Happy Wednesday! Today Iām linking up with Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Angelena Marie from Angelena Marie: Happy, Healthy & Balanced, Michelle at Fruition Fitness and Nicole from Nicole from FitFul Focus for Wild Workout Wednesday!
On Saturday I ran the NYRR UAE Healthy Kidney 10K. Originally this race was not on my calendar, but I thought it would be a great race for some of the members of my Black Girls Run group. It was the first race in Central Park for both of them!
Luckily the race was starting at 9:00 am so I didn’t have a really early wake up time. I woke up at 6:00 am and was out the door by 7:00 am. On the drive down to NYC I drank a little water and enjoyed a lemon Honey Stinger waffle. I find that the Honey Stinger waffles give me just the right amount of energy and it’s good because I don’t feel like I’m running on an empty stomach.
We arrived in Central Park, picked up our bibs and then we were off to start the race!
To give you a little background on the race, it was been held for the past 12 years. It is sponsored by the United Arab Emirates and it benefits the National Kidney Foundation. I enjoy races that give back to the community and charities. Also there were many elites in this race due to the prize money being offered. In fact, the winner completed the course in 28:29 – yup that’s 4:35 a mile!
The race started right on time, but it was a little weird. I was in corral J but i feel like we just stood still for a solid 10 minutes. Usually in races you are very slowly moving toward the start line but for this race we literally just stood there for a good 10 minutes before there was any movement. I heard that there was supposed to be a staggered start but I’m not sure if that happened.
There were 8,033 runners in the race, which isn’t that large when compared to other NYRR races, but it felt VERY crowded at the start. I couldn’t get into a good running rhythm until around Mile 1. I haven’t done many NYRR races this year so maybe that’s why the start felt so crowded to me.
After the 1st mile the heat started to get to me. Here’s the funny thing, it really wasn’t even that hot! It was only 68 degrees with 70% humidity. I think because I haven’t really trained in warm weather is why the slightly warm temperature was getting to me. Also some parts of the course didn’t have shade so running directly in the sun was a little rough at times. Basically after the first mile I stopped at all of the water stations. Luckily there were water stations at every mile. Sure, this added a good amount of minutes to my finish time (I usually never stop for water breaks for a 10K), but I wanted to play it safe.
Central Park is known for it’s hills. One loop around the park is about 6 miles and its full of rolling hills and one very big hell (known as Harlem Hill). The good thing about this race is that we ran the large hill within the first 3 miles so after that the race really wasn’t that bad.
After the race I was greeted by smiling volunteers handing out the medals. As always, the medal was super pretty š
After receiving my medal, I was able to pick up afew cups of water, a bag of pretzels, an apple and a cinnamon raisin bagel. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know about my love of post-race bagels. Needless to say I was pretty happy š
Post bagel happiness
All in all, it was a great race. I always recommend NYRR races because they are very organized and great at communicating with runners via email before the race. If you ever visit NYC, I would recommend running one of their races!
I really need to get to NYC–if nothing else, to run in Central Park!
Great job. I love that medal!
It really is a pretty park and it’s great to run there! I hope you can visit someday!
What a neat race! I would love to run in Central Park one day, but I hate crowded races! The biggest race I’ve ever gone to had 3500 participants! haha That one was a bit too much for me. Maybe one day though…
I understand how you feel – I’m a little weird in that I like both small and larger races. They definitely both have advantages and disadvantages!
Congrats on a great race! I can totally relate about the whole hot but not hot weather thing. Last year when I ran the Mountain Goat here, 68 degrees felt like 100 and we were ALL dying because we weren’t used to running in it! Thank so much for linking up and sharing š
That makes me feel a lot better! Everyone seemed to be struggling and we were like “What’s wrong with us?!”
One of these days i need to get to an NYRR race. I ran the Newport 10k the same morning, and definitely was feelin’ the heat too – i guess my body just isn’t used to it yet. Super jealous of the adorable medal!! Great job!
Same here – I just have to get used to running in the heat again. I’m more of a Fall runner because I hate the heat!
I totally know what you mean about the heat. As it starts to warm up this spring, it takes a while to adjust. I definitely prefer colder weather running. Great job on the race though!
Me too! I’m more of a Fall weather runner because I hate the heat but now it’s time to get used to the heat and sun again!
Way to go! I would have run this race if I wasn’t out of town. I remember doing it last year on the most hot and humid day ever – it was brutal! Sounds like this year was way better.
The weather is so crazy this time of year! I have to get used to running in the heat again!
Congratulations on your race! I love running in Central Park but have yet to do a NYRR race. Running in the heat is my nemesis, so I can definitely see it being tough, especially when there’s no shade!
Thanks! Yes I have to get used to running in the heat again. I really don’t like it but I just have to suck it up!