I did it!! I finished my first half marathon! And in less than two hours, too. I am extraordinarily pleased with myself – not only did I run the entire 13.1 miles, I did it below the magical mark that I hadn’t even set for myself until three miles into the race, and for the first eight to ten miles I really had a blast (before I thought a most painful death was surely imminent and unavoidable during the last mile).
It was a beautiful fall morning, and judging from my completely green perspective the conditions were just about perfect. Dry, sunny, warm for October in New England, and the race course along the Emerald Necklace was gorgeous. I ran the race by myself, without J. Apparently it WAS too early, and even though we had a reasonably good time on Saturday I ended our dinner at Meritage by politely telling him that he was a fascinating man, and that there was no way this was going to work (right around the time he asked me where I would like to go on vacation this winter, how fast I would want a serious relationship to progress towards marriage, and that he saw in me a lot if not all of the qualities he was looking for in the mother of his children). Eeeek. The result of my disclosure was a deer-in-headlights expression on the other side of the table and frosty silence on our way out of the restaurant, followed by a “YES” dripping with what seemed to be detest and maybe even hate when I asked if I would be running the half marathon by myself. Not sure if I could have handled this differently or better.
Well, all it meant for me was a slow walk back home (in VERY high heels) to digest dinner and our last interaction. It was still early when I got home since we had had reservations for 6pm – mindful of having to get up for the race – and the Sox were playing the Rays in a tight game which I didn’t want to miss but also didn’t want to watch by myself; what to do? Naturally I changed into jeans and flops and headed over to TOW. I had already had champagne, an aperitif and wine with J over the course of the afternoon and knew that I shouldn’t keep drinking because of the half marathon, but figured that just one beer for the game wouldn’t do much additional damage. Of course there was a familiar face working the bar, and I got a free second – which I was resolved to not touch, until I got drawn into a conversation with the (rather cute) guy next to me and his (positively gorgeous) buddy. I did have the brains to leave my third beer untouched and excuse myself in the middle of the seventh inning. I am still debating if not giving Mr. Cute my number was a smart choice – but what I know would have been smart is to stay away from alcohol the day before the race and get more than six hours of sleep… duly noted for the next race.
Now I am at South Cape Beach, taking in the serene beauty of this gorgeous fall Sunday and listening to the waves. I will have to head back to Boston soon to get ready for what I am sure will turn out to be another week of craziness in the markets…
Tags: dating, half marathon
