So, this is really freaking long for a 5K RR... the tl;dr version is that this is the last installment of the "chasing 21:40" series. 

I’ve long yearned for NYRR to add some 5Ks to the schedule.  My wish was granted with this one.  An evening race would have worried me last year — but the Al Goldstein races have proven that it’s not the disaster I always feared.

NYRR has come up with a newfangled corral / pace system of which I am not a fan — they are going to convert best paces to 10K equivalents now.  This meant that I had to run under 21:40 at this race so that I could enjoy having a NYRR pace under 7:00 for half a second.

It was also my last chance at a blue bib (first corral), because instead of a color coded system, they’re going to be using letters.  “An A bib” doesn’t seem quite as appealing, for some reason.

My bib was red (second corral).  I’m not sure what the cutoff pace was, but I do know that it was less than ten seconds away from mine, which made me very sad indeed.

But!  Onward.  The subway cooperated for once — I caught an F train just as I entered the station, and there was a B pulling in across the platform when I got off to transfer at 34th St.  It took me less than ten minutes to get to Central Park.  Of course, I couldn’t really read the book I had with me because… well… nerves.  You know.  I was especially anxious since my pelvis (yeah, that thing I’ve fractured more than half a dozen times) has been scaring me for the past few days — it started bugging me on Tuesday, when it was raining, which makes sense.  But that messes with my head, so who even knows what I really feel now…

After killing some time doing heaven-only-knows-what, I found Dahlia and we eventually ran down to the start (about half a mile from Race Day Central).  I kept going down to 75th St to get in some more distance.

This is the course map — about as friendly as Central Park can be!  It starts after the West Side Hills, which always kill me, so I don’t have to contend with those.  Cat Hill is around the halfway point, which is probably the worst place it could be, but it really isn’t that bad.

It’s pretty much all downhill.

And compared with my last 5K… the weather was amazing.

It was hot, but not too terribly humid!  More than 37%, I think (I was a bit drippy after my warmup), but it wasn’t so bad that it really interfered with my ability to breathe.

Dahlia and I lined up right at the front of the second corral, so we got to see how the first corral was overflowing.  Come on — you couldn’t stuff a few more people in there so I could have my blue bib?!  Hmph.  While we were squashed and waiting, I saw Gary (squashed into the first corral), who told me he’d see me when I passed him after half a mile.  Ha!

It looks like I went out way too fast, but I really don’t think I did; the first mile is just so downhill that it really can’t be helped!  I kept thinking that I was running too fast and I should slow down, but it did not feel like a 6:41 effort.  (Fun fact: it’s faster than my official mile PR.)  And Gary lied — I passed him around .7 mile in.  I was even able to toss him a cheery greeting, which just goes to show that it didn’t take so much effort to run a fast first mile.  Plus, this is the last mile of the 4M races, so I associate it with throwing in everything I have left.

It didn’t last, of course.  Cat Hill is the first mile of the 4M courses, so it’s generally too congested to run it as fast as possible anyway; that probably makes it seem easier.  But it wasn’t too badly crowded here (per NYRR race standards anyway), and can I just say… it hurt.  A whole hell of a lot.

So did the last mile, which is usually my fastest one in a 4M race.  Sometime after mile 1, I had figured that if I ran 7:10 for the next two miles, I’d end up with three miles in 21:00, at which point I would probably be able to run the last .1 in under 40 seconds.  That might be the only reason I didn’t just curl up in a ball and cry.

That final .1 lasted forever.  It took me a second to locate the stop button on my watch after I crossed the finish, and I almost fainted when I saw what it said.  Since I start my watch before the first mat and stop it after the last one, my official time is usually a couple of seconds faster.  And I thought I’d end up running 3.15 miles, so I looked it up beforehand — 3.15 miles in under 21:40 would require a 6:53/mi pace.  This was a bit too close for comfort.

They were handing out ice pops after the race in lieu of the usual fruit.  It made me very sad that they weren’t kosher.  Story of my life.  And it was fine while I was running, but my pelvis felt pretty unhappy after I stopped… which is why I didn’t do a cool down run with Ben after the race.  Double boo.

I was in a rush to get back to my phone in bag check to see my unofficial time!

Ahhhhhhh!!!  I couldn’t get too excited, though — at the Bronx 10 Mile last year, my unofficial time was 1:21:59; my official time was 1:22:00.  I don’t understand how that even happens, but if it happened again, I really was going to cry.

I didn’t have to cry!  My official time was 21:39, 6:58/mi.  444/5099 OA, 61/2843 F, and 18/702 F30-34.  It’s also 68.43 AG%, which is my highest ever, so that’s nice.  And a two-second PR!

But I didn’t even get to enjoy my new sub-7:00 pace for a day, because MyNYRR has already been updated to reflect the 10K pace… 7:16.  Which is faster than my old best pace by a grand total of three seconds.  Because I am a bored soul, I went and figured out what I’d have to do to get back to a sub-7:00 pace… I would need the equivalent of a 43:24 10K.  That’s a 20:54 5K (6:44) or 27:10 4M (6:47).  Yeah… that’s not happening.  Not anytime soon.  Sad face!

McMillan predictions to make me laugh.

1mi — 6:14.2
4mi — 28:08 (7:02/mi)
5mi — 35:54 (7:11/mi)
10K — 44:58 (7:14/mi)
15K — 1:09:40 (7:28/mi)
10mi — 1:15:09 (7:31/mi)
HM — 1:40:14 (7:39/mi)
FM — 3:30:57 (8:03/mi)

Yuk yuk yuk!

I really don't think you are far from sub-21 when you are running this time in 80 degrees.  Congrats on hitting your goal!

Wowza!  Congrats on hitting your goal.  But ... 5099 people in a 5K?  On a Thursday?  Holy moly!

Wowza!  Congrats on hitting your goal.  But ... 5099 people in a 5K?  On a Thursday?  Holy moly!

This^^

 

I don't understand this.

NYRR = the major race organization in NYC.  For "best pace" they used to use your best pace from any race over 3 miles in the past 3 years.  Best pace is used for corral assignment.  They recently redid how they determine best pace.  Now best pace is the best pace of your races adjusted to their 10k equivalent pace over the past year.  This means that corral assignments are more fair for people who specialize in long distance races (such is the theory).  It also reflects the current fitness of its runners a bit better.  So though bluerun ran with a pace better than 7 minutes in her race, when it got put into 10k equivalent it is slower than the 7 minute pace.

So though bluerun ran with a pace better than 7 minutes in her race, when it got put into 10k equivalent it is slower than the 7 minute pace.

Yes, hello? Even I knew that.

Thanks.

...

 

McMillan predictions to make me laugh.

 

1mi — 6:14.2
4mi — 28:08 (7:02/mi)
5mi — 35:54 (7:11/mi)
10K — 44:58 (7:14/mi)
15K — 1:09:40 (7:28/mi)
10mi — 1:15:09 (7:31/mi)
HM — 1:40:14 (7:39/mi)
FM — 3:30:57 (8:03/mi)

 

Yuk yuk yuk!

Haha...I always do that, too.  In March it took me almost 6 hours to finish a marathon, and less than 2 weeks later I ran a 10k for which McMillan gave me a projected marathon time of 4:31.  Hmmm, I don't think I improved by almost 90 minutes in 13 days...

Congrats on the PR and meeting your goal!  That was a close one; I read the report with bated breath!