Pink

A week and a day ago, I woke up to the trilling sound of my cell phone alarm. Immediately my stomach began to flutter and jump. In a few hours I would be running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Central Park. I wanted to grab some food, but my friend who I was staying with in Harlem hadn’t been shopping since her vacation. So my pre-race meal included a banana I’d brought with me from home, a cup of coffee, 2 glasses of water, and a mango ice cream bar. Perhaps not ideal, but I’d stuffed myself with pasta the night before ($30 for a pasta dinner; this is why I can’t live in NYC).

I took a shower (yes, it was basically pointless since I’d be showering again in about 3 hours, but I hate running with greasy hair. That sounds quite vain as I write it down, but so be it.) and said goodbye to my friend.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come and watch?”

She rolled over in her bed and looked up at me. “When you run the marathon, I’ll come and watch.” And she rolled back over.

OK, fair enough.

I got on the 1 train downtown, heels bouncing nervously as I sat on the hard orange plastic seats listening to the Black Eyed Peas “I got a feeling”. As I got off the train at 72nd street, I saw a large group of runners heading out of the park. Despite knowing that the race was in Central Park and despite having gone and eyed out the starting line myself the day before (in the rain!), I was somehow convinced that these people knew something that I didn’t and that the race had somehow been moved.

After I got over the irrationality, I headed towards the park. There were hundreds of people converging on Central Park West. 15 blocks had been shut down.

I met my friend and her boyfriend. They were both sipping on Starbucks. In my head (and in my elitist, I’m a “real runner” way), I thought, “Well that’s just stupid.” (But by mile 2.5 I was pushing myself to keep up with her....hmmm...)

There were thousands and thousands of people. Mayor Bloomberg was there. Along with Uma Thurman and Stephen Colbert. Well, theoretically. We heard them on the loudspeaker, but I never caught a glimpse of them. We heard the announcement, “Walkers, are you ready?” and looked at each other with some trepidation. We weren’t walkers damn it, we were runners! What was happening?

With 15,000 people, the run became more of an obstacle course. It was difficult to get a steady pace, though as my friend said, it was never boring. Our pace was about 10 minute miles, which is my steady pace on the treadmill. And speeding up after mile 2 seemed difficult. My body didn’t want to move or get any faster; instead, it wanted to stop. My muscle memory is set at a certain pace, and I’m finding it challenging to push through that and run faster and run longer.

My running issues aside, the run was to raise money for breast cancer research. I laughed at the t-shirts that said, “Save the tatas!” And on etsy I found some lovely pink items (some specifically for breast cancer, and some just beautiful pink items). Enjoy!

Clockwise from top left:

• One 5 Ounce Cotton Blossom Breast Cancer Awareness Soap - Donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure by http://layla.etsy.com/
• Breast Cancer Awareness Hot Pink and Pearl Sterling Silver Earrings (3) by http://pookieandpierre.etsy.com/
• Silk PEONY RHINESTONE GEM Flower CROCHET Waffle HEADBAND Baby Toddler HOT PINK by http://miaboutique.etsy.com/
• Pink Bird of Hope by http://middleburg.etsy.com/
• Large Frame - Brown on Pink Damask by http://girlbyaileen.etsy.com/
• Audrey necklace pink pearls and black ribbon by http://kristinmc.etsy.com/