6.2 = 10

saturday i ran the naples run in central park.. it was a 6.2 mile race which i later found out is a 10k!!

i'm new to this race thing so i am slow to make the mile to kilometer conversions, but when i found out it sounded much more exciting! This is the furthest i've ever raced.. i think it's the furthest i've ever run.

wednesday we had a group training run in the park which i was very excited for. coach ramon was taking us onto the side paths for a more leisurly scenic run through central park. i knew that it would fly by, and we'd end up running further than we realized. to top it off it was pouring rain. that great summer rain where the air is warm and the drops are huge. the park was all ours and i had alot of fun. we ran at an easy pace for an hour and 15 minutes taking a few 'breaks' to do squats and lunges. this part was not so fun, but it allowed the back of the pack to catch up to the front and in the end is only better for my bootie. turns out we ran just over 5 miles.

the run on saturday started out great. my goal was to average 9 minute miles. i followed the coaches race strategy.. take the first 2 miles easy (slightly off your goal time) then hit your goal time for miles 3-4 and speed up on 5-6.. this plan was working perfectly until the end of mile 3... hmmm, maybe i shouldn't have had the coffee, i kinda have to go to the bathroom... pops into my head. but as my friends know, when it comes to bathroom trips i'm a master at mind-over-matter. i was fine for mile 4, still sticking to my strategy and then at mile 5 things really got uncomfortable (the water stations were not helping either). i told myself i could make it to the finish, it was only about 15 minutes longer anyway.

so mile 5 and 6 seemed like an eternity, and i had no ipod to distract myself. mile 5 is also filled with the long incline of cat hill so these 2 obsticles caused me to slow down. i decided not to worry about my finish time, just worry about finishing. period.

i made it. i looked at the clock which said "59:00:00" at that point i couldn't remember what the time was when i crossed the starting line, so i was just going to have to wait to check my results online.

turns out, i reached a new personal record.. averaging 9:10 miles! and considering everything i was dealing with i'm quite happy. if i had my ipod, and if i didn't have to go to the bathroom i think i could have broken the 9 minute mark... so now i have a new personal goal!

miles run this week: 14
times i swore never to drink coffee before a race again: 8