Hardcore Running:Race Report from NYRR Anniversary 5M Run

So many times along the way from my bed to the start I considered sitting this one out. Sigh…if I only looked out the window or left ten minutes late, I could’ve avoided the whole fiasco! Oh, did I mention, I PR’d this race by exactly 30 seconds! Yeah, imagined how PO’d I would’ve been if I didn’t even have that as a race souvenir! A bunch of you, especially those that don’t live in NYC, probably have no clue what I’m talking about right now, so let me take a step back and reintroduce the topic again.

The NYRR Anniversary 5 Mile Run was held today (Wednesday, June 4th) at 5:30 AM to celebrate NYRR’s 50^th birthday. As one of the highlight races of Running Week, it was somewhat unique in that it was FREE and took place on the morning of a normal workday. I had signed up for this race a couple of weeks back because I wanted to run a 5 mile race which I hadn’t done since last year, and also as a mini-practice for the San Francisco Marathon in August, which coincidentally enough will also begin at 5:30 AM. Originally, I thought the timing of this race would make it inconvenient and unpopular for the majority of NYC running folk. So I was totally surprised by the news a few days back that the race cap of 5,000 participants had been reached and registration for the race was closed. Wow!

I had planned to get to bed by 10pm last night in order to get up at 4AM for the trek over to the race start, located at the Lower West Side of Central Park (which by the way is so inconvenient for this Upper East Side apartment dweller!) However, as been the case recently, I didn’t really hit the sack until closer to midnight. Urrgghh! As I drifted off, I set my alarm grudgingly…not knowing whether it’d be realistic for me to get up to race on a work morning with only 4 hours of sleep!

When the alarm first sounded at the appointed hour, I sat up with a slight headache, shut off my alarm, and had every intention of drifting back to sleep. I was still very tired, and the thought of dragging myself more than one-and-a-half miles over to Tavern on the Green for a 5 mile race with a full panel of patients to attack once I got back sounded crazy and incomprehensible. Yet, the more I wanted to go back to sleep, twisting and turning every which way, the more I was unable to drift off. Eventually, I got fed up with the whole exercise, saw that the clock only read 4:30 AM, got up, got dressed as quickly as I could, and headed out the door.

In retrospect, maybe it was fortunate that I didn’t get up at the designated hour, because then I would’ve had time to check the weather forecast and seen what I was up against. I didn’t know until I was fully dressed in running gear and out the door that rain had been falling steadily since late last night. There were puddles everywhere and I was not prepared for either the rain or the crisp cold humid air. I had never run a race in rain before, so my first instinct was to turn around and go back to bed. But then I thought about how tough it was for me to get up this morning and how bad I felt this weekend after my miserable long run and knew that I needed to prove to myself that I am a runner and not a wimp. Besides, it was only a light steady rain, and I could barely feel it hitting my face while I’m running. It’s not so bad.

Boy, was I wrong. By the time I jogged over to the east entrance of the park, the light steady rain had begun giving way to an outright downpour. Up to this point on my jog over from my apartment, I did not pass by a single runner, which was unusual for a sold-out NYRR race. Maybe they had canceled it due to the inclement weather, I thought to myself as I continued to jog over to the start. All around me, the rain was pelleting the ground like little water grenades As I slowly made my way on the wet pavement, I started to get worried. Where are the cones, the mile markers, the volunteers? Could it really be that I was the only one dumb enough to show up for a race in a torrential rainstorm? What an idiot am I if I showed up only to find out it had been canceled. Maybe I should just go back right now. Why am I going further? I can’t run a race in this weather. This is absolutely crazy! Kudos to the little voice in the back of my head which kept telling me “We need to be hardcore right now…are you a hardcore runner? Because only hardcore runners would be running here at THIS time, at THIS place, under THESE conditions…everyone else who’s not is at home sleeping right now…you decide which you wanna be!”

I felt a little better once I made it over to the 72^nd Street Transverse when I saw a pack of crazy runners with bib numbers jogging over to the start. It turned out that I wasn’t the only hardcore runner here today. I just couldn’t see them from where I was because they were all hiding underneath the trees, trying to find some cover against the rain. There were not that many people at the race today (at least not what I was accustomed to at an NYRR race anyways) but to everyone’s credit, all the people that were out really tried hard to enjoy themselves. There were more smiles and laughters to be had in the inclement weather than looks of concern or disgust…which really really surprised me. So this is what hardcore runners look like. I had no idea! For once, I think I was quite proud to be one of them.

Once I realized that I was actually going to run this race, I tried to devise a suitable racing plan. I knew right away that I was not going to break 32 minutes like I intended when I first signed up for the race. The heavy rain mixed with the wet pavement was just not going to be conducive to a fast time. I wanted to run conservative and in control, so that I wouldn’t inadvertently take a wrong step, slip, and take a tumble (I am very paranoid about avoiding injuries at all cost!) but still run fast enough to possibly PR. I fully expected all the hardcore speedsters to be out at full force, and for once, I’m not going to exhibit any bravado in an effort to chase anyone down, but just run my own race at a pace that was comfortably fast for me. To be honest, all I really wanted to do was get through the race so I could run home and get out of my dripping wet clothes!

After some brief announcements from Mary Wittenberg, the CEO of NYRR, at exactly 5:30 AM, we heard the starting horn and were off. It was still raining hard as the race began so I was glad just to be moving again. I started the race running a fast but conservative pace like I had planned. Despite some creative sidestepping around water puddles, I somehow managed to cross the first mile with a time of 6:13. I was surprised and frightened by this time so I scaled back a bit to avoid burnout.

Mile 2 coincided with the toughest uphill of the course, affectionately known to us regulars as Cat Hill. I usually like to take this hill pretty aggressively because this is my home turf so to speak and pride myself on being able to climb this steep incline better than my competitors, but given the weather and wet course as it was, I conceded my pace and yielded right of way to those around me. At first, it was quite demoralizing to see so many people past me by, but then one by one, they all said thank you as they ran past, as if they knew my plan all along. This has never happened to me before. It felt weirdly satisfying to be so appreciated. I think I was a little too willing to play this role as I recorded only a pace of 6:35 for this second mile.

The rain finally did stop sometime in the middle of Mile 3. I thought I’d feel better about things, but by this time, I really no longer cared. The damage had already been done. My shoes and socks were soaked and I had given up trying to avoid road puddles. There were just too many. After a slow mile 2, I had all but given up on running a fast race. All I was concerned about was keeping my average under 6:30, which was my previous PR pace, and finishing the damn run before I develop blisters on my feet. I reached the 102^nd street transverse and the Mile 3 marker at 6:24.

Two more miles, just two more…I kept repeating to myself as I made the climb over the west side hills. I was starting to feel some fatigue in my legs from carrying my soggy feet for so long. Everyone around me was slowing down a tad too, which gave me extra motivation to beat a few of them up the hill. Aside from my hammys sending intermittent achy signals to my brain, I was actually feeling not so bad. The rain had stopped it seemed for good and the night sky had suddenly given way to some daylight. Because I had no aspirations of racing fast, I felt very comfortable running the pace that I was going. I knew I would have to push it in the final mile for the finish, so I took this next-to-last mile to appreciate the fact that I had made it out for this hardcore run so early in the morning. Rover, my Garmin, read 6:33 as I passed the Mile 4 marker.

Mile 5, the last mile, was all about bringing it home. It was for the most part downhill, which made it easier to run fast. I let two runners sneak up past me in the first half of this mile, but then caught two others in the last half. The finish of the race next to Tavern on the Green was anti-climactic because there was no crowd, no announcer, and not even a large banner to signal the end of the race. I think I could have shaved even a few more seconds off if I were able to tell where the actual end of the race was from a distance. Still, I was happy to end with a semi-fast 6:22 last mile for a final time of 32:10. It was another PR for me, an improvement of 30 seconds on my previous best at this distance. To celebrate, I ran home as fast as I could, showered, changed, and headed straight for work. Talk about hardcore!

Final Statistics
Finishing Time - 32:10;
Pace – 6:25; Age Graded % - 66.8;
Overall Place – 82/1784 (4.6%); [Wow…only 1784 finishers out of 5000 registered!]
Gender Place – 79/999 (7.9%);
Age Place – 29/645 (4.5%)