i might be wrong

"Congratulations TAMMI! You are eligible for guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon 2008, which takes place on Sunday, November 2. You will be able to take advantage of this opportunity starting at noon on February 25 when the 2008 online marathon application becomes available."

Aww yeah. I got this note in email today from the Road Runners. Yes! I'm in. I just need to register when registration opens on the 25th.

By the way, I ran the Bronx Half in 2:20:02 yesterday. Special shout out to my friend Ming, the Running Master aka The Mayor of Road Runner's Races, who had already finished the race but since he's training for Boston, had to run an extra 3 miles. He was doing his last 3 when he found me near the 12 mile mark. We ran it together. I was zoning out listening to Talib Kweli when I hear his friendly, "Hey Tammi!" Ming's great. When the wind kicked up, he ran in front of me. He coached me and showed me how to find the tangent and really got me to sprint into the finish. All I wanted to do was beat 2:32 and I did it. Thanks for the little push at the end, Ming.

The course itself was pretty nice. Part of it was through my old neighborhood where I had my second ever apartment. It was a one bedroom with wood floors and a window in every room in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. My aunt Denise still lives in the neighborhood and my mom and sister also moved to the area at one point. I ran past the playground my niece and nephew used to run amok in back in the day. Those memories made me smile. I was warned that the first half of the race wasn't as hilly as the last half. I think the whole course was rather hilly, which isn't surprising since the Bronx has some hills that rival places in San Francisco. I've only been in cars on the Grand Concourse so I didn't really have experience with the rolling hills. They were kind of nice to run, though I think the Gu helped a bit with my state of mind. I really had fun with this one. No misery felt at all. Just cruised along at my own pace with my music and my own thoughts. My sister works in the area on Sundays so she stopped by the see me at the start and we met up after the finish. I met a couple of her co-workers and then made my way home.

That's two five-boro half marathons down with three more to go. Brooklyn is next.