Thirty gorgeous, talented women toed the line at this invitational this morning. I’d never stood at the starting line of a professional race before, so the whole procedure was fascinating to me. Michelle and I headed up there directly from the finish of the men’s championship race, as she wanted to wish her friend good luck (and as for me, I am not ashamed to admit I wanted to catch a glimpse of Shalane, Carrie and Katie).
The top-seeded runners were introduced with their credentials, and escorted into the starting pen. They all stripped down (those sponsored athletes have some fine, fine running clothes) and NYRR volunteers put their warm-ups in baggage check right there.
In the photo above, Shalane’s bending over, Carrie is above her in orange, and Katie is on the far right, looking down. I don’t know why I was surprised to note that some of these women (Carrie) had on full make-up, because I put on some light make-up when I race. If even I have a sense of ceremony, it follows that these women would want to look their best for the press and their fans. As 9:30 AM approached, the women bunched together like nervous colts, then jammed up towards the starting line (just three deep! as opposed to the three-hundred deep when I run my people’s races).
Since I didn’t want to risk missing them pass if I were to cross to the west side of the park, I just stayed put with Michelle and we talked some more about running. I think we may have spotted the FloTrack guy. While we stood there, Ian Brooks was giving us updates of the women’s progress at the splits. Shalane, as we suspected, held a wicked lead the whole way, with one of her splits dropping to 4:58.
Usually my action shots come out terribly (from the men’s race, my pictures of Carlson & Webb are actually images of a lightpost and a curb, respectively), but I think this is a pretty interesting image of Shalane right as she is about to break the tape.
Katie came in second, and then Molly Huddle third (official results). Michelle and I stayed on the sidelines by the finish waiting for her friend to cross, and while we were waiting, Shalane, Katie & Molly came through and gave us hand slaps. Okay, I got a total kick out of that, especially since some of these women may be going to the Olympics later this year. Mock me all you want, people, but I am nothing if not sincere in my awe of these runners.
I headed home after that as it was cold, and damp, and I was starting to get chilled through. Ran to the subway; got on the 4; transferred to the 7 and then realized this weekend, it goes express past my stop. So, I got off at the last possible stop before mine, then ran the rst of the way home (about a mile). It was so convenient, to be already tricked out in my running clothes, and to just be liberated from public transportation. No train? No problem!
All in all, a perfect running-themed morning.
[…] “Train with Shalane”), so it’s cool they’re all going to Beijing together. I saw Erin Donohue at the Women’s Invitational 8k earlier this year…. and, in the event everyone’s […]
[…] way to the left. Also of note in the line up is Olympian Erin Donohue (who I watched compete in the Women’s Invitational 8K this winter); after the race, I saw her hanging out with her mom (she’s from South Jersey), […]