The results are in!  There were 191 runners who finished the race.  The course was 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles.  It was raining and a cold 47 degrees Farenheit.

I came in 61st place at 49:45.33.  That’s a bit less than 8 minutes per mile.

Dad came in 106th at 55:51.16.  He won an award for coming in third place in his age group!

Roland Molenka of Kinshasa, Congo via Roosevelt Island came in 151st place at 1:02:23.22

Alex Bovone came in 44th place 47:24.86

The fastest runner, 32 year old Jeffrey Dengate of Brooklyn, came in at 37:32.48, and the slowest, 52 year old Anne Wagenbrenner of Astoria, came in at 1:32:24.89.  There is no official count of the number of people who dropped out along the way.

Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger

Second cousin once removed Marjorie Gruber and companion extraordinaire Manzo overslept and didn’t come to watch us reach the finish line.  Third cousin Jonathan, son of Marjorie, had left the night before.  Pregnant Rinko of Japan (via Roosevelt Island) was there cheering on Roland.  Daniel was injured in Brooklyn.  “Triathlon” Chris had backed out of the race that morning due to the inclement weather.  Mom was in Newark taking a class on new occupational therapy techniques.

Afterwards, the bi-coastal, multinational crew all assembled at the Diner and I ate a big delicious frozen pattied bacon-covered hamburger with pre-cut fries.  Sorry, I did not notice what anyone else ordered.

As part of my effort to train for the 10k Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger, I did a 5.2 mile jog this evening.  Judging by the map, I suppose it must be nice to be able to jog by the water for two legs of the route.  It’s hard to imagine those poor suckers who don’t live near accessible water – I take it for granted but enjoy rubbing it in your face.

At about mile 2, I felt like a large stomach cramp, probably as a result of eaten organic while in Europe for a month and not enough kefir.  And probably having something to do with having smoked 2-3 cigarettes while out empathizing with newly single ultimate frisbee champion Ben about a week ago plus another one two nights ago while out at the Bohemian Beer Garden with triathlon competitor Chris “Person of the Day NYC August 19“, who may also run on Sunday.  Disgusting habit.

But by mile 3, somewhere around the edge of the Plumb Beach Channel, I was feeling good.  My pace had slowed considerably, but the miles didn’t seem to make much difference after that.

If I can maintain that stamina while going up the sort of hills Harry Chapin never sung about, I’ll be in fine shape to take 200th place on Sunday.