9999999 19

ok, so it wasn't really 19, I just wanted to go with the musical theme of my titles. It was 18.21 according to my Garmin. According to NYRR it was 18. Yup the 18 mile tune up race. For me, it was run with a number. A great one too, right in my own back yard, Central Park. Now 3 loops of Central Park can rarely be described as fun. Under any conditions. For those of you who dont know, Central Park is hilly. It really doesn't have any flat spots. 

When I got up this morning I checked the weather. 67 degress with 94% humidity. 

YUCK.

I rode my bike over to the start, stripped down, found my friend Claudia and got in the corral. My plan was to run the first lap slowly, attack the big hills, and pick it up each lap. At mile 2 I took my 1st salt pill. Claudia and I ran the whole first lap together. When we got to the North Hills for the 2nd loop I said I wanted to run the hill hard. I did. I dropped her (sorry!) I took gel 1 at mile 7. At mile 7.5, the lead man passed me.  I must say, I was surprise. The winner went on to finish in a time of 1:38:22. BLISTERING.

I think around mile 10 I took my 2nd salt pill and at mile 12 I took my 2nd gel. At this point, I was running with Bernie, another Front Runner. I hit the 12 mile mark and said, ok, I'm gonna see what I can do from here and planned on running the 3rd lap faster than the 2nd. I wanted to stay within my long run pace. North Hill again, I ran it well and announced at the top LAST TIME PEOPLE! Which got a cheer from those around me. I was feeling good. No real pain in my ankle. I would feel it from time to time but nothing that hurt. 

Did I mention the 93% humidity? Cause that was nasty.

Last time up Cat hill, I knew after that, it would be a little more than a mile. My garmin had it reading less. I really wore it for heart rate. I dont plan on wearing it during the marathon or my final longish run. It'll just make me crazy. 

I hit the 17 mile marker and it's pretty much down there. I felt so good. At no point did I feel like I was over doing it. It was a very controlled run. I ran my last mile in 8:45 and felt great.

This was a great race for me and possibly my best long run this cycle. I've got a ton of confidence for my marathon. I finished in a time of 2:51:55.

I also wanna give a shout out to the men of FRNY who were the 2nd team to finish today. Ryan Quinn, finishing 9th over all and 2nd in his age group in a time of 1:48:19, a 6:01 pace.

And especially Peter McGrane, our 2nd man to finish in a time of 1:54:28, 34th  over all, 6:34 pace. Peter, if you're out there, you are running you ASS off this year (really, he is, he ran over 40 miles as part of the Reach the Beach ultra team 2 weeks ago) and it's so exciting to see you doing so well!

And now, I have some serious plans with the couch.