NYRR Mini 10K #2: Getting a 10K PR despite not knowing how to race a 10k

Short Version

Distance: 10K
Previous PR: 54:27 (from June 2011)
New PR: 50:45 @ 8:11mm pace
               24:51 for the first 5K, 25:56 for the second 5K 
Overall / Gender Place: 804 / 6119
Age Place: 221 / 1406
AG Gender Place: 1138 / 6119
AG Percent: 59.79%


Long Version
I had done this all female 10K last year and had a great time. I hadn't planned on doing this race again - I initially decided that my goal 10K race would be the Scotland Run in April. Unfortunately, my brain failed to register that I would be out of town that weekend.  
  
So instead, I decided to suck it up and pay the $35 to register for the Mini 10K - it may not be expensive for a 10K, but it was a steep price increase from $18 last year for NYRR members. Since it was a club points race for women, I would get the chance to represent my work team. It turned out that this would be my last chance to represent team HSS - I recently graduated from business school and was offered an amazing opportunity at another hospital, so as of next month, I'll be switching jobs. It was bittersweet - it was fun representing the team for a final time, but we weren't scored as a team because we did not have the 5 runners required - we only had four. 

The last time I really raced a 10K was this exact race last year, so my previous PR of 54:27 was very soft (my 15K and HM paces were faster). When setting my goals, I plugged in my 4 mile time of 31:31 into McMillan and got 50:03 as my optimal 10K time. Since there was only a four second difference between that and sub-50, I decided to make 49:59 my "A" goal for this race. While it was achievable, I knew that it would be a reach for me. I arbitrarily set my "B" goal at sub-52, and my "C" goal was simply to PR. 

I went to number pick-up a few days before the race, and since it was a women's only race, I got placed in the second corral for the first time ever. We ended up getting a fitted, orange, cotton t-shirt that for once wasn't way too big on me.  I had taken a cutback week so that I would be well rested for this race.

The morning of the race, I woke up early, and after catching a downtown bus, jogged to the baggage check area. After checking my bag, I recognized one of my Facebook running friends, Meaghan, starting her warm-up, and after introducing myself, she was gracious enough to let me tag along during her warm-up. After running about 1.5 miles together, we headed towards the start corrals. 

I started in the back of the red / second corral, and met up with another Facebook running friend, Gemma. Meanwhile, in another part of the corral, this happened. I won't go into detail here, but let's just say that I was very lucky I wasn't standing anywhere near that.  

Since this was the 41st year, and the 40th anniversary of racing the 1st ever race, they had the very first winner,  Jacqueline Dixon, who was a 17 year old Californian at the time, come in and say a few words. This was the first time she had been back since she won the race. Other notable athletes at the event included Nina Kuscsik, Desiree Davilla,  Katherine Switzer, and  Edna Kiplagat, who ended up winning the race in 32:08. On a personal note, my own mother ran the race in 1988 when it was called the L'Eggs Mini Marathon. 

After the customary National Anthem, the race began, and since I was close to the front, it took me less than 30 seconds to get across the start. For the first mile and a half, the course went directly up Central Park west, which is the western border of Central Park, instead of directly in the park. Since this was flat and fast, I finished my first mile slightly faster than I intended at 7:50. Last year, my parents were waiting on their corner to take pictures, but this year they were out of town. We entered the park in the middle of mile two, and I slowed down slightly to finish at 8:02. Mile three had the northern part of the park, which included Harlem Hill, but I stayed pretty consistent and finished in 8:03. I ended up crossing the 5K point at 24:51, which was a 7:59 average pace.

Since there was a timing mat at the 5K split, am I allowed to call this a 5K PR?

At this point, I was still going strong, but shortly after that, the wheels fell off the bus. Not only did mile four have the most elevation gain, there was no elevation loss. Here is what I had to say about mile four from last year's report: "Mile 4 was the hardest for me - after Harlem hill, the incline towards Engineer's Gate always seems unnecessary and painful....I found myself starting to get tired." Let's just say that history repeated itself. Despite my best efforts, my pace dropped to an 8:20 for that mile. 

At that point, I said to myself, "Ok, you're behind your "A" goal, but if you turn it around during mile 5, you might have a shot".  Despite my best efforts, and despite having a downhill for at least a quarter of a mile, my legs were not having it and I finished the mile in 8:16. When I crossed the mile marker, I knew that my sub-50 was out of the question, but that I still had a good chance of hitting my sub-52 "B" goal. I said to myself, "you have less than 10 minutes of running to go. Let's do it!" Despite my pep talk, and even after putting in my best effort, I was still obviously struggling - mile 6 ended up being the slowest one of the race at 8:23.  I am the first to admit that I am much better at pacing an HM than I am a 10K  

When the 50 minute mark passed on my Garmin, I was less than 200m away from the finish. I ran as fast as my tired legs would allow, and I finished the remaining 0.2 in 1:50. My Garmin said I finished in 50:47, and the official time was 50:45. Although not getting sub-50 was disappointing, I still PRd by approximately 3 1/2 minutes.  After looking at my results, I was more dissapointed when I realized that had I been 12 seconds faster, I would have reached 60% AG. Oh well, live and learn.  On the bright side, I finished first out of the members of my team. My garmin splits can be found here. 

After the race, I met up with a few friends for coffee. Wallis, Amy, and Barbara ran the mini as well, and we met up at the Starbucks after the race. An elderly gentleman was kind enough to take our picture. Everyone got a medal for finishing the 10K - while I personally don't think a medal for a 10K is necessary, we got that, and a pink flower (and true to tradition, I manage to break one and find another sitting around on the grass, just like last year). 

Coffee with some of my favorite
NYC running buddies

A few days later, the Brightroon pictures came out, and to my horror, I look like I am dying in each and every picture - probably because all of the pictures of me were taken within the last couple of miles on the course. Below is the one picture in which I look remotely decent. 

I decided to do a variant on my usual hands
in the air finish - I'm doing sign language
for the letter "Y". I thought about this
a great deal over the last two miles
in an attempt to forget the pain in my legs

In retrospect, I realize that although I have the potential to run a sub-50 10K, I just did not have the fitness to do so that day. Here are some reasons why things might have not worked out:

1) Possibly too little pre-race nutrition. I usually have something more substantial than a serving of shot bloks beforehand
2) The course. On a flat 10K, sub-50 might have been possible. Central Park is very hilly, and I'm used to running it in the other direction
3) The weather. The humidity wasn't quite as bad as last year, but 69% and 55% humidity still isn't ideal racing weather for me. 
I am very grateful to Meaghan for letting me tag along with her during her warm-up. I doubt that I would have done as much of a warm-up on my own, and it's one of the reasons why my first 5K went as well as it did. 

Thanks everyone for reading! The Corporate Challenge Race Report will be coming along sometime this weekend! 

Runners Occupy Wall Street: the AHA 3M RR

Short Version

Distance: 3 Miles

Time: 24:34 @ 8:11mm 

Overall Place: 1572 / 5540

Gender Place: 360 / 2693

Age Place: 126 / 804

AG Gender Place: 476 / 2693

AG Percent: 56.51%

Long Version

   I ran my first 40 mile week in 2012 last week, and this week, and I didn't do any sort of taper, so I knew that I was not heading into this race with fresh legs.
   Last night was the American Heart Association Wall Street Run, which is a 3 mile race held on the streets of downtown NYC. I had wanted to do this race last year, but couldn't due to my school schedule, so this was my first opportunity to do so. On Tuesday, I went to pick up the t-shirt and bib.

Another "small" oversized t-shirt
to add to my collection

   Getting to Wall St would have normally been a semi-pain since the green subway line was a long walk from my office, but I happened to have jury duty that day. It was an easy walk from the Courthouse to the start area.

   My friend / running buddy Abbey lives right at the start of the race, so I met up with her and her daughter Kayleigh beforehand. Abbey was nice enough to let me and my friend Zahava drop off our stuff at her apartment before the race. Our other friend Nicole came over as well, and we took a few pictures before leaving for the race. Kayleigh and her babysitter would come out briefly to see us start the race. 

Nicole, me, Zahava and Abbey

Me, Abbey and Kayleigh

We walked out of Abbey's building and the start was literally right there. Usually, in NYRR races, there are several different corrals differentiated by various color and number groups on people's bib times, but in this race, only the runners and walkers were distinguished, and the walkers had a separate start area (but a few of them managed to sneak in with the runners). There were small pace per mile signs suggesting where people should line up, but they were very ineffective due to most people ignoring them (or not even being aware that they existed).

   I didn't have my Garmin this time around mostly because it wasn't charged, but also because I had no real expectations of myself. I knew that the course would be hot and crowded, and that there was a good chance that I wouldn't perform up to my potential. Not the best idea on my part.

   The National Anthem was sung, but after that, the race was delayed by about 10 minutes for some reason. Once the race started, it took me about 2 1/2 minutes to cross the start line. I thought that I didn't care about my time, but the moment I crossed the line, it was like a switch went off and the competitive side of me took over. Immediately, I started dreaming of getting sub-24 minutes. My latest 4 mile race was sub-32, so theoretically, this should be a reasonable goal. 

   However, It did not take me long to realize that I felt completely lost without my Garmin, so I focused on trying to find my groove and getting around the crowds. Early on, I saw Zahava pass me, and at the time, I panicked and thought that I was starting out too easy, so I pushed it and blew past her and continued along the course. I didn't realize it at the time, but Abbey was right behind me for almost the entire race. 

Photo Courtesy of NYRR - I'm not in this one -
there were no photos of me on the course

   At the mile 1 marker, I saw that my split was 7:51, which was on pace for what I wanted, but early on in the race I could tell that it wasn't going to be my day. The streets were completely unfamiliar to me as a runner, and the pollution and smog made it very difficult for me to breathe. My mouth felt really dry at that point, and I was really tempted to stop at the one water station on the course, but ultimately I kept going. However, I didn't realize how far off pace I had fallen until I crossed the mile 2 marker and saw that my split was 8:19. 

   By this time, it was painfully obvious that several people were using the sidewalks to cut the course short. The picture below displays this - some people ran in a curve along the building instead of running on the street to the corner before turning. To be fair, it's possible that some people didn't realize how much they were cutting the course, but there were definitely people who should have known better. I made sure not to do that - the few seconds wouldn't have been worth it to me. 

Courtesy of NYRR

   I knew that I would have to really push it in the last mile in order to have a shot at sub-24, so I went all in and ran as fast as I could. Mid-mile, some a$$hole decided to cross right in front of me with his dog and a collision almost ensued. Close to the end, everyone had to step up onto some sort of curb, which the course marshalls warned us about as we approached. 

   We finished along the waterfront, and although by that point I knew sub-24 wasn't going to happen, I was determined to finish strong and get sub-25. It was hard to have a fast finishing kick at the end due to the crowded, narrow finish, but I pushed as hard as I could. My final split was 8:24 and my official time ended up being 24:34. I ended up finding all of my friends within a few minutes after finishing, and I also said hello to my other friend Barbara as I was waiting. 

Courtesy of NYRR - Brightroom did not attend this race
so there were no finishing pictures for me personally

Overall, I had a fun experience, and although I know that I am capable of getting a sub-24 minute 3 mile race, today was just not my day. Would I do the race again? The jury is still out on that one. If the timing worked out I would consider it because I appreciated the change of scenery, but if it didn't work out, I wouldn't be crushed. If I do it again, my garmin will most certainly be there this time around. 

Revenge on Ocean Parkway: The Brooklyn Half RR

Short Version

Brooklyn Half 2011: 2:01:50

Brooklyn Half 2012: 1:56:26*

Overall Place: 6131 / 14168

Gender Place: 1936 / 7071  

    adjusted for AG %: 2289 / 7071

Age Group Place: 698 / 2161

*Almost, but not quite a course PR. The first 3 miles were different this year. 

My revenge on Ocean Parkway is complete! 

Long Version

Pre-Race

        A year ago, I attempted my first half marathon after approximately six and a half months of running. It was the Brooklyn Half marathon, and my goal was to finish in under two hours. Unfortunately, as some of you recall, I bonked and finished in 2:01:50. I earned my HM PR of 1:52:28 in March, but I actually trained for that one. This half came in the middle of base building, so I didn't specifically train or taper for this one. Because of that, my only goal was to break two hours. 
         I had been looking forward to going back, but once registration was opened, I started to have misgivings. The price of the race had gone up from $25 to $45, and the field had expanded from almost 6,000 to almost 15,000. Although they changed the course to accomodate this, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to run the race I wanted to. 

        NYRR had expanded bib-pickup so that it was offered from Tuesday - Friday instead of the usual two days. I had lowered my bib pace from 8:11 to a 7:53 in last month's 4 miler, but unfortunately, the bibs were printed further back in advance than usual, so I was stuck with my old pace. Although there was only a 20 second difference per mile, I would have been in the 6xxx corral instead of the 9xxx corral. I was annoyed, but there was nothing I could do about it. 

... and once again their idea of a small is huge on me.
Time to put it through the dryer once or twice. 

       Once again, I woke up at 4am to make my way to the race. I was excited when I found out the train line nearest my apartment stopped close to the race, but then I found out that that train wasn't running into Brooklyn that weekend. Instead, I met up with my friend Jen and we carefully timed it so that we would take the crosstown to the 2/3 and it worked perfectly. I ate my usual HM breakfast of a bagel and cream cheese on the way. 

       There were signs pointing to baggage check and the bathrooms, and when we arrived, we noticed that there were enough porta-potties for an army. After checking my bag and using the bathroom twice, we met up with my coworkers briefly before heading to the start corrals. 

Jen and I hanging near baggage claim 

       We got to the corrals not long after 6am. Since we agreed to start together, Jen came back to my corral and we waited. While the corral marshall in front of me did a decent job, a few people fell through the cracks. 

       While the announcements were loud and clear, we could barely hear the national anthem sung by a trio. Shortly after, the race started, but it took my corral approximately 10 minutes to cross the start line. Since I didn't know how good the Garmin signal was on the Brooklyn streets, I took it off of auto lap for the race, meaning that I would have to press the lap button on every mile myself. 

The Race

       I went into this race with one thought: I am not aiming to PR. Do not get greedy and go too fast.

       Last year, the first half of the race was two loops of Prospect Park, but this year, we started with an out and back along the perimeter of the park. After running down Washington Avenue, we turned onto Flatbush Avenue towards Grand Army Plaza for an out and back. Because of this, I was able to catch glimpses of both the front and back of the pack. 

       Since I didn't warm up enough, my left calf was stiff, and it took me a couple of miles to truly hit my stride. We waited so long in the corral that I had to pee by mile two, but stopping was not an option. I was so preoccupied that I missed the mile two marker by a bit, which is why the splits for those miles are a bit off. 
       I was tested early on when Jen started to speed up. Last year, I kept up with a faster friend until mile eight, and it was a factor in my bonking, but this year, I was secure enough to know that I would be fine doing this on my own, so I let her go. I stopped for water once during this time, and it was hard to get in and out cleanly, but I managed to drink and run at the same time. I was pleasantly surprised to see a 5K timing mat. Later on, I found out that my first 5K split was a 27:47, which was an average pace of 8:56mm. Still on track for a sub-2 finish. 

       We entered Prospect Park not long after the 5K point, where I saw some of the leading runners leaving the park. I knew that there was one big hill, but I had forgotten exactly where it would be during the race. I hadn't run Prospect Park since last year. At first, the rolling hills seemed intimidating, but then I reminded myself that I did Central Park, which is more difficult in my opinion, on almost a daily basis. That thought gave me a burst of energy and somehow my second 5K split was almost exactly the same as the first. I crossed the 10K point at 55:32 and completed the second 5K in 27:45. 

       I fueled shortly after that, and at mile seven, I left the park and it was time to face my nemesis: Ocean Parkway. I had planned on stopping for water every two miles, but I ended up taking water at almost every stop until mile eleven. The long stretch was pretty boring for the most part, but as I passed the 15K point, I had an important reason to celebrate. Last year, this was the point where I realized that I was bonking and that sub-2 was not in the cards. This year, I was still going strong, and had passed the 15K point at 1:23:09, completing the third 5K split in 27:37, with no signs of slowing down. 

        After that though, other than watching random people try to cross in front of all of the runners, there was very little by way of course entertainment. There were spectators, but it wasn't enough to not make Ocean Parkway seem endless (but I do thank some of the cops for trying). As I approached the 20K point, I started to get excited as I knew that we were getting close to the boardwalk and the finish. I crossed the 20K point at 1:50:34, and my last 5K split was 27:25, which was about a second per mile faster than the previous one. 

       However, I ended up being inspired by a fellow student at my MBA program, Melissa. When I was on Ocean Parkway, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, and she said hi before speeding off. I figured that I wouldn't see her again, but a few miles later, I found that she wasn't far ahead of me, and we ended up passing each other back and forth a few times. While I wasn't competing with her, keeping a lookout for her helped the monotonous miles go by faster. We finished within a few seconds of each other and we thanked each other for being pacers, so to speak.  

       We passed the 800m to go sign, the 400m to go sign, and then we approached the boardwalk ramps. There were two of them to accomodate the people - something I could have sworn wasn't an option last year, but I was so out of it by that time that it's possible I just forgot. Either way, the ramp wasn't nearly as hard as I remembered it, and I charged up it, made the right turn, and knew that the finish line was approaching.

       After hitting the lap button one last time at the mile 13 marker, I realized that sub-1:57 was in the cards. I resolved to not look at my watch again until the finish, and focused on finishing strongly. I threw my arms up in the air as I crossed the line, and immediately stopped my watch afterwards. My official finish time was 1:56:26, which came out to an 8:54mm pace.

       Did I leave anything on the course? Probably. But getting a PR was never my main objective. I had finally accomplished the goal that I set for myself the minute I finished the Brooklyn half last year, and I couldn't have been happier. Jen ended up finishing in 1:54:26, which is pretty amazing considering she hadn't run a race in a very long time. 

       My official 5K splits and my Garmin splits are below. I was pleased to find out that my 5K splits were almost perfectly even, and that I ultimately had a faster second half. 

	Total Time	5K Split Time
5K	0:27:47	0:27:47
10K	0:55:32	0:27:45
15K	1:23:09	0:27:37
20K	1:50:34	0:27:25
Finish	1:56:26	0:05:52

Post-Race Activities

       It took me a while to find my coworkers due to horrible cell reception, but once we found one another, we headed to the beach and got our feet wet. Two of them even jumped into the ocean, but it was too cold for me. After hanging on the beach for a while, I took the train back into the city with my manager. I was a little light-headed, but it was nothing a nap, food, and a shower couldn't solve. 

Team HSS - the Finance Department representatives

I was very proud of my manager for finishing his first half, especially since I had to make up a shortened training plan for him. His ankle was a little swollen after the race, but hopefully he'll recover from that quickly. 

Analysis

       I need to give credit where credit is due. NYRR put on an amazing race. I felt like I was able to run at my speed despite the large number of runners, and the water stations were well stocked. My one complaint was that there were no plain bagels at the finish - they were only handing out cinnamon raisin bagels and I can't stand raisins. I also though that the family reunion station was a little far away from everything. The medals were nice, but honestly, I would have preferred to pay less and not get a medal. 

...though I do have to admit it was a pretty medal

       Although the course was slightly easier this year, the area where I ended up being in trouble stayed the same. However, last year, the humidity was at 96%, and this year, it was only at 58%, so I do think that had an impact, but there is no way of knowing how I would have done last year if the humidity had been at this year's level. 

       In the end, I believe that I achieved sub-2 this time mostly because I was able to avoid making the same mistakes as last year:

1. Not starting out too fast

2. Not trying to keep up with a faster friend

3. Fueling properly

4. Wearing a hat 

Even though I probably will not do this race again, I was very happy that I was able to improve my performance this time around. Thanks for reading! 

City Parks Foundation Run for the Parks RR

Short Version

Distance: 4 Miles

Previous PR: 32:44 (8:11mm)
Time: 31:31 (7:53mm)

Overall Place: 1865 / 7303

Gender Place: 323 / 3468

Age Place: 94 / 807 (61.05%) 

Long Version

After the NYC Half last month, I plugged in my new personal best of 1:52:28 into the McMillan calculator and realized that I did not have a single PR at a shorter distance that reflected my potential. Well, I knew that long before last month, but my new PR made my previous ones even more obsolete. Even my previous 4 mile time, 32:44, was about a minute slower than my potential time of 31:49. Last time, I set my 4 mile PR about a month after the Cape Cod half last year, and it turns out that this race would be almost exactly a month after the NYC Half. I realized that if I were able to run this race to my potential, I would be accomplishing two of my goals for 2012: to get a sub-8mm bib pace for NYRR and to obtain over a 60% AG rating for a race.

With that in mind, I set the following goals

A) Finish in less than 32 minutes and get above an 60% AG rating

B) <32:03 and get an 60% AG rating 

C) <32:44 and PR 

I picked up my bib from NYRR on Thursday and ended up being in the 5th corral with an orange 4xxx bib. I was usually one corral closer to the front, but I figured that maybe there were a lot of faster people running this race. 

The day before, I did something that I had never done before a race. I was helping my manager train for his first half marathon coming up in May, so I agreed to do his 8 mile long run with him. While we took it at his easy pace, which was close to a minute slower than my own easy pace, a part of me wondered whether I had just completely sabotaged any chances of a good race the next day.

There had been predictions of monsoon-like rain during the race, but to my relief, it looked like it would hold off. However, I wore a baseball cap to be on the safe side. Since this was my very first race as a member of team HSS, I wore my team shirt and a running skort. I ate a quick breakfast and was out the door. 

After running a mile and change to the race as a warm up, I used the bathroom, said hi to a couple of people quickly, then headed straight to my corral. After the usual pre-race stuff, the horn went off....and my corral waited for almost three minutes before finally crossing the start line. Ah, the joys of larger races. 

Waiting in my corral

Even after passing the start line, I found it very difficult to establish a pace as I had to weave around tons of people, so I probably wasted more energy than I should have. Nonetheless I finished mile 1 at 7:47 per my Garmin (all miles are a few seconds off due to weaving). Although mile 1 contained a large hill known as Cat Hill, it was still close enough to the beginning where it was barely noticeable because of the adrenaline. 

Mile 2 was a slight downhill for most of it and was a nice reprieve between Cat Hill and the West Side Hills that would come in mile 3. My goal was not to slow down during that mile, and happily, I was a few seconds faster at 7:44. 

The last time I had raced this course, I had slowed down significantly during the West Side Hills of mile 3. Although I was breathing hard by that point, I did not want to allow myself to go slower than 8mm, so I pushed myself as hard as I could. To my surprise and delight, my Garmin signaled that I finished mile 3 in 7:49. 

A few seconds later, when I passed the marker, my watch indicated that I had really finished the first 3 miles in 23:40 or so, meaning that I had to finish mile 4 in 8:20 or faster to get a sub-32 race. Since mile 4 was either downhill or flat other than right at the finish, I pretty much knew that I had my A goal in the bag.

However, I refused to get complacent, so I ran as fast as I possibly could. I felt that mile 4 was faster than mile 3, but afterwards I checked my watch and it was almost the exact same speed at 7:50. However, the extra 0.05 at the end was at a 7:31 pace, so I probably sped up as I saw the finish line up ahead. I started to get nervous after I got past the 31 minute mark, but after I crossed, I looked down and saw that my time was 31:31. Mission Accomplished!

I know I'm hard to spot, but my arms are up in the air

The look on my face says it all. I don't think I left
anything on the course

My official results came out a few hours later - and I was excited to see that not only did I meet my sub-8mm goal, but I also got my first AG % above 60%!

Although NYRR puts on a well-organized race, there were a couple of things about it that really bothered me. According to the results, there were over 7,000 finishers, and I felt that it was too many people for a Central Park race. I did not remember having to struggle so much to be able to run my pace. I also didn't like the fact that they weren't going to hold the raffle until after the kid's race - I didn't want to wait around an extra hour so I left right after that. I also didn't like the fact that a few people literally crossed right in front of the runners (and then had the nerve to look offended that we didn't get out of their way), or that a few runners almost spit on me, but that's clearly out of NYRR's control.


Despite the few annoyances, I had a great time on Sunday. Perhaps someday I will take on the challenge of smashing my now very obsolete 5K PR of 27:26, but until I find one that fits my schedule, I'll have to accept that the 4 mile distance is my substitute 5k. 

Conquering the Big Apple Part I: The NYC Half

Short Version

Distance: Half Marathon

Previous PR: 1:54:27
Time: 1:52:28 (New PR!) 

Overall Place: 5423 / 15324

Gender Place: 1696 / 7879 

Age Place: 470 / 1893 (58.5%)

Long Version

After last year's NYC Half lottery fiasco, it was announced that for the 2012 NYC Half, NYRR members could obtain automatic entry if they completed 4/5 Borough Halves in 2012. I missed the Manhattan half, but I did Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, and received credit for the Bronx since it was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. So in October, I knew that I had earned guaranteed entry for this race. 

My previous PR was at Cape Cod in October, but although I had one sub-2 half under my belt, my personal best NYRR half was 2:01:50 in Brooklyn, and I wanted to rectify that. The NYC Half course would be more difficult, but I hoped that being more experienced and better trained would lead to a PR, or at least a similar time. 

This time around, I used a Glover plan from their book and averaged 31mpw over the 12 week plan. There were some high points during this cycle. I completed my first 16 mile run and my first 25K. In addition, I ran a half-marathon in a snowstorm which improved my mental toughness. However, there were also some low points. I started having knee issues, and decided to DNS a 4 mile race I had planned at the end of February. I thought that skipping speedwork and racing would be enough, but after the pain got worse, I took three days off. Thankfully, my knee felt better after that, but missing a lot of speedwork and a couple of runs left my confidence shaken. At that point I thought I would be lucky if I could get sub-2. 


On Friday night, I went to pick up my bib, shirt and goodie bag at the expo. I was told that I might be able to fit into an x-small, which usually doesn't happen, but when I got there, they were all out, so I took a small. The tech shirt was ok, but it would have been nice if there had been gender specific shirts. The unisex ones were kind of poor fitting. I didn't spend too much time at the expo - I got  a free odwalla bar (which I didn't really care for), and then left. The next day, after going to the St. Patrick's Day and running a million errands, I prepared my outfit for the next day. 

My friend Rachel crashed at my place the night before. She got us a few course specific pace bands for the course, one for 1:59, 1:57 and one for 1:55. I took the 1:57 thinking that as long as I got at least that, I would be happy enough. As we were packing, I realized that I had run out of clif bloks, but luckily Rachel came to my rescue with extras. I would return the favor the next day when her clear NYCH luggage bag broke and I fit her warm clothes in my bag. Are we a good team or what?


We wake up at 5:15am, and after eating our pre-race bagels and packing, we left my place at 6am and got a downtown bus. Checking in my bag was easy enough, and we made our way into the corrals. Although Rachel and I put down the same predicted time, she was assigned to the corral ahead of me, but she ended up waiting with me and a super-speedy friend of hers.  I couldn't hear any of the announcements up front, but an actor from the Book of Mormon sang the National Anthem, and it sounded really good.


Ultimately, it would take the field at least 45 minutes to cross the start - according to news coverage - and my corral crossed around 10 minutes into the race.  We all were jogging the last bit, but after almost running into a couple of walkers who clearly wanted to get trampled  the race finally began. 

The first 10K of the course was in Central Park. We completed one full loop plus a little bit extra. The first 5k was easy, and I started out a little faster than I should have. I reached the 5k mark at 26:19 (8:27mm), which beats my 5k PR by over a minute. 


After this point, I hit the hardest hills in the park, so my 10K split was the slowest one of the day. Harlem Hill and the West Side Hills were tiring, but I kept going, knowing that Times Square and the rest of the city weren't so far away. Although it was my slowest split of the day, I still got a new unofficial 10K PR of 53:43 (8:39mm)

Shortly after that, I left the park and ran on 7th avenue heading into Times Square. It was so nice running through the city streets that I had to keep reminding myself not to slow down. As I passed through Times Square, I saw a video screen of Mary W.  (head of NYRR) interviewing the female winner of the race. After that, we turned down 42nd Street and ran west towards the highway. 

My Garmin started acting a bit wonky and was telling me that I was running 9:30s but I knew that it was a signal problem so I just kept going. Mile 8 came really late, so I thought that I had missed it, but I found it just as we were turning onto the West Side high way going downtown. For a moment, I thought that it was going to be as awful as Ocean Parkway was in Brooklyn, but the weather and course entertainment prevented that from happening, plus I knew that I wasn't going to bonk this time.  I reached the 15K point at 1:20:31, which was about a minute slower than my current 15K PR.  I had sped up slightly from the 10K point, averaging 8:38mm


As I hit the 10 mile marker, I looked at my pace band and realized that I was at least 3 minutes ahead of a 1:57 finish. At that point, I started to hope that perhaps a PR would be within reach. After stopping for water at mile 11, I resolved not to stop for the rest of the race and to keep going at a fast, but steady clip.  The race continued down past the world trade center, where some enthusiastic cops were cheering us on, and around the bottom of the city. I started to get excited when I saw signs for the Battery tunnel, knowing that I was almost there. 

It's a good thing that I did my splits manually
The time column was significantly more accurate this time

The tunnel itself was a bit stifling, but it was interesting to run through. I had heard that there would be this big incline, but I wasn't sure when that was going to happen. My garmin signal was lost completely, so I was very happy that I had decided to manually indicate the miles. I hit the 20K point at 1:46:54, and had sped up slightly to a 8:36 mile. Shortly after that, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, leading into....a massive uphill???? Really? I was warned about it, but while NYRR said it wasn't that big of a deal, one of my other running friends was right to warn us about how steep it was. However, I refused to let it slow down my momentum, so I went up it as fast as possible so I wouldn't lose pace. 


I then started seeing signs closer to the finish....800m....400m....13 mile sign (still hit the lap button)...as I got within the last 200 meters I realized that I was within reach of finishing under 1:52:30. I ran as fast as possible, and then as I approached the finish, I waved my arms up as I crossed, stopped my watch, and knew that I had done it. 1:52:28 was my official time, which is technically a 1:59 PR (but I enjoy rounding). One of my friends was volunteering at the finish, so I said hi to her. She said that I was "beaming ear to ear".

I'm in the light blue t-shirt with my arms up in the air

 Since it was such a huge race, I was able to get many cool statistics from the tracking website, including a pace graph.

The finish chute was the only awful part of that race. The closest subway was blocked off, so we had to walk about a mile to the next closest station. Also, the medal was ok, but I know that last year's was much better. I usually don't care about medals, but it's clear that NYRR went as cheap as possible this year compared to last year in terms of tech shirts and medals. Considering the price increased dramatically, it should have been the other way. 


That being said, I enjoyed every other aspect of this race. I was afraid that the increased field size would ruin my race, but ultimately I was able to run the entire time. The weather was amazing, and the aid stations were well stocked. While I would not want to go through the 4/5 ordeal to qualify again, I'm glad I got to experience this race once. 


This time also indicates that I have not reached my potential for any of the shorter distances, but that is a discussion for another time. For the half, I would like to eventually get sub-1:50. Perhaps I'll chose a target half next year once marathon training is over and see if it's possible.


Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Part II....after I complete the NYC Marathon in November!

Setbacks & Triumphs - the Silvermine 25K RR

Short Version:
Distance: 25K (15.63 miles)
Time: 2:38:26 (10:12mm) - Auto PR
Overall Place: 235/252 (not quite last place but close)
Overall Female Place: 70/80
Open Women: 31/34

Long Version: 
The past few weeks have been difficult for me in terms of training. Three weeks ago, I spent most of the week travelling for an academic competition, and before that, I spent a few weeks spending every available moment preparing for this competition.

Up until this point, I hadn't missed any runs (except maybe scale back some speedwork), but the week after I got back from the competition, the stress started to catch up to me physically. In the middle of last week, my knee started to hurt when I bent it. Since I was still able to run without pain, I kept my runs easy, but the pain didn't entirely go away.

So, as a result, I made the decision to not do the 4 mile race I was signed up for that Saturday. I had been looking forward to it because I was going to attempt to lower my NYRR bib time, but I figured that if I ran easy in Central Park instead, my knee would heal.

It seemed to start getting better over the weekend, and after taking off Monday, I ran Tuesday. Then, I realized I was in major trouble - my knee hurt the entire day, even when walking. Clearly, running easy wasn't enough. I iced and panicked for 3 days straight ended up taking 3 days off, and after day 2, I stopped feeling pain mid-afternoon. I knew that if I felt good after 24 hours, I could go on a run again.

I went out on Saturday and ran 5 miles, mostly on the bridal path to be on the safe side, and thankfully everything felt great.

The next day, I took the train to Connecticut to do the Silvermine 25K with my friend Rachel. We were never planning on racing it, but instead taking it as a last long run for NYC half training. I was initially worried that I would have to DNS this one as well, but thankfully, that didn't happen. I was still nervous about the hills and the distance, but I knew that her boyfriend would be on hand to bail me out if I needed to stop early.

The 25K was part of a build-up series for people training for Boston, so we knew that we would be among the slowest people there even if we did our planned pace of 10mm. Since we were worried about making the cutoff, we took the option of starting early and wearing yellow bibs. We set out 10 minutes before the start, but it took so long to get a Garmin signal that we only started about 6 minutes earlier or so.

How hard were the hills? Let me put it to you this way: I will never never ever complain about any of the Central Park hills again. Not even Harlem Hill. Or Cat Hill. When I start complaining about them again, someone should remind me to go run in CT sometime. The course took us through 4 towns in CT, and even crossed over into NY for a short period of time.

Blink, and you miss NY State entirely!

Here is a picture of the elevation if you don't believe me

Central Park has nothing on this!

The first half was far more brutal than the second half, hence the negative splits. I didn't end up walking at all, but I was tempted! The first few miles were hard because I was warming up, and then the worst hills happened, but for most of the second half of the race I was feeling good. I lost Rachel after the last water stop - she was feeling really good and took off - but by that point I was talking to other people and I knew that I was going to finish.

I look terrible in running gear. Especially shirts that were
bought over a year ago and don't fit right. At least I'm smiling!

I finished in 2:38:26 - I think my garmin lost signal at some point as I only got 15.31 miles (a 25K is 15.63) - my official pace was 10:12 in the results. Since I started early, they used the honor system and asked me my time since there were no d-tags. They initially did not have my name listed as I switched bibs last minute, but thankfully the race director was really gracious and fixed the results very quickly. I got 253/252 overall, 70/80 women, and 31/34 in the under 40 (open) age category. Considering the field, I did about how I expected (and was surprised not to be DFL). At least I got an auto-PR out of it, even if I wasn't really racing it.

The course was overall very scenic, and finishing while crossing over a bridge was very nice. The water stations were well run - I just wish there were more than 3, but thankfully I carried my own water because I knew about this in advance. There were unfortunately no bathrooms on the course - the one drawback in a very enjoyable race.

So, ultimately, my knee got better, but I still don't have as much confidence as I did when training for Cape Cod. Hopefully the next couple of weeks will go well, and I will still have a great race, even if I don't PR.