One bridge, awesome views, new personal record, and plans

It's only a matter of minutes

This last Sunday I had the most scenic race so far. The Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5K Run/Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The course is an interesting one because it starts at the Manhattan end of the bridge with an easy but still noticeable incline, then a rather steep decline on the Brooklyn side, a sharp U-turn around a metal pole that was perfect to sling your arm around to pick up some speed, the same steep decline and incline in reverse, half-way around City Hall Park, and through the finish line. I guess all my running for distance and speed work played a part in achieving a new personal record again. This time I finished the 5k in 21:43 minutes (average pace of 7 minutes exactly per mile) and placed 77th out of 937 finishers in total and 10th out of 80 participants in my age group. I am curious how this translates to a much flatter course, like the one next Saturday on Roosevelt Island. I would love to break the seven minute-mile.

Waiting and warming up

Now that I have been running competitively for a few months now I am starting to set some intermediate goals for the near future. I would love to break into the top 3 finishers of my age group. So far it seems that I have to be able to run the 5k in 18 minutes and a few seconds or so. In order to get there I need to break the 20 minutes first. That translates into something like 6:30 minutes per mile. That sounds daunting but if I consider that I improved my pace from 8:30 to 7:00 within only 2 1/2 months I am still optimistic. Never say never. I think I am on the right track with my training and I just have to learn how to pace myself a bit better during a race. I noticed that I am very light-headed from excitement and probably nervousness for the first few minutes or so, i.e. getting myself into the right rhythm plus jockeying myself into position for the first half mile or so slows me down a bit. I also have still quite a bit left in me when it comes to the last stretch. Something to think about and work on. I am also planning to run my first 10k later this month. I do not know what my race pace for that distance is but my training pace is an 8 minutes per mile constant - no matter how long I run. So far I still have to break into the two digit distances but even for my longest runs so far (just a few yards shy of 10 miles), and no matter how hard I try to run as slow as I can, I always end up in the 7:50-8:15 range. And while running at that speed I am still able to talk just fine. So, my guess is that I will run my first 10k a little bit under 50 minutes. For the next one in September I want to get this closer to 45 minutes with the ultimate goal to get between 40 and 45 minutes. I also want to work on more distance. I originally planned on running my first marathon the year I turn 45, i.e. in 2015 but I think I will revise this and give it a try next year already while I want to try half-marathons around the end of this and start of next year. Until my knees, ankles, and feet give up!

And before I forget - NYC Summer Streets rocks. The day before the race I took a bike from 58th Street/2nd Ave, rode it all the way down to Brooklyn Bridge via a car-free Park Avenue, dropped it off at City Hall, ran all the way back up to 72nd Street via Park Avenue (lots of runners that day doing the same thing), did a little loop in Central Park, and ran back to 59th Street. The result was a good 6 1/2 miles of running with views that you can only get three times a year when the city closes Park Avenue for car traffic. It was amazing.