Dash 10K Race Report

All in all, it was a nice morning to run and set up to be a fast race. The weather was about 60 and a bit on humid side. But the course started on 102 street, run north and down and then up the Harlem Hill in the first mile or so. I liked having the hill first - you are up and down before have a chance to dread it and with pre race adrenaline still going. Also, the last 3/4 mile would be a pretty substantial downhill, which is always good. Biggest obstacle then in this course is Cat Hill (maybe 100 feet of gain) in mile 4 to 5.
Maybe NYRR is reading my blog because my race number was...1240. Much better than the 3000's I had last race. That means that I would not be dodging everyone right off the bat, and the group would help set a fast pace for me.

My goal was again a 60 age graded time. That means a 47:30 or so. I just barely missed last 10K in May. But I was going to run smarter today and pace better. I also set my virtual racing partner on Garmin at 7:30 to help pace myself. (Garmin 405 has a screen that will show you if you are ahead or behind of your pace by comparing you to a Virtual Pace partner.) I thought I would probably come out fast (7:20 or so) in first mile, lose some time in miles 4-5 (both uphill) and then make it up coming home on the downhill to the finish.

At start, it was a great national anthem. Also, the start is on a downhill, and if you turn around and look back, you can see the thousands of runners waiting to go. It is an awesome sight.

The first mile went as expected, and I had to keep telling myself to slow down. Mile 1 came in at 7:23. A good start.

Mile 2 is uphill, and I was keeping an eye on heart rate. All good, all systems go at this point. Mile 2 - 7:35.

Mile 3 is flat mostly and downhill. Again keeping an eye on my heartrate, and it is creeping up, but still around 90 percent of max. So, I was concerned but happy. Mile 3 - 7:25. My 5K split was really good - 22:00 or so.

Mile 4 was around the bottom of the park, and honestly became the hardest one for me. I don't know why. In my last 10K one month ago, I crashed in Mile 4. That was after a fast charge up a big hill and a fast first half. Today, my heart rate in this mile 4 was suddenly now 180 plus. And I feel bad; maybe it was my two tiugh workouts earlier in the week or lingering effect of my sickness, but I don't feel good. I slowed down to try to conserve and save something for Cat Hill, which is around the corner. Mile 4, even though its net downhill, was 7:40.

Mile 5 is uphill. But I had recovered from my Mile 4 funk and felt a lot better. It really surprised me. At some point, I realized I was going to make it, no walks, no bonk, and I could do it. And it would be strong. One of the running cadences I run to has the drill sergeant yelling "up the hill/ through the hill/ over the hill". And that was how I felt. I went up Cat Hill in good shape. Mile 5 came in at 7:43. HR was high though.

Mile 6 is around the Metropolitan Museum of Art and reservoir. For some reason I thought this was downhill. Its not - its slightly uphill. Oh well, its down hill at about 5.5 to finish. I am close to home. And I am now behind my silly Race buddy on Garmin for first time. I had kind of reconciled that I wasn't going to make a 47:00 and 7:30 pace, but I knew I would still have a strong race. Mile 6 came in at 7:26.

Coming home, I just pushed pace and tried to make it home close to 7:30 pace. Last 0.23 was 1:36. My heart rate actually hit 189.

Final time - 46:48. Woooohooo, YES! Sub 47:00. Yeah!

Final age graded time: 61.1. Came in 600th place out of 4500. A very happy result for me.

It wasn't perfect --I did lose the race with my Garmy buddy by 5 seconds though.