I registered for this race after I had already signed up for the NYC Swim Little Red Lighthouse 10.2K swim so this would be a “B” race to the swim. Having said that after yesterday’s effort at the the Litte Red Lighthouse Swim I was not certain that I would be racing this morning. I left it up to my body and recovery to decide.

The wonderful wonders of sleep. I woke up feeling 80% better than I felt last night so I knew I was ready to show up for an 18 mile race.

Alarm went off at 5am. I quickly went to the kitchen and got the coffee and and peanut butter sandwich toast ready to head out. The race was scheduled to start at 7am.

I hopped on the transit around 6ish and it got me to the race at 6:40. This was great timing as I was able to drop off my baggage, hit the potty and do a short warmup and stretch – have to keep my knee happy.

At the gun start I was ready to race. At mile 1 I was right at marathon goal pace. I took 2 salt tablets at the first aid station as I know with this greater race effort I need to be preventative with any sort of cramping. The 18 miler consisted of 3 loops around Central Park. The big advantage of running most of the NYRR races and training in the park is the familiarity. This in my opinion can also be a disadvantage as you are not surprised in any way to the terrain and may lead to a false positive heading into an “A” race like the New York City marathon.

On the hills I kept my strides quick and short to lessen on the impact. Took full advantage on the downhills without holding back as I need to simulate the downhill for the Queensboro bridge (part of the NYC Marathon course) as much as possible.

First, second and third loop all went on perfectly with no issues. Only setback was that I stopped 3 times to wet the earth after every harlem hill :-). Can’t keep hydrating with a full bladder, lol.

Race and time goal was a success. Weather was perfecto! This ends an Epic race weekend for me. Next up New York City Marathon. November 4th!

Official Time: 2:15:08 (7:31/mile)

Overall Place: 217/4320

AG Place: 41/421 (Top 10% gotta be happy with this performance 🙂 )