Run for the Parks Video!

Thanks to the NYC Running Blog you can see me running (well, running by) but still it make me excited.

At 43 seconds, close to the bottom of the video you can see my pink hat, pink shirt and blond ponytail run by! It is a great video to see how beautiful a day it was!

Run for the Parks 4M

I have two words PERSONAL BEST. 10:24! The last time I was near this was for a 5K, my last 4M race I got 11:02. Next goal is to crack 10!

Waking up this morning I knew it was going to be a good day. I got to bed around 1am and yes, like my last few races, I had a couple beers last night. It was a friend’s birthday and all of my good intentions to drink soda water faded when I realized a can of beer came with a kozzie. Don’t tempt me with free things because I will give in quite quickly.

I did, however, get up at 6am for the 8am race, had a cup of black coffee, two glasses of water as well as half a banana. For future races this worked great today. It was seriously cold when I took out the puppy but there was a feeling in the air that it was going to warm up quickly. Ladies and gentlemen it finally is SPRING!

This race was for the Parks Foundation so there was a band and some free samples at a little fair in the park. I had jogged to the start since I have been told this is key to get your speed up on short runs. I had Clive’s race number which I always pick up for him and waited for him at the “super awesome runner” corral (the 1-1,999).

Clive evidently had train problems because at 7:55, no Clive. Nervous and facing a long trek back to my corral I see Clive finally run up. Number passed I jumped into a corral I had no business being in.

At the start of the race I feel really good and heading into the hill on the east side I feel really solid. I kept my pace which really is a first for me with these hills. I’ve been working on hill training doing sprints on the treadmill and I could really feel like my hard work was paying off.

Hitting the straight I glanced at the runners around me and realized how cool these races are. It is amazing people watching to see every size, shape and color just running away early on a Sunday morning. Today the race wasn’t capped so there were 5,379 finishers! It is amazing to see t-shirts and racing shirts showing marathons, 5k’s, ect… that everyone has set out to to and conquered.

At the 102 Transverse I knew I was having a good race. Usually going over on the West Side I slow down a bit going up the incline but thankfully I had some oomph to keep going. Hitting the downhill on the West Side was the best feeling today. At this point it was a sunny bright day and so many people were in the park cheering us on. I want to personally thank the Jackrabbit Running Store person with the bell who mentioned to me I had a 1/4 mile to go.

I sprinted that last 1/4 mile. LOVED also that the finish line was on a left hand turn so you were going downhill. Downhill finish lines are seriously the best. There is nothing more painful than sprinting uphill to finish a race.

So I’m still slow in the grand scheme of NYRR but for Tiffany today I was a SPEED RACER! Even after a night of celebrating Amy’s birthday I was able to get up, run, then rehash and have a coffee with Clive. Perfect start to a great day!

Next Race: Seventh Annual Run as One (4M)

Distance: 4.0 Miles, 6.4 Kilometers
Date/Time: April 5, 2009, 8:00 am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: (not supplied but about 45 degrees)