fifty-fifty

or so it said on my watch afterwards! for once, i was actually a little disappointed that my time was actually a second faster according to NYRR...gotta love "novelty times!"

so today, at the Healthy Kidney 10K, we were all lined up besides (or behind) some of the best of the best in men's road racing. As I said in a previous post-and Mary Wittenberg (the CEO of NYRR) seemed to share those thoughts when she was talking up the crowd before the race-it's special to be sharing the road with these great athletes...whether today, or with some of the best female runners next month at the Mini 10K...or even other races where our local elites are also national stars. i'm sure that was part of the reason why this race was so packed today (or it could have been the attraction of a souvenir technical shirt, or for the locals, this was a club points race where everyone comes out in force!)

but anyway, backing things up a little. well first off, the fashion report :) (this one's for you, Skylight) My brand-spankin' new so-red-hot Flyer singlet, my black Nike shorts with red and white trim/accents (Flyer colors!!,) black Flyer sports bra, thin black headband, and the orange/white Asics Cumuluses, coordinating again with yet another orangish and white race bib.

so i got to the race area in plenty of time...dropped off my bag, stretched and did a little bit of a warm-up...but still didn't really feel loose (maybe after-effects from Tuesday, though i took it easy the remainder of the week?) found some teammates and walked to the start...then saw one of my faster female teammates and she pulled me in to line up with her (between the 6 and 7 minute markers again...might as well, this is a packed race. besides, i wanted to make sure my teammate lined up well, as she usually scores for our womens team in the points races.) so, stood through the elite male athlete introductions and speeches (though laughed a little when they said the elites will be around cheering for the rest of us at the finish...they'll be done before I even get to mile 4!) so anyway, eventually we were off.

weather at the start was high 50s, humid, sunny, which made it feel much warmer...my original plan was the run the first mile cautiously, then hard and controlled til the 5K point (or maybe a little longer-like til after that last nasty hill in the 4th mile,) then hammer home. didn't quite work out like that. the mile-by mile replay...

1. 7:59-good, didn't feel like I rabbited this mile. saw Uptown Girl and the rest of her TRD "pom-pom crew" during this mile, as well as one of my teammates standing and cheering nearby (thanks JN!)
2. 7:57-still pretty good!
3. 8:20-first of the Harlem Hill climbs. yuck. (hit 5K in 25:12)
4. 8:45-steeper Harlem Hill-double yuck.
5. 7:56-fun mile. saw the pom-pom crew again, as well as the Flyers' Mr. President taking pictures. Skylight caught up to me before Cat Hill and ran with me for the remainder of this mile before he took off. It definitely helped to have someone to run with when I felt I was fading a little.
6. 8:09-meh, ok, lets just get this done :)
last .21-1:43-caught up to and passed one of our female super-veteran superstars, but the uphill to Tavern always seems to rob me of a finishing kick. But helped to hear the cheering, from my teammates and other teams (yep, Morrissey, I did hear ya!)

So...even though my watch had a cool time of 50:50, according to NYRR, I actually finished in 50:49, 8:11 pace (25:12/25:37 5K splits.)

So, as usual, hung around afterwards with my teammates rehashing the day/race/whatever else. And of course, the blog crew was out in force...saw jbl (was it a PR? ;-) :-p), Sempre Libera with some of her TRD teammates (congrats on what I think is a PR?), Phil (congrats on 1st 10K!) and Brooklyn (congrats on a PR!)

and the PR's...or course PR's extended to the elites-Craig Mottram was the repeat winner of the race with a better time than last year, but missed the course record (and an additional $10,000 bonus) by mere seconds!! Man...don't know what is the lesser of 2 evils-to miss a time goal by a long shot, or just barely...knowing you just...about...had it!!

Anyway, I had a good/fun run today. Still weak on the hills, but nothing I didn't already know. Next up for me will be the Mini 10K in June. Another fun race, however, that is one that the weather can really make or break. (made it in '04, broke it in '05.)

time to nap...got to par-tay tonite :)