NYC – Page 3 – East Coast Appetite

Week 5 of NYC Marathon Training

August 26, 2016August 26, 2016Posted in NYC, nycm, Race Recaps, Running, TrainingTagged 8k, NYC, nycm, Races, Running, TrainingLeave a comment

This post is late because I was attending a work training for 2 days. I now have a White Belt in Lean Six Sigma and actually have thought about how to apply some of my newfound process improvement skills toward marathon training (namely, morning runs). Look out, world!

Monday 8/15: Red-eye back from Vegas was rough, so I slept until 11am then napped in the afternoon. Meant to get a run in but didn’t. Still had some desert sand on me from the hike.

Tuesday 8/16: My usual snooze struggles were coupled with a touch of jet lag. I brought my running gear to the rock climbing gym but ended up just climbing for several hours. I completed my first 5.7 (and then my second) and tried a couple of 5.8s that I did not summit.

Wednesday: The final Al Goldstein Summer Speed Series 5K. I wanted to try for even splits of 8:20-8:30 but had some digestive unrest for the first mile, so hit 8:55 (this mile has the big hill, too), then sped up to 8:15 for the second (mostly downhill) mile and was feeling great. I saw some teammates ahead and hung back for a while before passing them in the last 250 meters then sprinted it in for a barely sub-8 final mile. I don’t think I’ve seen a sub-8 mile on my Garmin since I raced the Fifth Avenue Mile last year. The last 0.1 was sub-7, so I guess I have some untapped sprinting speed in me yet. I did a warm up and cool down mile as well to bring it to 5.3 miles for the day.

Thursday: Quick run-commute jaunt to book club, picking up some duck liver mousse and buffalo cheese on the way for tartines. 2.5 slow miles with my running backpack on. I contemplated running home but had some wine and a lot of tartines, so enjoyed a leisurely walk.

Friday: Off day.

Saturday: 8ish mile long run to celebrate Summer Streets. The last time I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge was on a run was last September and it was rough; my Achilles were acting up and I got water on the Manhattan side of the bridge then turned around to shuffle home. This time, I was loving life. Endorphins all over the place. We took a few moments to appreciate the views at the top, then paused at the start of Summer Streets for free coconut water. My Garmin got confused after the Brooklyn Bridge and gave me an extra mile (at a blistering pace). I peeled off the route at 59th St. and got a Sprinkles cupcake and some blue Gatorade before taking the subway home. I wish Summer Streets was every week (in the summer or otherwise) and Citibank replied to my Tweet about those sentiments.

Sunday: France Run 8K plus 2 miles warmup and 1 mile cooldown. I’m not giving either race this week the full race report because I’m trying to focus on the marathon. But I’m inclined to agree with whoever called this the France Swim. The rain began right as we were still in the corrals, then intensified in mile 1. I took my glasses off and put them in my pocket (yay for my Lululemon Speed Track shorts and their ample pocket space) and tried to take the Harlem hills as best I could. I stopped for water only after mile 4 because I had foolishly eschewed it before. Overall, my pace sped up just a touch from Team Champs 3 weeks prior.

I later visited the Museum of Ice Cream and mainly got my money’s worth in candy.

total: 23.8 out of 26-29 total recommended. Not bad but I do wish I had squeezed in a few more Thursday night or you know, made my Tuesday workout happen.

17 Weeks Out Recap

July 24, 2016Posted in NYC, Running, TrainingTagged marathon, nycm, nyrr2 Comments

I had a lovely draft started of all the activities I did in my 17th week out, but then life happened. And the workouts didn’t. I think this was hopefully one of my last gasps of mind-body disconnect about what I’m heading toward. It’s time to ratchet up the discipline and willpower and mind-over-matter mantras. I just purchased the NYRR Virtual Trainer and it gave me a very realistic time based on my race performances this spring as well as my current fitness, so I’m planning to log my runs and workouts into there, with some additional structure from Hal Higdon’s Novice 2 and my running club’s weekly Marathon Training Group’s speed workouts.

In anticipation of all this mileage and realizing that I only took 5 classes in my last billing cycle, I’m downgrading my ClassPass membership from the 10 classes a month Core to the 5 classes a month Base membership. I’m hoping this will assuage my guilt about rarely hitting 10/month but still allow me to cross-train with spin and get stronger with barre. I also am going to try and take some tennis clinics and use it for bouldering/rock climbing wall time.

Not-really-training-yet recap:

Saturday 7/9: Short “long” run with my friend Maya for 5 conversational miles including a park loop. This felt great! I dropped her off at a rock climbing gym then dealt with my hangover on the couch.

Sunday 7/10: I had a packed day of apricot Cronuts at Dominique Ansel (along with Elle of A Fast Paced Life), a Reuben at David’s Pastrami House, then the Smith St. Bastille Day celebration. I was hoping to eke out another run but my hamstrings were a little sore and I was so busy eating and cheering for France in the EuroCup final. I foam rolled at home.

Monday 7/11: PureBarre class before work. I couldn’t tell if it felt harder (and I got sweatier) because I didn’t do barre last week or because it was a slightly modified warmup that used weights in parts. I’m pretty strong at the planking now but tricep-focused push-ups are still so tough.

Tuesday 7/12: I smartly adjusted my alarm to not get up at 5:20am for 6am speed work with my running group (after going out for drinks and Mexican the night before). Unfortunately, I outsmarted myself by sleeping past my next round of alarms at 6:20am and missed a morning run altogether. But then I went on the best Yelp event of the year; the birthday cruise.

Wednesday 7/13 – Saturday 7/16: All work and travel, no workouts. But I got family and Rufus time.

So according to Strava and NYRR, Mondays are the start of the training week. I mentally consider it to be Sundays (is that a holdover from MapMyRun?), so here’s to some thought shift.

Sunday 7/17: I ran 3.5 miles while at home in VA around 9am, which meant that it was 80 out and 85% humidity (with a dew point in the 60’s). Needless to say, this was disgusting. I also ran it on an empty stomach, which I don’t usually do. The good news is that I tested out my SuperGoop sunscreen and it survived the sweat test. Then on Monday, it was back to NYC for my first real week of training.

Mini 10K Recap

June 15, 2016June 15, 2016Posted in NYC, Race Recaps, RunningTagged 10K, NYC, Races, Running2 Comments

After realizing I wouldn’t quite be in the shape I wanted for the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K, I decided that the Mini 10K on June 11th would give me a much-needed extra 4 weeks of training along with some girl power. I’ve run one other (almost but actually not entirely) women-only race, last October’s Nike Women Half Marathon in San Francisco. I was looking forward to the sisterhood vibes with the bonus of some of our club’s men setting up a cheering section. Unfortunately, I developed a sore throat the weekend after my birthday (June 2nd) then got major congestion that Monday and Tuesday. Things had cleared up by race day, but I still had a lot of phlegm.

I (we?) got so lucky with the weather; 63 degrees with 63% humidity, but I knew the humidity and temperature would keep rising throughout the day. I dropped off my stuff (post-race brunch means checking a bag for me, plus I still like to wear a layer there since it’s cooler in the morning), then I found a teammate in the corrals. On the way, a teammate and I watched the Girls’ Race and also spotted Molly Huddle. If we’re being honest, I got a little emotional. A teammate had posted a brief synopsis of this event (started in 1972 as the first women’s race; Katherine Switzer helped start it in her fight for women’s inclusion in racing, this Runner’s World article helps illuminate more). The history of women in sport, and especially in running, tends to get me choked up. Case in point: I can’t re-watch the U.S. Women’s 4 x 100 relay team win and set a world record at the 2012 Olympics without crying a little. I can not wait for the Olympics Trials in early July! Said teammate Gabby is a preschool teacher and I used to teach, so we were so happy for the girls running the 2.25 mile Girls’ Run race. We cheered for them and knew that soon we would be cruising down the same finish route.

I was hoping to PR, but knew that my congestion might get the better of me. This was only my 5th 10K ever, as I’m still fairly new to distance racing (my first was in December 2014 and that was the longest distance I’d raced at that point). I really like this distance because of its unique pacing challenges. I have to pace myself and keep something in the tank more than a 5K, but can try for faster speeds than half marathon pace (which admittedly, I would still like to improve upon greatly). Interestingly, NYRR’s new corral system use’s Hill Runner’s pace predictor and according to my 5K PR, I should be able to run a 10K in 54:45. But I’m nowhere close to that (yet). I’m slowly trying to hit more consistent splits of 9:15, then hope to shoot for 9:00 event then break into the upper 8’s. I think I’m just a proportionately faster “shorter” distance person, but am trying to work on races longer than 5Ks this year. I hope to see improvements while marathon training for sure, even though my goal for that is very conservative.

On with the race: It was most of the usual Central Park loop, but we started on Fifth Avenue instead of the loop itself. It was pretty crowded at first but I started to fall into a groove by the time we passed The Met front steps, then entered the park at 90th St.

My paces for the first two miles were the same and very close to my A Goal pace (9:18) according to my Garmin. Unfortunately, both parts of Harlem Hill got the better of me. I slowed way down and my legs felt heavy on the flat parts. I chugged some water and Gatorade while sort of shuffling past the aid stations. I tried to open my stride on the downhill but wasn’t very successful. I figured a PR was out of my reach but chose to press on hard because I knew the PPTC cheer section would be on the last mile. Can’t slow down then! I’m chuckling at my grade adjusted paces from Strava because that 9:47 really does feel like a 9:07, but it’s not. I ran the tangents pretty well and only added on 0.07, as opposed to a full 0.1 from my last Central Park 10K.

I high-fived the cheerers and felt great on the last mile and was able to pick up the pace, but not sprint it in.

My final time was 58:36, which is a solid enough shave off my 59:04 from the NYCRuns Halloween 10K in October.

“Will you accept this carnation?” Bachelor joke material

I got my medal from a volunteer teammate, picked up a carnation (the top of which later got lobbed off in my backpack) and grabbed an apple instead of a pink bagel. After stretching and relaxing in the shade with teammates, I ate an enormous Juicy Lucy burger at brunch. I was one of many PRs Saturday, which gets me jazzed for the next one.

ClassPass Adventures in November

November 23, 2015December 7, 2015Posted in ClassPass, NYCTagged ClassPass, NYCLeave a comment

After my 10K on 10/31, I watched the New York City marathon for hours, cheering on friends and teammates. Rather than experiencing total runner FOMO, it got me pretty pumped about (hopefully, assuming no injuries or illness) running the race next year. NYC 2016 will be my first marathon. And maybe my only marathon (famous last words for runners). But let’s focus on making it to that starting line first.

After mainly taking spin and yoga my first 2 months with ClassPass, I decided to try to branch out a little with rowing classes at Row House. Most of their classes are a Full Body 50, which incorporates different speed/strength workouts on the Erg, then a bit of HIIT and other bodyweight moves interspersed. I usually warm up with 2000m on the erg at the gym, but I’ve never tried crew or anything and didn’t know how weak my form was. I was focusing more on strokes/minute but not really noticing my split times. The instructors at Row House are very helpful on getting you to slow down and assess your form before speeding up and trying power strokes. I took my first class at the Chelsea location and was sore in my arms and shoulders for 2 days after. I immediately signed up for more classes at the Columbus Circle location with Matt. Both studios are clean and modern (if a bit cramped in the locker room/bathroom areas) and have good playlists pumping along with the ability to dim the lights in crucial push moments. The workout has left me around a 7 on a scale from 1 to dripping with sweat. I’m taking another Row House Full Body 50 on the morning of Black Friday, which I assume will shake me out of my post-Thanksgiving slump.

I finally tried Flywheel at the Chelsea location and was a fan. my instructor Johnny was super high-energy and I ended up in the front row, so I felt like I was giving some energy right back. I came in 3rd in the class, which made me want to work even harder the next time. I’m having the best time reading Flywheel bios. What would mine say? I also love the “Never Coast” shirts and gear, which is amusing since I really enjoy coasting while on a real bike outside. My experience fly-ing so far makes me want to try FlyBarre as well since I’ve only been to PureBarre and have yet to experience much barre variation.

SURFBORT.

My most outside-the-box ClassPass experience so far has been at SurfSet, where you work out on surfboards that sit on top of 3 large balls. You use your core a lot to stabilize while doing the moves (lunges, planks, push ups, etc). I left feeling sore in my core after my first class, then had some thigh DOMS more after my second. The instructors (Diana and Aaron) are super helpful for newbies and will offer modifications for those who want to keep it simple or people who feel comfortable and want to kick it up a notch. And yes, they will totally take your picture on a surfboard for you afterward.

NYC Runs Haunted Island Halloween 10K Race Recap

November 5, 2015Posted in NYC, Race Recaps, RunningTagged 10K, Races, Running8 Comments

Since I had bonked in the last mile of the Staten Island 5K and had a ‘take it easy’ half marathon in San Francisco, I really wanted just one PR this fall. My last two 10Ks (UAE Health Kidney on 5/30 and Queens 10K on 6/21) were painful, humid slogs. This 10K featured slightly more crisp weather and the experience of more speed training and cross-training.

I came up with A, B, and C goals in 2-minute increments (55-57, 57-59, and 59-1:01) based on mental math, and my C goal would have me PR. I had ran the 5K version of this race last year, a 10K last December, and another 5K on Roosevelt Island on Memorial Day (where I got my 5K PR of 26:16), but the course had changed just slightly based on construction. Roosevelt Island is very flat, which really helps in the PR department. NYC Runs doesn’t have corrals for this race, so there is some definite bottlenecking at the start of the course, but it gets a lot less crowded by mile 2. I knew to be aware of sidewalk dipping and some uneven footing, but overall I’m a big fan of races on Roosevelt Island and it feels like a pretty known entity.

I took a 70-minute restorative yoga class on Friday night, so I felt pretty relaxed going into this race. The 9:30am start time really helped, too. I had my usual breakfast of 2 mini frozen waffles with cookie butter, some iced coffee, and plenty of water. I sometimes use almond butter if I’m feeling healthy, but speculoos works just as well. It also tastes great with bananas and I have Wafels & Dinges to thank for this combination.

I entered the start corral toward the middle/back with some friends, one of whom (Gabby of Marathons & Macarons) wasn’t shooting for a PR but was still going to race it a lot faster than me. Our teammate Johnny was way in the front, where he rightly deserved to be (coming in 4th overall and 1st in the 20-29 age group). I wasn’t running with music because I wanted to be hyper vigilant of my breathing and my body.

This being a race held on Halloween, there were some great costumes. But I was glad not to be wearing one. I wore my long-sleeved team shirt and planned to roll up the sleeves as needed. I definitely could not have handled the extra bulk of a tutu or the head warmth of a character hat. A teammate who ran the 5K kindly took photos of us 10K runners. I didn’t see her the first time, but then I caught on to where she would be.

I was stuck behind several couples on miles 1 and 2, but decided to keep drafting them until the path got wider. Then came the Minions and the penguins. I noticed 3 separate groups of people dressed up as Minions and am delighted to say that I only finished behind 1 group of them who passed me around mile 4.5. The couple dressed in full-body penguin suits kept with me during their selfies, then sped up and stayed ahead.

I saw some teammates after the 5K, which gave me a little juice for the fourth mile before I inevitable slowed during the fifth. My splits had been looking so good, but my overall average pace from this was 9:30 which means my Garmin (Forerunner 220) and I have some issues to work out.

My Achilles felt ok and my breathing was fine, so I finally took it up a notch on the final mile. My Garmin was off by 0.2, so when my watch beeped for mile 6, I knew that I really had 0.4 miles to go. I managed to stay ahead of a pack of piñatas, much to my relief, then caught and passed the girl in front of me before attempting a sprint finish. My watch had somehow gotten so off time (I saw splits of 9:10-9:24 but nothing slower), that my final time of 59:04 felt a little slow. But it is a PR! And a negative split! I’ll take it!

The finish line photos are not taken from a flattering angle.

I got 48th out of 137 ladies in the 30-39 age group (and 307 out of 646 total finishers). Top half, all right! I grabbed a lot of candy for immediate and later consumption, then we got a very filling brunch. I rested my laurels the rest of the day and foam rolled so that I could make my Halloween debut as Angelina Ballerina later that night, then cheer on NYC marathoners all day Sunday.

Post-race celebrations with candy in my backpack. We are not in costume.

Look at that flatness! I know my first pace spike was in response to cheerers, but I have no idea why I picked it up so much at the 4 mile mark. I think that was when I was struggling with water and tried to take an unnecessary ShotBlok and dropped it.

The shirt for this race was the same logo as last year’s tech t-shirt but was a cotton long-sleeved shirt and I love it. They ran out of (unisex) mediums so I grabbed a small. It’s very fitted but I can still wear it over a tank, as seen below before my rowing class.

This was possibly my final race of 2015 because I need to heal my tendons, so it was nice to go out on a PR.

Bronx 10 Mile Race Recap

October 1, 2015October 23, 2015Posted in Fuel, NYC, Race RecapsTagged Bronx, Races, RunningLeave a comment

On Sunday the 27th, I was fairly ready for my morning when the alarm went off at 5:21am (so I can snooze until 5:30). I had signed up for this race back in June and it’s my 4th of the NYRR Borough series (ran the NYC Half, Brooklyn Half, and Queens 10K earlier this year). This race was my first ten-mile race ever and my first race in the Bronx. I had originally wanted to keep at 9:35 pace throughout, but as my heels started giving me trouble in mid August and continued throughout September, I slowed my goal down to 9:45/mile and then to anything under 10/mile. I want to stay healthy for the Nike Women’s Half in SF October 18th, so I decided to treat this as a training run more than anything.

And that’s what happened. Before the 8am gun, I sipped some Gatorade (only available up near the start because of the Bronx 5K that was occurring) and stopped to talk to a speedier teammate on my way back to my corral. By the time I was done drinking and about to line up, the corrals were all moving up closer to the start. I slipped in somewhere near my “I’ letter but ran into teammates who were in G and H, then a friend who was in J found me. She and I went over our goals for the race (1. finish 2. steadyish pace 3. feel “ready” for our upcoming half marathons) and agreed to at least start together.

We carried on a conversational pace hovering around 10 minutes for the first 5 miles, clocking in a 9:45 third mile, then a slower 4th mile when we slowed for some water. We got to see the winners and sub-elites after the turnaround when we were done with 3 miles and they were done with 7, which was amazing. We applauded for a lot of them and Jaime was able to let out a fair amount of wooos for the women. I then got to see some fast PPTC teammates and cheer for them (and vice versa), which was a huge boost. I was smiling a lot through the 10K mark and enjoying the upbeat tunes around the park turnaround. Our legs were definitely feeling heavier right around the 5 mile mark, so I popped 2 pink lemonade Honey Stinger chews and washed them down with some Gatorade. The mild downhills gave us a lot to look forward to. Our chitchat grew more intermittent and we tried to count down the hills remaining. I took 2 more Honey Stingers at Mile 7 with some water.

Finally, with only 1.5 miles to go, I was feeling ready to “finish strong”. I picked up the pace to a 9:30 then sped up the last mile to a 9:00, and a sprint finish. The finish line really snuck up on me after a small uphill/downhill. I was hoping for some finish line photos, but MarathonFoto only has the cheesy ones I took with Jaime, including where the photog told us to bite our medals. Better than sorority arm, I guess?

I can’t wait to wear the shirt for this race because it is neon green and will hopefully help with visibility at night. I’m so glad I got to do this race for my 4/6 (guaranteed entry to the 2016 NYC Half!), see some more of the Bronx than my usual work-related Fordham Rd. jaunts, and feel more race-ready for SF.

Waving hello to the final water station teammate

Strava Pacing and Elevation Profile

After the finish, clutching Gatorade cup

Fifth Avenue Mile Race Recap

September 24, 2015October 23, 2015Posted in NYC, Race RecapsTagged Manhattan, Mile, NYC, Races, RunningLeave a comment

After boldly declaring back in June that I was taking the rest of the summer off from racing, I actually did. I ran one final 5K at the Al Goldstein Speed Series on July 1, then went on vacation back down South, where I managed to crank out just a few sweaty miles in both Richmond and Durham, choking with humidity. I went on a mid-July “runcation” in the Berkshires with my running club and managed 7 miles on a towpath in the rain along with some Appalachian Trail hiking. During the group run, I actually had to remove my glasses for the last 3.5 miles because they were so streaked with a blend of sweat, rain, and oils that my vision was more impaired with them on. Aside from a few solo park loops, I cheered on my teammates at NYRR Team Championships, lounged by a few pools, took a free SoulCycle class in Montauk, and took an entire 7 days off from running in mid-August by accident. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I joined ClassPass in late August as well, in hopes of finding acceptable cardio alternatives, semi-regularly attending yoga to really stretch out my tight legs, and trying new-to-me stuff like barre and SurfSet. Needless to say, my return to the gym and the 3 or 4 days a week running schedule was not a smooth one. The weekend before the 9/13 5th avenue Mile race, I had to adjust my goals a bit. My A-goal was still sub-7 minutes but this seemed highly unlikely. I negligently was in the Hamptons during Labor Day weekend, when I had otherwise planned on a track time trial, so I chose to push it on a treadmill instead on the Tuesday before. I huffed and puffed my way through a half mile at 8 MPH (7:30 minute mile), slowed down for a half mile, then squeezed in another half mile at 8.1 MPH (wow, really upping the ante) during the Serena vs. Venus Williams U.S. Open game. This let me know that I could at least go under 8, where an 8:10 was my fastest 5K split this year so far. I really wanted to hit under 7:19 because this is the best mile time of mine that I can remember from High School. I was a sprinter and hurdler from 8th grade – 11th grade, so the mile always seemed and felt like an impossibly long distance to me. The longest I ever ran at a meet was 800m, so it’s good to know I’ve had the same mental pacing issues for the last 1.5 decades. Would it feel really cool to beat 16-year-old me? Yes. I am the same height but have an extra 30 pounds on my frame.

I rolled up to the Met Steps (so Gossip Girl!) at 8:20am or so Sunday morning, collected my # and T-Shirt (I’m not normally a fan of non-tech shirts but oooh this one is soft) and dropped off my bag after packing some Honey Stinger chews into my zipper pocket for the extra miles after the race. I wanted to cheer on the 15-29 Women (Group A) but was still in the bathroom line when they began. Good thing I’m new to Group C. I grabbed a few water cups after and sipped them slowly and slipped into the middle of my corral after the 15-29 Men started. I saw some much faster teammates of mine squeezing along the left side to get near the front, where they belonged. I happily stayed in the middle-back of the corral. At 5’9, I felt like one of the taller ladies, but I’m sure some of that was just the uneven ground.

And we were off! I hadn’t reset my Garmin Forerunner 220 to beep every .25 miles because I planned to run the first half sub-8 then see how I felt. Of course, how does one feel after a quick but not sprinting half mile? Like they can pick up the pace. I went out a little fast (whoops, 6:50, didn’t mean to see you there!), slowed for the uphill, then figured that since my heavy breathing wasn’t super audible, I could really speed up in the last 200m. I chose one other tall lady to catch up to and picked her off in the final 50. I couldn’t choose between quicker turnover and longer strides, so briefly resembled a fawn learning how to run. A friend tried to get a picture but I was just too fast for an iPhone on the final 100m. My watch said I’d cracked 7:24, which is exactly what NYRR agreed on. My stated B-Goal was sub-7:30, so that felt pretty good. Do I think I have a sub-7 in me? Yes, sure. Could I inch it down to 6:45? No, probably not at my current fitness and injury level. But those are goals for next year, when I hope to join my teammates at some local track meets after winter speed training classes. I’m coming for you, track mile. It’s been over a decade, but I’m coming for you.

I watched the D, E, and F groups run before squeezing in a conversational 4 miles around the reservoir with 2 of my teammates. My Achilles were hurting something fierce; I had worn my Ravennas instead of my Pure Cadences in anticipation of the extra miles, but I think all that time sprinting would have been painful either way. We then got some crepes and iced coffee before checking out the local speedsters and the pros. Sadly, I missed most of the Masters and Malcolm Gladwell’s heat, among others. I definitely plan on racing this again next year

MarathonFoto got some terrible pictures of me during the race and a few after both solo and with teammates. The solo shots have me convinced that I need to learn some poses other than “sorority arm”, “peace sign” and “congratulatory arms up”. Will double-thumbs-up make a comeback? Stay tuned.

Fall Racing Schedule

September 18, 2015September 19, 2015Posted in NYC, Running, San Francisco, VirginiaTagged Races, Running, San Francisco, Staten Island, TrainingLeave a comment

I’m already many weeks into my latest Half training cycle but feeling fairly unprepared. I’ve cut a few long runs short (did I learn nothing from Brooklyn this May?) and tended toward cross-training in lieu of some of those mid-week 3-milers. After battling and beating plantar fasciitis this spring in my left foot, I’ve had some Achilles pain the last few weeks. But I am feeling way better this week after increased mileage and cross-training. My next 2 races are:

The Bronx 10 Mile

The Nike Women’s San Francisco Half

I registered for the Bronx 10 Mile back in June along with the Mile, knowing it would sell out. I then entered the late-June lottery for Nike SF and got in early July. The timing is great other than a busy wedding weekend in between the two, leaving me wondering when to squeeze in another 10+ mile long run. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, either before I depart DC, the day before the wedding, or after I come back.

I’m considering adding on the Staten Island 5K plus some extra miles SI around that day (October 11), which is exactly one week before Nike. I’m not even trying to hit a personal record in SF, due to those killer hills, shown in red above. Instead, I just want to enjoy my time and consume all that race swag. Assuming I’m relatively injury free after the Bronx, I plan to sign up for the following races:

NYC Runs Haunted Island Halloween 10K. I ran the 5K version last year and while I got a 5K PR earlier this year on a similar Roosevelt Island course, I am overdue for a 10K PR. I hated life and the humidity during both the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K and the Queens 10K and walked through the water stops. I think late October weather might be perfect to best myself on either of those runs. I’ll be cheering on many of my friends in the NYC Marathon the day after, so hopefully a race the day before will get rid of my marathon FOMO. Plus I’ll be going out for Halloween that night before waking up Sunday to cheer on my marathon running friends. I live right along the course then will probably take the subway to the finish.
The Staten Island 5K on 10/11 OR the Race to Deliver 4M on 11/22. Either one will be my 9th NYRR race this year and thus my final race in the 9+1 series. I could of course do both and hope to improve on my NYRR best mile pace. I’m also considering the Jingle Bell Jog for this reason because it’s near me in Brooklyn. I did my volunteer time back in April at the Japan Run and had a great time but am also glad to have it out of the way now that everyone is trying to squeeze in their races and volunteer credit.
Richmond Half Marathon on 11/14. Why yes, I would love a hometown race with the option of getting both Dixie Donuts and Sugar Shack Donuts after. This would be the Half I want to PR on this year. There are hills, but I’m pretty sure they’re more gentle than those in San Francisco. A friend who ran it last year told me there’s great crowd support, plus my family is pretty much obligated to attend and cheer me on. It would have been even more reasonably priced earlier in the summer, but I’m glad I’ve waited to register so I can watch for injuries.

So, after a fairly slow summer, it looks like fall will be pretty busy. Let’s hope I stay injury-free and that the weather cooperates.