Races Like a Girl

We ran the Nyack Hospital 10K race yesterday. Nyack is a charming little village just over the Tappan Zee bridge, in Rockland County. Aside from a 10 MPH wind from the west, it was a good day for racing: cold and partly sunny.

Nyack is situated on a hill overlooking the Hudson river, and after getting a look at the course and elevation map, I have to admit that I was apprehensive. I don’t like going out a lot faster than my target pace. But almost the entire first half of the race is downhill (the first mile being quite a steep descent), then the second half is flat to uphill (with two particularly steep ascents at approx. miles 2.75 and 4.5). So I opted to run as fast as possible for at least the first couple of miles, try to stick to a 7:30 or lower pace in other places, and slow a bit before the two hills so I could make it up them without going into oxygen debt.

I ended up really enjoying the course. It was a blast to be able to race along for the first couple of miles, then have the mental challenge of the uphill second half. I didn’t make my ultimate goal time of 46:00, but I did make my “good enough” goal of 47:00.

And the results are in! The good news is that my work over the past few months is starting to pay off. I won my age group category (40-49) and came in sixth female overall. So I’ve collected what I hope will be the first of many cheap trophies. It was a small race (199 people), but still…

Jonathan did pretty well too, winning his age group and coming in fifth male overall.

Power couple!

Thursday is the next race — a 5 miler that I’ve done once before. Also a somewhat challenging course: steep or rolling hills for the first two miles, then pancake flat for the remaining three. Much bigger crowd, though. In foul weather last year, it attracted close to 1,000 runners.

Yesterday’s splits:

Mile 1          6:47
Mile 2          7:14
Mile 3          7:45
Mile 4          7:32
Mile 5          8:05
Mile 6          7:33
Mile 6.2        1:52

Finish time    46:51

Average pace    7:32

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