I have run a lot of races, but this is my first race report, so be gentle!  Normally I don’t have much to say, but this one is going to be long.  Apologies to anyone on the team Fast Company who has already heard my complaints about this race.

I need to start this story the weekend before the half:

I grew up in the Boston suburbs, and used to live in Boston and Brookline before I moved to New York.  My boyfriend and I traveled up to Massachusetts with many friends from NYC who were running the marathon or (like us) spectating and running the 5k on Sunday.  This is the third year in a row I have gone for the marathon, and I plan to keep going for the foreseeable future.  We spent the weekend visiting my family, playing with my sister’s kids, and running Sunday’s race.  On Monday, a group of us gathered at mile 20, cheering and displaying a banner.  Other friends went to other locations to cheer.  It was like a big awesome party.  Until it wasn’t.  All of my friends who were running the marathon finished, and everyone was unharmed, but, as you all know, the situation was heartbreaking.

Among many other fundraising efforts, the race director from NYC Runs organized a virtual 5k for the One Fund for Boston.  By donating at least $25, you could enter, then run 5k on your own and submit your time.  The man and woman closest to a time (to be determined) would win free NYC Runs races for the rest of the year.  I loved that the RD was doing this, and I loved having my donation be part of a larger one sent from runners in NYC, so I didn’t hesitate to sign up.  I decided that mile 10 through the finish of the next Saturday’s half marathon would be my virtual 5k.

My friend M drove me to the race.  She has run Boston twice before and used to live in Boston (though not when I did) and was shaken up by the recent events.  We were attracted to the half marathon for the scenery and the hills.  Since it had a very steep hill and I assumed it wouldn’t be certified, I was looking forward to a pretty run and not a PR attempt by any means.  When we saw how small the field was, M put the idea in my head that maybe I could win.  I looked around and shrugged.  Who knows.  A girl in pink nervously admitted to us that this was her first half marathon.  She asked what a good time for a first half was and we did our best to encourage her.  A teenage boy gave us race instructions.  They had a moment of silence for Boston and I held M’s hand throughout it.

The race started and a few guys bounded off ahead, as well as the girl in pink.  Wow, was she really fast and just trying to be humble earlier?  Good for her!  A man in a Boston Marathon shirt ran with me for a few hundred yards, him recognizing the running club on my shirt and saying he had moved up to the Catskills from NYC.  After he wished me luck, he sped on ahead too.  I heard someone behind me and turned, thinking it might be M, but a woman in a white jacket was there while M was further back.  It was her first half marathon too, though she had ran two marathons years ago before she had kids.  We talked about running and the first few miles went by pretty quickly.  I could still see the girl in pink ahead.  Around mile 5, we had hit the first uphill, and the steepest part was clear up ahead.  I started to feel aggressive and pulled ahead of the woman I had been running with, wishing her well and telling her she might be catching me later.  I had to stop briefly on the hill and walked a few steps, telling myself that it wasn’t worth wasting all my energy on it.  After cresting the hill, there were two people in my view, a dark-haired guy and the girl in pink.  I relaxed and kept pace, telling myself to be patient but not to slow down.  Dark-haired guy had a watch that talked, and I passed him as it declared “Halfway point!  Six point five – five miles to go!”  We passed a field of cows - how cool!  The course was marked with painted arrows, but they weren’t very big and there weren’t volunteers at the turns.  I was paranoid about missing a turn, and happy to be following the girl in pink since it lessened my chances of getting lost.  As I was closing the gap on her, she was catching up to the next male, a guy in cargo shorts.  We commiserated on the hills and the difficulty of following the arrows.  I was sorry to pass them, since there was no one else visible ahead, but around mile eight, I started to lead our little pack.  Thankfully I saw them behind me when I turned.  At one point, I noticed it had gotten quieter, and I saw that only the girl in pink was close behind.

When I hit mile 10, I remembered the virtual 5k and started thinking about Boston.  About marathons, and fans, and my family, and runners, and friends like M, and my awesome running club.  About having the ability to run and the freedom that running brings.  Sweat was pouring off my face, but my body was cold and cramped and my legs wanted to die.  But I only ran faster, and I kept pushing across the finish line.  The  group of volunteers clapped.  I felt like a winner.  My time was 1:45 - nothing to write home about, but I was pleased with what I felt like was a strategically good race.  The girl in pink finished around a minute later.  She was ecstatic and we hugged.  It turns out only one man finished in front of us!  The two males I passed on the course finished, and then the guy in the Boston shirt.  Unfortunately, he had missed a turn and run more than an extra mile.  The woman in the white jacket finished, and then M.  She had gotten off course too, but only for a few minutes.  She was very happy for me, and asked if there were awards, and the organizers confirmed that there were medals for the top three.  We changed into dry clothes and hung around a bit but M didn’t want to wait until everyone finished the half to drive back, so she asked if I could get my medal sooner.  They agreed (actually, the fastest male had already gotten his while we were changing).

They handed me my medal.  It said second place on it.  I thought it was a mistake.  Had they given me the wrong medal?  Or had there been a speedy female finishing before me that was so far ahead I didn’t see her?

“I came in second?” I asked, confused.

“Yes”, was the answer.  Now we both looked at each other, confused.

M explained, “You mean that you were first female”.

“Oh, it’s for charity, so we’re just doing the top three overall.”  It dawned on me that I had just finished as the first female in the only race I’ve ever done that didn’t recognize females as a category.  I told him that was okay, that I was just making sure I got the right thing, thank you and all that.  I didn’t care about the medal, I just wish they had acknowledged that I was the female winner.  Instead, I was only the second place finisher.  I felt like a brat for being ungrateful but I still complained to M.

“If they have a first place male they should have a first place female!  I’ve never heard of a race that doesn’t do that!”  I ranted a little bit to my boyfriend after I got home too.  Then I calmed down, and told myself to get over it, and started to remember things that were more important.  Then I found out the race was started by a group of three male high school seniors.  They emailed me a survey asking for suggestions for next year.

I wrote a lot on that survey, on a lot of different subjects, some of which they didn’t even ask about.  I gave them advice on how to promote their race, where volunteers could be useful, and how to mark the course more visibly.  I also suggested that they need to treat the male and female winners the same (especially since if their race grows the top three finishers are more likely to all be male).  If they couldn’t do that many awards, I suggested awards for just the top male and female, or no physical awards at all.  I couldn’t resist also telling them to put up race tape for the first male and female and letting them “break the tape”.  Because wouldn’t you really feel like a winner if you broke the tape?!

I am unlikely to return to this race (I told them that, too, since it was on the survey).  But I really really wish them the best.  I know that they are just young and new at this didn’t know any better, but I hope they start recognizing women in their results and awards.  They didn’t do a perfect job, but they started a half marathon as a high school project, which is unbelievably cool.  And they raised a lot of money for their charity, which promotes nutrition and fitness locally.  Also, NYCRuns raised about $15,000 for Boston.  That’s good stuff.

I've seen races that didn't have age group awards, just top three, but it was always male and female top three.  I mean really, how much more does it cost to get three more awards?

Great job on the race and supporting Boston.

Sorry about the win and not win.  I agree that it is not fair to give awards to the top males but not the females.  That you have angered me too!

 

However, great job on the race and thank you for donating to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Reading your 50k race report inspired me to finally do an RR!

Congratulations on your win, even if you didn't get the recognition you deserve.  Reading your report about the bad marking, I was afraid you were going to say that you didn't win because you got off course.  I'm glad I was wrong.  You know you won 1st among women, and coming in 2nd overall really is a victory.

As far as I'm concern, you did win the first female. You also beat all guys but one. Not too shabby.

Good!  I love reading RRs!

 

Reading your 50k race report inspired me to finally do an RR!

Congratulations on both the gender win and the overall 2nd!  I understand being upset, but you ran a great race!

Nice report and congrats on  your race!  Sorry about the placing misunderstanding but even so, you did great!  Dang, you are speedy!