Race Recap: Galloping Like Grete

10/27/20

As you may know by now, I give it everything I got on race day. Although I put in some serious work on the Palisade hills for 15 miles the previous day, I was not going to let that exhaustion creep into a little old 10k.

I signed up for Grete’s Great Gallop for a 9 + 1 credit to run NYCM in 2020 in case I was crazy enough to want to run another marathon after 2019, but I had no idea who Grete was and why we had a Gallop dedicated to her. After some quick research, I learned that she was actually quite the decorated distance runner; she was the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours, she won 12 World Marathon Majors (9 of them NYCM) and earned Olympic medals in the 1970s and 1980s. How did I not know this?! With this new knowledge, I was instantly inspired to run as fast as this Norwegian badass.

October 5, 2019 was a chilly morning at 45 degrees and 66% humidity, which is perfect race conditions for a 10k distance. I was also glad that we started at 8 a.m. so I could get just a tiny bit more rest in the morning before my optimal run time. I put on my cute cotton vintage style Grete’s Great Gallop race swag shirt, the Hot Chocolate 15k zip-up hoodie (still one of my favorites), and what I call my “guns and roses” leggings as my uniform for the day. 

The course was in Central Park, and although it took place on the same loop as other 10k races, this one went counter-clockwise starting near E 69th Street and headed north. The good part about this direction was that the first mile always feels like more of a warmup, so by the time we reach the Harlem Hills, we’re nice and warm and in a good groove, but still have fresh enough legs to run up the hills with little effort. Compared to the previous day’s hills, these were a breeze and felt faster than the other miles along the way.

My long run the previous day was meant to be slower and exploratory; I took in the detail of every tree and every sound around me, as well as every thought and feeling as I allowed myself to daydream. This 10k was the inverse; I was lucky that my ADHD mode of the day was stuck on hyperfocus, and I barely recall the specifics of the race except the fact that I felt speedy and probably listened to the same fast-paced playlist I’ve used all season long. I think the combination of an Epsom salt bath before bed, sleeping in compression socks, getting enough rest, and mental preparation helped me in my need for speed.

I did even better than I thought I would; at an 8 minute per mile pace, I clocked in 49:38 and placed 77 out of 812 in my F30-34 age group! I left a lot in the tank and could have pushed it even more, but I consider it a great run. I even had negative splits running UP the Harlem Hills, which months before seemed impossible. I headed straight to work after the race, making my clients think I was crazy from this runner’s high.

Proud to be in the Top 100 F30-34 💪