Colon Cancer Challenge, 5th edition
Damn, it was cold!
I got there at 8:50 so I didn't have time to meet the people running the 4 mile race at 9:00. I went over to the start line and said hi to Dr. Weber (the head of Partners in Prevention) and looked for runners I know.
After cheering the runners at the start, I went over towards the finish to cheer them on to the end. The men's race came down to a neck and neck finish, and the winner outkicked second place to win by a second.
I went over to the center area to meet up with friends, but between the crowd and the cold, I didn't meet up with too many people. Just a couple at the very end, right before the 15K starting at 10:15.
By this time, my toes were frozen. We headed over to the start and somehow ran into the VP of my hospital. 3,000 runners and I always run into him in these races. Strange.
The beginning was extremely crowded. I've been feeling slow lately, so I didn't push too hard, and just took it easy. Well, sort of. It gets really annoying being stuck behind groups of people running, so I occasionally stepped out on the side. But not as much as I usually do. The first mile went be in 8:31, which included "Cat Hill".
I settled into a comfortable pace. Mile 2 approached, and I checked my watch. 7:33! Wow! I wasn't even working that hard, so I started to think that a PR could happen.
I probably pushed a little harder after being energized by that time. But then as my lap time started reaching 8 minutes, the mile marker was still in the distance. I passed it at 8:24, and realized the 2nd mile marker had clearly been wrong. Sigh. Average pace for the 2 miles was 7:56.
I was still doing ok, but I was tired. I didn't have the energy to push harder, but I forced myself to keep steady. Like usual I found myself passing people on the uphill, and being passed on the downhill. I felt like I was slowing, but somehow my splits were hanging in there.
7:44
7:50
8:00 (Cat Hill again)
Ok, maybe I was slowing a little, but not like I thought. Once again, I'd forgotten to look up my old PR. Also, I wanted to get in under an 8 min/mile pace, but didn't bother to figure out what time that would require. Sigh. I started doing math in my head, and began to realize that this goal was possible.
7:58
7:53
I knew my first mile was a little slow, but all my miles since then had been under 8. So I knew I was close, but I started pushing to make sure.
7:37 for mile 9! I was pretty sure I had it, but my math had come out to seeing 1:17 on the clock at the finish. It was still looking tight, so I really started pushing for the last 0.3. I didn't really kick it until the last 0.05, because I was really tired.
I finished the 0.3 in 2:13 (which about 7:23 pace). I missed the 1:17 by about 15 seconds, but when I finished I could look at the total time on my watch.
1:13:47. That's good for a 7:55 pace!! (And a 70 second PR over the only other time I raced this distance.)
(Actually, the NYRR calculates the pace as 7:56, but when I do the math it's 7:55. Which equals what the Cool Running calculator comes up with. There's often a discrepancy, and I have to email them about that.)
I was happy with my time, but I was wiped out for the whole day. I went out to lunch with a few friends, but that was pretty much it for the day. Yesterday I was on call, and did some late night operating. I'm only recovering today. It was a really nice afternoon, but I didn't feel like running. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get a chance to get back out there.
In terms of fundraising, I'd say we were quite successful. Personally, I raised $438, which is about where I've been in previous years. (Thanks so much to all who contributed. Quite a few readers joined in.) The team ended up with 32 runners, and together we raised over $3,600!
Now back to relaxing....
I got there at 8:50 so I didn't have time to meet the people running the 4 mile race at 9:00. I went over to the start line and said hi to Dr. Weber (the head of Partners in Prevention) and looked for runners I know.
After cheering the runners at the start, I went over towards the finish to cheer them on to the end. The men's race came down to a neck and neck finish, and the winner outkicked second place to win by a second.
I went over to the center area to meet up with friends, but between the crowd and the cold, I didn't meet up with too many people. Just a couple at the very end, right before the 15K starting at 10:15.
By this time, my toes were frozen. We headed over to the start and somehow ran into the VP of my hospital. 3,000 runners and I always run into him in these races. Strange.
The beginning was extremely crowded. I've been feeling slow lately, so I didn't push too hard, and just took it easy. Well, sort of. It gets really annoying being stuck behind groups of people running, so I occasionally stepped out on the side. But not as much as I usually do. The first mile went be in 8:31, which included "Cat Hill".
I settled into a comfortable pace. Mile 2 approached, and I checked my watch. 7:33! Wow! I wasn't even working that hard, so I started to think that a PR could happen.
I probably pushed a little harder after being energized by that time. But then as my lap time started reaching 8 minutes, the mile marker was still in the distance. I passed it at 8:24, and realized the 2nd mile marker had clearly been wrong. Sigh. Average pace for the 2 miles was 7:56.
I was still doing ok, but I was tired. I didn't have the energy to push harder, but I forced myself to keep steady. Like usual I found myself passing people on the uphill, and being passed on the downhill. I felt like I was slowing, but somehow my splits were hanging in there.
7:44
7:50
8:00 (Cat Hill again)
Ok, maybe I was slowing a little, but not like I thought. Once again, I'd forgotten to look up my old PR. Also, I wanted to get in under an 8 min/mile pace, but didn't bother to figure out what time that would require. Sigh. I started doing math in my head, and began to realize that this goal was possible.
7:58
7:53
I knew my first mile was a little slow, but all my miles since then had been under 8. So I knew I was close, but I started pushing to make sure.
7:37 for mile 9! I was pretty sure I had it, but my math had come out to seeing 1:17 on the clock at the finish. It was still looking tight, so I really started pushing for the last 0.3. I didn't really kick it until the last 0.05, because I was really tired.
I finished the 0.3 in 2:13 (which about 7:23 pace). I missed the 1:17 by about 15 seconds, but when I finished I could look at the total time on my watch.
1:13:47. That's good for a 7:55 pace!! (And a 70 second PR over the only other time I raced this distance.)
(Actually, the NYRR calculates the pace as 7:56, but when I do the math it's 7:55. Which equals what the Cool Running calculator comes up with. There's often a discrepancy, and I have to email them about that.)
I was happy with my time, but I was wiped out for the whole day. I went out to lunch with a few friends, but that was pretty much it for the day. Yesterday I was on call, and did some late night operating. I'm only recovering today. It was a really nice afternoon, but I didn't feel like running. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get a chance to get back out there.
In terms of fundraising, I'd say we were quite successful. Personally, I raised $438, which is about where I've been in previous years. (Thanks so much to all who contributed. Quite a few readers joined in.) The team ended up with 32 runners, and together we raised over $3,600!
Now back to relaxing....
posted by Danny on Tuesday, March 11, 2008
4 Comments:
Congrats on a great race time! :)
Nice job on a frigid morning. It always amazes me that you can do the math in your head while running, especially at that pace.
It was a great run and I was glad to be a part of it. Thanks for the picture too!
Great job, and great job on getting such a large team!! And you really do manage a lot of math while you run!! I guess it's those smart doctor brains!!
Post a Comment
<< Home