2010 Coogan's 5K
by Robert James Reese » March 7th, 2010 » 9 Comments
Yesterday, my plan was to head out for a 23 miler. It didn't happen. My knee was hurting, I was tired from Friday night's too-fast workout, and I just didn't feel like wasting the $20 entry fee for today's race by tiring myself out the day before. So, I ended up only doing 10.6 miles instead and then stretched a bunch when I got home.
This morning, I met up with Antonio on the corner a couple minutes after eight and then we began running towards the starting line. We were taking it real easy, like 8:15s, but my lungs were acting up and I was getting winded. Our warmup lasted 4.2 miles and left me feeling pretty fatigued. I was nervous about how the race would go.
The starting horn sounded and we were off in the midst of chaos. A woman fell and the crowd swirled around her. Tons of people who should have been nowhere near the front were. It was slow, hectic progress for the first few hundred yards. Around a half mile in, things improved a little, but not a lot. There were people everywhere and most of them had seriously overestimated their abilities and began dropping like flies as we neared the first mile. It was like a game of Frogger dodging them. My Garmin beeped just a bit before the marker, at 5:55.
The first half of mile 2 was a huge downhill. Baker passed me here along with several others. I was flying, but they were flying even faster. The leaders were just rounding the loop as I started on it. Wow, they were moving. After avoiding some nasty potholes and dealing with some overly aggressive runners and their elbows, I finished the loop too and was greeted with the monster hill that I had just run down. I started charging up it strong, but controlled. I focused on my arms and tried to push into the ground with my feet. At the top of the hill, my Garmin beeped (again in front of the marker) a 5:56 mile.
My arms were filling with lactic acid and it was becoming increasingly difficult to push hard. But, at the same time, focusing on the pain itself was keeping me going. I managed to stay consistent with my speed, but I didn't have an extra gear that I could turn to. Luckily, most of this mile was downhill and I was able to just keep falling forward. My watch beeped at 5:54. I threw everything I had left out there at that point and crossed the line with the official clock saying 18:40, my watch saying 18:38 (and 3.15 miles), and me thinking that I had actually run an 18:37, but not sure. Whether or not I hit my goal was going to come down to seconds.
I met up with Baker and Antonio again after the race, we chatted a bit, and then Antonio and I started running back home. We decided to head back via our typical Wednesday route through the Bronx. We hadn't been up there for a couple months and it was amazing to see the progress they are making on the demolition of the old Yankees Stadium. We both had to pause and look with awe as we were running by. We ended up back in East Harlem after 4.6 miles that, strangely enough, felt much easier than the ones during the warmup.
I didn't have to wait long for the results. NYRR had them posted on the site by the time I got out of the shower... 18:36! A new P.R. and my sub-6:00/mile goal, despite my very tired legs and body, and a hilly course. Note: on the NYRR site, it says 6:00 pace, but when I put it into any of a half a dozen or so calculators it shows 5:59. I think that is because they are using 3.1 miles to calculate it and not 5 KM, which is actually a touch longer. Of course, I should just run one of these things a few seconds faster so there's no question at all it was sub-6, but I'm going to go ahead and count this one.
This morning, I met up with Antonio on the corner a couple minutes after eight and then we began running towards the starting line. We were taking it real easy, like 8:15s, but my lungs were acting up and I was getting winded. Our warmup lasted 4.2 miles and left me feeling pretty fatigued. I was nervous about how the race would go.
The starting horn sounded and we were off in the midst of chaos. A woman fell and the crowd swirled around her. Tons of people who should have been nowhere near the front were. It was slow, hectic progress for the first few hundred yards. Around a half mile in, things improved a little, but not a lot. There were people everywhere and most of them had seriously overestimated their abilities and began dropping like flies as we neared the first mile. It was like a game of Frogger dodging them. My Garmin beeped just a bit before the marker, at 5:55.
The first half of mile 2 was a huge downhill. Baker passed me here along with several others. I was flying, but they were flying even faster. The leaders were just rounding the loop as I started on it. Wow, they were moving. After avoiding some nasty potholes and dealing with some overly aggressive runners and their elbows, I finished the loop too and was greeted with the monster hill that I had just run down. I started charging up it strong, but controlled. I focused on my arms and tried to push into the ground with my feet. At the top of the hill, my Garmin beeped (again in front of the marker) a 5:56 mile.
My arms were filling with lactic acid and it was becoming increasingly difficult to push hard. But, at the same time, focusing on the pain itself was keeping me going. I managed to stay consistent with my speed, but I didn't have an extra gear that I could turn to. Luckily, most of this mile was downhill and I was able to just keep falling forward. My watch beeped at 5:54. I threw everything I had left out there at that point and crossed the line with the official clock saying 18:40, my watch saying 18:38 (and 3.15 miles), and me thinking that I had actually run an 18:37, but not sure. Whether or not I hit my goal was going to come down to seconds.
I met up with Baker and Antonio again after the race, we chatted a bit, and then Antonio and I started running back home. We decided to head back via our typical Wednesday route through the Bronx. We hadn't been up there for a couple months and it was amazing to see the progress they are making on the demolition of the old Yankees Stadium. We both had to pause and look with awe as we were running by. We ended up back in East Harlem after 4.6 miles that, strangely enough, felt much easier than the ones during the warmup.
I didn't have to wait long for the results. NYRR had them posted on the site by the time I got out of the shower... 18:36! A new P.R. and my sub-6:00/mile goal, despite my very tired legs and body, and a hilly course. Note: on the NYRR site, it says 6:00 pace, but when I put it into any of a half a dozen or so calculators it shows 5:59. I think that is because they are using 3.1 miles to calculate it and not 5 KM, which is actually a touch longer. Of course, I should just run one of these things a few seconds faster so there's no question at all it was sub-6, but I'm going to go ahead and count this one.
You can view the full details of this run in Robert James Reese's running log.
9 Comments
The nice thing about a 5k is that when you put in a lot of energy during the first 2 miles (as you clearly did), you can just hold tight and ride that for the last mile. That last mile goes SO fast.
Congrats!
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