It was a nice day for a race. A little cooler and cloudier than promised. Met up with Maniacs in the parking lot, the men's room, and section 122. What a crowd, always some new faces, that's great. After people lined up to touch my pants, we were off to the start line. Fast first K (4:38) but then I settled down to my goal pace. The race flew by for the city section, I met Alfie from Pickering on the route. Then it was Lx2run around 8K, and Mike Runs joined us in Tin Pan Alley. I was enjoying the race a lot more than last year. In '06 it was my most stressful and least successful race of the year, ending up in calf cramps and walking. This time was fun! I backed off my pace it seems from 18K to 25, the early hills. They seemed easy, but I was purposefully trying to pace myself. In retrospect maybe a little too conservative through here. 10 seconds per K times 7 K = over a minute, hard to get that back. I was treating this as a "B" race, and it showed here. Still fun though, high fived all the characters on the sidelines. The big hill barely existed for me. I saw my old friend on his bike at the 20 K mark, and then he showed up at the top of the hill around 267 K and biked beside me on the way in. Said he saw an old running buddy, who was half an hour behind me. They had won a relay in Buffalo back in the day, getting a trip to a race in NYC as a prize, and today I was out front of him! I picked it up down the stretch, lots left, doing a 4:35 for my last split. I had hoped for a 2:30 time, came in at 2:30:19 chip time, I'll take it. Solid 5 min/K pace, had fun, met some great folk. Here's a pic, thanks CK. I did get a few comments on my tights.
Revenge is sweet!
