race report: pride run

this 5-miler is put on by the front runners, a running club/team for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender runners and their allies. it's been run for 32 consecutive years but this year is a team points race so i signed up for it. not sure why, since only the first 5 finishers in a division actually count toward the score for that division and i am not among the top finishers on my team, but i like supporting the team overall. so even though it was a 5 miler in central park in summer (triple ugh), i registered anyway.

race day dawned warm & muggy, same as the previous few days as we've been stuck in a very humid air mass. i hoped at least the clouds might stick around to keep the sun off us, but it was not meant to me. i caught a ride with joann and jill, and we caught up with a few other folks prior to the race, all bemoaning the less-than-ideal conditions.

went for a short warm up jog of about half a mile, then headed for the corrals. sure enough, the clouds started breaking up and the sun intensity increased. i had just about decided to drop my pace down to 9 minute miles but instead decided not to check my watch at all and just run it as comfortably as i could. i also decided not to carry water with me but to use the water stops as needed.

turns out that last part was a mistake. the race was crowded (more than 5500 finishers!) and getting to and away from the water tables was a real drag. but so it goes.

coming down the west side, i saw a couple teammates out cheering which was a great pick-me-up.

i thought about quitting several times during this race, it was just so muggy and disgusting. the course clocks suggested that i wasn't doing too bad timewise but i wasn't really paying attention. around mile 4, my thoughts finally turned from quitting to finishing, and right about then i saw my teammate rick, who had come to the park with his camera in tow to cheer & take photos.

what great pics he got! thanks rick!!

i finally finished and checked my watch to see 41:18 (unofficial). not a PR but not awful, so i was ok with that. we got rainbow popsicles, plums and pretzels at the finish, in addition to water. we all gathered back at baggage claim to compare notes and take silly photos.

then we all headed home. after a shower and a nap, i checked the results online to see my official time of 41:15. not only that, but i realized i was actually the 5th female finisher for my team, so my time counted toward our score! shocking! obviously too many of the fast ladies didn't race this one, so it kind of sucks for the team that they had to use my less-than-stellar time, but nevertheless i was happy that i got to contribute.

celebrated that with some recovery food. yum!

splits show that i struggled mightily during mile 4. had i been able to pick it up a bit, i was on pace for a much better time. at least i brought it back together during the last mile.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	41:18.4	5.05	8:11
1	8:04.0	1.00	8:04
2	8:03.6	1.00	8:04
3	8:01.7	1.00	8:02
4	8:42.5	1.00	8:43
5	8:02.2	1.00	8:02
6	:24.5	0.05	7:50

race report: ny giants run of champions

this race has been on my calendar since i did it last year. i ran a PR despite running stupidly -- went out too fast and died pathetically well before the finish line. it was hot with no shade and little breeze, and i needed to pee most of the race. given all those factors, i felt sure i could better my time if i ran smarter.

as it turns out, a new PR was not in the cards. it was blazing hot again this year, with high humidity. no shade had appeared on the course since last year, and the breeze was minimal.

we lined up and i started well with a good pace for the first mile but already started flagging in the second and slowed further in the third. i walked through a water stop somewhere between miles 2 and 3, once i figured a PR was out of reach anyway. i finished in 24:50, about 34 seconds slower than last year. i still beat amani toomer, but only by 1 second this time! :)

i had more fun running down the field this year since i wasn't feeling as demolished. so that was nice!!

i will call this a mild success -- i did run smarter and felt much better after the race, but i didn't come close to a PR and in fact my pace was barely faster than at a 10k a couple of weeks ago. on the other hand, this was my 4th race this month, plus hill training and tempo runs, so i think that has all taken its toll. will make me stronger in the long haul but not so much faster in the short term.

i also did solstice yoga on the friday before the race, which consisted of 108 sun salutations, leaving my shoulders and arms a bit sore. though i don't honestly think that negatively affected my running at all.

anyway, i plan to run it again next year. i figure one year we are going to get perfect weather for this race, and since the course is flat, it's a PR waiting to happen. i don't currently have any other road 5ks on my calendar this year, so a new PR will have to wait a while.

race report: VCTC XC 5k summer series #3

last night was the third race in the cross country 5k series and the first time i seriously considered not running a race i had registered for. after hills on tuesday, i was still stiff & tired and with another 5k coming up this weekend -- where i hope to PR -- i just wasn't sure my legs could take it. but since it wasn't raining (for the first time this series!!) i figured maybe if i took it easy it would help to loosen things up.

so off i went. weather was great and the ground was actually dry for once. wahoo! i was definitely slow but i felt ok about that and i had fun regardless. definitely need to take it easy the rest of the week til sunday's race though.

plus i got a carrot cake muffin from bill for being a troublemaker! bonus!

official time, 27:09. 

june 20 - 27:09 (8:45 pace)

june 6 - 26:43 (8:37 pace)

may 23 - 27:23 (8:50 pace)

race report: mini 10k

i was really looking forward to this race. i really wanted a new PR at this distance since mine is 3 years old. i've been running well and feeling good. i was excited about racing with my teammates too! the day before the mini we had torrential rains and it was looking like we might need snorkels for the race! but race morning dawned rainless though cloudy, so we'd only have to contend with wet ground. hooray!

i arrived early this time (unlike last year's debacle where i was so late and the bathroom lines so long that i missed the start completely and had to race from the back, which did not make for a good experience) and met the group near bag claim. laura had made purple VCTC hair ribbons for us and we were all excited. several of our male teammates had come to cheer for us and laura had outfitted them with purple wigs, boas, tutus, mustaches and pompoms. it was awesome. we took a few pics and then everyone headed for the bathrooms or corrals.

i saw a few teammates in my corral and waved and smiled, we all wished each other good races. soon enough, we were off. the crowding was not too bad and i didn't have to do a lot of weaving which was great. i knew i had to keep about an 8 minute pace to reach my goal time, and the first couple of miles ticked off very well. somewhere after mile 2, my shoelace came untied. UGH. i pulled over and retied it very tightly, feeling rather pissed about the delay/time loss and determined not to let that take away my PR. when we got the 5k split, the course clock read 24:33 -- not too far off my 5k PR and i knew this put me in good shape. but we were just starting to climb the worst of the central park hills so i knew it was not in the bag. right about now, the sun came out and things got steamy. i was starting to feel gassed and wasn't sure a PR was in the cards for me after all. i hadn't taken any water on the course so far and had been feeling fine, but was now getting thirsty but didn't want to risk the time loss.

i skipped the mile 4 water stop and told myself i could hit up the next/last one at mile 5 instead. but as i rounded the turn into mile 5 and saw the water tables, i also saw our cheering squad, right at the bottom of a decent hill which was looking fairly insurmountable at this point in the race. i thought, damn if i'm going to stop for water right in front of my team, so i just kept going. the guys were fantastic cheerleaders and really gave me the push i needed to get up that hill.

when my garmin chirped the 5 mile mark and i looked down to see i had run it in 7:55, i knew my PR was still possible with the worst of the hills behind me. so i locked in and just kept going. i knew if i could hold my pace i would PR and maybe even break the 50-minute mark, a secret goal i had set for myself not necessarily to accomplish this race or even this year, but as a medium-term thing.

with a few smallish rolling hills left on the course, and of course the uphill finish, i didn't push myself to speed up yet but just to maintain. soon enough, the 800 meter sign was there, and i told myself it's just two laps of the track, you can do it. at 400 meters, it was one lap of track left and i pushed myself with whatever i had left. once the finish clock came into sight, it was not quite at 50 minutes, and knowing i had a few (maybe 10-20) seconds of wiggle room since i hadn't crossed the start right at zero, i was super optimistic that i would slide in under 50. made it across the line with an unofficial time (by my watch) of 49:53. so excited! and so thirsty!

met up with teammates after the race and compared notes. we all thought the sun coming out was a huge bummer, but several of us had PR'd anyway and we were all quite upbeat and excited. we took plenty of silly pictures and waited for the raffle, in which 2 of my teammates won prizes. then we all eventually split off for brunch or home.

final official time was 49:53, for a new PR, a new AG% best and a sub-50 finish. all in all, a great race! and i had so much fun to boot!

splits:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	49:53.2	6.30	7:55
1	7:48.8	1.00	7:49
2	7:40.2	1.00	7:40
3	7:49.3	1.00	7:49
4	8:19.0	1.00	8:19
5	7:55.1	1.00	7:55
6	8:09.2	1.00	8:09
7	2:11.6	0.30	7:22

race report: VCTC XC 5k summer series #2

for the second race of this series, we naturally had cloudy rainy weather! apparently it is fated. in addition to the rain, i was insanely late, because i had to go to NYRR after work to pick up my bib for the mini this weekend. so between running so late, parking scarcity and the rain, i wasn't sure i would even get there in time to race but i figured if not i could just run a tempo workout, help out, or do a few laps of the flats.

somehow i arrived barely in time to grab my bib and pin it on right before the starting horn.

i was glad i made it because the race was fun despite the weather. my goal is to improve at least a little in each throughout the series. this one didn't start off well between being off-kilter from my tardiness and the rain. then of course my shoelace came untied, costing me more time. oh well, i figured, at least i got to run.

by the time we got the last stretch on the flats, i was really feeling it, between the humidity and the hills. with the hills workouts on tuesdays as well, there isn't much recovery time. but eventually i'll get stronger! i forgot my watch so i had no idea what my time was like til i reached the finish and saw the 26. so i knew i had done better than the last time. everyone else seemed to be suffering a lot with the weather as well. it had gotten windy and i was wet so getting very cold while waiting for final results and awards. must remember to bring a jacket next time.

official time, 26:43 for a 40 second improvement. not bad! hoping to knock another 20 seconds off the next time around. we'll see.

june 6 - 26:43 (8:37 pace)
may 23 - 27:23 (8:50 pace)

race report: VCTC XC 5k summer series #1

that's a mouthful!! my running club hosts a series of cross country 5k races each summer in van cortlandt park. they are every other thursday beginning late may through mid august, plus we have a 2-person 2-mile relay in the middle for fun. i signed up for the whole series, partly because the races are replacing our regular thursday tempo runs (which i really enjoy) and partly because i've never done a cross country race before so i figured it would be fun. plus a ton of my teammates will be around so that is always fun too.

the first one this year took place may 23 in the midst of torrential rains -- a great introduction to xc racing! ha.

it was actually a lot of fun once you got over being wet, especially after the first plunge through ankle deep rainwater. once you're soaked you can't really get any wetter, and once your shoes are waterlogged, there's nothing left to worry about. the first mile of the course is pretty flat, then you head up into the hills. the trail is well maintained but it is muddy and rutted. many of the steep hills have the wood crossbars (like railroad ties) across the trail, to help with erosion and footing. it is very pretty as you're surrounded by woods, feels very far from the city, which is nice. i'm looking forward to running this many more times this summer. maybe after i learn the course better, i'll be able to look around a bit more and enjoy the scenery. especially if it isn't pouring. :)

i finished in 27:23, not too bad for my first xc race, especially given the conditions.

race report: brooklyn half marathon

this was another race i signed up for on a lark, mainly because a ton of my teammates were doing it so it sounded like fun.

in the end, more than 70 people from my team ran it! awesome! we arranged a bus to take us to brooklyn, so i got up at 4am and got sean to drop me off at van cortlandt park by 5am. race start was 7am and we should've had plenty of time but as we got closer, the traffic got worse and people started getting antsy. so the bus pulled over and we walked the last half mile or so.

me and beni pre-race

i met up with julia near bag check. we had decided to run the race together. i wasn't looking to PR, just to finish in 2 hours or less. julia really wanted to finish sub-2 as well so we decided to run together. we had planned to run the first half or so at a 9 min/mile pace then once we got out of prospect park and the hills were behind us, we'd pick up the pace if we felt we could. if not, we'd stick with 9's, which would give us a 1:58 finish.

so we checked our stuff and headed to our corral. we met up with penny there who decided to run with us as well. once the corrals closed and they took down the dividing tape, we were able to use the port-o-potties before the starting horn. it was another 12 minutes before we even got to the start line! sheesh. huge race. we started out well with the first mile faster than planned, but it was an easy mile (downhill) so we took it. by mile 3 we were entering the park, and it got tough. the east side of the park is basically one looooooong hill and we were definitely feeling it by the time we crested it. after we rounded the north end and headed back down the west side, we regained a little time and got back to our planned pace.

somewhere in the park

around mile 7 we left the park and headed to ocean parkway. from there, it's basically a straight shot to coney island. i thought this would be the easiest part of the race, but i really struggled the first couple of miles on ocean pkwy. i ate a gel around mile 8 and promptly got a cramp in my right side. i think i should've eaten one sooner (hindsight). thankfully it was entirely overcast, so my sunglasses remained perched helpfully atop my head. ha. it was quite humid though. just after mile 8, i noticed our pace was dragging and i was worried we were jeopardizing our sub-2 finish. i asked julia if she wanted to pick it up but she said she was really struggling and i should go on without her. i waited a couple of minutes, then checked in with her, but she wasn't feeling great. i tried to convince her to stick with me til mile 10 thinking she would feel much better but she declined, so i reluctantly went on ahead. i picked the pace back up to around 8:45-9 for the next few miles, reminding myself to breathe, focus on form, and just run one mile at a time.

sure enough, mile 12 eventually arrived. we banked right onto surf avenue and you could just catch a faint whiff of ocean. the course narrowed drastically as we turned left, through a parking lot, and up onto the boardwalk for the last quarter mile or so (i think).

i knew sub-2 was in the bag, so i was happy about that. crossed the finish and began the slow zombie parade off the boardwalk. collected water, gatorade and pretzels, and then my medal (yay). continued down the boardwalk and then realized we had to climb down a flight of stairs to get to the bag check. LOUD COLLECTIVE GROAN.

lookit me, i gotta medal!

after the race, i met up with a bunch of teammates and compared notes. we ended up at peggy o'neill's pub, where an 80s cover band entertained us as we drank beer and sat around. it was still overcast and the cool breeze off the ocean combined with some sprinkles. but mostly everyone remained cheerful. the bus came back to retrieve us and we began the far-too-long trek back to the bronx.

all in all, i had a good time. i was really looking forward to hanging out, eating hotdogs and drinking beer, but the post-race period was calmer than i had anticipated. i was a bit disappointed that i couldn't pace julia to a sub-2 finish. and i wasn't feeling 100% great myself after the race. but once the nausea/exhaustion faded, i felt much better.

added another HM to my accomplishments, and another medal to my collection. :)

official time of 1:57:53, neither my best nor my worst! i'll take it.

race report: st. a's run to squash hunger

i signed up for this 5k because it promised to be flat and fast (http://sta5k.com/), and i wanted a new 5k PR! as it turns out, the PR wasn't quite meant to happen, but it was a lovely, mostly flat race and i did enjoy it.

i finished 21st overall (of only 72 finishers), 4th female, and 1st in my group, and i tied my PR of 24:16. so it was a good day!

conditions were great, and the course was right alongside the river, offering a nice breeze and pretty views. i wanted to hit a pace of ~7:45 which should have been enough for a PR with a time of 23:xx. i wasn't concerned about winning my group or anything, i was really racing this for myself and my ego. ha. first mistake. garmin said my first mile was 7:40, not bad. mile 2 caught up with me, as it tends to do, with 8 flat. then mile 3 i did at 7:50, evening out to exactly match my PR. ha again.

part of the course was an out-and-back, so i could see who was ahead of me and i started counting females. i realized i was #5 and decided to try and pass female #4, who was within a few dozen yards. we had been close all race. i did pass her about halfway through mile 3, and i knew i had no shot at catching female #3.

i was alone for much of the race, which is unusual for me, and i think that actually hurt me a bit since my motivation and pace flagged somewhat. i think i do better with a few folks around to keep me honest. :)

for winning my age group, i received a pretty potted plant!

race report: st. patrick's day 2-miler

i signed up for this one in keeping with my goal this year to "run for fun" -- spend less time fretting about training schedules, "big" races, etc, and more time doing whatever races or activities seem like fun. the last race i did that was organized by this club was a good time, so i figured this one would be fun as well. they had a 10k and a 2-miler on the same day. since i was still feeling a bit stiff from the celebrate life HM a week ago, and because i had never raced a 2-mile distance before, i was leaning toward that one. i looked up the results from the past few years, and realized i had a good shot at placing in my AG (based on my 5k and 4-mile times), so i signed up with that goal in mind.

it was a chilly morning (again, surprise) but i saw plenty of teammates at the park before the race, which was fun. the race shirts were super cool too! i did maybe half a mile warm up then headed to the start. the course was part of what we had done for the 5-miler last month, so i knew it was hilly and there was an especially gnarly hill on the backside of the loop, about 1.5 miles in. then off we went! sure enough, the hills were there, and it was cold and windy as well.

i finished in 14:14 on my garmin (14:13.5 official) for a pace of 7:07! w00t! my garmin measured the course at 1.96 miles, however. i felt good about my time, chatted with teammates, then realized i had lost my car keys at some point. must've fallen out of my pocket. crap! i went to find the race director and as i walked past the car, the horn and locks started going. someone had picked up my keys along the course and brought them to the finish. very kind! thank you again, sir!

did a second, 2-mile loop to warm down, then headed to look for snacks. chatted with the gang for a bit, snagged some hot chocolate (yay) and half a green bagel, and hung out by the fire until they posted the results!

i won my AG! woohoo! first time ever. i was 6th female, 25th finisher overall. three other teammates also won their AGs and we all got beer mugs as prizes. a few other folks placed in their AGs and won medals.

happy st patrick's day!

race report: celebrate life half marathon

i signed up for this race about 5 weeks before it happened after i saw it posted on facebook. i liked the spirit of the race and i was itching for some sort of goal, even though i had just decided that i liked not having a strict training schedule. lol. because of other plans i had already made, this left me about 4 weeks to train for a hilly, challenging half with a base of maybe 12 miles a week and a long run of only 9.3 miles since the marathon about 3 months prior. good luck!

i did some google searching and found to my non-surprise that i wasn't the only fool hardy enough to attempt this unrecommended feat. i cobbled together what would pass for my "training plan"which basically started 4 weeks out with a long run of 7. i would add 2 miles to this each week, culminating in 13.1 at the race. add team workouts each week (~3.5-4 miles) and another run of 3-5 miles, and that was that. i planned to treat the race more like a long training run (even though i wasn't really training for anything) but still hoped i'd come in under 2 hours. a bit ambitious for me, given my lack of training, lack of fitness and the course conditions. but my pride would've been stung by a time starting with 2.

my parents & sister came up to spectate & cheer! i made dinner the night before the race and we chatted a bit then headed to bed.

the day before the race, i went out for a 2 mile shake-out run. it was super warm so i decided on a singlet and knee length tights for the race. race day was a bit chillier than i expected and everyone else was in long sleeves, many with multiple layers. uhoh. i considered keeping my (cotton, non-tech) sweatshirt with me, but ultimately decided against it. i was chilly in the first mile or so but warmed up after that and was glad i hadn't kept the sweatshirt. a long sleeve tech under the singlet would have been a good idea though.

about 20 of my teammates were also doing this race, which was cool.

a few miles in, i spotted jill & bette ahead of me and decided i would try to keep jill in sight. she is faster than me, so i hoped this would keep me moving. it worked for a few miles until i lost her over a big hill. jill ended up getting a new course PR!

i saw my crew about mile 2 which was a surprise. there were not many spectators but a few had gathered in some spots. the course winds around two lakes, and i was surprised to see that they were frozen over and buried under a blanket of snow. oh yeah, it's still winter. ha. the hills were as plentiful and rugged as advertised. very little of the route is flat; there are several steep, long uphills and lots of rolling terrain. i just tried to maintain a constant pace.

about mile 6, i saw beni handing out gels. it's so nice to see a friendly face mid-race!

i pressed on. i knew i was dragging a bit, the lack of training & fitness coming into play. i aimed to keep it at about a 9 min pace until mile 11 or so. around mile 11 there were photographers and my crew had made it there too! unfortunately this was a hilly bit so it was a struggle!

but after that i picked up my pace a bit. then mile 12 appeared and i pushed a bit more. finally approaching the finish there was a nice downhill and to my surprise my legs did not protest when i pushed a little harder. i saw a couple of my teammates who had finished and doubled back for a cooldown. they yelled at me to lean forward, go faster, and pass the woman in front of me. lol. so i did. i came in at 1:55:24 and was happy with that. many of my teammates won awards and/or set PRs so that was great.

so my finish time was between my times for my two previous HMs (1:52:56 and 1:58:16). glad i got my sub-2!! :)

here's my garmin data. ignore the total time, i neglected to shut it off immediately.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:55:45.8	13.20	8:46
1	9:05.5	1.00	9:06
2	8:41.3	1.00	8:41
3	8:27.0	1.00	8:27
4	8:44.2	1.00	8:44
5	8:25.5	1.00	8:26
6	8:39.3	1.00	8:39
7	8:58.9	1.00	8:59
8	8:58.6	1.00	8:59
9	9:04.5	1.00	9:05
10	8:59.9	1.00	9:00
11	8:49.4	1.00	8:50
12	8:40.1	1.00	8:40
13	8:42.2	1.00	8:42
14	1:29.5	0.20	7:19