Location: SUNY Cortland Team Adirondack
First time ever doing this kind of event. Run as part of a team towards the overall win. Unfortunately team USATF Adirondack only had 3 participants, all older runners. Monopolized by team Niagara with some impressive young runners then Long Island with a small showing.
It was fun to look forward to a shorter distance run. More excitement than anxiety. That should tell me something.
“The race was relatively flat with one uphill/downhill. Long straightaways with mostly sweeping turns. Last 250m on grass to the track and last 150m on track to finish line. ”
I really liked this course. It went through the campus. That uphill was not a very significant incline by my standards. If this is an event offered annually, I might do it again.
Got up my usual time by 5am. It was raining lightly but warm at 68 degrees. Ted took the dogs while I ran my 2.6 warm up which was simply 15 minutes easy, 3 minutes tempo, 6 x 20 second strides. It started raining harder so I cut the strides a bit short figuring on doing more once in Cortland. Ate a bagel then got enroute by 6:15 am.
We arrived early, got the bib and team Adirondack race singlet (color grey). I did a short shake out run down the road. People were making me nervous asking about the route, as if there were going to be no one to direct the runners. Not that I was to worry as I usually align myself with someone to follow. That was JUST the case in this run as I will talk about soon.
We all lined up with 5 minutes until start. Those fast young runners were poised for a speedy start but OH WELL… FALSE START or rather MIS FIRE?? The start gun wouldn’t go off. After the 2nd try it finally sounded. My first thought was “do I assume the same starting position or do I stand erect as usual and pace myself accordingly?” I kind of leaned but not noticeably then thought “Oh No! Leading with the wrong leg”. What a goof! As if it mattered in my case.
In the photo above, see the gentleman in the red shirt? I’m right behind in a visor. I stayed with him the entire race. He was running hard and I knew it would be foolish to pass him only to let him pass at the end so I simply ran to stay with him. That was the goal. I never looked at my Garmin as I was running hard and knew it wouldn’t make a difference so I let “red man” set my pace, hoping to pass him only to finish.
Speaking of goals: My “A” goal was to run as close to a 7:00min/mile as possible. My “B” goal was to run 4 miles under 30 minutes. Got my “B” goal. The “A” was a bit aggressive but maybe one day.
About the course: We started down the road from the track and followed the straightaway to about mile 1.6 when we hit the hill. It wasn’t that brutal of a hill so not a big deal. It was followed by an immediate down hill and around a few turns. There were sidewalks/concrete we had to run on before turning to the grass. I felt the grass slowed me down as I don’t think my Nike Next% are the best on grass. Then it was onto the track for a final 150m and “red man” surged so I couldn’t catch up.
It was a tough run right from the start. The temperature was about 72 degrees but humidity was 91%. It didn’t feel so bad as there was a slight breeze. I ran hard “out the gate” which is the worst part of a short race for me. This feels so bad but I kept telling myself to stay in the moment and run through it. I knew I would soon get into a rhythm. That rhythm was to be dictated by the “red man” as I caught up to him and decided he was pushing well enough for me so I would just try and hold on. That I did.
Finish: 28:53 at a 7:27 pace. Mile splits 7:21, 7:25, 7:28 and the final .9 at 7:33 I’ve never run a 4 mile race before but I think this is a good PR for a 5K. Making progress.
Team Niagara took all the winnings but everyone got a medal. Good course. Good run. Thanks to “red man”, I stayed the pace.
Now for some very hard work in the month of August to get ready for a couple of September races then onto Boston for my 11’th consecutive Boston marathon.
#werunasone, #Bostonstrong, #USATF
Joanne
