Notes
A 5:43 PR from last year's RnR! The 2015 race was the best I could do alone, and the 2016 race is great in its own way.
This time I ran with Henry who tried to set pace for me. 5 minutes before the race started, I told him that instead of going for 1:35, I'll shoot higher for sub 1:34 to earn an NYCQ. Due to lack of training with supporting data I was really uncertain yet I knew I'd totally regret it if I didn't even attempt it. Henry kindly offered to help me go for it, and we decided to break away from the 1:35 group soon after the start, knowing that Qian is a very precise pacer, and I wouldn't have any margin to afford a conservative start.
I was so pumped and thrilled by this idea that my HR was almost uncomfortably higher than normal. Just couldn't wait to start. Once crowd started moving I charged forward. First mile I was already breathing heavily, and oops, 7:01. Goal pace for 134 is 7:09. Second mile was still a bit faster and then the 3rd. When Henry told me that, I was like, sh*t! I always know the severity of going above your ability. And I also already felt difficult already when we finished only 20% of it. We slowed down a bit intentionally but the whole speeding/slowing were a bit bumpy. Oh well, caught up some breath, at least. 6-10 started to have some rolling and I started felt the fear of crashing at some point; everybody around me heard my heavy breathing the whole way already. I was the one in the worst shape among my neighbors obviously.
Mile 8 i told Henry that I may give up, who has already started to serve me water and even took away my hat for me - Kudos Henry! He said, let's do it mile after mile, and slow down a bit. That didn't quite help, i saw a split pace of 7:30 on my watch early into mile 9 and even that was hard to keep up. Also took a gel then and choked which really messed up my breathing. That mile had a dreadful 7:23. Just totally couldn't keep up.
Henry then slowed down and said, ok next we will do 7:20 and you should still have a big PR. I thought about it and realized that wouldn't qualify me for NY. I yelled: no, I want NYCQ! A certain power just came to me out of nowhere, I picked up the pace. Yes still felt the fatigue in the legs and breathing is never anywhere near being quiet, but somehow I felt i could stand it now. Next few miles went by the same mode - yes certainly tired but I found ourselves passing people! What a mental boost. Once entering mile 12 I knew we saved enough and saw no symptom of crashing. The rest miles were just following Henry and trying to push and better our PRs.
Tears bursted out when we crossed the finish line. Thank you, Henry!