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.
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.
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.