So here is the race report!
It was chilly this morning heading out to the start of the race near the bandshell in Central Park. I had about twenty minutes which was not really enough time to stow the bag, hit the WC, and stretch, and get in my corral. It was full but not crushingly so.
The sponsor of the race was the Norwegian Consulate General (wonder if they pay their parking tickets?) so the theme was all things Norwegian, and the race is named after Grete Waitz, nine-time NYC marathon winner-lets say that again, out of 52 runnings or so of the marathon, this Norwegian has won it NINE times. Probably will never be matched. So she was there at the beginning to start the race.
Then we were off! The first three miles wound south from the bandshell across the southern width of the park and then headed up the west side. Flat with a little uphill that I stowed away for the end, uphill to Tavern on the Green. Will have to save something for this little hill which is certainly to hurt more at the end. You don’t want you legs turning to Norwegian Wood…yuk yuk. Ok bad joke. Mile splits:
1 8:32
2 8:35
3 8:28
At this point it was obvious that the Nikepod was short compared to the mile posts, but since I have based my pacing around it I decided to stick with whatever it was saying in terms of pace. I also knew I was going out a little fast but in the crowd you notice it less. We would see…
4 8:10
5 8:21
6 8:26
Between 3 and 4 is the back half of Central Park, the notorious hills, but since we were running clockwise it was all a long downhill. You can see that in the 8:10 coming off that hill. And then 5 and 6 are going southbound along the east side from the 90′s through the 80′s, which is actually a steady gentle rolling uphill. I remember looking at the reservoir as we went by it, a little misty, and I thought I saw ice on the surface! Probably not. But the light was gorgeous, and there were other runners doing the reservoir loop. When I got to mile 6 I knew things were looking good for me, I felt fine, my breathing was very easy. I think I had a cliffshot in there somewhere, yeah 50mg of caffeine!
7 8:10
8 8:19
9 8:27
Like miles 1,2,3, rolling up the west side again. Before the race I heard someone give advice to someone else who had never run in the park, he said, check yourself every mile, ask yourself if you can continue at this pace because CP is not flat, there is always another hill, it is very hard to maintain a steady pace. Good advice, and you can see my times are all over the place. Somewhere in there, another cliffshot, and at mile 9, which is descending the hills at the rear of the park I had a similar kick to the one I described in my previous 10 mile night run. Except I knew I still had another 4 to go, and the finish uphill, so I checked myself and didn’t really let it out.
10 8:07
11 8:10
12 8:07
At this point I know I am going to finish well, and probably under two hours. You notice people around you, and there were a few that I had been with for several miles now. I just set myself to not lose them at this point, because you are really not sure. Also, I had begun to let it out a little as you can see. It also started to rain a little at mile 10, and I was thinking, lets just get this finished before the rain! But it never really got going. So I was definitely “breathing” on this backstretch. I was also passing some people, and taking advantage of every rolling downhill to really turn over the legs. Mile 12 and I know, here is the last mile, the one I knew was going to be the toughest, your mind starts to play tricks on you, it wants to say “enough, you are there” but you can’t do that. So I was pushing.
13 7:49
Evidently pushing a lot! Musta been smellin’ the waffles and lingonberry jam (or is that Swedish?). I could see the finish time which was counting up from 1:57, and I knew the difference between the clock time and the chip time was about 4 minutes, which meant it was really nearer 1:53. So easy to be under two hours at this point, but I really wanted under 1:54, and I think I got 1:54:45 but we will see what the chip says…pace should be 8:45/mile because the Nikepod is short or this course was long! I think really, if the course distance was accurate, although I did not run the shortest route either, but if the distance is correct I should be adding 30sec/mile onto those splits. Anyway, maybe next time a good old watch will work better!
Then it was out of the chutes, chug some nasty gatorade, and go get warm clothing. While in line for the waffles, talking to another runner from England, all of a sudden she says “Thats me!”, and indeed they had called her number in the raffle, and she won the Grand Prize which was return airfare to Norway! Stroke of luck, missed it by that much! Actually, I forgot to put my number in, so I will settle for a sub two hour half as my prize.
Thanks to all my sponsors…um, none. Definitely a recommendation for Zensah clothing-please send me some more of your oh so soft microfibre shirts. Warm, anti-bacterial which means friendly to those around you, and keeps you dry. The longsleeve was the way to go today.
So now do I run the Staten Island Half next weekend? Word is, it is flat:)
UPDATE: official time was 1:55:42, 8:49 pace according to the chip, the nikepod was out about what I thought. I think it is a good idea to recalibrate it as your running style changes.