My first marathon

This year I finally bit the bullet and decided to run the NYC marathon. I grew up with a dad who was/is a hardcore runner, he has several marathons under his belt and I often joined him in the easier races. My years at Wellesley allowed me to gain a real soft spot for the runners of the Boston Marathon, as the school is the halfway point of the race and the students get out there and CHEER all day (it's a lot more fun than it sounds).  They call it the scream tunnel and it's so well known there are ads about it:

I had entered NY several times in the famed lottery only to never get a spot. This time, however, the stars aligned and my favorite organization, The Lower East Side Girls Club, decided to get some volunteers to raise $100,000 for their new Club Center for Community, slated to open in 2012. 
YOU CAN DONATE BY CLICKING HERE
They have stated their goal far more articulately than I ever could:

The Lower Eastside Girls Club provides a place where girls and young women 8-23 can grow, learn, have fun, and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. By delivering strong arts, literacy, science, health and leadership programs we provide girls with the vision to plan – and the tools to build – their future. All of our programs develop environmental, entrepreneurial and ethical leadership in the girls we serve. The Girls Club is in the final stages of a capital campaign to build New York City’s first and only Girls Club facility- a LEED Gold state of the art ‘green’ building that will serve hundreds of economically disadvantaged girls and their families. The new Girls Club Center for Community will open in 2012.


So in honor of this awesome opportunity I am going to blog about my training experience as well as highlight why this club is just so dang awesome.


Let's start with where I am now...exhausted. I did my first 10 miler yesterday. It was only supposed to be 9 but I made a wrong turn and went about a half mile too far and had to do that back. It took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes, which ain't bad. The world record for the women's marathon is current 2h 15, to give you an idea how how the elites do it.  My basic route was meandering through Forest Park, Queens. Despite that I have lived less than 2 miles away from it for a year, I had never even HEARD of it until recently. It's actually quite beautiful and has trails, you name it.


I am shocked that I am not sore, achey or particularly hungry...just really really tired. I have a 3 mi "easy" run scheduled for tomorrow and I am actually looking forward to it. I never thought I'd get to a point where 3 mi was easy!