Raced All Weekend

I raced both days this weekend. On Saturday it was the NYRR Holiday 5 miler in Central Park and on Sunday in was the Peter Rabbit Cross Country 3 miler in Prospect Park. Sunday’s race was definitely the highlight of the two even though it was the slowest 3 miles I’ve ever run. It was a PR for my daughter though who also won her Age Group. I am not too concerned with my slow time, or the fact that I was last and she beat me.

This was the first real race my daughter has participated in. I was very happy when she said that should we give it a try and smiling as we headed down to race registration. We looked around at the other runners and tried to figure out who we could beat. We saw one older gentleman putting on a number on top of his down jacket and figured we could beat him. I thought a few other kids would be in the race considering it was so short, but my daughter was the only one under 16 in attendance.

The race start is very informal with everyone lining up on a grass field. There was no particular starting or finishing lines and we all went when someone yelled go. We started out running and were with several other runners for quite some time. After a mile or so she started to get a little tired and we began to take walking breaks. We undoubtedly went out too hard, but she was a trooper and wanted to keep going on. We walked, we ran, we ran holding hands. It was a great time. For a long time we had another runner within out sights, but eventually she got ahead of us and out of sight. We kept turning back though to see if the older guy was behind us. We learned that he was walking the race and kept checking to make sure we weren’t going to be passed. With about a mile left in the race we found out that the walker had dropped. I think we were a little disappointed, but it didn’t really matter.

To keep our focus on the race and to avoid completely walking in the latter stages, we picked out landmarks in the distance and would run to them. I’d give her a head start and we would race to it and then follow that up with a walking break. We did this for a mile or so and it served to make the time go by quickly. We finished the race running side by side and were greeted across the finish line by some cheering spectators, along with Mom and Brother. The race director gave Sophia an award and she proudly wore it home.

We didn’t have time to go back to the registration area for bagels and hot chocolate, since I had to race again to get my son to basketball practice. I told Sophia that for the rest of the day should could sit on the couch and do nothing by watch TV. We both felt she earned it. I wish I got to do that as well. After basketball, but I had to help my wife geocode the locations of Monk Parakeet nests located around Flatbush Brooklyn for a school project. I am now intimately familiar with the familial locations of many Monk Parakeet homes.

For Saturday’s Holiday 5 miler, I finished in a crisp 37 minutes. The start of the race kind of got away from me and I found myself all the way in the back of the pack when the gun went off. I don’t like being that far back at the start of the race and it irked me to wait the couple of minutes to cross the starting line. I always get a twinge of nervousness when this happens, as if I don’t get further forward fast, I will somehow by left in the dust. I think that was what Sophia was feeling today when she wanted to know that someone else was behind us.

I ran the race harder than I should have, but I just did what felt good. Here is a chart of my splits. With this race out of the way, I only have one more to do in order to guarantee entry into next year’s NYC Marathon. Hopefully, I will be able to get it in on Sunday at the Joe Kleinerman 10K. Perhaps I’ll even go for a PR.