Kicking Off the Right Way

Bob C.

I tried not to stay out too late on Saturday night when I met some friends for Halloween drinks, so that I could get up early the next morning for the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff, a five mile race in Central Park. I got home early and woke up Sunday morning to temperatures in the mid forties, weather good for racing

The race is sponsored by Poland Spring bottled water. They also supply entertainment for the start/finish area, and I work at Related with the drummer of the band supplying the entertainment, Joe. I saw him before the race and chatted for a few minutes.

Race Sponsor

I made my way to the start where I met up with a fellow Terrier Tri member, David. At the start someone sang the National Anthem, and it was the best rendition I've ever heard at a race! After a few more announcements the horn went off. I was trying out the "Virtual Partner" feature of my GPS watch again. My previous PR for a five mile race was 35:59, which equates to a 7:11 per mile pace. I have been on a roll lately so was hoping to PR this race too, so I set my virtual partner to run at a 7:10 pace, and I would just try to stay slightly ahead. As I crossed the start line I started the watch.

You can qualify for a guaranteed entry to the New York City Marathon with a fast marathon or half marathon time (which I almost did in my last race), but for most people to get in you have to run nine races and volunteer for at least one during the year before the marathon. This was going to be my eighth race, but since one charity race counted as double, I would officially have my nine races. There are only a few races left this year and the last several races of the year are always very crowded as everyone tries to get their nine races in.

Flyers at the 2009 Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff

This race was no exception, it was pretty crowded. There was quite a bit of traffic at the beginning and I had to work my way around a lot of people. I kept an eye on my virtual partner and I was keeping up, despite the crowd. At the first mile I was actually about 20 seconds ahead. I backed off a little, as I didn't want to blow up in the first half and have nothing left for the second half.

I had started running with David, and was ahead of him for a little while, but he soon passed me. I watched him as he got further and further ahead. He was making the most of his one race!

Sheila Q.

There were quite a few people in Halloween costumes in this race, and I was running along pretty comfortably when I heard someone shout "Go Gumby!". There I was, running at what I hoped was going to be a PR pace, and Gumby is keeping up with me?

Around that time I passed a Flyer friend, Sheila. She asked me what pace I was running, and I told her I was aiming for 7:10, but that it would be a PR if I managed to do it. She said that she would try to stay with me and it would be a PR for her too.

By the end of the second mile I was 30 seconds ahead of my virtual partner. Still going too fast. But I noticed that the watch was indicating the miles a little early (it vibrates at every mile). Not that I was unaware, but there was an article about this in the New York Times the other day saying that the GPS watches, nice as they are, are not 100% accurate, and gave several reasons why. So knowing that the watch was a little short on the distance, it was going to be a little optimistic with the pace. So I tried to keep my 30 second lead, just to be safe!

The route for this race starts just north of what used to be Tavern on the Green and we head north along the west drive in the Park. At the 102nd Street transverse we turn right to cross over to the east drive where we start heading south again. Then we go all the way down to the bottom of the Park and head around and back north again at Columbus Circle. From there on we are on the last four or five hundred yards of the New York City Marathon course. To me this is the easy direction around the Park. We have the same hills as the other way but they just don't feel so bad in this direction.

That said, I was still suffering on the hills! I just tried to concentrate on my running form, and keeping my cadence up. At one point I was 34 seconds up on my virtual partner, and I was losing ground running up the hills and getting the time back on the way down the hills. After the third mile I was hurting and just hoping to be able to maintain a reasonable pace. I felt like I was really slowing down.

After the fourth mile it was worse, but then we have a long downhill. Before I knew it though, I was at the bottom and I didn't feel like I benefited at all going down it. My legs were getting heavy and it was an effort to keep my cadence up. Once we made the final turn to head back north to the finish line it's all up hill. I always thought that this was a particularly cruel way to finish a marathon! It wasn't any less cruel today. I struggled to keep up my pace. My virtual partner said I was doing OK, but my lungs and my legs did not agree!

The Finish Line!

After a few more yards I could finally see the finish! I gave it everything I had and finally crossed the line. I stopped my watch a second or two later and checked - 35:29. Yes! Another PR! I walked towards the reception area, running into several Flyer and Terrier friends along the way. One was even wearing a Superman outfit, sans cape. He said he was pretty hot wearing that costume. I heard that Gumby really suffered wearing his!

I went to listen to Joe and the band playing some nice old rock music and ran into another work friend, Kelly, there to see Joe.

For the first time ever at a running race I went to look at the results - I had never even seen them posted before. My official time was 35:27 for a 7:05 pace. That's 32 seconds faster than I've ever run five miles before! I placed 9th of 128 in my age group and was 401st overall of 4,958 finishers. For the first time I have qualified for the USATF All-American Masters Standards of Excellence. Not sure exactly what it means, but it's a first for me!

I'm not sure what races I'll be doing next. There are a few in December but it'll be tough to keep up the pace now that the season's winding down and it's getting colder and wetter.

In the meantime, good luck to all the NYC Marathoners! - Bob C.

Ed. Note: For the full story, and Bob's many other race reports, visit his blog.