Kind of a mixed couple of weeks. It’s been hot as hot can be in the Greater New York area, and my running has suffered.
Last weekend, I ran in the Race for Central Park, a NYRR 4 miler. It was hot — not as bad as some other races run this weekend, but the results page has it as 82°. It was a pretty great course though, starting on the east side, doing the 102nd street traverse and back down the west side. Certainly, for a Central Park race, it doesn’t get much better. No Harlem Hill. Cat hill out of the way early.
I was hoping to do just a little better than I did. I would have been thrilled with a 26:00, wound up with a 26:32 for an average pace of 6:31. Bad 3rd mile of 6:46 threw me off, due to hills. Hills! Can you imagine! The nerve!
I’m now in Colorado Springs, and today a 10k which I’m fairly certain is called The Classic 10k. I’m very much digging finding races while on the road for — it’s great to do something new. That being said, not all running towns and not all races are equal — there are better running clubs, better running communities, and OF COURSE, there is no better place to live than Northern Westchester which allows one the opportunity to run with the Taconic Road Runners.
This race today seemed to be among the best of the best: very well organized, good day of race registration experience, and a community of friendly runners. I ran a little with a guy to do a warmup and I told him I had heard it was a fast course. ”Oh, yeah! All down hill!” Well, that was good news. Not punishing downhill like Boston, but a nice like 200′ or so drop.
Alas, I’ve only been here about 36 hours, and I had some trouble getting as much oxygen as I think I needed. There was a little uphill in the race, and during any anaerobic activity I felt like my pace wasn’t matching my effort. I ran the 10k in 42:15, for a pace of 6:47. Nothing to sneeze at, but I ran a 10k in Central Park in May in 42:08, which is a much harder course. This was a downhill course with a nice wide open field, and I should have been able to kill it. But I just couldn’t get enough air in my lungs. Ug.
It was quite a dramatic race — I was alone for a little while, and took a quick wrong turn — luckily there were some people behind me who knew the course and yelled.
The end was WEIRD… there was a 1/4 mile to go marker (or 400m, can’t remember) and then a long straight away. With cones at the end of it. So I pushed hard — aiming for the cones. Then I realized there was actually a sharp left to the finish, which came after another 40 feet or so. It totally threw me, I hung the left and just couldn’t keep my pace into the turn. This guy who I can only assume was right behind me (only because I don’t want to imagine he was FAR behind me) flew past me. I never really recovered, and I finished neck and neck with a woman who I had passed a bit earlier.
I don’t want to complain — it’s not like my wrong turn or this thing at the end added 30 seconds to my time — it just kind of tempered my joy at such a fun race. The end definitely gives an advantage to people who’ve run the race before, but that’s par for the course if I can mix a metaphor.
I’m here for another few days, and I look forward to some great recovery runs and maybe a tempo on Tuesday. I am anxious to improve my speed overall, and taking advantage of this altitude and this great running community seems like too much of an opportunity to pass up.
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