terry ryan memorial 10k: race report

sometimes it's interesting to see how we wind up at a particular event. the terry ryan memorial 10k wasn't even on my radar screen until a saturday morning email from rob! when we opted to skip the knickerbocker 60k for weather-related wimpiness, i figured that the race to deliver 4 miler in central park would be an easy alternative. that is until rob suggested the 10k, and forwarded me the link. it sounded great, and was in!

since the 10k was in the afternoon, thought i could squeeze in the 4 miler as well. i even went in with emmy - and was about to sign up when i decided that i'd rather not fork over the $25 race day registration fee (which came in handy at the lazy boy saloon later). since i had done an easy 4 miler that morning, before coming into the city, i wouldn't even miss the race mileage. instead i'd be content taking pictures and socializing a bit. i ran into my neighbor, sue, at the finish. she and emmy took 1st and 2nd place, respectively, in their age group!

sue's two boys also ran the race - but i didn't see them. nor did i see hiro, who ran the 4 miler after crewing for his wife at the stone cat 50 miler last week. emmy caught sight of him and said hello as they dealt with chip returns. another friend, sal, who had run the knickerbocker 60k the day before, did the race as a pacer for an achilles track club runner. i said hi to him at the start, but didn't see him at the finish. i did see art, a fellow trrc member, at both the start and finish. then it was back to westchester and over to hastings-on-hudson for the 10k.

we stopped at my house to pick up rob, and then car-pooled over to the race. by the time we got there i realized that this race was formerly the hastings turkey trot - renamed to honor the memory of the fallen firefighter, terry ryan. it was pretty cold and blustery when we got out of the car and made our way down to the high school gym to register for the race. we found out later that many of the participants were friends and relatives of terry ryan.

the race included a 5k option, and the 10k was 2 loops of the 5k course. part of the route, which ran south along the hudson, with some spectacular views through the foliage, was along the yonkers marathon course (via the opposite direction). there was one noticeable downhill drop, and a couple of decent hills to make the terrain interesting. the local police did a great job of traffic control - making sure the runners got across the handful of intersections without incident.

i managed a 21:17 split for the first loop. i could see rob ahead of me on and off during that first loop. during the second one, he took off and opened a wider lead. emmy, who had knocked off a sub-27 minute 4 miler in central park, hung back and used the course as a nice training run. she told me her plan was 8 minute miles, and that's what she ran. i picked up the pace for the second loop (and was sure, as a practical matter, that the second loop distance was shorter than the first), running a 20:25 and finishing up in 41:42. given that time, i'm certain the distance was closer to 6 miles rather than a full 10k.

afterwards, while waiting for the results to be tabulated and the awards ceremony, we met ned, a fellow runners world forumite. this was his hometown course - and he won his age group in the 5k! i also ran into tom, a runner who i often see at local races (the tuckahoe challenge most recently?). i also pried a few giant game updates from andy, the scorekeeper, and owner of the westchester road runner store in white plain, as we waited.

as it turned out, rob and i each took 3rd place in our respective age groups. and emmy, who ran this race as a training run after her hard effort that morning, took 2nd place in her age group! weighed down with all that hardware, the only thing we could do was head over to white plains and grab some seats at the lazy boy saloon - the best craft beer bar in westchester. it was a great conclusion to a fantastic day of running (and the giants won, making it even sweeter)!

check out the race day photos (and link to the local news coverage).

check out ned's race report on runners world masters forum.