Healthy Kidney 10k

I had mixed feelings going into my first 'race' back after my femoral neck stress fracture over the winter.

On one hand, I was SO SO excited just to be back at it- back in the park, back with the masses, confident in my ability to run 6.2 miles.

On the other hand, I was worried, and about more than 1 thing. My main worries/fears:

1. I was worried that I may be very disappointed in whatever pace I finished with. I have not been running with a watch so I have no clue as to what paces I have been holding. And I was very afraid that I would finish at a pace that I was very unhappy with for the amount of effort it took.

2. I was worried I would run way TOO fast. I would let my competitive nature rear it's ugly head and not let people pass me who 'shouldn't' be running faster than me, whatever THAT means. I was worried my ego would prove too much, and I wouldn't want a 9:-- pace in my NYRR results history (so lame, I know...).

So I decided still to not wear a watch for the race (they have clocks at every mile marker) and try to keep myself at 9:30 miles. If it felt too fast, I could slow down, but if it felt too slow, I would NOT let myself push faster.

NYRR has started a 'corral system' for the start of their overcrowded races, based on your best pace in a past race. Needless to say I wasn't about to hit my 7:46 pace from my last 10k, and I was running with a friend anyway, so I was more than happy to head to the middle/back of the pack. It took 6 minutes to cross the start line, but the race is chip timed so it didn't matter. I even jumped out of the crowd to hit the porta potty right before we officially crossed the line.

The 10k course is 1 loop of the park (plus a little to equal 10k), clockwise. This makes the first half of the course mostly uphill, including two pretty good uphills in the north end of the park. In the first mile/mile and a half, I was feeling bad. Not only physically, but emotionally. I was feeling sorry for myself and angry that I was running so much slower than my last 10k in December. I started to doubt that I was fully healed (not because I was in pain, just because), and doubt that I would ever be back to my 'old' running self.

In the midst of my self-pity, we hit Harlem Hill. I had planned to walk this, but I focused on high knees, and keeping my breathing under control, and actually started to pass people. As we crested the hill, I was amazed that my heart rate actually hadn't climbed THAT much and I was starting to feel better. Maybe I wasn't as out of shape as I thought....

Got through the 5k, with the two big hills behind me, in 30:17, a 9:45 pace. I realized that I felt GREAT, was having a BLAST, just running and being chatty with my friend, rather than focusing on 'racing'. It was also a PERFECT spring day, which has been rare in NYC thus far. Through five miles, I was still right around a 9:40/9:50 pace, based on my calculations. Right at mile 5, you run down Cat Hill and the rest of the route is pretty flat (small ups and downs, nothing major).

At this point my friend and I, holding the same pace, are passing people and feeling great. She looks strong and I know is holding back to stick with my pace, so I keep telling her to 'GO!' and finish strong. Being the great friend that she is, she of course says no, she wants to finish with me, etc. At the same time, I start pushing the pace somewhat. It really wasn't a conscience decision, but once I start to up the tempo, and it felt good, I just went with it. Maybe it was to make my friend run faster, who knows. She was yelling at me to slow down, but I felt too great. In the last 1.2 miles, I don't think a single person passed us, and it felt SO SO good to finish strong. Between miles 5 and the finish, we dropped our pace from 9:50ish to a final finishing pace of 9:24. This results in running the last 1.2 miles in probably less than 8 minute miles. Whoopsssie.

So we crossed the line, had our chips clipped off, grabbed our bags and headed to lovely Upper West Side spring time brunch. I was SO SO happy with the run, and had NO pain at all afterwards. And as I have posted, I also have had no pain at all in the days that followed, at least in my legs...

The whole experience makes me excited and confident as I move forward with my limited race plans over the next few months. I have a sprint triathlon planned in about three weeks, with a 3 mile run. I was considering just doing the swim and bike, but I think I can confidently go into the race not only running, but maybe even with thoughts of racing.