On Saturday I ran the UAE HK 10K in Central Park.  When I was lined up in the corrals I turned to my friend and said I hope this isn’t the Scotland Run route; low and behold it was the Scotland Run route!  This route is what I call the reverse run of Central Park.  It is the absolute worse because you are constantly running up and down (mainly up hill).  So it is very easy to poop yourself out, especially early on during the race.  The race starts off with a steady incline, and as I’m running it I think what the heck is this!  We run through the start, and the finish line is about 400 meters after the start line, so we run through the finish line at the beginning of the race.  When I run this route I always wonder why they just don’t start and finish the race at the same point.  Anywho I was off.

I kept a decent pace the first mile 9:50, and the exact thing that I mentioned above could happen did happen…I pooped myself out!  As you can see from the elevation chart the start of the race was basically a steady increase in elevation.  A quick downhill, then a steady climb during mile 2.  The climb was really torturous because I remember once I got to the top I had a bit of a break on a straight away, then a decent, then here comes a whole other climb.  It was just really nonstop.  Once I reached the 5K mark I never thought I would see the end of that hill. I was so happy to get to the top and get a slight breather.

Me and Allison pre-race

On top of the constant climbing, it was unusually hot out for May in NYC.  I was sweating almost immediately once the race started; like sweating so badly I was constantly wiping my forehead.  Because I was so hot I made sure to hit every water station for hydration.  One of the stations had gatorade so I grabbed two cups there, chugged them down, and kept it moving.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful.  I ran up on a guy and he was stomping so loudly, I tapped his shoulder and he looked at me and I said pick up your feet, we only have a mile to go!  He looked at me with the “what the heck did you say face?”  He takes out his headphones and I repeat myself and he picks up his feet and takes off.  I caught back up to him about 200 meters later and just cruised by him.  I think he was a bit tired at the point, but he was no longer dragging his feet.  If you see a runner doing this…help em out!  I finished the race in 1:06.  My slowest time for a 10k in a long time, but I’m ok with that.  I’m getting back into the groove of things, and I am bound to improve in the very near future.

Next weeks race…The Brooklyn Half!!

Is this lavender or lilac? I don’t know which one it was, but they smelled wonderful!

With JP post race

Me and Allison on the streets of NYC.

UAE Healthy Kidney 10k Medal