save the best for last

It took 5 years-but the last of my "submasters PRs", the 5-miler...has finally fallen. And boy did it ever!!

OK, so I think you all know the background of the NYRR Club Team Championships, I don't need to repeat...so I'll get right down to business. As always-there were goals for this race. Which were...

Main "I'd be happy" goal-Finally beat my PR of 37:51
Stretch goal-under a 7:30 pace...so 37:30 or better. Based on my recent 5K, this could be doable...
Uber secret super stretch goal-Under 37 minutes. Challenging-but stranger things have happened...

So if you all remember, I was silently (or not) freaking out about not having "fresh" legs for this race, as I just felt tired during all my runs. But still hoping for some sort of miracle on Saturday morning...and you could tell I was taking this race seriously, as I decided to pass on a get-together a teammate was having in favor of resting the legs, watching the Yankee game (at least up til the 12th inning...needed my beauty sleep!) and detoxing.

Saturday morning...and as much as I may have cursed the later start, I can't complain about an extra hour of sleep. Usual pre-race preps, step outside to be greeted by a beautiful morning, jog a little bit to the park...stopped around 93rd street as the men's race was passing by at that time and I did not want to cheer and run at the same time. Everyone passed by in a matter of minutes since it was only about a half-mile in so the runners were still bunched closely together at that point. My cheering was a little subdued as I wanted to save my energy for the race, but still felt seeing a friendly face at that point can't hurt. (And I felt like it was a good karma thing or something like that :) ) I then flipped on the iPod and continued warming up...of course with some good music to get myself psyched up to race (I think "She Wolf" by Shakira is now my new favorite pre-race song!) and the legs did feel a bit better...maybe there is something to this "mini-taper" thing. Warmup done, check my bag, scout out the location of the Flyers post-race picnic, wait is that the men's leaders coming by? Wow this race just seems to get quicker and quicker each year...it would be a good 5 minutes or so before we saw the first Flyer, so me and a few other Flyer ladies just watched and waited...sure enough, JD runs by as the first of the Flyer contingent...with Laminator and Crazy Bandana-head not too far behind...jb24 looked like he was having a great race too!! Again, my cheering was more subdued than normal...I was actually more acting as "lookout" and "identify that Flyer" for the other ladies, so they could cheer by name and not "go Flyer" :) It's 9:35 and I need to get myself in the zone...sorry guys but I know you understand! A little more warming up, a little more stretching, then time to hit the corrals and just wait for the start. Deep breaths...kill those nerves, get ready to run!! The starting horn sounds...do the legs remember what to do...?

Mile 1 (7:25)-Well an advantage to being a corral back was that I wouldn't get sucked out too fast by the more-stacked field-especially since this mile is the west side hills which you all know how much I love :) I decided for at least the first half-mile, just to try and fall in with teammates and other peeps that I see are around my pace at races and not zigzag back and forth to try and move up...it worked :) By the end of mile 1, things were a little more spread out. Up that last hill at west 86th...saw LG with his UA teammates just as I passed a CPTC woman (yay) and saw the mile 1 marker, and I liked what I saw ;-)

Mile 2 (7:14)-Was relieved that I started off well, now time to hit that lovely downhill :) However, a sidestitch snuck up on me...dammit, this is early, why couldn't it wait til the last mile like it usually does? What should have been an easy mile with the downhill was suddenly made tough. Under no circumstances would I walk through this...I kept running hard and breathing deep...and just hoped it would go away. It did by the end of this mile and I was happy with the mile time, but still couldn't help but wonder what could have been. And there was one point in this mile where I was really flying solo...like i was running by myself with a group a little bit in front of me and a group a little bit in back of me...weird!!

Mile 3 (7:27)-I really had to work in this mile to not let things slip. Hot, unshaded, least crowd support...just tried to maintain-both speed and position, and not get passed. If I do pass a runner or 2 in this mile that would be great...but this is not the time to make my move...especially with the last big hill on the course not too far away. Seemed to work-I didn't lose too much time on this mile.

Mile 4 (7:44)-Well even before we hit the hill, we had to face another obstacle...a truck near the running lane by 72nd street. Could have been a collision of sorts but that was thankfully avoided...unfortunately the one downside to a 10 am race start...more traffic. So time to face the hill. Don't kill myself...again, maintain, maintain, maintain. Focus on form. Work the hill. Pass that Running Diva I see walking. Pass by the cat, not much further to go...oh look, I'm at the top of the hill...and I'm gonna pass by another woman in orange :) As well as others. Thank god, the worst is over. My mile split...not bad, but still a tiny bit slower than I would have liked...guess I still need to work on hills...

Mile 5 (6:59)-So with a mile to go, I wanted to avoid an error I thought I made last year. After 4 miles last year, I looked at my watch...and no one is great at math after around a half-hour of hard running, so I thought that a PR was out at that point and maybe didn't try as hard in the last mile as I should have. I did look at my watch after mile 4 this time (wow that was very close to my 4-mile PR! Come to think of it, I set a 3-mile PR too :-P ) but tried to refrain from doing the math. And in fact, only time I looked at my watch at all during the race was when I hit the split button at the mile markers-didn't look at it anytime else...less pacing, more racing!!

Back to the present!! Now's the time to give it everything...I passed by Engineer's Gate, where LG was cheering again and he said to me that "now's the time to run hard" or something to that effect :) And that's just what I am gonna do!! I kept the last mile of my recent 5K in mind-that I am capable of a good closing mile when it counts, and it doesn't hurt to, well, hurt a little :) Before I knew it, I had passed the reservoir and now's the time for all the cheering sections to start. Unlike previous years, there were no smiles...just focus and game face for this chick!! I did hear the assorted cheers, I did hear Bandana-head telling me to "dig deep" but the faces and names were just a blur to me. My lungs were burning by this point but I couldn't let up now. Just around the time of the final turn...was just me and this one other chick...she'd surge...then I would...turned for home and it was a sprint finish from there...gave it all I had to try and beat her to the line but I was just nipped (though I got her by a second on chip time!) And did the announcer announce a New York Flyer finish...not sure, was again so focused on my finish that I would have totally missed it!! But once I looked at my watch after crossing the line, I so liked what I saw!! I was hoping to run a sub-7 mile in a race...well moreso a sub-7 final mile!! Just made it by a second, but still it was!! And...even better...

All 3 goals achieved for the day!! Final time was 36:49, 7:21 pace...I had surpassed my old 2004 PR by over a minute!! Breaking a PR and doing it in style... :) And from what I heard, quite a few other teammates had great days too!!

And time to celebrate...the rest of the day consisting of, in no particular order...picnic, pictures, good friends and other special peeps, iced coffee, a beach in downtown Manhattan, sangria, perfect weather, awesome day...

And oh yeah...I had to check to see what marathon time this predicts...3:36! As far as I'm concerned, training is right on track...and it's still relatively early too!! But performance-wise, I feel this was my best race ever...yep, even better than the half last year, as here I had to deal with warmer weather and lotsa hills!!

And to everyone who cheered today-thank you, thank you, thank you!! As always-you helped me more than you know...even if I couldn't acknowledge it at the time :)

And what's next for me? Possibly a half-marathon on the horizon next month...and yeah, I just may have a rough time goal in my mind there...but besides that, just plugging away towards a certain goal on October 25th... ;-)

harder, better, faster, stronger

Those words, originally the title of a Daft Punk song, more recently sampled in a Kanye West song...ran through my head during today's NYRR Club Team Championships. Did that help? Read on!!

Now I'll reveal what my goals for the race were-and in honor of the Olympics, I'll use medal colors :)

Bronze-beat last year's time (40:10)-get revenge on last year!!
Silver-beat my 2006 time (39:03)
Gold-distance PR...sub-37:51

I was so nervous and excited for the race, I found it a little hard to sleep last nite. (Plus a certain finish of a certain swimming event had something to do with it too!! dayum...) But despite that, I got up right when the alarm sounded, and went through the usual pre-race routine...eat, drink coffee, stretch, get dressed, listen to music, make sure Mr. Garmin is charged...

As usual-I timed my warmup to go up the west side so I could cheer the Flyer guys on during the first mile. And yeah, I was nice and cheered for friends on other teams too :) And they all seemed very appreciative-being that the women's race is not for another hour, I'm sure that part of the course didn't have a lot of cheering support. Everyone was still pretty much bunched together, so pretty much all of the runners passed by in a matter of minutes. So I continued on up to 102nd Street, and found some of the Flyer women who had staked out a spot near the finish to cheer the guys on. Soon enough, the leaders came by...finishing in 23-and-change...are you friggin kidding me? I can't even do 4 miles in 23 and change minutes! Hell, there are times when I can't even do a 5K in that amount of time :) Around 28-29 minutes, we kept an eye out for the first Flyer, who I knew would be coming in around that time...we did think we saw one, but it actually turned out to be a Reservoir Dog-their singlets are very similar to our latest singlet style!! But one by one, the Flyer men passed by, running strong towards the finish.

After a while, I left to go warm up and loosen up and head towards the start...and yep, even though it was a small field-around 500-they still used the corrals...and yay, I was in the 2nd/red one :) It may not have mattered in a race this size, but was still cool. A bunch of my Flyer teammates were in my corral, as was Uptown Girl. Everybody was chatting it up, the starting horn took us by surprise!! Here we go...

Mile 1 (7:35)-through the west side hills...I knew this mile would give me an idea as to what kind of race I will have...I was gonna go for it!! The crowd support was fantastic...and Uptown Girl and I were running together for most of this mile, I knew I was having a good race when I could keep up with her :) Was feeling good, feeling strong...saw my mile split and was pleased...in the ballpark! :)
Mile 2 (7:28)-wheeeeee.....downhill mile!! A bunch of the Flyer and the TRD guys were running in the other direction and cheering. Still felt good!! After this mile I thought "cool, I'm on PR pace!!" :)
Mile 3 (7:45)-always the mentally tough mile!! Around the bottom of the park, so the least support. Plus, it had warmed up to about 70 degrees by then and was very humid...not as bad as it could have been, but this mile was unshaded and it took a little bit of a toll on me. This was when I started playing those words over and over in my head..."harder, better, faster, stronger." Keep me motivated. (Funny...when listening to music pre-race...yeah, I was listening to Kanye, but different song-"Champion"...funny what gets stuck in your head! Anyway, off the subject here...) A couple women did pass me, including one of my teammates, but I was still sticking with others, and even passing others. So all in all, not too bad. Just keep everyone in sight and I'll be fine.
Mile 4 (7:58)-Flyer SD caught up to me right before Cat Hill...she was another good one to use as a rabbit, as when we're both having a good day, we're pretty similar in races. Cat Hill sucked as usual, but I felt strong climbing it, passed a few more women...guess hill work...well...works!! :-D After climbing the hill I edged ahead of SD for good...last time I saw her til the finish. Knew this mile would be slow, but was happy this was under 8 minutes...that hasn't happened in quite awhile!!
Mile 5 (7:25)-OK...I knew a PR was out at this point...I'd have to run under 7 minutes, which I didn't think I was capable of...so do the best I can, whatever that may be-I figured I had the bronze and silver goals in the bag :) As I approached Engineer's Gate, one girl who was running near me said "let's go" to me...we both picked it up!! As I passed the reservoir, I caught up to Uptown Girl and another Reservoir Dog, EV...as we entered the "tunnels of cheering" for the last half-mile (or as several Flyers started referring to it as-the "tunnel of love") I passed EV, then Uptown Girl...I said "come on let's go!" to each of them. OK-there was a method to my madness...let's all work together to kick it in...one picks up the pace, of course I will try to follow suit...you get what I'm trying to say :) Uptown Girl and I stuck together to the finish, where once again, the cheering was fabulous...much better than last year, methinks!! I heard lots of "Go (my name)!" which made me very happy..though my face may not have shown it at the time!! Just around the last corner...go go go!!!

And I wound up with 38:11, 7:38 pace...my 2nd best 5-miler ever and a "submasters PR" :) Very pleased.

So after the finish, I said the usual "good jobs!"...and it was cool...Uptown Girl, me, SD and EV finished one after the other...so I guess keeping them in my sights was a good thing :) Everyone then went to their respective teams' festivities...we had our usual bagel brunch and team picture, and lots of chatting and mingling. (And one of the other teams even shared ice cream with us!! cool. :) )

So yeah...another one coming so close. But once again, my PR was set in 60 degree weather, on an easier course, with no tired marathon training legs. So all in all, I actually think I outperformed that :) Splits may have looked all over the place, but they were actually pretty consistent with the terrain. Kinda wish I had been able to push harder in that last mile, but considering that once again I was breathless and couldn't speak full sentences for a few minutes after the finish, I think I did give it all I had. And once again-I have not come this close in 4 years, so I'm glad that 2008 is looking to be a comeback year. And I think it could mean good things will happen in the half and the marathon coming up!! This predicts a 3:44 marathon (courtesy of the McMillan calculator) so maybe, just maybe, the 3:50 marathon goal will be within my reach...

And on the topic of marathons, I'm psyched to watch the womens' Olympic marathon tonite!! Go Deena! (This is providing that NBC doesn't switch coverage to the trampoline or whatever else :-p)

great expectations

Now I finally know how the elite runners in last year's NYC Marathon felt. With the most stacked field in awhile, the best conditions in awhile, the buzz was that this was going to be an exciting race, course records were going to fall...which as we all knew, didn't happen.

That's sorta how I felt about Saturday's Club Team Championships. As far as Central Park races go, this was my favorite. The weather conditions called for an unseasonably cool day. The field was much, much smaller than normal (how bout 500 instead of 5000 peeps!) due to the club-only race and the separate men's/women's starts. Basically-all signs pointed to a good race...hence the "great expectations" in the title. Not to be...

Mile 1-8:03
Mile 2-7:52
Mile 3-8:13
Mile 4-8:19
Mile 5-7:43

Final result, 40:10 (8:02 pace)

Before anyone says it-I'm sure, just looking at the numbers, that it didn't seem like a bad race. However-last year-when it was almost 20 degrees warmer, much more humid, and I had tired legs from marathon training, I did this race in 39 minutes. (And in fact, my recent SF half time, on a much tougher course, predicted 39 minutes for a 5-miler too...)

I'm still not sure what happened. First mile-I felt I was still warming up a bit...2nd mile I made up the time a little bit on the downhill...3rd mile had the least crowd support...4th mile was Cat Hill, but I actually did a little better than I thought I would there. I looked at my watch and saw that I'd need a 7:32 last mile to get under 40...could I do it? Although there was quite a bit of cheering, it seemed a little more subdued than last year (and it seemed that there were a couple of teams who went out of their way to not cheer for me) though the Flyers were great, as usual..I tried to push it, but wasn't enough and was disappointed to see the 40:xx on my watch. Though apparently I wiped the disappointment off my face long enough to get nabbed by the NYRR photographer here...

But the non-competitve stuff was fun. I liked cheering our guys on in mile 1 and near the end, and our annual team picnic afterwards. And lots of the Flyer women, including myself were modeling our new fitted top...looked quite nice!! And later that afternoon, we took on CPTC in softball again...was a good time, but the fact that I was placed last in the lineup...I dunno, I felt once again like the fat, unathletic girl who always gets picked last for a team...meh.

As for the running stuff...I can't quite figure out what is going on. I can run a decent half, but I just choke so badly in the short races. I have been doing speedwork-though I admit the last coupla months...hadn't been going well between the mega-heat waves that always seem to crop up on Tuesdays, or the fact that some of the workouts were a little too long for hot days and I can't seem to get the effort in. Weekly mileage is decent, long runs are decent, so I really think that's where the problem is lying. Only problem is, I don't know how to fix it...

Guess no one said it was gonna be easy...

tunnels of cheering

oh, what a difference 2 months makes...

5-mile race in June: weather 78 degrees, 54% humidity-disaster
5-mile race yesterday: weather 77 degrees, 66% humdity (lies! i'm sure it was more humid than that)-million times better!

So yesterday was the much-hyped Club Team Championships. Unlike all the other NYRR races, this one is only limited to members of the local running teams-making for a smaller field, and a cleaner start since this one is yet another split-start race (men race at 8am, women at 9am.) I was sidelined for last year's race, but my main memory of the '04 race was hearing our guys cheering like crazy at the end, really helping me finish strong in a race that did not go as well as hoped (after a relatively mild summer, the heat and humidity were on full blast for that one!) Anyway, I was looking forward to using this race as a fitness check, to see where I am with my NYCM training. Thankfully, an easier course this year, eliminating Harlem Hill!!

The morning of, I timed my easy warmup jog up the west drive of Central Park to coincide with the first mile of the men's race...so I could cheer them on early on, I'm sure spectators were sparse at that time. The Flyer men in their red and white singlets were looking good in the early going. But by the time I was done with my warmup, I realized that I was already sweating a lot, and my heart was pounding-conditions were tough, this could make for a brutal race. Me and a few of our gals watched the end of the men's race to cheer them on. The first 11 men came in under 25 minutes-insane!! (With the first 2 neck and neck!) The first Flyer man came in at around 29 minutes-yowza, he did awesome!! The rest of the Flyer men started to come in, one by one...and we took note that no one looked happy at all-kind of foreshadowing of what the conditions for our race were gonna be like!! Around 8:45, we headed over to the start on the 102nd Street Transverse-while there, I saw Chelle and then Uptown Girl...chatted for a coupla minutes with each, wished everyone luck...the usual :) Finally, the starting horn sounded and we were off!!

Mile 1-I wanted to be careful here-as the West Side Hills can make for a tough mile and a tough remainder of the race if I rabbit it. I saw a couple of teammates who run around my pace and stuck near them at the beginning, but I eventually did pass them before the mile was up-nevertheless, I didn't feel like I did this one too hard. The support from the guys cheering on the side was great. Hit this mile in 7:47. Perfecto.

Mile 2-this mile started off with a large downhill, so tried to pick up the pace a little bit there. Saw a big group of our guys running the other direction and cheering (thanks guys!) in addition to Sister Smile over by the 72nd St transverse. Saw a water table right before the mile 2 marker and decided to grab a cup-I had a feeling with the conditions, I'd regret it later if I didn't. Didn't lose too much time really, as I drank it "on the fly." Mile 2 was 7:41-still pretty good, and under goal pace!

Mile 3-this was a pretty mentally challenging mile. As this mile wound around the very bottom of Central Park, this part had the least crowd support. And the heat was starting to get to me a little bit. I made a strategic decision to back off a little bit in this mile-I wanted to save myself for Cat Hill and a strong finish. One of my teammates who was behind me saw that I was slowing a little and shouted encouragement to me to hang in there (she wound up passing me before the mile was up, but said to me afterwards that she "was hoping i'd stick with her." aww, that was nice.) This mile was 7:52-still good.

Mile 4-yep, you guessed it, Cat Hill. And gotta love our Coach J, he was standing right by the cat!! No seriously, he actually climbed up onto the cat statue. Not surprised, he did that in the Snowflake 4-miler too. He was cheering as I approached and I made a face that pretty much showed I was hurting and he shouted "come on, you're almost at the top!" Ugh. Glad that climb was over. And I was still feeling affected by the elements...so close to walking but didn't. Grabbed another cup of water at the end of this mile. Figured all I'd have to do is get through this mile and I'd pretty much be home free. This was my slowest split of the race at 8:12-but I was still passing women during this mile so I think everyone was equally affected.

Mile 5-this mile, especially the last half-mile, is what makes this race so damn worth it. Surprisingly, I still had a little bit left in me, so I picked up the pace. There was quite a bit of cheering for the first part of this mile, especially around Engineer's Gate at 90th, but nothing like what I'd see once I got past the reservoir around 96th St. This last part of the race is absolutely unreal-I felt like such a rockstar here. It started with a bunch of the Flyer, Reservoir Dog, and Harrier men screaming my name-and even though it was the very end of the race, hearing that just motivated me to run like crazy, and had me on a high and put a smile on my face that lasted til the very end of the race. Though Coach Toby yelled at me to "stop smiling"-hey, what I can say, I totally feed off this!! I also passed a CPTC woman who I had been trading places with throughout the race..I heard her coach yell to her "come on, you can pass one more!" I thought to myself, Sorry, but that one more is not gonna be me!! The remainder of this mile was what was described as "tunnels of cheering." Every guy, every team, screaming at the top of their lungs-whether it was for me, or their teammates, or whoever else...I forgot about the conditions, I didn't bother looking at my watch anymore during that mile, the cheers from the men just carried me harder and further. And wouldn't you know it, that last mile was my fastest split of the race-7:31!

Final result was 39:03, 7:48 pace. (and I would have been happy with 39:59!)

Right after the finish, I congratulated the Rez Dog girl who finished right behind me on a good race (she too, had been trading places with me throughout the race)...then I saw both Chelle and Uptown Girl again, and congratulated them both on their PR's!! In addition, a writer for NYRR asked me a coupla questions about the race...and woudn't ya know it, I got quoted :)

Afterwards was the annual Flyer bagel brunch and team photo. This year's photo was also a huge family affair as well...our Flyer toddler contingent had a pretty good appearance as well :) The team festivities were not over yet though!! A coupla hours later, a bunch of us headed to the North Meadow to take on CPTC in softball. Apparently they beat us big time in '03, time for a rematch? Considering a lot of us hadn't played softball in quite a while (yours truly hasn't played in 15 years!) we really, really held our own!! Had a nice lead going on until CPTC rallied back in the last inning. (but the teams weren't evenly matched...ours was mostly women, theirs all men!) was still a lot of fun though.

Great day!! I can't wait to run this race again next year. And if the cheers are even a taste of what to expect...November 5th should be a lot of fun :)

And as for my race performance, I think I ran well, ran smart, didn't let the heat defeat me, pulling back was worth it to have such a strong last mile. I think I could have come close to PR'ing if the weather was better-something to look forward to come fall, especially seeing how it plays out over longer distances. I did pretty well in sub-optimal conditions at a distance that isn't even my best strength, so...dare I dream of sub-1:45 at Grete's??

now playing: "get together" ~ madonna