My Short Run with Kara Goucher!

In my very short running career I’ve done some pretty cool stuff. I’ve run 12 marathons around the country, started this blog, have a ton of fun making videos documenting some pretty epic races, been invited by Nuun to be part of their Hood to Coast team (review coming, I promise!) and become a social reporter for the New York Road Runners.

It’s that last thing that I’m riffing off of for my post today.

I got an email from my contact at the NYRR a few weeks ago saying that “A professional female runner is coming to NYC to announce her entry into the TCS NYC Marathon, as a NYRR social reporter, would you be interested in running the last 10 miles of the course with her?”

Um, you think?

I quickly did some digging and determined that neither Kara Goucher nor Shalane Flanagan had announced NYC yet, so my fingers were crossed it would be one of them.

On Friday I got confirmation it was Kara and it was all I could do to keep my mouth shut for the weekend and not blurt it out to my running friends, I held fast.

So at 7:45 this morning, I met Kara, Mary Wittenberg (president/CEO NYRR), Robert Molke (PR NYRR), Sally Bergesen (CEO and founder, Oiselle) and Shanna Burnette (PR director Oiselle) at Engineer’s Gate in Central Park.

The pace wasn’t as monstrous as I anticipated but it also wasn’t as slow as I’d hoped. My PR for a 13.1 is 7:22/mile so you would think that 2.5 miles at 7:34/mile wouldn’t be so bad, but then you’d be wrong.

Being a fly on the wall and listening to Kara speak with Mary about some of her past races, her experience racing with Paula Radcliffe and Shalane, her mindset as she was finishing the NYC Marathon a few years ago (interestingly it’s pretty much what all of us are thinking – when is this going to be OVER?!?!) was almost a surreal experience for me.

Over a 20 year career PR career I’ve hired and been around more celebrities than I can remember and I’m not usually star struck, but this was different.

Here was a woman who’s career I’ve been following for years. Who I’ve seen on magazine covers and who I’ve watched race her heart out.

Now I need to get super serious about my TCS NYC Marathon training! I’m thrilled that I was able to run with her and grateful to the New York Road Runners for giving me the opportunity.