Race Report: Run for the Parks 4 Miler

Sunday. The best day of the weekend, and thank God this race was on Sunday because Saturday was awful. Between the messed-up trains and the ridiculous wind, Sunday was a blessing. But oh yeah, there was this one part where I had to get up at 5:45 a.m.!! Not to mention I had a class all day Saturday so no sleeping in all weekend.

Anyway, I got a ride up to Central Park on Sunday (score!) and ended up getting there early. I picked up my shirt, bib and chip (no time to pick it up during the week) and then warmed up. I am big into warming up now, by the way. In these shorter races, I do feel that it helps.

This race was not a capped race. So, of course, it was mad crowded. The announcer said there were 8,000 people there. Yikes. At this point, I am getting used to weaving in and out of crowds, although I think it is absurd (and will probably continue to complain about it). I long for one of those Long Island races, where there are no more than a few hundred people in a race. But I digress.

Everything started off all well and fine, until the first mile and a half. That is when my stupid ankle started hurting me. This is the ankle pain I developed in mile 9 of the Staten Island half-marathon and which periodically comes back to haunt me. Usually it bugs me if I try to run over 6 miles. But this time it started after a mile and a half. What the heck? I kept going though, and pushed through it. And eventually this phantom pain disappeared around mile 3.

Oh, and what happened to the water stations? There was only one water station out on the course, when normally there is at least two. Thank God for the hydration belt.

But, back to the race. I was feeling pretty good, and the last mile I usually try to pick it up, but I didn't pick it up too much because it was crowded and I was kind of like "eh, I will wait until I see the finish line and then do my usual sprint." Well, surprise surprise, sprinting was impossible at the finish because of the number of people. I seriously think people actually start jogging when they see the finish line. I mean there was not an ounce of effort to pick it up with some people. I did manage to do a version of sprint with weaving but then someone had the genius idea of setting up a water station right after the finish line. So once people crossed the finish line, they just stopped and tried to get water. Which means the finish line was backed up and you couldn't really run through, unless you wanted to run into a herd of people.

Overall I was pretty happy with the race. The best part was that I knocked off over a minute off my overall time. Another PR! And I was soooo close to getting under a 10 minute mile. Just four seconds and I would've been there. Just think, almost exactly a year ago, I ran my first race, a 4 miler, and ran at a 12 something pace. Now I am almost down to under a 10 minute mile. Woo hoo! That is progress in a year, at least for me.

Goal for the next race: see if I can bring to under a 10 minute mile.

Next race? Looks like it is going to be the Wall Street 5K in May.

2 races down, 7 races and one volunteer event to go for NYC 2010.