Sub-40!

So, the Flyers were shellacked by the Polskis yesterday at the Joe Kleinerman 10K. When I came across the line, I saw 6 PRC guys standing just inside the line excitedly comparing results. Looks like second place it is, which is a bummer since we led most of the season.

Personally though, this was a great race! It was a counter-clockwise loop of the park, which is the harder direction. I'd planned to try 6:20s, but to be prepared to drop to 6:40s through the Harlem Hills and the Cat Hill mile to try to get under my 40:03 (How crappy is 40:03!) PR, which was attained going clockwise. At the start, I saw Flyer presidential candidate CM, our Flyer who gives us updates on West Ham soccer each week, and a couple others. Everyone seemed into the race and focused and soon we were off.

With about 5000 runners, I expected the first mile to be slow, but since I was trailing Mr. West Ham, and he decided to run over the roots and ruts along the side of the road to get around the walkers and 10min/mile folks that'd lined up with the 5 minute people, I decided to go with. After about a quarter mile, it cleared out and I wished Mr. West Ham good luck and off I went. The next Flyer I saw was Coach J, who was in tights, a flyer singlet, and a bright, sunshine-yellow, long-sleeve top. I asked if the top was to make him visible for team support, but am not really sure on the answer. Just before the first mile, I caught Ed and I knew it was time to slow down. Ed always finishes in the 38s. So, I knew I was probably pretty close to my 6:20 target if I was running with him. My plan became keep contact with Ed as long as I could. The first mile, including the big downhill and the climb out of the North Hills, went down in 6:14.

I lost Ed near the end of the second mile. Just a boom of speed and gone. I wasn't prepared to make that type of surge because, while not in the red, I figured I was probably in the orange. Crud! So much for that plan formulated three minutes earlier. Fortunately (or unfortunately) a PRC guy passed me just before the half. He was clearly going a little faster than I was comfortable with, so he became the new pace target. Miles 2 and 3 (missed the Mile 2 split) went down in 12:39. (Oh! And there were definitely some red and white pom-poms spotted in this around Mile 2 as well! Thanks for the support Reservoir Dogs!). Anyway, through the half, I was right on target pace. And given that I'd allowed 20s for the hills, I was actually way ahead.

After the half, I tried to keep contact with PRC guy, but he was clearly drifting farther ahead. Only two more strategy points were left. The first was Cat Hill and the second the flat stretch just before the Engineer's Gate (right after mile 5) which leads to a down hill to the finish. I was suspecting a big PR, so for the first target, I decided I'd drop the effort on the short downhill leading to Cat Hill to recover. This downhill isn't really long enough to gain a lot of time, but I was hopping the recovery would make the climb up Cat Hill, where a lot of time is usually lost, go by a little quicker. I don't really know if it worked, but the Mile 4 and 5 splits were 6:18 and 6:14. Unfortunately, while I gained on PRC guy on the Cat Hill climb, I quickly lost my gains once we hit the top.

Just before Mile 5, I saw Outgoing Flyer Prez taking photos. Since I didn't have on my singlet (it was cold man!) instead of a photo I only got a confused look when I yelled to ask why I wasn't getting a frickin' photo. Then I was through to the flat near the reservoir and it was time to kick! I'd decided back at the half that the strategy would be to run the last full mile as though it were the end of the race, and then after the Mile 6 marker, hang on as best I could for that extra quarter. I knew if I caught PRC guy, I probably wouldn't be able to outkick him with this strategy, but I also knew with any other plan I wouldn't have a chance to catch him. So this was the plan.

About 1/2 mile to the end, I caught . . . Ed. The guy I'd planned to pace from near the beginning. Since I was already running at a near sprint, I flew past. I hit the 6 Mile point, but really have no idea on the time. I was running all out before this point and was breathing like an asthmatic during a smog alert. I was just trying to keep my arms moving and thought if I checked the time I'd fall over. As I rounded the turn into the final quarter, I tried to pick it up, but had been running too hard for too long to generate any more speed. But with a lunge and grunt, I got across the line just as the clock turned to 39:00 even, for a net time of 38:46. My final 1.21 miles went past in 7:21, for a 6:05 average pace. (I never caught PRC guy. He finished 9s ahead.)

Summary: 1-6:14, 2&3-12:39, 4-6:18, 5-6:13, end-7:21.

Afterwards, I met up with the Flyer guys and we confirmed that the Polskis had gotten us. Turns out, I was the second Flyer, which means nothing more than that several folks weren't racing. Also spotted Flygirl, who I guess had a tough reentry to racing. I caught Ed afterwards at the NYRRC's hot chocolate and bagel setup. He said that he was confused when I passed him because he knew I lived in Brooklyn. He'd just been passed by the PRC guy I was trying to catch and then thought (for some reason) I was with the Brooklyn Running Club, another competitor of the Flyers. We had a good laugh.

A couple new goals from this race. First, a little math says that my 5K splits were 19:23 (if they were even). That means that at least one half of this race was also a 5K pr! I really need to find a 5K, which are apparently an anomaly for NYC racing. When I started running again 3 years ago, I wanted to reattain my high school 5K p.r. (18:35) and I suspect I'm getting close to that target. Second, 38:46 is aged-graded at a percentage of 69.2%. It's my understanding that 70% gets priority starts in NYRRC races. That's the next 10K goal, which I'm sure I'll get to focus on at some point. And last, a certain magical calculator converts yesterday's time to a 3:01 marathon. So, the goal here, is to ignore that 6:57 pace projection and run Houston at 7:10s. I've already tried running 6:50s in a marathon, with "fantastic" results. I can try for sub-3 after getting the BQ.

Week in Review

Monday	5.65 miles	45:00	7:56/mile
Tuesday	Rest	--	--
Wednesday	13.1 miles	1:44:21	7:58/mile
Thursday	10.33 miles	81:58	7:56/mile
Friday	5.0 miles	37:58	7:36/mile
Saturday	Rest	--	--
Sunday	6.21 miles	38:46	6:15/mile
Total	40.3 Miles	--	--