Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon RECAP

Yesterday was my first Half Marathon. If you recall, I decided one day to train for my first 5K before my 40th birthday. Running was NOT something I ever did. EVER. At the time, I had a 3 and 6 year old. I worked full time. I was just getting into the swing of things juggling those boys and my life. I never, ever thought that one day I would be running a 1/2 marathon.

Well, this year, I started running with Black Girls Run, my running group. These women were so much fun. They were encouraging. They pushed me to keep going further. I went from 1 mile to 3 miles. From 3 miles to 5 miles. One day, I ran 7. Then, they signed me up for my first ten mile race. I conquered the Broad Street Run. I started training with a crew of ladies who were training for their first half marathons. Team 13.1 is what we started calling ourselves after the number of miles in the race.

Every morning at 5am, we trained hard. Some mornings, we ran hills. Some mornings we did boot camp. Some mornings, we did speed intervals. Once a week, we ran a long run. We did this for about 12 weeks. Finally, two weeks ago, one of the ladies asked me if I was running the 1/2 marathon with them. To tell the truth, I was scared that I couldn’t do it. It just sounded so crazy. In my head….I DON’T RUN HALF MARATHONS.

Finally, I realized the deadline had passed for me to register without paying a gazillion dollars. One of the teammates, pulled out of the event due to injury and I ended up with her race bib. Suddenly, I felt like the universe was conspiring to propel me to run this race. I drank the Kool Aid and got ready.

Saturday night, my stomach was killing me. I was so anxious. I think I got four hours of sleep.

I woke up on Sunday morning and started getting ready. When I got there, I found my training crew. We were all anxious but we had run the distance once before. We hugged each other and encouraged each other.

PRE-RACE laughs with my training crew….

During the race, we talked and felt good. We passed miles and enjoyed the race waving to friends and family all the way. We saw an elderly gentleman running in a POW-MIA shirt while holding an American flag on a long flagpole. It brought tears to my eyes. Around mile 7, one of my co-workers who had been reclaiming his health ran up and hugged me. He was running his first race too. We high fived and joked that we would see each other on the finish line.

Our running team had cheerleaders at every mile marker. They were awesome. They had signs and cheered for us by name. They were so uplifting. I cruised into mile ten feeling good.

THE BEST PEP SQUAD EVER!

Right around mile 10-all smiles

At mile 11 1/2, my body started to hit the wall. My breathing was not labored thanks to all of my swimming and endurance training. For an asthmatic, I used to worry about gasping for air but I have great breath control now. However, my legs were starting to feel it. My body started talking to me.

My knees said “Look here. Didn’t we have a talk not too long ago? Didn’t I tell you to sit your old azz down and rest? Why do you have me out here doing this?”

All of a sudden, I looked over and saw one of our coaches. This woman. WHEW. She was not running today but she knew that on training runs, we had all started to struggle at the end. She positioned herself right at that mile 11.5 marker and what did she yell out to us? “There you guys are. I have been waiting specifically for you.” Then she ran into the street and started yelling (with love) MOVE IT LADIES, THIS IS THE HOMESTRETCH. YOU ARE 2 MILES AWAY. LET”S GO! She then started to run next to us and push us. I told her I had to go slow at this point cause my legs were shot. She told me to “stop making excuses and keep moving.” LOL…gotta love it.

She ran the remaining two miles in with us before turning back to go run in with more of our team. BGR had almost 60 runners in the race. Amazing. She helped run in most of us. What an angel.

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE WITH OUR COACH NEXT TO US (she is on the right with no race bib on)

What was great was that we stayed next to each other for the entire race. We all finished within seconds of each other. Here we are right after we all received our post race medals. Minutes after finishing.

POST RACE PHOTO

I really did it. It is now starting to sink in.

It was a great experience. On a personal note, I also got to compete and train for all these weeks with my sorority sisters. We love each other and pushed, coached and held each other up. We all purchased special shirts to commemorate our 13.1 miles. To find them in pink and green was perfect. We showed up to our post race brunch rocking our AKA pearls and our shirts.

TEAM AKA/TEAM 13.1

Yup, Thirteen point freaking one…your girl is a RUNNER.

Tri update

How is training going? Glad you asked! With about 6 weeks to go, it’s going as well as can be expected.

SWIMMING

I have been swimming twice a week. No more trainer, I learned all of my stroking techniques and now I am working on building up my endurance for the 1/2 mile. I think *gasp* I will be in decent shape for the race. The key is to learn different strokes so when you are swimming and you get tired of freestyle, you can switch to another stroke with ease and keep moving. The key is to never stop swimming. I was extremely anxious and I still am. I think it will be the toughest part of the race but I will feel so good when I complete it. Last week, I swam with my friend The Good Dr, who is training with me. We hadn’t done any swimming together since the very beginning when we first started. Back then, I would swim 1/2 the length of the pool and stop. We swam 20 laps last weekend and she was amazed at my progress. Now, I am still no Michael Phelps but I am sure I won’t be the worst swimmer out there.

BIKING

I was doing spin class and biking on a stationary bike for much of the winter. I have started the outside riding now. 15 miles should take me about 45 minutes or less. Trust me, when I first got on a bike, it was not a pretty sight. I haven’t been on a bike since I was about 12. When the bike would pick up speed, I would get panicked like I was going to crash. Riding in traffic gives me heart palpitations. However, on open road, I am straight. I actually enjoy the bike. Now, running after biking? *cough* That’s another story.

RUNNING

While I have never run more than 5 miles. Last week, I ran two 5Ks. I ran one on Friday morning up Kelly Drive. I ran on Sunday in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. I am not worried about the run portion. I am confident I can run a 5K and if I get super exhausted, I can walk. My goal is to not have to walk at the end. I seriously want to complete it but as long as I cross that finish line, that’s all that matters.

On a positive note, I have lost 12 pounds (which is exactly what I needed to lose) and I am down a complete dress size. I feel strong. I feel like I can do or try anything. I know that I am open to new challenges and that’s so important to me as I get older. At the 5K on Sunday, my boys were at the finish line with a sign that said “Go Mommy Go”. That’s exactly what I intend to keep doing.

People in Hell want Ice Water…

I try not to judge people, I really do. However, in some cases, I am judgemental as HELL.

The body of Ca.yl.ee An.tho.ny was found with a heart sticker over her mouth. WHAT THE FUDGE? If her mother did this, OMG….there is no torture they could come up with, no way to die, nothing that could be good enough to punish her for what she has done to this child. And what? Afterwards, you stuck a heart sticker on your kids mouth as what? Decoration?

And Ru.sh Li.mb.au.gh actually said on his show “I HOPE OBAMA FAILS”. If you care about our nation, our people, our country….who would ever say they hope the President and his administration fails? How many levels of ignorant are you to even form those words?

As jacked up as Bush was, no one WANTED him to fail. We wanted all of us to be able to eat, afford our homes, have healthcare and schools. We always want our President to succeed despite our personal feelings about the individual.

And as for today when my “South Philly co-worker”  said the older Obama daughter seems very sweet but the younger one looks like she is a spoiled rotten brat and she doesn’t like her.

**PAUSE, GIVE EVIL SIDE EYE and say…

“Wow, have you actually met her? You sound like you know her personally.”

“Uh…no. I just don’t like her, she seems like a real brat.”

“Really? You have such a strong  judgement on a little kid that you don’t know and have never met? That seems very narrow minded. She strikes me as a cute little girl. Period.”

“Well, I can tell these things.”

“Oh you have a knack for judging people you don’t know and have never met. Interesting. Wait till you get to know me. I can’t wait to hear what you really think. *Smiles sweetly and walks away*

I hope some folks have reservations cause ice water is scarce down there.

I heart you Philadelphia!

By now you have probably seen the video of THAT ONE from Alaska getting booed here in Philadelphia.

This town gets a bum rap so often that I must take a moment to recognize Philadelphia fans for one thing. THEY LIKE WHO THEY LIKE AND THEY ARE VOCAL WHEN THEY HATE YOU.

Having grown up a New York sports fan, I am quite familiar with vocal fans who feel like they can say whatever they feel like to their athletes and owners. We are from the home of Steinbrenner, the Knicks and Mets. We know that feeling of victory but we have suffered through horrible seasons and major defeat.

So coming here, I was warned about these Philly fans. My first football game, I found out that they had a judge and jail in Veterans stadium. You got locked up and tried in the stadium…LOL

I remember one game I went to see the Giants play the Eagles and I was pregnant with Tali 1. Mr. 1969 had to stand up and warn all of the Eagles fans that his Giants shirt wearing wife was pregnant after the beers started raining down on me. The fan response?

“Tell her to take her pregnant azz back to NEW YORK!”

You gotta love this town. I respect gangsta greater than New York’s. I tip my hat to Philly. I have seen them Boo Destiny’s Child for wearing a lakers shirt at a playoff game. I have seen them Boo Ashanti at halftime in a game because she sounded terrible. And now, they have booed THAT ONE from Alaska. These folks take gully to the extreme.

Dont believe me? In 1968, they booed Santa Claus.

Oh yeah….and they have great taste in clothing…..

Philadelphia Story

Trinidad is my birthplace and New York is my heart. Philadelphia is my new home. We have been in Philadelphia for 8 years now. We chose this city as it was midway between both of our families and it is becoming our home.

My two sons were born here and they rep for this town. Like most cities, it’s a blend of regular people mixed in with the well to do.  The black folks are very active in their service organizations and they network in a very small and tight knit community. Everyone knows everyone and it’s all about who you know.

The poor folks in Philadelphia are struggling. The public schools are atrocious and drugs plague our communities. With the school system in a shambles, the best way to make money is on the streets. Crime is violent in the North and certain West Philly neighborhoods. The kids need a break and can’t seem to catch one.

This city has one foot in the past and one foot in the future. This is the birthplace of freedom in this country. This city is trying to go wireless, expand its Convention Center and devlop its ports as a means to take us to the next level.

We have to hope that the old fashioned vices and ways of thinking don’t keep us back.

This is a town of fighters. From Rocky Balboa to their love of sports….they start every season with a heightened sense of optimism. They believe in the underdog and the art of the comeback.

I am enoying watching this city grow and being a part of its Renaissance. It can be tough here at times. Old fashioned attitudes are holding up progress. Often, I feel like an outsider but I am quickly becoming a part of the landscape.

I’m writing my own Philadelphia Story.

*all photos taken by Nineteen69