nyack hospital 10k: race report

if there ever was a reason to sleep-in saturday morning, the 22 degrees and 15-18+ miles per hour winds was good enough for me! i had looked forward to the revisiting the nyack hospital 10k since my last time there in 2005. but with each day leading up progressively colder than the one before it, my mood had grown less enthusiastic to the prospect. still, it was just a quick hop across the tappan zee bridge, and i was already registered.... i had even dug out my winter running clothes - finally having to switch over to tights from shorts!

the drive over was fast, even with an accident shutting down 2 lanes of the bridge. registration went quickly, even thought the room was relatively packed - no one seemed to wanted to go outside to the start. i found myself doing some laps of the parking lot - an easy half mile (not to warm-up, but to get warm)! one thing was for sure - i would be well outside my comfort zone today (primarily because of the wind)!

the race itself went off without fan fare, and also included a 5k and walk. the course - when it's not freezing outside, is great. it heads down into south nyack (on part of the south nyack 10 miler) then back into nyack, along the waterfront (passing memorial park, the staging ground for the "light the night" walk), until the first hill, just before mile 3. cresting that one, we turn right and head in to upper nyack, climbing north broadway the second hill, on larchmont avenue. the short stretch takes us to midland avenue, and the long straightaway back to the hospital.

i took the first mile "easy" and still did 6:17 (the only mile with a significant downhill). mile 2 was a more reasonable 6:37, for a 12:54 split. i wouldn't hold this pace, especially with two hills still to come, but figured i could squeeze in under 43 minutes. mile 3, in 7:10, was the first hill, and my 3 mile split inched over 20 minutes (20:04). as we crested the hill, i caught up to bob and we chit-chatted for a couple of seconds. mile 4, north broadway, took 7:02, and gave me a 4 mile split of 27:06 (i would have liked to run that mile in 6:50 - but the headwind was got the better of me).

larchmont avenue was the most challenging stretch. it included the second hill, and while not as steep as the first, it was a longer climb. that mile took 7:10 and gave me a 5 mile split of 34:17. while i was still on target for sub-43, i fell off my pace on during the last mile back. i missed the (or there wasn't a) marker for 6, so my last 1.2 miles was a relatively slow 9:00 - for a finish of 43:16. after a couple of pictures with bob and frank, i headed home. later i learned that i came in 4th in my age group - and the 2nd and 3rd place finishers both passed me in the last mile!

the 43:16 was well off my two prior efforts on this course (41:41 in 2005, and 42:38 in 2004), but i was still pleased with my time (and probably even happier that i toed the line to begin with given the cold weather). i don't mind winter weather in winter - which is only a couple of weeks away, actually. but a few more fall weather races would be fun, while it's still seasonal!

check out some race photos.

check out raceslikeagirl's race report.