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NYRR Mini 10K
Jun. 11th, 2011 11:19 amI ran the New York Road Runners Mini 10K today! Unfortunately for me it was a full 10 kilometers, not some fun-size smaller version as the name might imply. The race got its start in 1972, as the "Crazy Legs Mini Marathon", and keeps the 'mini' part of its name today. According to the organizers, it was the first road race just for women. This year NYRR was honoring the life and running career of Grete Waitz, who won the NYC marathon 9 times(!), the most wins for anyone- male or female- at a major marathon. She died this year of cancer at the age of 57.
Of course there are some problematic things about having a race that's just for women (not quite sure how they even define that; when you enter you have to specify your sex, and you can only select 'male' or 'female', but at the middle of the pack where I am there's not any kind of testing to prevent you from choosing what you prefer. There are positive aspects, too, though-- I did feel like I was competing on equal footing with everyone around me, and sometimes I feel that it's more of a tendency of guys to either start off way too fast and then just come to a dead stop mid-race in the middle of the road (right in front of me, often) or else to run the whole race really easy and then just run the last half-mile really hard, blowing right by me and often cutting me off when I'm struggling to get to the finish line too-- though of course everyone can be inconsiderate. I do feel that for myself it was an extremely positive experience... Though personally I would have liked it a bit more if it was slightly less strongly gendered... The T-shirts were pink, and everyone got pink carnations at the finish line. Oh well. We also got little mini-medals, which I was excited about-- this is only my 2nd medal, since the half-marathons I've entered don't give participation medals. Also I got to see Kathrine Switzer talk. She is famous for being the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon, entering her name as K.V. Switzer, in the days where you didn't even have a gender choice on the entry forms, they just assumed no woman would enter. The race director tried to tackle her off the course at mile 2, but she managed to finish anyway!
I am making progress with reading!
I am still working my way through Andrea Smith's "Conquest" which is incredibly interesting and also very depressing-- I'm nearly at the end but I think I'm going to have to put it down for a bit, I kind of feel like it's all a bit much to take in at once. Will try to get back to it later this week.
Also working my way through "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" by James Tiptree Jr. I am very much enjoying these stories! It is the first time I am reading nearly all of them (read "The Screwfly Solution" a couple years ago). I can't really comprehend how so many people insisted that she couldn't be a woman-- so many of the stories are so strongly about gender, and seem to me to be from such a female perspective.
Been doing some digital painting-- nice to get back into that after not doing it in so long. I was never very good at it so I don't feel out of practice, just generally frustrated with where I am with it.
Of course there are some problematic things about having a race that's just for women (not quite sure how they even define that; when you enter you have to specify your sex, and you can only select 'male' or 'female', but at the middle of the pack where I am there's not any kind of testing to prevent you from choosing what you prefer. There are positive aspects, too, though-- I did feel like I was competing on equal footing with everyone around me, and sometimes I feel that it's more of a tendency of guys to either start off way too fast and then just come to a dead stop mid-race in the middle of the road (right in front of me, often) or else to run the whole race really easy and then just run the last half-mile really hard, blowing right by me and often cutting me off when I'm struggling to get to the finish line too-- though of course everyone can be inconsiderate. I do feel that for myself it was an extremely positive experience... Though personally I would have liked it a bit more if it was slightly less strongly gendered... The T-shirts were pink, and everyone got pink carnations at the finish line. Oh well. We also got little mini-medals, which I was excited about-- this is only my 2nd medal, since the half-marathons I've entered don't give participation medals. Also I got to see Kathrine Switzer talk. She is famous for being the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon, entering her name as K.V. Switzer, in the days where you didn't even have a gender choice on the entry forms, they just assumed no woman would enter. The race director tried to tackle her off the course at mile 2, but she managed to finish anyway!
I am making progress with reading!
I am still working my way through Andrea Smith's "Conquest" which is incredibly interesting and also very depressing-- I'm nearly at the end but I think I'm going to have to put it down for a bit, I kind of feel like it's all a bit much to take in at once. Will try to get back to it later this week.
Also working my way through "Her Smoke Rose Up Forever" by James Tiptree Jr. I am very much enjoying these stories! It is the first time I am reading nearly all of them (read "The Screwfly Solution" a couple years ago). I can't really comprehend how so many people insisted that she couldn't be a woman-- so many of the stories are so strongly about gender, and seem to me to be from such a female perspective.
Been doing some digital painting-- nice to get back into that after not doing it in so long. I was never very good at it so I don't feel out of practice, just generally frustrated with where I am with it.
