My return to racing was not pretty. Those hills up in Van Cortland Park chewed me up then shat me out. I had a good idea what to expect, thanks to the Tweets from Joe Garland, but I had no way of knowing how poorly I would respond to the challenges of the course.
To be fair, I knew going into it that I wouldn’t have a stellar race today. I haven’t gotten a good workout in in almost two months. I finally started getting in some miles the past couple weeks, but it’s all been slow, easy work. So, I knew I wouldn’t P.R. today. But, I figured I’d at least be somewhere in the vicinity of my typical times. I was hoping to stay under 19 minutes.
Nope. 21:01 was where I finished, almost two-and-a-half minutes off my personal best. To help put that in perspective, that’s 6 seconds per mile slower than my half marathon pace. Christ.
The first mile went well. I heard my Garmin beep and looked down to see 6:06. Right on track. We were out in the open on flat ground and I was fighting for position with some serious looking runners. I was feeling pretty good too, even thinking that I maybe had been too conservative at the start.
But then, we entered the trees and immediately everything fell apart. The thick foliage was trapping in the heat and it felt like we were swimming in the thick, muggy air. On top of the heat, there were some serious hills. Maybe half a mile after we entered the trees, I almost threw in the towel. I was trying to dig deep, but there was just nothing there. When I heard the beep signifying the second mile was done, I looked down to see a disgusting 7:55. I couldn’t even believe it.
The third mile had a bunch of downhills and then finally we were back on the gravel in the open air. I finished it in 6:34. Not a good mile by any means, especially considering that so much of it was downhill. Then, coming down the homestretch, I made the mistake of looking down at my watch and seeing how bad the time was. I lost all heart and just kinda loped my way to the finish line, getting passed by a few more people in the process.
I passed through the chute and then just kept walking. We finished heading in the direction of the subway and I never even looked back.
That course kicked my ass today, bad. It’s been a really long time since I’ve run that poorly. I’m going to regroup, get some quality speed work in next week, and then head back in two weeks for some revenge.
Did I forget to mention that the point is that it’ll knock the snot out of you. But you have the right idea because then you dust yourself off and answer the bell for the next round and maybe, just maybe, you don’t get quite so beat up. You’ll never really beat it. But you just may reach an accomodation with it.
Remember, I did mention the spot where I just want to quit every time I run that course. And I first ran it in 1971.
That course kicked my ass today, bad. It’s been a really long time since I’ve run that poorly.
Heh– you and me both; I got my ass kicked by that stupid grass cross-country race last weekend. I took it down a notch this week, resting on Wednesday, and my hill workout last night was very encouraging. I’m out for revenge in my 5K this evening.
[...] or not. I finished the 5K up at Van Cortlandt Park in 19:28, over a minute-and-a-half faster than last summer and finished 11th out of ??. But at 6:15/mile, that’s a minute-twenty slower than my personal [...]