Race Report from Central Park 4M Conservancy Run

What do you do when you’ve got junk in your lungs?  Apparently you race your way to a new PR! Yeah, that’s what my brother told me after the race.  He had a point though.  I really wasn’t prepared to run this race, much less run this race fast for a PR.  I joked that I might have to think about getting sick a week before every race if I’m going to run this well so soon after recovery…Haha!  So before I delve into the race specifics let my recap my running week for you so you get an idea of where I’m coming from.

Monday – Deathly ill…I’m talking full-on, high fever, do-nothing-but-sleep kind of sick.  Obviously there was no running on the agenda.
Tuesday – Felt a little better…wasn’t up to tempo work so I just did 6 miles around the park at slower than recovery pace.
Wednesday – Turning the corner, but worked all morning, afternoon, and night.  So again, no running.
Thursday – I was still sneezy and coughy, but finally felt good enough to attack a scheduled speedwork session.  But 8x800s turned into 6x800s and a few seconds on average slower for each set too.  I jogged a few more miles to finish up 10 miles for the day.
Friday – I got up early and beat the sun for a recovery 6 miler.  I neglected the Garmin and went totally by effort.   After I was done, I found surprisingly that my average pace was even slower than the 6 miles I did earlier in the week when I was sick!

As you can see, there was a lack of any stellar running all week or even a suggestion that I would race well today.  But since this was not just another 4 mile race, but a club points race as well, I felt I had a certain internal obligation to run and see what I could do.  Still, I was afraid I would be somewhat hampered by my physical ailment to race well.  So last night, when I was still spewing out phlegm and coughing intermittently, I posted an ad on Facebook asking if anyone knew where I could buy/borrow a new set of lungs for this race.  Unfortunately, but there were no takers.  Sigh!

That’s why I arrived this morning at the race start in Central Park a bit uneasy and unsure how I would do in this race.  Earlier in the morning, I had told my brother who was traveling with me to this race that my only goal today was to average sub-6 min pace and break 24:00.  Given that my previous best at 4 miles was 5:54 min/mi pace and I had run 5:53 min/mi for a 5K earlier this year, I felt anything with a 5 as an average pace would be the best I could hope for today.  We dropped off our bags, did a few short warmup sprints and got to our respective corrals a few minutes before the start of the race.  After a few short announcements and a cool rendition of the national anthem, the starting horn sounded and we were off!

I started my race with a conservative game plan.  In my mind, I wasn’t running for any spectacular time so there was no need to run so hard or race so fast out of the gate.  I shrewdly allowed my faster neighbors to go ahead of me as I took my time to find my own space and establish my own pace for the opening mile.  It was sunny but not excessively warm so I knew that as long as I gauged my effort wisely and not expend too much energy fighting the hills, I should be able to avoid severe bonking or dehydration at the final mile.  With that thought in my head, I ran up and over Cat Hill with as conservative effort as I can.  I recognize a few Flyer, friends and several others I recognize from previous races as I ran but I fought the urge to overtake them so early.  I was here to run my own race, not theirs so as long as I hold myself together without being overzealous, things should sort themselves out.

I crossed mile 1 in 5:48 and was pleasantly surprised that a conservative effort over Cat Hill still produced a faster-than-interval-pace first mile.  Since I was running well without any pain or extraordinary effort, I was able to maintain a similar effort on the second mile.  I passed by a couple of Flyers who had flown past me out of the gate early as I found a comfortable zone just running by perceived effort.  I figured I must have slowed down some after running such a fast mile 1 so imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner onto the 102^nd Street Transverse and passed mile 2 in 5:46.  Wow!  I had never strunk together 2 sub 5:50 miles before.  Although I knew I had the troublesome west side hills waiting for me at mile 3, I began to realize that a PR was not out of the realm of possibility as long as I do not crumble significantly down the stretch.  I gave myself a pep talk to be patient and slow down if necessary before rounding the corner and bracing myself for the battle ahead.

I ran the 3 sets of rollers and hills as gingerly as I could.  I gave up worrying about my pace and focused instead on maintaining a consistent effort on the inclines.  I was willing to slow down a bit but it really wasn’t necessary as the work I did in the previous miles allowed me to dial in  to a constant effort quite easily.  Although it was no walk in the park, mile 3 didn’t really kill my race as much as I feared.  Even as I struggled climbing the hills, I found myself passing many many runners that had passed me earlier in the race.  I even saw Baker towards the end of the third mile and he gave me a hearty cheer as I ran by.  I passed the mile 3 marker in 6:05 and knew that one last downhill mile was the only thing separate me from a new PR!  I tried surging slightly on this panultimate mile but my legs were tired after tackling all the hills and they had trouble even just maintaining the high effort.  I started counting down the tenths of mile after the halfway point when I felt everyone around me picking up their pace ever so slightly.  I was passed by a few runners but for the most part kept my place in the queue pretty well.  One final turn around the Daniel Webster status, up another incline, a full on sprint and I was DONE!  I crossed the line in 23:29 for a 5:50 final mile, a 23:29 finishing time, and a 7 second PR.  Wow…did that just happen?  Yes it did.  It really did.

Thanks to all who cheered me on today, whether physically or virtually.  I felt the support and the encouragement throughout the race.  Perhaps that’s what got me through today.  On a day that I was feeling less than the very best, I was able to race 4 miles “conservatively hard” for a PR!  Now if I could only channel that energy and run all my races the same way, I’m sure there’ll be a few more PRs waiting for me before the summer is said and done.  As for how and why I PR’d today, I’m still at a loss to explain things completely.   I’m ready to just chalk it up to a good effort on a good race day if you are.

Race Statistics
Weather – Temp 80F, Humid 60%, Sunny, Wind SE 4.4MPH
Official Time – 23:29 (5:52 min/mi) – PR by 7 seconds!
Mile Splits – 5:48, 5:46, 6:05, 5:50
Overall Place – 163/5292
Age Group Place – 20/467
Age Graded – 73.3%
NY Flyers Place – 2nd Place