Before we get to the upcoming race, we need to get some business handled first. We will quickly (unlike the run) move past the Friday Night Fright Fest aka the Recovery Run from Hell. Imagine running in a microwave oven for over one hour and circling the entire time. That was me at around 6:45pm last night on the Reservoir. One of the more miserable running experiences ever. Just horrendous. Made me consider giving up running and going back to golf. 7 depressing miles @ 9:27 pace.
I tossed that craptastic run right in the toilet as soon as it was over and looked forward to … running in even worse weather at 6am on Saturday morning. Yay!! NYC (and much of the East Coast) is on some high alert for Hellfire heat on Saturday. Knowing that my last hard workout would be a long run on Sunday, I needed a decent bridge to get me from Friday Night Fright Fest to Sunday. I figured short, steady running would do the trick.
I laced up my lovely smelling, still wet with sweat trainers (Nike Zoom Elites) and hit the streets at 5:56 am. No typo there. At first, it did not feel terrible … still a bit slow, but at least until I hit the park the air was breathable. Once I was on the Bridle Path, things changed. It was a sauna. As a looked at the Reservoir, I saw a cloud-like haze hovering over the water. No joke. It was a meteorologist’s dream and a runner’s nightmare.
After a turtle-like warm up of 1.9mi @ 8:56, I moved back to the roads (asphalt) and glad I did. There was actually a breeze (not great, but something) and the air quality seemed better. I decided that I could not slog 2 days in a row so I picked up the pace for 2.3 mi @ 7:25 pace. Oddly, the faster I moved the better I felt. A water break or two later I concluded with an easy cool down back on the Bridle (what was I thinking????). Almost instantly, it became another slugfest with respiration. Despite my legs moving fairly well, it was too much work for what I wanted to accomplish. I finished up with 6 mi @ 8:09 pace. Certainly a much better result than Friday.
Now for the main course of this post … for those in the NYC/NJ/Conn. area (or will be in the area), CPTC is co-sponsoring the Founders 5k in beautiful Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 31st. The race begins at 9am. I will be racing. Registration is still open and more details can be found here. I hope to see you all there. It’s a fast course and one to shoot for a PR.
