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| mini 10k 1, me 0 |
| Saturday, June 07, 2008 |
 oh. my. god. this is one race you definitely do not f*ck with.
Well, the Mini 10K actually didn't start off so bad. Though the weather predictions were frightening, I was really just planning to play it by ear. Even though it was hot when jogging to the start area, I was still kinda sorta hopeful...
So I met up with some other Flyers (including Runner26) and we headed over to the start line...and after all the fuss about the bib color yesterday, actually quite a few of us had red bibs. And honestly, once the barrier between the red and blue corral was taken away, we were able to move up and actually had a pretty good starting position. Now all we had to do was wait for the starting horn...
Mile 1 (7:38)-I knew this was gonna be a fast mile, but I really did try to hold back some effort here. Crowd support was great along this stretch, saw Crazy Bandana-head taking pics :) Saw my mile split and was surprised.
Mile 2 (7:56)-into the park and saw Flyers EF and SK cheering (as well as PD right before I entered the park.) Again, tried to maintain a comfortably hard effort...hmm, maybe the weather isn't gonna defeat me this time.
Mile 3 (8:10)-first of the killer hills!! When I got done with that, really tried to use the downhill as much as I could to my advantage...saw the Flyers' Mr. President cheering. Slowed for water in this mile-I knew I would regret it if I didn't, as I didn't take in mile 1 and felt like I needed it.
The 5K point...hit that in 24:43 and thought, hmmmm, not bad!! Still under 8's. Maybe I actually am holding it together.
 Mile 4 (8:47)-Or so I thought. Things started to go wrong here. Even though my legs were fine, breathing wasn't too hard, my body was giving signs that it was not responding too well to the heat-actually felt a little clammy and chilled-so I had to back off the effort for a good part of the mile. Saw Flyer JB running in the other direction and cheering...and Flyers GW and LH at Engineer's Gate...and just like last year, GW yelled at me to save some effort for Need For Speed tomorrow. Was so tempted to yell back "f*ck you" but didn't :-p
Mile 5 (8:35)-Thank god for two cheering contingents in this mile, otherwise it would have been much worse...still wasn't feeling great. First, at 84th Street, Uptown Girl and a bunch of her TRD teammates were cheering. As I passed I yelled out to Uptown Girl something like "You were so smart to not sign up for this!!" Their guys were cheering hard and trying to encourage me-thanks guys, I really did need it around this time!! :) I did see both Gatorade and water tables in this mile and did slow down to a walk instead of drinking on the run-I really needed the Gatorade then. Too bad it was so watered down!! I told myself then, "less than a half-mile til the Flyer guys." Down the hill and yep, Bandana-head and the rest of the NYF cheering contingent was there and so was the mile 5 marker.
Mile 6 (8:58)-this felt like a death march...I did the one thing I did not want to do and had to walk. Flyer JS passed by and asked if I was OK...I told her I was, but she did look back a couple times-thanks, JS. :) Now....it was just about survival...I just wanted it to be over. Saw PD again cheering...I kinda signaled that I wasn't doing too well. Once again...was so glad to see the "800m to go" sign.
last .2 (1:46)-meh...no finishing kick here. was totally spent, and the hill to the finish did damage again.
Wound up with 51:50-8:21 pace (wanna hear something funny? last year's time was 50:51, 8:12 pace. Talk about a reversal!!) 5K splits of 24:43/27:07...damn.
 Afterwards, first thing I got was Gatorade and water (smart move to have those tables first this year!!) and downed 'em faster than a shot. Then got the finisher's medal and rose...sorry, I meant pink carnation. Then found my teammates and other friends and shared the usual "OMG, this sucked" stories :) I did stick around for the awards ceremony, and the raffle drawing (hey, I hoped one good thing would have come out of the morning!)...just looking at the top finish times, looked like the elites were affected too!!
As for me? Did I make some race-day errors? I honestly think even if my first 5K were a minute slower, that the heat would have still gotten to me. Unfortunately the only way to deal with it is being acclimated, and obviously I wasn't (unlike, say, Club Champs in August.) I know I should be happy to have just made it though, and believe me I am. Just sucks when Mother Nature messes with goal, or even semi-goal races. (and dammit, will I ever run a sub-50 10K again?) Was thinking of doing next weekend's 5-miler as a chance at some sort of redemption, but the weather forecast doesn't look too great for that either...so wait it out til Club Champs, I guess.
And tomorrow? It's gonna be an easy (pace, not effort) run-definitely not by choice!!Labels: flyers, race, running |
posted by nyflygirl @ 1:14 PM  |
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Amazing. You did it and there's something to be said for that:) But yes, you're right, I have no regrets for not signing up. I described it as a death march to my teammates and I see you agree:-/ Good luck tomorrow and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
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Now that you are used to the heat, tomorrow will be a breeze!
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Ha! We were all in good spirits though. Your splits mirror mine (cept yours are faster), but they follow the same curve. Tomorrow we will blame the heat as well--and hopefully be careful considering the 90s are dangerous terrirtory...
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uptown girl-ehhh...the death march was really only mile 6 :) but OMG, i have a newfound respect to those who survived the hot marathons last October 7th...I couldn't imagine dealing with those conditions for another 20 miles!!
johnny-did GW log in as you? :-p
runner26-yeah...I guess we were all in it together so it made it sorta fun to complain. :) c-ya tomorrow!! good luck on the Goat Trail :)
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Nothing wrong with that time in this kind of weather - That race is always brutal - you did fine. I ran five tonight (CP loop with 102 cutoff) and finished just under your 10k time. 90 degrees+ plus just getting back into it does not make for a fast Peter. But you're doing good. That's what matters. Keep smiling. We ever going to run together?
-Peter
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Thanks. :) I've run this race 5 times, 3 out of the 5 have been scorchers. Yeah, I know everyone struggled today-just frustrating knowing the head, heart and legs didn't give up but everything else did! And sure-I'm definitely up for a lap of the park...NYCM training is coming all too soon :) (though are you ever not traveling...hehe :) )
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Wow, I can't believe you walked and still got all sub-9 miles. How do you DO that?! I averaged 8:43 even though I ran the whole thing (including through the water stations, though I'm proud to say I've now learned to drink while I run). Maybe I need to look into some Galloway method?
Great job!!!
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laura-had i not had to walk in miles 5 and 6 and actually ran em all, they would have (hopefully!) been under 8...when the weather cooperates, i usually have a good time in this race.
josh-you lie :-p but thanks :)
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Amazing. You did it and there's something to be said for that:) But yes, you're right, I have no regrets for not signing up. I described it as a death march to my teammates and I see you agree:-/ Good luck tomorrow and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!