This morning I completed the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5-Miler in Central Park. It was 77 degrees at the start, overcast, and about 65% humidity. I tried pushing myself today to do better than last weekend’s 5-mile race. The course was a different direction than last weekend’s course, and that course may have given me an advantage with a beginning fast downhill. Despite that boost, I felt I raced faster, a push that showed in my official results: I ran the 5-miler in 35:07, equating to doing 7:01s.
Unofficial Results per Garmin:
Since I completed my long run a little more than 12 hours before, I was still a bit sore. My right leg felt a little injured but warming up helped it. By race time, it seemed ready to go.
With a lot of disabled athletes on the field, the race was a bit like an obstacle course. There were runners in wheelchairs, runners with blades, blind runners, and runners with an assortment of disabilities, and passing them made me a little nervous out of fear I might knock one down or trip one up. In the end, a older blind runner with his 3-man guide crew overtook me in the last couple of miles and I never caught him. That’s a testament to just how disabled a disabled runner may be: Not very! 😀
But today’s results showed a gain in my training. I pushed myself and maintained a better pace over the course. I got my first mile out in 6:38 (N.B. there was a downhill beginning), and other miles were pretty fast, including two other miles done in sub-7:00s. My official pace is slower than the pace my Garmin measured (6:59s), which is a little disappointing but what can you do but get better. After the race was finished, I set to my mind to hit the gym, but mounting the subways steps, I decided against it given how tired my legs and brain felt. I eventually grabbed much-needed nap.