New York 2 Mile Race August 2016 #1 (Runners are Smilers)

8 days after my last 2 mile race I was back out on the streets of Jamaica Hills warming up for another one. Sri Chinmoy's birth anniversary (August 27th) had fallen on a Saturday so the race was pushed back to Sunday morning at 8am. A big field, packed with visitors from across the globe, was gathering at the corner by Jamaica High School - grateful for less humid conditions than the previous weekend. I couldn't decide whether to go out hard and try and run 6.05 again for the first lap in the hope I would hang on a bit better in the second mile - or alternatively hold back a bit and try to run even splits of around 6.07. Either way I was determined to improve my time. In the intervening 8 days I had done a couple of slow jogs and some brick sessions where I ran at race pace, but it's hard to make significant improvements in little more than a week.

I positioned myself quite near the front to get a quick start and soon found myself running at what felt like a higher effort level than the last race. I soon dropped some of the guys who had beaten me before (nothing to brag about - they had probably all run the marathon or 47 miler ) and I was conciously making a hard effort all the way round lap 1. It was strange to hear Tarit call out a split of 6.08 - 3 seconds slower! Well, maybe lap 2 would be more encouraging! I dug deep all the way round the loop and as I came past Tarit again he called out my time and said "12 minutes is on". Well I was dubious, having run from the corner where the splits are called out to the finish line while I was warming up - I knew it was going to take me longer than 30 seconds! A flat out effort to the line brought me an encouraging time though - 12.10!! Another lifetime best - if you take my lifetime as having started in September 2012 when I was given CPR that is. Cheeky I know but I call that a sort of PB. 12 minutes now looks possible, though this 12.10 did require maximum effort and I was on the point of being sick at the finish so really couldn't have gone any harder. No repercussions from either race in terms of injury (either to achilles or calf, my two current trouble spots) so no reason why I can't keep up the foam rollering and stretching, do the bulk of my training hours on the bike and hope my running improves enough to crack that 6 minute pace target. Triathlon in Bala up next...

 

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