Lincoln Tunnel 5K
by Robert James Reese » April 25th, 2010 » 5 Comments
This morning, on tired legs and little sleep, I somehow broke my 5K personal best by 28 seconds, running an 18:08, a 5:49/mile pace. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. The weekend's running as a whole was dramatically different than I imagined my weekend between the Boston and New Jersey marathons would be. But, in this case, different definitely means good.
I took Tuesday through Friday really easy, trying to recover from Boston, but my legs were still a little stiff and sore yesterday morning when I met up with Joe and some of the other guys from WSSAC for a run in Central Park. My legs improved as the run went on and I was enjoying the company of the other runners so much that I ended up running almost 18.5 miles, much more than I had planned.
Helen and I were out at a dinner party in Queens last night and didn't get home until way past our normal bedtime. And, to catch the bus to New Jersey this morning, we had to wake up at 4:45. I was beyond sleepy. I ate a pastry, had some coffee, and had no plans at all of running anywhere near fast.
We met up with Antonio, got to the race start, and hung out in the tent, avoiding the rain. It was a nice, relaxing time and we ended up chatting with a woman who had run the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon (and who would win today's race). The rain made everything chilly but also seemed to make everyone more energetic somehow. Finally, they herded us over to the tunnel for the start.
I knew from last year that the hills would be rough and my legs were incredibly sore and tired, so I took off easy, not pushing at all. We were like 3 seconds back at the start, so there was lots of dodging other runners the first mile. Finally, the crowd started to thin out as we started the incline into NYC. But I kept passing runners. I was feeling good at the turnaround and pushed coming down the downhill. I saw Helen and then Antonio and cheered them both on. The final incline slowed me down a lot, but not as much as the others around me. I was passing people right up to the end and didn't get passed a single time. That was a huge mental boost. Also, I found out later that I finished 18th out of 2,013 overall. True, that number includes walkers, etc. but still I'm pretty happy to be in the top 1% for once. Helen finished not too far behind me, grabbing third place for the women.
We went over to my boss' house in Weehawken for a little brunch with everyone else from our charity team that had braved the rain to run today. And then, a couple hours later, laced up the running shoes again and started the run home. A couple miles into it, we stopped at a McDonald's to use the bathroom, but I was starving and so I ordered a cheeseburger and some Chicken McNuggets. I was a little nervous how they'd sit on my stomach, but it ended up being fine. We finished up the 13.6 mile run home with no digestive issues at all.
35-plus miles in two days definitely wasn't the plan, but it seems to have worked. I am extremely tired, but I don't feel like I pushed too far. I'm going to sleep a bunch tonight, take tomorrow easy, and then see where next week leads me.
I took Tuesday through Friday really easy, trying to recover from Boston, but my legs were still a little stiff and sore yesterday morning when I met up with Joe and some of the other guys from WSSAC for a run in Central Park. My legs improved as the run went on and I was enjoying the company of the other runners so much that I ended up running almost 18.5 miles, much more than I had planned.
Helen and I were out at a dinner party in Queens last night and didn't get home until way past our normal bedtime. And, to catch the bus to New Jersey this morning, we had to wake up at 4:45. I was beyond sleepy. I ate a pastry, had some coffee, and had no plans at all of running anywhere near fast.
We met up with Antonio, got to the race start, and hung out in the tent, avoiding the rain. It was a nice, relaxing time and we ended up chatting with a woman who had run the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon (and who would win today's race). The rain made everything chilly but also seemed to make everyone more energetic somehow. Finally, they herded us over to the tunnel for the start.
I knew from last year that the hills would be rough and my legs were incredibly sore and tired, so I took off easy, not pushing at all. We were like 3 seconds back at the start, so there was lots of dodging other runners the first mile. Finally, the crowd started to thin out as we started the incline into NYC. But I kept passing runners. I was feeling good at the turnaround and pushed coming down the downhill. I saw Helen and then Antonio and cheered them both on. The final incline slowed me down a lot, but not as much as the others around me. I was passing people right up to the end and didn't get passed a single time. That was a huge mental boost. Also, I found out later that I finished 18th out of 2,013 overall. True, that number includes walkers, etc. but still I'm pretty happy to be in the top 1% for once. Helen finished not too far behind me, grabbing third place for the women.
We went over to my boss' house in Weehawken for a little brunch with everyone else from our charity team that had braved the rain to run today. And then, a couple hours later, laced up the running shoes again and started the run home. A couple miles into it, we stopped at a McDonald's to use the bathroom, but I was starving and so I ordered a cheeseburger and some Chicken McNuggets. I was a little nervous how they'd sit on my stomach, but it ended up being fine. We finished up the 13.6 mile run home with no digestive issues at all.
35-plus miles in two days definitely wasn't the plan, but it seems to have worked. I am extremely tired, but I don't feel like I pushed too far. I'm going to sleep a bunch tonight, take tomorrow easy, and then see where next week leads me.
You can view the full details of this run in Robert James Reese's running log.
5 Comments
Well done.
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