After this 4th time that I have run the NY Mini 10K, I have come to one conclusion at least when it comes to the weather:

Even year (2004, 2006)-good
Odd year (2005, 2007)-bad

Yep-just as feared, this morning's weather was a repeat of 2005. The results and execution, thankfully not.

Well, when I jogged a mile to the start as a warm-up (and saw fellow blogger Brooklyn en route), I knew this could make for a tough day-was already hot and humid. I went to drop off my bag (and saw fellow blogger Chelly and chatted for a coupla minutes) and found some other Flyers and we headed to 66th/CPW, which was where the local elites were meeting. Uptown Girl and Sempre Libera soon joined us after their warm-up. We all got walked over to the start around 8:45-once again, awesome starting position. The usual speeches and fanfare-then we were off!!

Mile 1 (7:40)-nice, wide-open mile (with some male Flyer support)...however, this kinda signaled that it was gonna be a tough day, as this was the slowest I have ever run this mile.
Mile 2 (8:00)-entered the park and saw a Reservoir Dog cheering section and some other Flyers...it helped a little bit, but by the end of this mile I was thinking "I wish this was over."
Mile 3 (8:36)-first really hilly mile...and I slowed a little bit to get some water/Gatorade-I really, really needed it.
Mile 4 (8:32)-up the last Harlem Hill and hit 5K in 25:16...knew by then sub-8 pace was out, and decided not to try and kill myself for sub-50 either. Just finish without walking and without a huge positive split like in '05. This mile is always a bitch, but I just plugged away. Flyer GW was taking pictures near Engineer's Gate and jokingly yelled at me to save myself for Need For Speed tomorrow.
Mile 5 (8:11)-worst was over, all downhill from here!! Spotted Trakmaniak taking pictures and he gave me a much-needed cheer. In addition, the Flyers male contingent made another appearance at 72nd St...much better than last year!! Luv ya guys :)
Mile 6 (8:13)-was really, really hurting here...a sidestitch decided to sneak up on me during this mile. Was so, so tempted to slow to a walk but gutted it out, and just tried breathing as deep as possible. Boy, was I relieved to see the "800m to go" sign.
Last 1.2 (1:39)-another cheering Rez Dog contingent around here was just what I needed to pick it up and finish strong...in addition, I had just passed a CPTC runner and wanted to hold her off, and also I knew I had to haul ass if I wanted to make it under 51. I thought it'd never get there (the start and finish were moved up a coupla blocks this year!!) but I reached the finish line, and the announcer called out a New York Flyer finish :)

So-my final result was 50:51, 8:12 pace (25:16/25:35 5K splits.) Not my best, but a good effort for the conditions, and a much, much more even race than the '05 fiasco. So even though the legs weren't so tough, the mind was tougher than I thought... (oh and even though I wouldn't recommend drinking half a bottle of Riesling the night before a race, it didn't seem to hurt my performance. And it was worth it, anyway.)

Afterwards, I got my obligatory red rose and finishers medal, said hi to blogger Brooklyn again, told the guy who was spraying everyone with a fire hose that he ruled, exchanged "ohmigod this sucked" stories with everyone, posed for pictures, and eventually had brunch with one very cool teammate. (and I also got quite a few complements on my makeshift fitted Flyers top-just pinned a Flyer patch to both the front and back of this top in black-looked very cool.)

Just in-the NYRR folks caught me (albeit briefly) on video!! yay. (another blogger got caught on video too...)

And tomorrow, a nice 5.1 mile easy run on tap-I got the same leg as last year and I know it's a perfect one to recover from today!! Not to mention a fun day with some very cool people :)

now playing: "read my mind" ~ the killers