Did you know Harlem is awesome? What a beautiful course through a nice park, by amazing old buildings with cool stone work, and some varying topography (my part of Manhattan is totally flat!). Great race!
My plan was to see how close I could get to 7:00 miles; I thought 7:00 was about my 5K pace right now. I knew there was a decent sized hill at the end of mile 1, but it was totally manageable. I finished the first mile in 7 flat. The rest of the course was mostly flat. My second mile was just under 7. The last mile started with a really nice downhill. This allowed me to recover and finish fast. The last mile point one was at about 6:35 pace.
I was really happy to race again. First one since February 2015! On the other hand, my average pace was 6:55 - which was roughly my 2014 half marathon pace. I guess I also have to take into account the weather - 80 F with 58% humidity, sunny, but no wind. Still, lots of room for improvement. And hopefully the improvements will come without more injuries!
Plus 16 miles on bike today. 8 miles to race and 8 miles home; subway service on weekends is terrible!
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