Autism 4M Race Report

My sister, Anna, decided to get down to business, and get in all her qualifiers for next year's marathon. I told her, if she is serious, I will run qualifiers and train with her when she is ready to start training. This was one of the qualifiers. (If you're local in NYC, you can run NYCM by doing what's called the 9 + 1, which is run nine marathon qualifying races, and do one volunteer shift.

I was going to try and throw down the gauntlet. Being that I am trying to get myself back into (near) top form after giving birth, a 4 miler seemed like a good place to start. My family had other plans.

Two nights before the race, Anna announces to me that she signed my mom up for the race. She said that mom was hemming and hawing about doing it, and finally decided to just go for it. My mom has never ran a race in her life. She doesn't own any running gear. But she committed herself, and Anna was excited. I was a bit nervous. It wasn't that I didn't think she'd do it... Okay, well, maybe that was it. I was just worried that she'd push herself too hard and pass out or something, which is something that would be like her. One time she put herself in the emergency room because she forgot to eat. (Who forgets to eat??) Apparently she didn't eat for a full day, and then went swimming the next day. We scolded her for that.

I gave up any thought of running a race for myself, and just stayed with her and Anna, but my worries were unfounded. She finished the race with gusto, and even came in with a very respectable time of 1:01:29 (15:23 pace), and placed 22nd in her age group. (She even went swimming the day after!) When I asked her to give me feedback, how she felt, what she thought. (I also wanted to ask how come she's never had any interest in running during the 8 years that I've been doing it, but is interested now... but I'm sure it probably has to do with Anna's enthusiasm and the fact that she is now retired so she has time.) She said it was hard and complained that her shoes, (which were a full size too big on her) were just too clunky and heavy. I immediately went out and got her a light pair of Asics.

At the corrals.

Ran ahead at the end to capture a photo of her crossing the finish line. 

How did I do? Well, it was literally a walk in the park for me, so I won't even count this as a race. I'm just happy that I get to share this with my sister and mom, and that they have a better understanding of why I like racing.