Race Report: NYRR Ted Corbitt 15K

Hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend!  I returned from Chicago on Tuesday night toting many wonderful gifts, including a new coat and a Steak 'n Shake gift card (the NYC branch opens in just a few weeks, you know, and I'm beside myself with excitement), so I'm a happy gal.  

Before the holiday I ran the NYRR Ted Corbitt 15K in Central Park.  I had an ambitious time goal in mind, one that I previously mentioned here (and here!), with the idea that saying it out loud might help make it a reality.  That goal was 1:37, or about 10:30/mile pace.  I ran this race in 2010 in 1:42:31, and, after the marathon and a few subsequent successful longish training runs I knew I could probably cut off five minutes from that time.  Deep down, my super secret goal – the one that I thought was so unreasonable that I told almost no one – was to run this race in under 10:00/mile, which take me about 1:32.  NYRR stores its members’ fastest pace per mile and prints it on the bibs for its races, and this pace dictates participants’ bib numbers and where they get to line up before the race.  Faster people nearer to the front, etc.  I have long wanted my bib time to be below a 10:00/mile pace, but never, before this race, thought I was ready to accomplish that.  I have no idea how to “race” a race; I usually just go out there and run around a little bit, based on how I feel.  This is something I want to work on next year. 

The conditions on race day were perfect (for me).  I love cold weather, and that day it was clear and sunny and in the mid 30’s.  A little breezy, but not bad.  I wore capris, a short-sleeved tech tee, my awesome Nike wool half-zip top (recommended!) over it, gloves and a fleece hat.  I wasn't cold at all until later when I was walking home.

The first mile was frustrating, because the course was nutso crowded.  I kept thinking, “Can all these people REALLY run 9.3 miles?  I don’t believe it.  Pick it up.  Get outta my way.”  My first mile was around 10:30, and it felt sloooooow.  I don’t know what was going on in the back of the pack, but I passed tons of people.   (In case you’re new here, this is not normal for me.)

So, then, my second mile was under 9:30!  I knew that I had made up that 30 seconds over my goal pace and was feeling great, so I decided to go for my super secret goal.  The first few miles flew by, and I didn’t feel like walking at all.  I did walk through a water station at mile 5 and sucked down a Gu gel, which I wasn’t sure I needed, but ate anyway only because I was nervous that morning and had not eaten my normal amount of pre-race food. 

When I passed the 10K mark in less than an hour and compared that to my fastest recorded 10K time (1:03, or 10:10/mile pace), I thought that I could definitely lower my bib time and maybe break 1:30 for this race.  Toward the end, I tried to stay steady, keep my head up, and breathe easy, and I didn’t even walk up Cat Hill.  Win!  I finished in 1:29:23, with an average pace per mile of 9:36.  Hooray!  Can you tell that I am mighty excited about this?  I'm improving, and that feels good.

Afterward, I met up with some running friends, and everyone was very pleased with their results, which is always so great to hear.   

Looking forward, I have the Joe Kleinerman 10K on January 7th, and then the Manhattan Half-Marathon on January 21st.  I'm thinking about my goals for those races, and I will be happy with a 10K time under an hour and a half time under 2:15, but I might revise those thoughts based on the conditions and how I am feeling during my training for the [insane] Empire State Building Run-Up.  I'm also shopping for a March Half-Marathon (assuming I don't get in to the NYC Half - the lottery results should be out this week), but am not really looking past that.