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oakley mini 10k race recap

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I signed up for the “mini” probably back when there was still snow on the ground – it’s a fun race and I missed it last year due to injury. It was 1.5 months after the New Jersey Marathon, so I figured I’d be totally recovered. But you know what they say about the best laid plans…

Three weeks post-marathon, I’m feeling ok but still not totally back to normal. Which I know is normal. So I went into the race with zero plan but a tiny glimmer of hope that maybe, a PR could happen since my current 10K PR is nothing to write home about (for me) anyways.

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sprouted grain toast, almond butter, banana, strawberry and chia seeds

Fueled up with my typical pre-race breakfast and a little decaf coffee. We had some pretty gnarly thunderstorms the night before, but luckily they were gone by morning (unluckily, the humidity stuck around). I ran to the park and met Betsy and Jenny on the west side, where we finished our warm-up together towards the starting area.

I really like that this is a women-only race, and I also really don’t like that it’s a women-only race. It has an awesome history of being the oldest women-only road race in the country (world?), started in the days of Kathryn Switzer when lady runners were not a common thing. Crazy to think of how far we’ve come! There were also a lot of awesome, fast elite women running, and since the corrals were seeded differently (no dudes), we got to start in the first corral and see a lot of great speakers on the stage before the race started. It was cool and inspirational to hear words from Deena, Desi, and Kathryn, to name a few. We also started the race right next to Mary Wittenberg, who I am always in awe of. Even so, I don’t do too many (or any, besides this one) women-only races because I find that much estrogen in one place to be a little overwhelming. And, I am not a fan of tutus, sparkle skirts, ruffles, feather boas, etc. on a race course. Moving right along…

Miles 1-3: 7:13, 7:23, 7:20
Ok, this doesn’t feel so bad, I thought once mile 1 ticked off. Betsy, Jenny and Mary had zoomed by me from the very beginning, and I told myself I was’t going to try to keep up. My legs felt ok but without any “pop,” if that makes sense. I knew the Harlem hills would be killer, and probably dreaded them for the most of these miles. It was hot and humid, and the sun was blazing. I can’t wait until this is over…

Miles 4-6.2: 7:51, 7:32, 7:45
True to their word, the Harlem hills kicked my ass and left my legs feeling kind of like jello. After that, I just wanted to finish the race and be done and didn’t care so much how fast I was going. Ok, maybe I cared a little. So this is still going to be a nice tempo workout to start off marathon training! Was my attempt to switch the mindset positively, and it kind of worked. I stopped looking at my watch and tried to work with the rest of the hills as much as I could until the finish.

Finish: 47:25, 7:38/mile

Ooof. I honestly felt like I was running in place for the last mile or so. Even though ~7:20 is about my goal 10K pace right now, I think I started out too fast for where I’m at right now and paid the consequences. When and how will I ever learn? After getting some water and meeting Betsy, Jenny, Megan and Dani for some post-race talk, photos and deliciously salty pretzels I felt better.

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yay for running buddies! 

Betsy, Jenny and I started our cooldown on the bridle path and saw a lot of the elites doing their cooldowns, which I will never not geek out about. None of us knew who won, but when I got home it was so cool to see that Molly Huddle had set a new 10K all-women’s road record.

Even though I did not enjoy the act of actually running this race, I’m glad I did it and think it was a good way to kick off marathon training. And really, a morning spent in Central Park on a nice day with favorite running buddies is never a bad thing.


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