I had a very rough 10k last weekend and my two runs this week (Monday and Tuesday) were pretty nasty as well. I figured, if I rested enough I could be ok for today’s 5 miler.
As you all know, the State Senate passed the bill last night on same sex marriages, so today’s Front Runners’ Pride Run in the park was a total and complete party. It was already sold out but we had lots of people out cheering and it was crowded and OSOM. The speeches before the race were very emotional and everyone was happy and/or tired/hangover from celebrating through the night!.
This is one of the few races that starts on the east side, and I guess that’s one of the main reasons I have been doing this race for years (my 2010 race, my 2009 race). But it’s a TOUGH course, hands-down the worst combination you can do in Central Park. UGH. Last year, they had changed the course for this race and that was my 5 miler PR: 35:37, average pace of 7:08. For some reason, I thought I PR. After all, it’s been a year!
Well, I can’t decide yet if it was me or the course yet. Here is the breakdown of how it all went:
Mile: 1 Ascent: 69.4ft Decent: 53.8ft. – Time 7:12
Because for years I would start too slow, lately I have been starting way too slow, so I went out a bit too fast considering the first mile would be the hilliest: Harlem Hill!!!! With the brutal hill, I think I went out a bit too fast.
Mile: 2 Ascent: 75.2ft Decent: 50.4ft – Time: 7:25
I tried my best on the downhill, but there were still some hills and I was paying the price for Mile 1.
Mile: 3 Ascent: 04.6ft Decent: 65.6ft – Time 7:16
What is happening???? Just 4 more songs!
Mile: 4 Ascent: 79.6ft Decent: 33.3ft – Time 7:41
On cat Hill, I felt like the whole 5 thousand people passed me. Everyone. See you at the finish. As soon as I was finished with the hill. I noticed I had stuff left in there though.
Mile: 5 Ascent: 05.8ft Decent: 33.7ft – Time 7:02
I went like a maniac and passed a lot of people. This seems to happen quite often in my races now, I save energy for the end; or I do so badly in the middle miles that I get a second wind. I did look at my watch and quick math told me there was no way I’d PR so I figured I’d hold this and see how far off I’d be next year on the same course!
Look at these fun hills…
Finish time: 36:39 (a minute slower than my PR)
Avg pace: 7:20 (same pace I did in the 10K two weekends ago!)
Overall Place: 475 of 5015
Age Place: 5 of 392
Age Grading: 66.92%
When trying to figure out if I paced right or not, the HR shows a different story, so I am quite happy with what I did. You can see it on the previous image too, it’s constant (minus that horrible mess in that first hill attacking it too hard) with a consistent increase at the end.
After the race I ended up doing some more miles, half with Steph (an accidental runner), and the other half with Blaise andGreg (run_nyc74). I run into a lot of people in the race today, some were cheering, some were racing, it was totally fabulous to be out there today running and joining in the celebration!
Hopefully, next week my running will be better. I am happy not to have any races scheduled for whole month, but we all know that could change in a second!
runningandthecity 