Staten Island Half Marathon October 15, 2006

Staten Island Half Marathon

These brave folks rose early in the morning to take a taxi, several subways and the Staten Island Ferry to run 13.1 miles just for the heck of it.

This picture was taken before the race, don't they look happy?

Wait there's more





Eric a.k.a Flash : Super hero or super runner? Hmm. You be the judge.






Piya is truly having a good time. Look at that smile!










Anne looks very pleased too:






Notes on the Race:

All of us started running together, but Flash took off with a "I'll see you guys at the finish."
As we started the first mile, I had the feeling that I might have to go, but I dismissed it as nerves. That feeling didn't go away, I still had to go. I saw a bunch of runners by the wayside taking care of business. I still can't bring myself to do that. Plus there was an announcement before the race saying that anyone caught urinating in public would be disqualified from the race and BANNED from the New York City Marathon. I've worked too hard to be disqualified for urinating in public. Plus what would my parents say?

At mile one there was a porta potty with only a few people in line. I told Anne and Piya I'd catch up with them later and stopped to use the facility. It felt like an eternity waiting. By the time I got out the whole of the race had passed me by! Not a soul! No one. Maybe a walker or two, but really talk about feeling alone. I figure I spent 8 minutes waiting on line to go. So take my time and subtract 8 minutes and I did pretty well, shoot even if you figure just 5 minutes.

After that I did something stupid and ran pretty hard to catch up with Anne and Piya. I did catch up with them, but it cost me. By the time I got to mile 12, I had nothing left! Ok, I had a little bit left:

You know what's next...