Cowboy Hazel

Helen and I decided to trek out to Queens this morning to try our luck at the JFK Runway Run 5K. It was worth the trip. Helen won the women's race with a 19:15! And, I came in 5th overall running a 17:33 – my best 5K ever by 35 seconds! Part of me wanted to run the Scotland Run here in the park with all my teammates, but I thought that racing a 10K this close to Boston would be unwise. And plus, how exciting is it to run yet another loop of Central Park? Not nearly as exciting as it was to be out on the runway…

A look at Google Maps told us that driving time from here to there was 23 minutes but that public transit would take almost two hours, so we splurged and got a car service to pick us up. The driver thought it was a little funny that we were asking to be dropped off at "Building 14" and not at the terminal, but we explained that it was for a race. He just shook his head at that. I can imagine him thinking, Crazy runners. He might be right.

Check-in was amazingly smooth and the volunteers were so friendly. It was a nice change from the NYRR race scene. They bussed us out to the secured area by the runway and we were able to do our warmup jog on the tarmac. It was cool being in such a wide open space.

The race wasn't very big, only 606 runners, so I lined up right at the start and chatted with the other guys, asking what they were looking to run. There was some speed up there and I knew before we even started that I had no chance of winning, but it was still fun to get to toe the line.

An air horn signaled the start and we were off. The course was a long, straight out-and-back and it was easy to get carried away at the start. A group of ten or so launched out really quick. I was part of it, but realized very soon that was I was overexerting and dropped back. I passed most of those guys by the time we had gotten to the mile 1 marker, though. My first mile was a 5:36 and I felt strong, in control.

The second mile, I started to fade a bit. When we got to the turnaround, I saw on my watch that I was only at a 5:50 pace, so I focused on speeding up and to start pushing and ended up finishing the mile in 5:44. We were aided by the wind on our way back, but just after the mile 2 marker, the pavement got very sticky and that seemed to cancel out the help from the wind. I guess it was tar? I don't know if it actually slowed us down or not, but if nothing else it felt really strange.

For the last mile, the run became more of a time trial for me than an actual race. The fifth place guy was fading as I passed him just after the halfway point and I could tell that I had opened up a ton of distance on him. The three lead runners were almost a minute ahead, running together. Fourth place was about halfway between them and me, but he was running strong and even though I closed the gap a little, I knew there was no chance of me catching him.

There was one turn we had to make about a quarter mile before the finish and we went over the slightest of hills (maybe a foot or two change in elevation), but I could totally feel it after being on such a flat course for the rest of the race. I saw the mile 3 clock and realized I would be well under 18 minutes, and that I might hit 17:30 so I picked it up as much as I could. My third mile was my fastest (5:35) and I ran a 5:17 pace the last 0.11, so I finished strong, but just not strong enough for sub-17:30.

Still, I'm thrilled with the time. My goal for the day was to run under 5:40 pace and I ended up running a 5:38 average. Mission accomplished.

I didn't have to wait long for Helen to finish. She wasn't feeling 100% and actually ran slower today than she did at Coogan's, but it was still good enough for the win. (And she beat me in AG%… again.)

There were a bunch of familiar PPTC faces out there today and they all cheered for me as I was running back towards the finish. That was cool. Also fun was that, right after the finish, I got a "Are you @tobadwater?" Yep, that's me. I was able to put a face with the name @NYCe.

We got very generous goodie bags after finishing and I promptly ate all the food in mine before heading out for my cool down run. Not the smartest plan.

We stuck around for the awards (thinking that Helen had won a flight – the winners in past years had) and the raffle drawing. The whole thing had this nice, laid-back community feel that is so often missing from New York City races. Although not quite as exciting as a free flight would have been, Helen did get a medal for finishing first. I got one too for being first in the 25-29 age group, but I traded it for the third place overall women's medal – Helen's teammate liked my medal better and I really didn't have a preference.

We took the subway home and it did indeed take almost two hours, but it was worth it. We were both happy about our races and glad that we were able to get the experience of running on an airport runway here in NYC.