2010 NYRR Team Championships - 30:13 / 6:02

Net Time: 30:13 (PR)
Pace: 6:02
Rank: 182/783
Age Grade: 70.7%

I remembered the first time I ran this race was in 2006 where I represented The Reservoir Dogs.  Four years later, due to a change of focus and regimen in training plans, it was for the Central Park Track Club.

The Club Champs marked my 5th consecutive week of racing.  It actually came at the right time.  The culmination of racing in the heat/humidity (Queens Half and Dash/Splash), competing in shorter distances (Founders 5K and Run as One 4M) as well as consistently training with my team really helped today.

Onto the race...Oddly enough, it was very congested on the turn from the 102nd transverse to the west drive.  I didn't panicked at all as I just paced with my teammate Frank till mile 1 where I clocked a 6:09.  Then on the long set of downhills towards Tavern on the Green, I clocked mile 2 around 5:55.  This was good because from all my runs/races I knew this would be the place to hit a sub 6.  Next after mile 3, I latched onto my two teammates (siegal and chris) till cat hill and ran a 5:57.  I just knew at this point that my mile 4 will be my achilles heel so I had to mentally prepare myself for the climb.  Fortunately, I slowed down a bit to a 6:15; which is totally fine.  I didn't run out of gas after the cat hill climb, instead nabbed another sub 6 mile at the end. 

The thought of a PR never crossed my mind until I looked at my watch on the finish line.  After some time with a light cooldown and chatting up with CPTC, friends and other teams, I checked on the women's race and cheered for CPTC and friends.  Ten minutes later after the start of the women's race, I had to make a quick exit back to queens, taking my pops to the doc.  Hence as much as I was bummed with missing the festivities with my team, family will always be my priority.

Now, I'm ecstatic with this result as I never thought I could match my Father's Day performance.  Luckily, I was able to nab my 3rd 70% AG.  Damn, it must be the lucky green bib (#3xxx)!  I actually didn't mind being in the green corral because all it matters is the end result.

Overall, I find the team championships an extremely positive experience whereby all club teams with its deep field can congregate, intertwine...you know a sense of camaraderie and rapport.  Although, there was one exception where I heard someone screamed "traitor" near the end.  I knew who it was.  Very unsportsman-like, immature and unnecessary since I'm very friendly and have good friends in her team.  Geez.....very ClASSy and CrASS!  Again, although in a competitive environment, I believe you can still be friends or even train with other people in the team.  Just like switching jobs/company or transferring departments or learning institutions...it is really not a big deal. 

Anyway, huge thanks to coach, CPTC, family, and trd/adob friends for rooting for me in the race.  Next up, the Bronx Half-

Splits:
01: 6:09:11
02: 5:55:86
03: 5:57:70
04: 6:15:03
05: 5:55:50

*thx to Sue, Andrew, Elys, Yanks for the pics!

After spending some quality time with the 'rents, time to get raging @ the Backroom on sat. nite, sushi @ shimizu and The XX @ SummerStage (Rumsey Field) - 8.8.10