Bronx Half Marathon RR – more ?s than !s

I was really questioning my sanity today at 4:30 am when I woke up to head up to the Bronx Half Marathon. But, one of my 2010 goals was to do all five boros pikermis and now I just have one more to go, Staten Island in 4 weeks. Almost there!

I met up with JohannaTS early for our train ride from the Upper East Side and then met up Blaise in our corral; and we set off. Weather was great, 70 degrees and overcast. There was a 70% humidity which didn’t bother me much with the sun rays hidden… A PR ahead…? Who knows… We set off at a fast pace: the first three miles are 7:4Xs… I knew it was fast but I felt confident… That’s the hardest thing in a race: trying to gauge what pace you can handle any given day. You go up fast, you hold it and have a PR, or you go out fast, break down in a few miles, and pay the price for starting too fast… Too bad I still haven’t gotten to the point where I know what that “this fast pace feels ok” means… All I know is that sometimes I can hold it, and sometimes I can’t!

I didn’t know much of the course, which always bothers me: I don’t think you can race well without knowing the course. I knew there were some hills, and that it was pretty flat/downhill after mile 11, so after losing Blaise around Mile 5, I decided to keep the pace manageable and leave it all for the last two miles. Anxiety.

There was very little of the course that was flat, which made pacing a nightmare. The green is the elevation (red is heart rate):

Can you see how good I am at keeping my heart rate consistent? WIN!

But the problem was that many of those uphills had very little incline so you didn’t even see them coming. And they lasted for miles, but they’d creep up on you!! And I wondered why I was having so much trouble keeping my pace up! The good thing is that the course was three out and backs, so after the first run-through you knew what was coming. Love out and backs!!!

By Mile 10, I did very limited math and I realized I was very far from a PR, but I figured it was a good effort anyway, good for my marathon training. I pushed really hard the last miles. I was passing a lot of people. Mile 13 was 7:41 and the .1 was at 7:17. It always makes me happy to finish strong, but I wonder if I save too much for the end, huh…

Finish time was 1:47:37. Three minutes and a half away from a my PR from May. A mystery given the good weather. But it’s ok; JohannaTS made me feel a lot better saying I shouldn’t be peaking now, cause that would be not so great come marathon day. I think she’s right. But it’s still a mystery how this all works. After Boston I was PRing left and right and I hadn’t done anything special. And now, it’s just not working, whatever it is.

Besides the confusion, I really think I am racing too much, almost every weekend, and that could be a problem. I am committing to not racing for three weeks (though, who could stop me if I change my mind??), but after that I am racing 5 weeks in a row, that includes three pikermis and also my long runs. Someone save me!!!!!!!

Ah, I lost my horse a few months ago, and it’s fine. I can walk for now. As long as he’s back for the marathonl!

Anyway, here’s the Bronx Pikermi pics from Sunday, a bit late, but late is better than never! And I am NOT posting the disgraceful ones. There were too many. YUK.

Running.. you know…one foot in front of the other!