I finished with an official time of 1 hour and 4 minutes, which is a massive improvement over my last 10K—though clearly, I am not going to be breaking any world records in this lifetime! Though I was certainly much faster this time (specially since I did not stop for pictures—not even for the male spectators decked out in colorful wigs, makeup and full on boobs on Central Park West), I have to say that I had a really rough time. I didn't stick to my pace because I impatiently wove through the crazy traffic of runners, and I paid for it dearly once we hit Harlem Hill. I ran this quite well on my practice runs but come the actual race, I was debilitated with side stitches and had to stop twice to walk! I was not too pleased with myself for that, but it's a good lesson to learn early on that I have to be vigilant about sticking to my pace. In this race, I also found myself completely embroiled in mind games. I alternated between wanting to just go home (I almost threw in the towel when I neared the path that goes straight to East 97th Street), berating myself for guzzling half a bottle of wine with Mitch on Friday night, and questioning my mental health for putting myself through this torture. The Mini 10K was seriously the farthest thing from a walk in the park! I was literally huffing, puffing and almost hurling by the time I got to the finish line.
But it just goes to show how running can be a funny, funny thing because as torturous as yesterday was, I can't wait to hit the pavement again. The next goal now is to double my mileage and survive the Queens Half Marathon in July. Why I keep getting myself into ridiculously difficult situations, I really don't know.
Before I sign off, I want to give a shout out to my rock star friends Jessica, Jodie, Mitch and Inna who ran the race with me yesterday. Although I ate their dust pretty much the entire time, it was fun running alongside them part of the way and sharing battle stories after the race. I also tip my hat to Tricia who had the gumption to race AND bake cookies afterwards for our World Cup festivities. Your cookies were almost as amazing as the nap I took post-race ;-) You girls are truly phenomenal!
But it just goes to show how running can be a funny, funny thing because as torturous as yesterday was, I can't wait to hit the pavement again. The next goal now is to double my mileage and survive the Queens Half Marathon in July. Why I keep getting myself into ridiculously difficult situations, I really don't know.
Before I sign off, I want to give a shout out to my rock star friends Jessica, Jodie, Mitch and Inna who ran the race with me yesterday. Although I ate their dust pretty much the entire time, it was fun running alongside them part of the way and sharing battle stories after the race. I also tip my hat to Tricia who had the gumption to race AND bake cookies afterwards for our World Cup festivities. Your cookies were almost as amazing as the nap I took post-race ;-) You girls are truly phenomenal!
Congratulations, Cel! You're going to breeze through the Queens Half! xoxo Z
ReplyDeleteHaha slowly inch my way to the finish line is probably more like it Zoe!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I really enjoyed the race...minus some of those hills!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to you too Sarah!!! Oh. My. God. Those hills. I shiver at the memory of them!
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