My entry to this race was “complimentary,” AKA, compensation for the canceled R-U-N 5K.  I was debating whether to run the Prospect Park 10K again, but seeing as I am running a marathon in a few weeks, the tune-up was probably the more logical choice.

And if I’m already doing it… I figured I may as well shoot for BQ pace, just to see whether it’s even close to feasible.  I mean, by all accounts, I should be able to do that in my sleep, but I can’t because I suck at marathons.  And because over the past few weeks, I have felt so fat and slow that it is not even funny.

Thankfully, my run on Friday felt a bit less plodding than others of late, so that made me feel a little better about things.  I think maybe I might have not recovered fully from my last 18- and 20-milers.  Which were run about a minute per mile slower than I wanted to run here, but never mind that.

A BQ for me right now is 3:35.  If I run 3:34:59, I will not make the cutoff, but I would run Boston for a charity because I know I qualified, and no way in hell am I running a spring marathon if I don’t have to.  So.  That’s an 8:12 pace.

Three loops of Central Park.  I hate Central Park enough when I only have to run one loop!  There would be, technically, fifteen hills: three on the West Side, Cat Hill, and Harlem Hill.  Each in triplicate.  But it would work out so nicely: one lap at 8:20, one lap at 8:10, one lap at 8:00, and I end up with an 8:10 average.  That would do.  Apparently, this equates to a 2:27 finish, so I decided I’d shoot for that.

I got up way, way, way too early after far too little sleep.  Chaya and I took the subway together, and Tifenn hopped on a few stops later.  This is a couple of minutes after we got to Central Park.  See the time on my watch??  Yeah.  Too early.

Insert porta potty trip #1, bag check, and porta potty trip #2, during which I nearly have a heart attack because it’s five minutes to the gun and OMFG get out of there already!  And then I had to dash over to the corrals, which seemed really far from bag check.

I made it with three minutes to spare.  Oren was right at the back of the corral, and it turned out he was planning to run around an 8:00 pace or a bit slower, so I decided to just follow him.  It was really strange to cross a start line in Central Park and not immediately start running hard; I might have been stupid enough to do that if left to my own devices, so it helped that I wasn’t running on my own!

This was the first time I’ve ever run a race with someone.  I really do think it helped me.  Johnny joined us after a couple of miles.  There were pacers everywhere — I can’t figure out what was going on, because we were, while running a relatively steady pace, near pacers for 3:10, 3:20, 3:30, and 3:35 marathon finishes.  I have no idea where any of them started, but still.

According to Oren, we passed a dead rat during the first lap.  I was so devastated to miss out on that, but by the time we came around that way again, I had forgotten all about it.  I am so sure it was just waiting for me!

Because I was running with other people, I wasn’t really looking at my watch; I figured I couldn’t be running too hard if we were able to converse, and they were checking their watches periodically, so that was good enough for me.  One annoying thing that happened to all of us: watches beep for the mile marker, and oh yeah… there it is, waaaaay off in the distance!  I hate when that happens.

Johnny peeled off around the same time I lost Oren somewhere behind me — near mile 10.  The last loop was frustrating.  I knew this would happen, because it always does when there’s a multi-loop race of Central Park: the early corrals will inevitably start lapping the later ones.  I experienced this at the MORE Half.  I did like that I got to see some more teammates out on the course.  I did not like that I suddenly felt like I was running faster (relative to those around me), even if I was actually slowing down.  So now I did have to look at my watch.

And I was a little surprised by what I saw.  I did not expect to be running quite that fast, but far be it from me to complain.  Relatively speaking, I actually felt pretty good; there were little aches and twinges but nothing really hurt hurt.  (Unless I’ve just grown inured to certain things, which is entirely possible.)

But this last lap.  Oh, it wanted to kill me.  I skipped all but one of the water stations, because they were jammed with walkers, and I don’t stop for water.  I really wish they had water stations on both sides of the road — one for walkers, and one for people who grab and go.  But oh well.  Maybe that contributed a little bit to how tough those last two or three miles were.  I kept trying to calculate whether I’d be able to make it under my goal (given how long the course was measuring), and I was pretty sure I would, and that I didn’t have to push so hard, but … this is me.  This is how I am wired.

My watch was measuring about a quarter mile long; the mile markers were kind of staggered, so the clock at the 6-mile mark was right before the turnoff onto the 102nd St. Transverse toward the finish.  I, of course, had already hit 18 miles, but I passed by that clock at 2:24 and change, and I thought that, unbelievably, I might even manage to finish under 2:25.  So I started sprinting my little heart out, and then I realized this was a hopeless endeavor, and then, a few seconds away from the finish line, as I watched the clock flip over to 2:25, I remembered that I didn’t cross the start line for more than thirty seconds after the gun sounded.  Duh!!

This.  I don’t know how this happened.  I do wish my official pace was closer to my Garmin pace, because it would have been incredible to see a sub-8:00 pace, but this is pretty incredible too.

Officially, 18 miles in 2:24:32, 8:02/mi.  375/4707 OA, 74/2321 F, and 20/530 F30-34.

But my Garmin is nicer… 18.27 miles in 2:24:38, 7:55/mi.  Hmph.

I’m looking at this, but it still baffles me.  I don’t know how I did that, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to be able to run another 8.2 miles at that pace.  Though I guess I don’t have to… I do have ten seconds leeway.  Ha!

You know what else happened because I was running with Johnny?  He got us into NYRR’s photo album.  He looks great.  I look like death.  But hey.

My entry to this race was “complimentary,” AKA, compensation for the canceled R-U-N 5K.  I was debating whether to run the Prospect Park 10K again, but seeing as I am running a marathon in a few weeks, the tune-up was probably the more logical choice.

Why are you giving me that look?!

That is great racing you did there, with a fast finish, and all.

If you don't want to actually go to Boston, but would still like to BQ, maybe you can run your marathon with the 3:35 pacer? And who knows about the cutoff... there might not be a cutoff for 2017, so 2018 might be the same.

MTA: And you might surprise yourself with energy left in the tank near the end and actually make the cutoff.

That is great racing you did there, with a fast finish, and all.

 

If you don't want to actually go to Boston, but would still like to BQ, maybe you can run your marathon with the 3:35 pacer? And who knows about the cutoff... there might not be a cutoff for 2017, so 2018 might be the same.

 

MTA: And you might surprise yourself with energy left in the tank near the end and actually make the cutoff.

I do want to go to Boston!  I want to qualify, though, vs. running for a charity without qualifying first.  It's just one of those things.

I've heard it both ways: some people say the tune-up is harder than the marathon, some people say the opposite.  I hope I fall into the corner category.

Re: pacers... I don't really like using them.  But I might have to.

 

I've heard it both ways: some people say the tune-up is harder than the marathon, some people say the opposite.  

 

Nothing is harder than the marathon, IMHO. I have not had any shorter race or training run that was harder than the last ~6 miles of every marathon I've run. Just me.

You ran a great race here. Truly excellent.

I am the wrong guy to be making BQ predictions. And as always, anything can happen in a marathon. But to me, it bodes pretty well. my comments:

- I am too lazy to check your log. But if this race was run with no or minimal taper, it seems that when well-tapered, you would have a good shot at 3:35.

- We have virtually the same HM PR. I ran a 3:33:30. So based on that, you should be able to run 3:35.

Anyway, good luck, and just try to stay healthy FFS.

 

Nothing is harder than the marathon, IMHO. I have not had any shorter race or training run that was harder than the last ~6 miles of every marathon I've run. Just me.

 

Anyway, good luck, and just try to stay healthy FFS.

  

I'm not so sure my HM PR means anything with respect to this, because I am far better at those than marathons... but before I knew I was going to run this 18 miler, my October 2 HM was supposed to be my predictor.  It's also supposed to be my 1:35, but that's going to happen like a hole in my head vi a loch in kop.

 

FYP.

I am also better at HMs than marathons, so I think the correlation is reasonable. Not than you can ever predict these things.

And my HM last weekend was also supposed my 1:35, but did not come anywhere close. We'll see in a few weeks what if anything that means.