nyrr holiday 4 miler: race report

what a change in weather from the dreary rain-soaked thursday afternoon when i picked up race numbers, chips and shirts at the nyrr. when emmy got to my house just after 7 on saturday morning it was 27 degrees. i actually thought that was a good thing - seriously believing that by the time the holiday 4 miler went off at 8:30 the temperature would have inched above the freezing mark! wow, that turned out to be a serious miscalculation. not only had the temperature not budged from 27, but the wind were whipping around the park in the 10+ m.p.h. range (and even stronger gusts).

by the time we reached baggage check i was frozen. emmy added a layer, and i went one step further and put on my post-race sweatshirt (over the 2 long-sleeve tech shirts i had planned to wear). from there we jogged over to the transverse, over to west drive, and back to the starting corrals. this wasn't to warm-up - but to stop the shivering! i was verging on unhappy camper land - but, with the realization the was only 4 miles in the back of my head, i managed to refocus my attention to the task at hand.

i've run the holiday 4 miler a few times in the past:

2002: 26:15
2005: 26:09
2007: 28:37

while i doubted today's effort would come anywhere near 26:09, i was pretty sure (even as bundled up as i was) that i'd shave a lot of time off 2007's performance! i a 6:45 pace was good enough to get me in at 27 minutes. depending on how mile one shook out, i'd try for 6:40's - but doubted i could maintain a 6:30 pace given the conditions.

as we headed out of the baggage check, i said hi to sal (in short sleeves). but here at the corral i saw my old wtc teammate john in his signature (weather irrelevant) singlet - which made me shiver all the more! i wondered if the sweatshirt was going to keep me warm enough (i knew it would be overkill by mile 2 - but i couldn't bring myself to take it off). in a pleasant surprise, fellow blogger gojohnnygo (nyflyers) introduced himself. i look forward to socializing w/him in warmer circumstances :D

also, emmy ran into a couple of her friends - shelley (greater ny) and someone she recognized from last year's wurtsboro 30k, angela (running divas). angela was teammates with my friend and neighbor, susan (running divas). susan said hi to us before she headed further back to run the race with her two boys! then it was time to get this race started!

the first mile went by in 6:30 flat. while i was feeling pretty good, and just about warmed up, i knew i should get back to my original plan of 6:40-45's because holding this pace (especially up cat hill) wasn't realistic. so mile 2 dropped down to 6:38. again, i felt pretty good, but now cat hill was on deck, and a headwind on east drive. predictably, mile 3 was my slowest at 6:48 - my 3 mile split was just under 20 minutes (19:56). i sucked it up for the last mile and dropped it back down to 6:42, finishing in 26:38.

angela and shelley finished just ahead of me, and emmy followed just behind me. angela and shelley each took 2nd in their respective age groups. emmy won her age group! john, too, won his age group. all in all, it was a pretty good race. afterwards, emmy and i tried to catch susan and her sons as they finished, but had no luck spotting them.

next up: the ted corbitt 15k next weekend!

check out my race photos.
check out gojohnnygo's race report.