COW HARBOR 10K RACE AND NEW PR

Although I am training/running races to qualify for the 2009 NYC Marathon, THIS race was the race I was waiting for. I ran this race in 2005 (1:01:30 a 9:54 pace), and I knew I could do better. Kids, life in general got in the way, and 2006, 2007 went by the wayside. But, this morning, I woke up, and it was 2008 COW HARBOR day!!!! And I was READY!! My legs felt great, considering I ran the Queens Half just 6 days ago, but I was smart, and just did a very easy (10min miles) 3 mile run on Thursday to keep the legs loose, and took the rest of the week off.

It was great sleeping in before a race (Cow Harbor 10K race is run in the next town over from me), so no 4:30am wake up this time:) I slept till 7am, lounged around the house with hubby and kids, and left the house around 7:50 am. Drove to the closest Stop and Shop parking lot (which was about a 1/4 of a mile from the start of the race). Got there with about 30min till race time. No issues with having to pee this time!! Walked around, found my orange corral, and waited for the gun to sound.

Oh, today's weather could not have been nicer. No humidity (or at least I don't know what it was, LOL, but it was very low, BR411, any clue????) and the temp was about 62 degrees. Cool, but not too chilly. Just the PERFECT day for a run.

Start was supposed to start at 8:30. but they were running about 5 minutes late. I was the 9th wave. This course is organized perfectly. You put in a predicted time, they place you in a corral based on that time, and then they start the corrals about 1 minute apart from each wave. So, it's crowded, but NOT mass confusion.

I got myself to the start of the wave/corral. and when the gun went, took off. The first mile of this race is downhill, and I took it a little faster than I would have liked (8:04), but I guess that's what happens when the adrenaline is going and you're at the beginning of the corral, you kind of get sucked up in the moment. But, not a bad start...

Mile 2: is basically all uphill, climaxing with James street which is a 202 ft elevation. I took mile 2 at 8:55, which was about the pace I wanted to do this mile, but the legs started to get tired because of doing the first mile WAY too fast (I think I was also starting to feel the affects of the Queens Half, i think:(

Mile 3: was basically a little uphill and then flat, and I did that one in 8:43, slower than I would have liked, but like I said, the legs were starting to get heavy. and I stopped to walk for about 15 seconds while I drank some water. I still can't run and drink at the same time. LOL

Mile 4: was basically flat and then downhill. I did this one in 8:12, and the legs were feeling good again.

Mile 5: was basically a gradual incline, but not too bad. Usually I do this one in about the same time as mile 4, but I could feel legs, so I took it slower, and came in at 8:43 Guess the downhills were affecting me more than usual. LOL

Mile 6: starts with a fairly steep uphill, but not for long, and then it levels off, and then it's all downhill. I kicked it in, even with the hill, and did a 7:55 mile, might have kicked it in a little too soon, as I didn't have the kick for the last .2 that I would have liked, and by then both my calves were yelling at me. LOL

Last .2: This is all downhill. I gave it my all, and was definitely passing people, and my calves were complaining, but I entered the finish shoots at, I think 52:38, I was so spent and excited I forgot to turn off the Garmin right away, and we all know how long a second can take. LOL My Garmin time was 52:44, but I'm guessing it took 5 or 6 seconds for me to realize I had to turn off "George", my nickname for my Garmin:)

So, when I get the official results I will post them, but overall I am very happy. I went into the race with a HUGE goal of trying to beat 51:00, since on May 19th, I ran the Healthy Kidney 10K, in 55:29, and then on July 12th, I ran the Park to Park 10K, in 54:38, both of these races were run in excruciatingly HOT and HUMID conditions, so I thought I could run today's race faster, and set the goal to 51:00, since it was cooler, and virtually NO humidity. Oh well. LOL

But I am still excited, because I still ran it faster than the above two 10K's, and I completely blew away my 2005 course time of 1:01:30 for this race.

Next race, 3 weeks, 1 day away, Staten Island Half Marathon on Sunday, October 12th!!!

I came home and soaked in a very cold bath tub for about 30 minutes, and hung with the kids.

Now it is time to get ready for the birthday party for my 8 year old. Wow, how time flies, I still remember giving birth to her like it was yesterday:) Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you!!!