First Race in NY

So last Sunday was my first race here in NY. I had signed up for the NY Road Runners when Ben agreed to take a job in NYC back in January.
They organize a big number of races in NYC and they have the great program 9+1: run 9 races plus volunteer at 1 in one year and you get a spot at the NYC marathon the next year.

I have signed up for 6 races so far and ran the first one on Sunday. It was a nice 4 mile run through central park - but because of what had happened in Boston the week before, it was a little different. Lots of police everywhere, you were not allowed to check bags, no garbage cans anywhere and more than 10,000 people running (many more than in the previous years). We had a minute of silence before the start and all got a black ribbon to wear.
Overall the atmosphere was pretty good - it just got a little strange at about mile 3 when there were 20+ police officers on the side of the road with an open backpack and a box inside. It turned out to be nothing, but that made me run even faster.

Now I have 8 more races to go until the end of the year....