A clear brisk 40° NYC metropolis race to the NYC Marathon Finish Line inside Central Park. I held my speed back at start and ran a faster 7:52 min/mile official pace for a 5k PR!
Well attended, 7000 runners came to run the last leg of next day's NYC Marathon course. This event certainly draws upon marathon fever, giving short course participants a glimpse of the NYCM celebration. It is particularly nice to finish in central park running by flags from all over the word. You get a feel for the scope and draw of the world’s most desirable running event.
I made a special effort to start the 5k at a conservative 8 minute per mile pace. Pace management race time is always a challenge. The event excitement itself easily draws you right into race pace, if not an overzealous effort. By the 2nd mile I improved my pace 30 seconds per mile and had enough reserve to conclude the race with no substantial pace degradation. I finished strong. While I can’t be sure if it was more about my pace strategy or overall conditioning, but I achieved another PR and delivered a sub 8 minute per mile 5k race pace.
It is worthy to note that the weather was cool but pleasant for racing. I also ran 2 miles pre-race for warmup, if not for transportation logistics. What’s more I ran another two miles post race to make my NYCM volunteer check-in just after the 5k race finish. 4 hours after that, I made my final dash to Penn station, for a total of 8.5 miles on the day. I guess I confess I like to pack a busy schedule; the ways to run, live long and be fit!