Well, I've been a little out of touch (insert excuses here), so in addition to reporting on today's 15K, I've got some old business to catch up on. Here's the agenda.

Old Business:

• NYRR 8000
  
• Dual Birthday Party

New Business:

• Colon Cancer 15K

Old Business

Last Saturday, March 14 was a big day. In the morning, I ran the NYRR 8000, and that night my wife and I attended a birthday party that was thrown for two of my favorite runners, CB and VB, who turned 50 and 70 respectively. 

The race was fine. I had never run an 8000 meter race before, so there was no PR to beat, but 8000 meters is very close to 5 miles, so I had some idea of what my pace should be. I felt pretty good, except for the moment when I had to stop to tie my shoe at mile 3. This was the first time I've ever had a shoe come untied during a race, and it was quite shocking, given my recent claims of shoe tying mastery. I'm sure I just slipped back to my old habits and tied a granny knot that morning. The perfect knot could not possibly have come untied!!! 

I ended up with a 33:25 (6:43 pace). I'm good with it -- that will be the time to beat at my next 8000.

The birthday party was spectacular. A video was played, made up of birthday wishes from a gaggle of runners, all praising CB and VB. The praises were well earned. The two of them have inspired many, including myself. 

When I first started running with my 6AM group, I tried to stay with VB as I struggled to make it around the loop. It was tough to keep up, but it was worth it for the excellent company.

CB has also been an inspiration. She is a triathlon monster, despite a demanding (and interesting) job and a family. She is forever making me push harder in speed work. 

The party was packed with runners who share my admiration for these two. I knew that they were universally admired, but to see so many folks in one place -- it was very cool.

New Business

It wasn't the best week for training -- in fact I've slacked off significantly since Coogan's. This was partly by design (I pushed pretty hard leading up to Coogan's), but it was also due to being busy with work, having jury duty, etc. 

Once again, I tried to convince myself that the training slow down was, in affect, tapering for the race. The mind trick worked pretty well, and I was able to run hard. My pie in the sky goal was to go under 7 min/mile, but I couldn't quite do it. I held a sub 7 pace for most of the race, but starting slipping at mile 5. I ended up with a 1:05:40 (7:03 pace). I have to be happy with that, given my 10K PR at 6:51 pace, and Half Marathon PR at 7:19 pace. 

There were some excellent Flyer sightings at the race, such as the Laminator, who passed me early on. I yelled out to him, and he made a valiant effort to turn around enough to see who was calling out, but wisely redirected his eyes forward, continuing on to a very fast finish. I also saw EF, another Flyer who finished way ahead of me as usual (3rd in our age group). Crazy Bandana was there snapping photos -- I watched the finish of the 4 mile race with him. He and several other Flyers I saw (CM) are training for Boston in four weeks. Gotta get there someday.

Scoring at Coogan's

My first goal for this year was to run a sub 20 minute 5k.  I planned my first attempt at this goal for lasts week's Al Gordon 5k, but I couldn't make the race because of a family trip. 

Today's  Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks Run was the next 5k on my list, and I felt ready to give it a go. I lined up aggressively in the corral, and found myself standing next to some of my faster teammates. This year, Coogan's is a club points race, so a lot more of the fast folks showed up.  It wasn't really appropriate to be starting with these guys, so when the crowd moved forward, I hung back a bit. 

Off the starting line, I was passing a good number of runners, but not so many that it was really holding me up. I hit mile one at 6:21, better than the 6:26 pace I needed to hit my goal. 

In the next mile, I surprised myself by passing a couple of runners that usually finish way ahead of me. Sure, they might have been going easy today, but I still took it as inspiration to keep pushing. Mile 2 had the big hill, and despite pushing hard, my pace slipped to 6:38. That put me behind, but the last mile was mostly downhill,  so I knew I could at least come close. 

For the last 1.1 miles, I dug deeper than I ever have. It looked like I was going to miss my goal by just a few seconds, and I wasn't going to let that happen without a fight. For almost all of the last mile, I was running at finish line kick effort.

When I saw the finish line clock I had a glimmer of hope, but it was clear that it was going to by down to the wire. I pushed to line, and when I looked at my watch it read 19:57. Unbelievable. 

My lungs were burning, but I was elated. There's nothing like running really really hard and hitting your goal. 

After the race, PL and I skipped the free beer at Coogan's Pub, and instead grabbed some eggs and plantains with onions (and hot sauce) -- quickly becoming our Washington Heights tradition. Good eatin'.

When I got home and checked the official results, there was more good news. Amongst my teammates, I finished 4th, and 2nd amongst the masters runners in the club. That means I "double scored" (scored in the open and masters divisions) for the team. It's the first time I've scored for the team in any club points race.

The only bad news is that now I need a new goal (yes, I must always have a goal). I think it can wait until tomorrow though...