Al Gordon 4 Miler
by Robert James Reese » Sunday, February 28th, 2010 » 4 Comments
I guess this is still a race report, even though I wasn't really racing this morning. Helen wanted to run the Al Gordon 4 Miler and I agreed that it sounded like fun. I wasn't sure when I signed up how seriously I'd take it, but by this morning there was no doubt in my mind that it was going to be a strictly easy and fun run. I've had a really tough week of recovery from Albany (considerably worse than with any previous marathon), only getting in 41 miles and struggling even for those. Even if I had wanted to run fast today, I don't think I could have.
The morning was very relaxed. After coffee and a bagel, we jogged down to Prospect Park and lined up about ten minutes before the start. I didn't even stretch and wasn't nervous at all at the start. It was a pleasant change from the stomach-wrenching anxiety I normally feel at the start of these things.
We had lined up near the back of the blue corral, so there was a delay after the start before we were actually able to start running. Helen was feeling better than me and zoomed ahead as I settled into a 6:55 pace. When I got to the big hill, I picked up the pace and ran hard up it, but then slowed right back down at the top and let everyone that I had just passed pass me back.
Mile 2 was another 6:55, nice and easy. I was just enjoying the park, the snow, the sun. When mile 3 rolled around, I was feeling really good and decided to speed up just a bit. I ran a 6:35 and then a 6:28 the final mile. I felt a little bad about passing so many folks who were struggling then – it seemed almost like I was cheating somehow by running the first miles so easy and having so much fun with it.
I hadn't been hitting the tangents at all (in fact I was running on the far outside the whole race) so I ended up with an extra .04 miles according to my Garmin. I finished up in 27:04, smiling, and walked through the chute towards Helen. She had run a 25:24, finishing 5th. We hung out for a bit chatting with her teammates and then ran into an old GMR teammate of mine before finally doing a super slow jog back.
All in all, a very enjoyable Sunday morning run.
The morning was very relaxed. After coffee and a bagel, we jogged down to Prospect Park and lined up about ten minutes before the start. I didn't even stretch and wasn't nervous at all at the start. It was a pleasant change from the stomach-wrenching anxiety I normally feel at the start of these things.
We had lined up near the back of the blue corral, so there was a delay after the start before we were actually able to start running. Helen was feeling better than me and zoomed ahead as I settled into a 6:55 pace. When I got to the big hill, I picked up the pace and ran hard up it, but then slowed right back down at the top and let everyone that I had just passed pass me back.
Mile 2 was another 6:55, nice and easy. I was just enjoying the park, the snow, the sun. When mile 3 rolled around, I was feeling really good and decided to speed up just a bit. I ran a 6:35 and then a 6:28 the final mile. I felt a little bad about passing so many folks who were struggling then – it seemed almost like I was cheating somehow by running the first miles so easy and having so much fun with it.
I hadn't been hitting the tangents at all (in fact I was running on the far outside the whole race) so I ended up with an extra .04 miles according to my Garmin. I finished up in 27:04, smiling, and walked through the chute towards Helen. She had run a 25:24, finishing 5th. We hung out for a bit chatting with her teammates and then ran into an old GMR teammate of mine before finally doing a super slow jog back.
All in all, a very enjoyable Sunday morning run.
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