Last Saturday 8,833 female runners took over Central Park for the 45th running of the original all-women mini 10k for which the run was aptly named as it celebrates women’s advancement in the field of running. It was a hot and beautiful day, not an ideal race day, but the stellar cast of elite women headlining the race, who are set to represent us at this summer’s Olympics, provided ample motivation for the rest of us.
It was a heartening sight, to witness and be a part of an occasion of such monumental significance. While I’ve only been in this country for about 10 years, I’ve been a runner for twice that time and have read about as well as observed the strides women are making in the sport of running. This makes me firstly a proud woman, then a proud runner.
We took to the street, all 8,000+ of us in an array of pinks; women from all over the world in the splendor of diversity and rolled out wave after wave for all intents and purposes united in the cause of woman power. Beyonce’s “Who run the world” might have been our anthem as we raced up Central Park West and headed into the the park at West 90th street. Of course the answer was girls, girls and more girls..taking on 6.2 rolling miles of Central Park to the cheers and support of spectators lining the course.
Jemima Sumgong of Kenya led the way in a heat-defying time of 31:26 but whether you finished under an hour or as much as 3 hours later, each woman out there had something to be proud of. Truth is, in a city such as New York there is possibly 8,833 other things either of us could have been doing. For sure we had varying goals going in – many of us were looking for PRs – but I’d wager that we all had one overwhelming desire that day and it was to make our mark as women; to represent an international community of womanhood and to celebrate our powerful presence in the greatest city in the world. We did it and then some! #werunthiscity #proudnewyorker #womenrunners
runningwithfaith 