Nope, not a race between two cities, though you wouldn’t know it from all the gels and creams and stuff people strap on just to run 6.2 miles. People, they actually serve water here, and it’s free, you don’t need to carry a gallon jug on your hip…
Saturday morning’s race was the usual Central Park 6-mile loop plus (formerly known as the ‘Dash and Splash’), making it another 10K for the masses. And masses it was, but the real gimmick was a free pass to the gigantor Lasker Pool in the park after the race, where I dreamt about triathletes swimming 7,246 laps just to get in one training session.
The weather was fairly dry, but sunny and hot, so I didn’t plan on getting all competitive and dramatic about finishing under my PR (though it’s always on my mind). The crowd was big enough, nearly 5000, and after the gun went off I found myself yet again trying to get by the runners in Team AARP who decided to position themselves right up front to do their 12-minute per mile pace. Oh, I love Team AARP, they make my statistics look that much better, and I’ll be joining them someday, but I just wish they’d didn’t treat every race like an aggressive take-out line at Zabar’s, like they have to cut in just to get served. And the old Uncle Leo line ‘I’m old, I didn’t know what I was doing’ doesn’t hack it. If you can fill out a race application, you know what you’re doing.
Anyway, after going around the Ben-Gay crowd, it was Cat Hill, where everyone who’s running fast enough gets an ass-whooping. Got passed, passed other runners myself. After that’s over, the second mile arrives, and that’s when you hear that little voice inside telling you to pace, and to start now, not in ten minutes, but now. So I listened, even though the first mile was a slow one (for me, 6:58), and I cruised for a little bit. Had to stop at two water stations, which is rare for me to do in short races, but you listen to your body, too, not just inner voices. Something kicked in during the last mile, and I found myself picking it up and wondering why I felt so good. Sometimes I think just knowing that I’m closing in on the finish line makes me run faster, and not in the ‘sprint you idiot, you can see the finish line’ way. Two other runners did just that at the finish line, passing me and practically falling over once they got there. Well, good luck with all that, because I happened to finish right at my last 10K time a few weeks ago, and that was fairly decent (the race time posted on-line later had me at 42:18, which is exactly, to the second, what I did last time). See? Just show up with low expectations and sometimes it all works out. Of course, I started to wonder how much better my time would’ve been if I hadn’t loitered at two water stations, but I’m not going to think about it, can’t do anything about that now…
Afterwards, I made it to the chilly pool and lounged and enjoyed myself way too much. Finishing a little earlier than most of the others, especially the AARP, meant the pool was wide open and looking great. Having lost 5-10 pounds since ramping up the weekly mileage, I got over my fear of scaring small children and animals and strapped on the speedo for pool domination. My inner voice started quoting lyrics from Salt n’ Pepa’s ‘Push It’, and so ended by race/luv experience with a little R&R on an oasis in the middle of this city of 8.5 million.
5 comments:
You see the AARP crowd and I see a bunch of chubby office girls strapping on their fuel belts lining up in the 9mm corral so they can Gallowalk the whole race while they talk about their boyfriends, their moms, and office politics.
I heart them. If they aren't behind me, I run a lot slower.
I miss Dash & Splash. This running sister city thing is just kind of weird. Is Naples really the NYC of Italy?
Excellent RR, and well done on your time!
My first experience with the AARP Brigade was at the LA marathon. Stymied, my friend and I wove our way around them for the first 3 miles, adding on around 2 miles extra from the excess back and forth motion.
One guy had a book and a danish. I'm not kidding.
At least at ultras, everyone is 60+...and far faster than I.
Yeah, the office girl contingent is usually out in force, and so is the office guy contingent, they nervously eye each other at the start, and ask dumb questions like 'how far is this race?' while praying they can run faster than the guy they normally compete with back at the office.
I have no idea how Naples got hooked up as a sister city to NYC, in fact, it always seems like the city 'over there' has nothing in common with us, except for traffic. Go figure.
Rusty, funny you should mention the guy with the book and danish, there was a young lady next to me at the lineup who was holding a cup of coffee (in that blue and white Greek paper cup that every takeout gives you). She was dead center in the pack, I have no idea how she either ran with a cup of coffee, or got rid of it, but that was her problem, not mine.
Yeah, how come ultra runners are so much older? Oh well, at least I'm glad to see somebody else is out there (kicking my ass, too).
I think the name of the game in 50k+ races is patience, which, when you're a young ruffian, I imagine you have less of.
Now, the part where a 55 year old is extra-patient and still beats me by an hour? I don't have that quite figured out yet.
You were in a pool without the AARP crowd (even if only for a few minutes)?! That's possible?! I thought they were just a permanent fixture of chlorinated pools like fun noodles and lawn chairs!
Sounds like an excellent race and a pleasant surprise. Don't beat yourself up too much about dilly-dallying at the water stations. Who knows, maybe that's what gave you that extra kick at the end and it actually saved you more than it cost you...
Post a Comment