![]() Oakley really does seem to be super into making the athlete experience a better one. Mary Wittenberg, the NYRR CEO, mentioned in her speech that Oakley was an awesome sponsor, because they were so committed to working with NYRR to make this race special for all the runners. Such a similar story to mine, except almost 20 MINUTES faster at 31:37. The winner of the race, Molly Huddle, was the first American winner in 10 years, AND broke the national 10K record – which had stood for 30 years – by 1 second. I looked it up on my phone on the way to meet my boys at the park and I don’t know if it was my phone display or lack of glycogen effects on my brain, but I announced to Fran that I’d missed setting a PR by 7 seconds.ĭo you know when I realized I had set a new 10K PR? While I was writing this post.Yup, 2 seconds off a six-year 10 K record, baby!! Talk about delayed gratification! At this point, I didn’t really know (apart from knowing I hadn’t run sub 50:00) how I’d done, since I forgot to stop my Garmin right away after crossing the finish line. I booked it home right after finishing, so I could get in some quality playground time with my little guy. I knew I wasn’t going to make it, but then my competitive nature kicked in and I picked off three women in the finish chute.Īfter being presented with pink carnations, pink-ribboned medals and pink bagels (I’m sorry, the dyed bagels just freak me out) and walking through a very welcome spray of cold water right after finishing, I began to feel human pretty quickly. I was booking it to try to get in under 50. Last 0.34 miles (which means I wasn’t running the turns very efficiently): 7:13 pace. I was hot, I was hurting, I totally underestimated the effect of those hills. Mile 5 and 6: Yeah, the part where I’d try to hit sub 8:00’s? Didn’t happen. A bit slower than planned, but it put me right on track. Mile 4 (da da DUM!): This is an awful hill. Again, a little faster than I’d planned, but I really took advantage of the downhills after the climbs of Harlem Hills, so I felt like I hadn’t spent undue energy. Miles 2 and 3: 7:48 and 7:50 <- super happy with these splits. Mile 1: I settled in to a 7:57 pace that first mile, which felt comfortable, even a little slow, so I wasn’t too concerned it was faster than I’d planned. So – my plan was to run about 8:10 for the first mile, try to pick it up to 8:00 for miles 2 and 3, around 8:15 for mile 4, then try to hit sub 8:00’s for the last 2.2 miles. Also, the 10K is a difficult mental distance for me – I think of it as a short race, but at just over 6 miles, it does require pacing to do well. They are no picnic, especially mile 4, which is miserable. (ahem – totally paraphrased due to my memory)Īfter that kind of lead-in, every other year that first mile is crazy fast, then you hit the Harlem hills miles 2 – 4. It’s a weirdly tough course – the first mile is a long flat along Central Park West, right after you hear amazing women like Switzer announcing, Women runners unite! We are awesome!! This year one of the Boston Marathon 2013 survivors spoke as well and she said something that really resonated with me: “Be inspired by the space between where you want to be, and where you are right now.” Plan of attack? Okay, so every time I’ve run this race, I’ve gone out too fast and bonked. I decided that a PR would be awesome, and sub 50 minutes would be amazing. My PR for the race was 51:07, and my 10K PR was 50:34 (both in 2008). What was my goal? Honestly, because I’d only had a couple of days to think about the race, I wasn’t too invested in a specific goal. For a 10K or shorter it doesn’t really bother me if I’m running on an empty stomach, so I wasn’t too worried. How did I fuel? Um…water? I was slightly sluggish Saturday morning due to my late night watching the hockey, so I ran out of time to make my PB&J for the subway ride to Central Park. Double overtime = double tired and double sad. How did I sleep the night before? For a short period of time and engulfed in the disappointment of the NY Rangers losing the Stanley Cup Final. So I signed up almost as soon as they opened up for registration, then I got all caught up in Half Marathon PR attempt #1and Half Marathon PR attempt #2. Throw vacation into the mix and I was pleasantly surprised to remember this one on my calendar. Crazy, because I already explained last year how much I love this race– it’s girl power to the extreme. One of the original co-founders of the race in 1972 was running legend Katherine Switzer– who comes out every year and gives a spirited speech before the start of how far women’s running has come in the 42 years since this female-only race began. Confession: I kind of forgot I was running this race. ![]()
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