Grete's Great Gallop

Three weeks after the Montreal half marathon I ran Grete's Great Gallop in Central Park yesterday.  My hubristic goal shortly after Montreal was to shave off 2 minutes only later to discover that my recovery was not as quick as I expected.  In the week leading up to Grete's I didn't run much, and didn't feel like I ate well... so frankly didn't expect very much.  If hit 90 minutes, I'd be happy.  On the plus side, I expected the weather to be better, and would run with headphones, and more importantly, knew that the field would be deeper, all of which would help me keep pace.  

Much to my surprise, I managed to shave off a minute and finish in 1:26:07, placing 181st in a field of 3871 and 33rd in my age and gender category.  I averaged 6:34 minutes a miles (4:05-ish a Km).  Perhaps most surprising was running the two laps in exactly the same time. (The course was two laps, plus a mile to Tavern on the Green).  Another amusing note: I'm old enough to have an age graded discount of 21 seconds off my time.  Somewhat daunting is how that discount really sets me back 110 places by gender.

Also running were Josko, Miguel and Susan, who did this race together two years ago. It was my first NYRR race.  I almost missed this, but Ian Chillag, formerly of the Bryant Park Project, finished ahead of me at 1:21:07 in our age/gender category.  We had talked in the summer about running together. Thanks to all that sent congrats.

Montreal Demi Marathon

For my first major roadrace since high school I ran the Montréal half marathon in 1:27:06.8, nearly three minutes under my goal of 90 minutes.  I placed 47th out of 3053, 7th in my category of Men 30-34, and behind three women.  I averaged about 6:40 a mile, and 4:10 per kilometer.

My 5K splits were fairly consistant, 20:18, 21:06, 20:25, 20:45.  The second 5K was mostly up hill.  It took me a while to figure out the markers, so my first 4 splits are real screwy.  I would love to  push my pace down to 6:30 miles, or better yet, 4:00 kilometers, and getting down towards 85:30 to 84:30 when I run in Grete's Gallop in Central Park on October 4th.  On the otherhand, I don't really know how feasible losing 2 minutes is, it might be more like pounding out 2 minutes.  My greater goal is to qualify for Boston, I think this was a good first step.

Josh ran his first marathon, and Mollie ran the half to help prepare for the New York Marathon.

Thanks to all that sent congrats.