SATISFACTION

I'm satisfied with today's race. I ran the 4-miler in 28:49, a 38 second improvement over 2 weeks ago, a performance that meets all the reasonable goals I set out yesterday.

And, as a bonus, I took third place honors out of 77 men in my age group. My time doesn't merit an award, of course, but it's still nice to get one!

The weather was reasonable and it was SO NICE to be running in shorts and singlet. I lined up near the front with many faster racers because it just doesn't pay to be further back. The bottlenecks at the start are getting worse and worse as NYRRC compresses us into smaller parts of the road, and they're having a growing impact on early pace. I want no part of that even if it means getting pulled out too fast...

...Which, of course, I was. My first two miles were just a bit over 7 minutes and I just can't sustain that pace...yet. Coach Bob went past me on the second mile but the other runners I was aware of remained comfortably behind. Mile 3 with the west side hills was too draining and my pace slowed. I had Bob in sight the whole way but I didn't have the necessary oomph to go after him. Or anyone else ahead of me. The final west side hill came at the start of mile 4 and that was even more depleting. I was able to speed up a bit on the downhills, however, and finished up okay. I wish I could brag about my final kick but I had none. I had all I could do to maintain my pace thru the finish.

I was happy when it was over. So pleased was I as I mulled it over that I forgot to run my 2 mile cooldown. No problem. I think I cool down better with a slow walk and an apple.

I didn't reach my unrealistic goals, but that's also okay. Soon they won't be unrealistic. :-))