NYRR Team Championships - 8/8/09

It felt good to be out racing again. Today was the NYRR Team Championships and this was my first race since the Riverdale Ramble 10K on June 7th due to the fact that my low iodine diet and scans put a big dent into my running during the month of June. After getting back on track over the last month or so, I was excited to go out and run hard.

I was extremely excited to see that after a hard race (hills, hot temps, and quick early pace), I was able to get a 5 mile PR by almost two minutes - overall time of 34:48 and a pace of 6:57. This was the second race in which I averaged a sub 7 minute pace and the second distance in which I did so (the first being the Run As One 4 miler in April 2009).

The weather was pretty good - relatively low humidity and not too hot at the start. It was better than I expected. The temperature was just below 70 degrees when I left my apartment about 45 minutes before the race began. I definitely was glad to have the men's race start at 9AM start instead of 10AM for the women. That extra hour made a considerable difference with regards to the weather. The ladies had to run in slightly higher temperatures and under more direct sunlight.

The Team Championships is always a hard race due to the caliber of the runners. Since only the running clubs compete, everyone is relatively fast and most people feel the need to go out fast right out of the gate. This always worries me since I usually like to build my speed up over the first mile before gradually reaching my top speed. Unfortunately, I got sucked in by the other runners and began to speed up right after I crossed the starting line. I didn't know what time to expect early on, but once I passed the first mile marker, I saw a time of 7:05 and got a little scared. At this point it is very hard to slow down when everyone around you is going fast, so I knew that I would have to try and keep up this already quick pace for the next four miles. There is no turning back at this point. Slowing down just makes things worse and doesn't really help you at all.

After the first mile, I knew I was in for a tough race the rest of the way. The temperature starting creeping up and I felt myself starting to heat up quickly. In addition, I knew that there were several more hills to go on the east side of the Central Park and I needed to conserve my energy a bit for those. Normally I don't stop at water stations for a 5 mile race, but I found myself grabbing water after mile 1 and 2. My mouth was getting very dry and I made sure to drink as much as I could. By mile 3, fatigue was starting to settle in a bit and I tried to focus on the other runners, and possibly latch onto another Flyer to keep me going. After passing mile 4, I knew that the Flyer section was coming up soon and the cheers and encouragement would give me a much needed boost to carry me to the finish line. Unfortunately, they might have given me too much of a boost because I sped up considerably as I passed by their section and I ran out of gas with about 100-15o meters to go. I was pretty much spent and felt like I might throw up (or maybe kind of a dry heave) if I didn't finish the race soon. The finish line was a welcome sight and could not come soon enough. I was very happy when the race was over. This was a really tough run and I was proud of myself for gutting it out.

Thanks to all of the Flyers cheering along the course. It helps a great deal. It is great to be part of a running team that stands out in support and cheers for all of their teammates.

Mile Splits:

Mile 1 - 7:05
Mile 2 - 6:58
Mile 3 - 6:59
Mile 4 - 7:08
Mile 5 - 6:36
Overall time: 34:48
Overall pace: 6:57