried back to Tarrytown, got our showers, and then had a wonderful lunch under the Tappan Zee Bridge at a great little place called Sunset Cove. What a contrast to the thruway service plaza meal!

Then we piled in the car and headed home again. Five down, four to go!

A Mother's Day to Remember

May 13, 2007: New York Junior League Mothers Day Run

Racers: Mel, Kathy, Mary, Lyle, Alka, and Shirley at Tom's Diner after the race

I wasn’t sure if I could get a good size group to join me on a trip to New York on Mothers Day weekend, however there were 6 of us for this trip. It was a beautiful weekend. I drove down, my SUV packed to the gills with people and luggage. We drove down the usual way, coming in to the city via I-87, taking the Sawmill Parkway to Henry Hudson Parkway, 79th street exit down to Broadway and then to (where else?) the Beacon Hotel. We’ve got this down to a science. We did a few laps around the block before deciding that no on-street parking places were to be had, and then went into a parking garage. We checked into the Beacon and were walking to lunch by 1 pm. Our lunch destination this day would be Isabella’s near the Museum of Natural History. What a great spot that was! We got a table outside, had wonderful food, drink, and conversation. The free hats they passed out to us were a big hit. The next item on the itinerary was to pick up our race packets. After losing one of our members in an Arts and Crafts fair for 30 minutes, we finally made our way to the packet pickup.

On to the Metropolitan Museum of Art! Not for the art, but for the Rooftop Café for drinks. Mary found this spot in her New York travel guide. What a great spot this was. Up on the roof. The New York skyline! A gorgeous spring day! Who could ask for more? When we finally got back to the hotel that evening, I was exhausted. The group was talking about going out for a burger, and all I could think about was crawling into bed. I went to bed, and they went for burgers.

The next morning I felt pretty good. It was sunny, but relatively cool (in the 50’s). Mary and Shirley ran the 4 mile race and the rest of us went for the 10 mile race an hour later. I decided (for the first time) to race with my Ipod. I sometimes use it when I’m just out running and I’m definitely not dependent on it. I thought the music might motivate me to run stronger, especially given the length of the race. I did find that I enjoyed having it.

I ran a good race (for me). I’m not a fast runner. Ten miles is not a common race distance, so the only thing that comes close for comparison is the Utica Boilermaker (15K) which I did in 2004 and 2006. Of course the Boilermaker is hilly and hot, and a little shorter, but I took a whole minute off of my Boilermaker pace. I was very encouraged by this, feeling like my training was starting to pay off. Mary and Shirley hung out after their race, and I was really surprised to see them cheering me on as I passed the Boathouse on one of the loops around the park.
I love picking out all of the landmarks as I circle through the park. This time, I noticed for the first time the Marionette Theater, which looked like something from a German fairly tale. As I crested one hill, there was a man who looked like an old running coach, who was giving each of us pointers on our running form. And then I saw again a tall nice-looking African American man I had seen during the More Half Marathon (doing the same thing), who ran the course in reverse facing us, clapping and encouraging all of us. It was nice running the course counterclockwise this time. It was also a nice change to do those northern hills from the other direction.


After showers at the hotel, drove up near Columbia University with a plan to have lunch at the Seinfeld spot, Tom’s Diner. We saw lots of Columbia grads in their caps and gowns. We circled around the block a few times, looking for a spot to park. We had just given up when we came upon one. You would have thought we had just won the lottery. My parallel parking skills have atrophied over the years since I rarely need to do it anymore. And I’ll tell you, these Manhattan parking spots are tight. Kathy suddenly shouts out, I’ll park it for you! So I stop, jump out and she jumps out and gets in the driver’s seat. I thought for sure the driver behind us was going to start honking, but I didn’t care (they didn’t honk…they must have been from out of town). I’m sure I could have parked it, but why put myself through that anxiety if someone else is willing to take it on? Kathy did a great job. We had a great diner lunch, and then walked through St. John the Divine Cathedral which was just a block away. That place was awesome. I was so glad we stopped in. It was definitely worth the time.

Then we headed home. Another great weekend and another race under our belts.

Half Marathon Women

March 25, 2007: More Half Marathon

Racers: Lyle, Kathy, Alka, Mary (missing from picture: Lauren, Brooke)

We made our reservation at the Beacon Hotel. Kathy would drive this time, and Mary would navigate. The plan was to leave at 5 am Saturday. We arrived in the city around lunch time, left our luggage at the hotel, and headed down to the Expo to get our packets. I met Kathrine Switzer and chatted with her for a few minutes. She was autographing her new book, Marathon Woman, and I bought one. We all had our bone densities screened at the expo, and compared our T scores. After lunch at a great little spot near the expo we returned to the hotel, dropped off the packets and rested briefly before heading over to the Pasta Party at the Tavern on the Green.

I always wanted to check out the Tavern on the Green, as I had never been there before. The pasta party was fine, but I have to say that the Tavern on the Green was not as wonderful as I expected. I thought the décor was a bit tacky. We sat at a table with a group of women who had come all the way from Austin, Texas for this race. On the way out, walking down the crowded corridor I walked right past Al Sharpton.

We had very good weather for this one—nice cool running weather. We each ran our own race (we always do). The lead runners lapped me shortly before I finished my first lap of the two lap course. It was a thrill having them run past me. I felt pretty good until about mile 10. Then my legs just started stiffening up. Even on the downhills my legs were unhappy. So that last couple of miles were a push for me. Nevertheless, I finished and felt good about my time. It was nothing spectacular, but it was good for me, and better than previous half marathons I had done. However, I decided that I needed to work on my training so my legs would be better able to go the distance in the future.

I stayed for a few minutes of the after-race party. They had a great band playing. Then it was back to the hotel to grab a quick shower before our long drive home. Three down, six to go!

The Hostel Weekend

February 24, 2007: NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake

Racers: Nancy, Shirley, Kathy, Alka, Lyle

We decided to be adventurous and try out a hostel this time. Mary was actually the one who picked this one after looking at ratings and reviews. She happened to be in the city the weekend before and personally inspected it. She called to reassure us on the day of our trip that we had “made a good choice.”

The NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake, a 4 mile run, was scheduled for Saturday. We decided to go down for Friday and Saturday night, and to try taking the train in from New Jersey. We arrived at the hostel around 9 or 10 pm. It wasn’t what I had expected, but I figured, how bad can it be? Everyone else was not as optimistic. However, I was way too tired to go looking for another place to stay at this hour.

The staff was friendly but completely incompetent. We had reserved a 6 bunk room with its own bathroom. Initially there had been six of us planning to do this trip, so we would have the room to ourselves. Instead they said the 6 bunk room was unavailable and put us in a 12 bunk room. This room was trashed. It looked like people were living here. When we first walked into the room, there was a woman on a top bunk who said to us, “Oh good. I’m glad to see some other normal people.” The bathroom was trashed too—full of dozens of shampoo bottles, spilled makeup, and hair. We couldn’t even find 5 clean bunks to call our own and had to go down and get the front desk people to remedy the situation. Once we figured out where we were sleeping we went and had a late supper at Carmines, an Italian restaurant with great atmosphere, great food. It was a nice respite from the hostel.

Then we returned to the hostel. The door lock didn’t work. The furnace pipes clanged all night. I kept my purse in my bed. Some of us slept in our clothes. We think a couple of women that were staying in the room were working as prostitutes. It was like a nightmare that kept getting worse. It was horrible. When I awoke the next morning, I made a decision that we were moving out of this hell hole as soon as we finished our race.

The morning was brilliant but COLD. It was 20 degrees and windy. We were absolutely frigid as we waited for the race to start on East Drive in Central Park. We warmed up quickly when the race finally started and we trotted counterclockwise around the park. It was so cold that the cups of water had ice on top. But I felt good, and enjoyed my second tour of Central Park.

After the race, we booked a room at the Beacon Hotel, showered and checked out of the hostel. We walked into the lobby of the Beacon, and it was as if we had gone from one universe to another. There was a collective sigh of relief. Our two room suite was like heaven. We could finally relax and enjoy ourselves. We decided right then and there that we loved the Beacon and that we were going to stay there every single time. Period.

We spent the afternoon exploring the city. After lunch we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and enjoyed their Tiffany exhibit. We then took the subway south and meandered through Greenwich Village for awhile. We stopped in a Mexican restaurant for margaritas and sangria.

Our group was pretty inefficient in trying to buy subway tickets from the machines and swiping them through the turnstiles. Some of us were more challenged with this task than others. We finally realized toward the end of the weekend that we should each buy a Metrocard with multiple rides on it so that we wouldn’t have to deal with the ticket machine every single time.

After a nice relaxing happy hour in our beautiful hotel suite, we then went out for a late supper at a nearby Indian restaurant. The next morning we headed home. Two down, seven to go!

Running Amok in the City

January 7, 2007: Fred Lebow Classic

Racers: Mel, Shirley, Lyle, Alka, Mary

We couldn’t wait to start our “grand scheme” and signed up for the first qualifying race for 2007, the NYRR Fred Lebow Classic, a 5 miler in Central Park. As of January 1, we had 6 committed members: Lyle, Alka, Mary, Shirley, Mel and Nancy. Nancy wasn’t going to be able to make the first race.

Initially I thought that we would be able to do 9 races all together. But it became apparent early on that even with the large number of NYRR qualifying races to choose from, we were not going to be able to identify 9 races that we could all do together. Trying to coordinate this was a cross between herding cats and solving a Rubik’s cube.

The plan would need to loosen up in order to work. Individuals would each need to suggest specific races to do, see who wanted to join them, and plan the races in a slightly more spontaneous manner. Each person would be responsible to make sure they made it to 9 races in the upcoming year.

Another feature of “the plan” as I saw it, was to try to do this as frugally and time efficiently as possible. If we were each going to travel to NYC nine times in one year, this could be costly and time consuming. My vision was to do this “on the cheap,” with the philosophy that in a great city like New York you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a blast. We would drive down together, share moderately priced lodging, eat at fun, casual places, take the subway or walk, and just enjoy the sights and ambiance of the city.

Early on I had suggested that we stay in hostels, considering the price of hotel rooms in New York. When I mentioned this to Mary on one of our Sunday group runs, she gave me this look that implied, “Are you out of your frigging mind??” So Mary got very busy and found us a great deal on rooms at the Upper Eastside Marriott Courtyard for this first trip. Mary also appointed herself tour director, which was great.

The race was on Sunday. We left Saturday morning about 7:30 am. Mel was late, so we made her sit in the very back of my SUV. I was driving and decided to try a route through New Jersey. I know this decision was hard for Mary (as she is an expert on the fastest way to get to New York) but she was very gracious and flexible. We had a great drive down. The day was sunny and getting very warm as we traveled south. We had a little glitch as we actually tried to cross over from New Jersey into Manhattan. I had a GPS navigation system, directions from Mapquest, and ongoing verbal directions from Mary. An in spite of this (or perhaps because of this) I took a wrong turn and ended up where I really didn’t want to be—going through the Holland Tunnel. It was amazing. It seemed like it went from 20 lanes to 2 lanes in a span of about 100 feet, with this giant free-for-all sprawl of cars and trucks playing chicken with each other. Where we live there is no such thing as a traffic jam, so under usual circumstances I’m not a pushy or aggressive driver, and tend to be kind and accommodating to fellow drivers. I could see that this attitude wasn’t going to work if I wanted to make it through the tunnel! So I switched into NYC driving mode (yes, I am capable of this). We had a beautiful drive up along the Hudson, past the Chelsea Piers. It was over 70 degrees and everyone was outside. People were out rollerblading in shorts and tank tops. (Remember this was January 6!) We rolled down our windows and enjoyed the drive through the city.

We drove past the NYRR office and picked up our packets (we were delighted with the long-sleeved white t-shirts with the colorful design) and then headed to the hotel to check in. There was no time to waste. Mary had a plan. We took a subway down to midtown and she took us on a walking tour that included Trump Tower, shops along 5th Avenue (we could look in the windows, but she wouldn’t allow us to go in), Rockefeller Center (the Christmas tree and decorations were still there), and I’m sure other sights that I can’t remember now. The main challenge of this walk was to keep up with Mary without getting run over. We ended in Times Square, and headed up to The View. We enjoyed our drinks, the view, and the crowd.

So then it was on to dinner at Virgil’s Barbecue. It was noisy, crowded and fun. This is the part where certain people who shall remain nameless began to run amok. I have edited out the details in the interest of decorum.

The next day was bright and cooler, and we all had a wonderful race in spite of the late night out. We had finished race number one!

We then packed up the car and headed back to the 'Burg. We were actually in the city only 19 hours, but we definitely packed it in.

How it all got started...

I've been running with a group of women most Sunday mornings for the last few years. Early on we felt like we needed a name for this group, and we came to call ourselves "Women on the Run." We've had great fun over the years, running the streets of our little town--during the glorious days of spring, summer, fall, as well as persisting through the dark, frigid days of our harsh northern winter. We've run lots of races together too--nearby 5ks, 10ks, and half marathons. Its been a blast.

Then I got this idea last fall as the 2006 NYC Marathon was approaching...
I've wanted to run the NYC Marathon ever since I heard about it. However the dilemma is that in order for me to run the race with a friend (which is how I would want to do it) we both must be lucky and win the lottery. There are other ways to get guaranteed entry--run a fast qualifying time (not going to happen for me), raise money for a charity (I don't like to mix my charity and my running), OR ----join the New York Road Runners for 2007 and 2008, and run at least 9 of their "qualifying" races in 2007, resulting in guaranteed entry for the 2008 Marathon. (This last plan would have the added fun of traveling to NYC, enjoying the city and running races in Central Park over and over again.)

Problem: My friends and I live about 400 miles from New York City, where all of the races are held (except one which is in Washington DC, even further). We would have to travel there 9 times in one year--a big commitment of time, money and effort. I was afraid to even bring the idea up given how outrageous it seemed at the time, but I needed to find at least ONE other person who would agree to do this with me, so I had to bare my soul and spit it out. On November 5, 2006 (the date of the 2006 NYC Marathon no less) during our usual Sunday morning run, I described my idea to one running partner, Mary. She was interested! I couldn't believe it. That gave me the courage to email everyone else. Within 30 minutes of my email, my friend Alka responded:

"I have taken the leap and registered for NYRR. Let the adventure begin."

What a woman that Alka is. (At that point I hadn't even signed up myself...so I promptly did.) Now we were two.

The momentum grew. Mary, Shirley, and Nancy joined by the end of 2006. Now we were five. We began checking out the NYRR website so that we could plan our 2007 race schedule. I couldn't believe how much interest and enthusiasm there was for this wild plan. What a way to start the new year! By the end of January, we had 4 more women join in: Mel, Kathy, Lauren, and Brooke. Now we were nine. Unbelievable.

Our adventures are well underway at this point. In future posts, I'll describe the adventures we have already had, as well as adventures to come. I'm hoping that the other 8 women who have joined me in this scheme will respond with their thoughts, stories, perspectives.