Sunday, November 07, 2010

2010 ING NYC Marathon - 2:58:49 / 6:50




Net Time: 2:58:49
Pace: 6:50
Rank: 829/44829
AG: 69.8%









One month after a PR @ Chicago, 22nd Marathon and 5th NYC and.........third sub 3 of the year!!!

I've got a few hours left before heading over to the airport for vacation...I'm going back to Hong Kong!  I still can't believe it has been 48 hours after the big event.  I'm looking forward to rest and recover during vacation.  As sweet as recovery sounds, I always revert back to my bad habits; which is not savoring the race 48 hours ago and planning for another race.  However, right after the NYC marathon, I made a promise to myself that I will take 3 straight days of no running as opposed to taking one day off after Chicago.   

My buddy Jon B and I left the apartment around 5:45 to cab to the CPTC bus.  It was great to see the team getting all pumped up before the race.  Right afterwards I dozed off upon arrival to the Verrazano.  At the start, we all parted ways as most of the members of my team were in the green local competitive start.  Being at the Orange wave was very new to me as I was always in the Blue wave.  I took my time waiting for the opening of the corrals, took care of business and dropped off my baggage.

At the start, it was cold as usual.  I truly hate the biting cold.  Just imagine all the calories being spent to warm the body; in marathons all calories are crucial!  Before the gun went off, I slathered a bunch of tiger balm on my hamstring and calves - and man the scent permeated the whole wave! 

After the anthem, the gun went off and I knew right beforehand that this mile is just a warm-up since this is where the clusterphuck starts.  I clocked the first mile a few seconds over 7 and I knew I was right on pace.  At the downhill section of the bridge that was when things got crazy as i clocked at 6:18.  I told myself to slow the eff down!  Anyway, I know my intention was to race the NYC for fun, but for me, it is too tough to just run it.  I felt the adrenaline and I set to race it.  Afterall, I was eager to get back to training post Chicago with one day of rest and raced a 5K a week before.  I had every intention to race at my home turf and as much as my mind was telling me that I've race enough marathons this year and time to hold back, I couldn't as I felt really good on race day.




Miles 3-7 were smooth sailing and spotted Rita handing out the water with her students.  Until mile 8 turning into my favorite music venue (BAM), my buddy Jon B caught up to me.  I could hear coach Tony screaming my name and for his team. Great moment.  As for Jon B, it was good to see him in the race because we worked really well together for Chicago and ran a 2:57/2:58.  This time, it was another perfect opportunity to work together for NYC.  I knew right off the bat that our strategy via informal texting that our 1st half target would be around 1:27-1:28.  We ran together through the half way point at 1:27.  Sweet. 




Going through queens and on top of Q-boro bridge I was still maintaining in the pace of high 6:30s and 6:40s and spotted Vin V who ran a 1:22 at the NYC Half.  As Jon and I kept pushing we could still see Yumi and Gerd (CPTC'ers) from afar.  As much as we tried to latch onto them, I was savoring the moment we enter into Manhattan as I know that crowd is usually the most crazy!  Oy, reminiscing the nice cold beers....ok Ken focus! Througout 1st ave I was in the rhythm and I knew at this point that if I keep hitting my stride I will have a close chance of a course PR and saw a couple of friends along first ave--- drunk with power as usual hhahahah.  Mile 17 was when I spotted Rose and made a quick stop.  That's when Jon B pulled away and lost him.  I kept telling myself to run sub 7s as much as possible and that's what I did.  After mile 19, I came across my former team and they were as supportive as before.  It was great to see a few familiar faces. 


I clocked a little over 7 at mile 20 and I made a calculation in my head that if I could hit close to 710s, i may snatch another sub 3 marathon.  I maintained my focus, very regimented with my gu/gatorade/salt intake and let the crowds pull me through moments of mental lapse.  Right through Bronx, Yumi kept giving me a pep talk to "let's do this together". Onto 116th and 5th I passed my teammate Stephen, saw my buddy Arun cheering for me.  I uttered to him, "Ayudame!"  I reached a very dark point at this moment as I knew the daunting 5th avenue climb as near.  Arun did whatever he could to push and pace with me.  All the verbal lashing and obscene bursts by any drill sergeant made me push harder and harder.  I was feeling more angry than ever.  He dropped off at 98th, saw a few of my teammates and that was when I started getting totally emo'ed as I spotted the 'rents with their CPTC gear.  I wanted to stop but my pops totally pushed me away hahah ok dad so then I went into Engineer's gate and there was my team. 



The wall of orange and last push.  For a few seconds I thought how grateful I am to have trained with this amazing team who's able to help me strive for newer and competitive goals which i thought I could never achieve.  And to train with such driven runners day in and day out, I really owe this performance to each and everyone of them.


At this point, I knew if i maintained 7:20s, I would seal the sub 3 deal.  The last 2 miles were enjoyable as I was in familiar territory, saw Mr. Reese (2:57) blitzed right passed me and mile 26 was when i caught up to Jon B!  With 400 meters to go, we sprinted to the finish; 3 seconds apart from each other.  Our closest race ever and nabbed our 3rd sub 3 marathon and hopefully plenty more to come.



Two sub 3 hour marathons in a month.  I never thought about it and never planned for it in advance.  Sometimes, you just have to go out there and go with your gut.  And my gut was telling me as much as I wanted to have fun on the race, I was hungry for more.  I was hungry and determined to get good another race under my belt before I end my 2010 racing year at a high note.  I knew it was risky to start training with one day of rest after Chicago, at this point my body is accustomed to it.  I listened to my body and it was fine.  I asked myself if would do this ever again?  Not really.  Pulling this string of marathons is already enough.  I'm going to use this Hong Kong vacation to take a mental and physical break to focus on 2011.  I have no races schedule; except for Las Vegas - which i'll probably skip since I don't I think it would be a good idea after a vacation.  Overall, 2010 of racing has been a great year.  I had my share of ups (boston 2:59) and downs (NJ 3:26 and food poisoning and ended up at the ER 48 hours before the National DC Marathon), but in the end, I just kept training and never gave up and owned up to every performance; the good, the bad and the fugly.  At the end of the day, I'm just happy with all the training and preparation that was done to get this point; I can appreciate the journey.

It sounds cliche, but it is all the hardwork, the speed workouts, the tempos, the racing regardless of weather conditions, the long runs, the morning runs, the night runs, execution of doubles for extra mileage, the intention of finishing a race no matter how shitty I felt; - that was put in to get to this point.  No excuses.  Now, I look back at it and I can appreciate the journey to get to the destination.   Hence wrapping up 2010 and onto 2011, few races, more recoveries, better eating habits and more short distances would be the main goal; and yes I'm IN for Boston 2011.

Most importantly thank you to everyone who supported me via email/call/text/tweets and of course - GO ORANGE!

Splits:
Mile 01: 7:12:43
Mile 02: 6:18:69
Mile 03: 6:40:61
Mile 04: 6:22:63
Mile 05: 6:41:08
Mile 06: 6:30:49
Mile 07: 6:35:56
Mile 08: 6:40:89
Mile 09: 6:44:88
Mile 10: 6:31:42
Mile 11: 6:44:62
Mile 12: 6:35:29
Mile 13: 6:39:83
Mile 14: 6:44:21
Mile 15: 6:56:22
Mile 16: 6:53:36
Mile 17: 6:39:24
Mile 18: 6:48:77
Mile 19: 6:49:70
Mile 20: 7:09:18
Mile 21: 7:10:74
Mile 22: 7:04:38
Mile 23: 7:00:88
Mile 24: 7:18:72
Mile 25: 7:11:96
Mile 26: 7:14:27
Mile .2:  1:29:62



















4 Comments:

Blogger coach dion said...

Nice run, 2 Sub 3's in a month, hope to see you go 2h55 or even 2h50 next year...
Wish my body would let me run more marathons.

10:00 PM  
Blogger Robert James Reese said...

Again, nice work! That's awesome that you pulled out another sub-3 so quick after Chicago.

Looks like you got stuck behind the crowds in mile 1 too... That was a mess.

10:06 AM  
Blogger DawnB said...

congratulations to you again, oustanding job.

8:21 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Good job, Ken! It was great running part of the race with you and seeing the sneaky part of you, passing me at mile 26.1 and beating me by 3 seconds!
Have fun in HK and hopefully we can run another race together soon.

4:14 PM  

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