bring on the gourmet Bengay!

This morning I ran my first New York Road Runners race, the Fred Lebow 5-Mile Classic, along with 2,891 other runners in Central Park. I got up at 7am to buzz a PB&J power-smoothie (it tastes way better than it sounds) in the blender and made my way to 102nd street to meet my Team-in-Training (TNT) comrads at the start line. I found Rebecca and Kate at the entrance to the park and together we pinned on our race numbers, dropped our coats in baggage and huddled with the rest of our team for a pep talk from Coach Michael, who assured us that 1) we would all cross the finish line no problem and 2) we were all dressed more appropriately for a run through Reykjavik than unseasonably balmy Manhattan. He was right on both counts. Rebecca, Kate and I stuck together the length of the course, sweating through a half-dozen layers of Dry Fit and fleece, and crossed the finish line in 53 minutes and 17 seconds. After shameless hugs, high-fives and photo-snapping, Kate and I headed to a nearby school to take advantage of the Road Runners' hot cocoa and bagels the size of a baby's head. Then I went home and, spirits high but gams stiff, reached for Kiehl's Klaus Heidegger's All Sport Muscle Rub, a freebie from the beauty closet at work. It'd been sitting unopened in my medicine cabinet for months now, and with its German-Olympian's-secret-remedy sounding name I never felt like I'd actually worked out hard enough to deserve it. Today I slathered it on and breathed its outrageous eucalyptous scent in deep. I've earned it!

Update: Here's one more picture of me and my fellow runners!