NYRR Gridiron Classic (4M)/Longest Football - Run4 Mile


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New York, New York
United States
New York Road Runners
14F / -10C
Sunny
Total Time = 39m 20s
Overall Rank = 3215/4474
Age Group = 30-39
Age Group Rank = 441/1579
Pre-race routine:

always a good idea to have a back up alarm, because i'd inadvertently set my alarm clock to 6:30PM - good thing i set my watch to 6:35AM, because it was the only thing that woke me up.
i had laid out my clothes the night before, so i tiptoed into the bathroom to get dressed, was out the door in 25 minutes.
did not eat a thing (might not have been the best choice)
Event warmup:

oy! just being outside was a workout... let's see, i got into the city quickly, but finding parking was a challenge. had to park 6 blocks from NYRR and walk to go pick up my number and shirt. then i had to walk from 89th to the baggage check in, from there to the start. the wind was B-R-U-T-A-L! and there was plenty of it in the beginning.
HAD to do a quick mile just to get the blood flowing to my extremities - it was the only way to survive. could not believe there were people in SHORTS at the race! INSANE!
Run
  • 39m 20s
  • 4 miles
  • 09m 50s  min/mile
Comments:

the wave start made my whole warm up a moot point - no kidding, we stood there huddled in the corral for a full 15 minutes - felt like the scene from march of the penguins where the dad penguins huddle together to stay warm (luckily we didn't have to take turns being on the outside)
once we FINALLY got to start running, the pack didn't thin out as it would have if we'd seeded ourselves on pace alone... very hard to run in the crowd - but it might have helped me go faster.
mile 1 & 2 felt really fast and sorta good. i kept thinking of the song "lose yourself" by eminem because i had used it during training - the beat matched the cadence of a 9;20 pace on the treadmill - go figure. by mile 3 things started to look a tad bleak - i was breathing hard and the wind was picking up a bit. somehow, i got through it - with jen's cheering and sheer determination.
mile 4 - i felt better and by the time i could see the finish, jenn said - two minutes left to make your goal time - so we poured it on (relatively speaking) as we approached the finish i heard them playing "lose yourself" so that felt great and we sprinted to the end... WOW!
What would you do differently?:

eat something before leaving the house
Post race
Warm down:

turned in timing chip, passed on the frozen bagels and fruit, picked up our bags and collected my cookies!!! jenn and i ate one to celebrate the achievement and decided against another two miles (she was rewarding my pace, not my distance this time - we'll go for a long run another day)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

the cold!

Event comments:

second NYRR race - 7 more to go!




Last updated: 2007-01-08 12:00 AM
Running
00:39:20 | 04 miles | 09m 50s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/1579
Overall: 0/4474
Performance: Good
so the goal was to break 40 on this - done! WOO HOO! mile 1: 9:55 mile 2: 9:31 mile 3: 10:13 (started having trouble) mile 4: 9:42 Jenn may have more accurate splits.
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3