NYCRUNS Haunted Island 10K

Ever since I have been feeling better and running faster I have had the urge to race. I suppose I missed all year due to the Crohn's flare (update totally over due) and got the bug to get back out there. 

I have also been branching out from the old and done NYRR loops of Central Park and this weekend found myself on Roosevelt Island to run the NYCRuns Haunted Island 10K (I LOVE their races).

I had to go back and check but I knew my 10K PR was something looking to be taken down. I don't race them too much and also always have trouble pacing them - like 5K just ride the pain train and half get comfortably hard...what the hell do you do for a 10K? 

At 57:04 which is a 9:11 mile I knew I should be able to best that.

I woke up Saturday morning with my stomach feeling crappy. I came very close to staying home but figured I just would not eat or drink anything and pray for the best. 

The commute to Roosevelt Island was SO EASY, and the morning was gorgeous. 

These morning views aren't too shabby.

I had 45 minutes prior to the race and was able to wait around and drop my bag literally 5 minutes before the start. 

I should also note my Garmin was dead. It was on the charger all night but took it off and knew it was pointless to bring it, so decided to use mapmyrun. In the end kind of helpful to not have the watch to look at while running. 

Weekends are for starting lines.

The race was 2 loops. My "plan" was to run a comfortably hard pace for the first 5K and then to drop it the second. 

Now I don't know how I ended up running a quarter mile extra I more suspect as always map my run is not reliable but I will go with those paces. 

Miles 1-3 were a steady 8:28, 8:30, 8:27 

I had a girl that was running in front of me at a good clip and I basically just coasted with her. 

The second we went through the first loop I started to pick it up a bit. Mission pick people off was in effect. I didn't want to burn out but I was feeling pretty good. 

I had one minor moment of panic around mile 4.5 when my stomach all of a sudden was like slow the f down. So I eased off for a second until it passed and luckily all was good. 

Somewhere in the final mile I started to get really hungry and thirsty and ready to be done and was happy that I was side by side with a girl who clearly didn't want me passing her so she kept me pushing until the end. 

Miles 4-6.45 8:14, 8:15, 8:23, 7:43 (again going on tracking splits since that is what I have).

Final official results are 53:52 / 8:41 pace for a 3+ minute PR!

My 6.45 miles gives me an 8:21 pace but again think that the app is very unreliable.  

Hello shiny new PR.

Overall very happy with my race. I am a lot better with pushing myself these days. And as a testament to my Crohn's being better - yes, my stomach was very queasy and I made several port o potty trips prior; but I was able to gut this out. This was just sensitive stomach issues and probably too much wine the couple days before, NOT flare issues. When I was flaring there was NO WAY in hell I could just gut it out when it acted up. 

I can't wait to see what some more racing brings to me. Feels so good to be getting back to where I used to be! Another weekend with another great race. I like this feeling. 

And a PR. I haven't PR'd a race shorter than the marathon in almost 3 years!