Just a quick recap of today’s race, my first long run for my Miami Half Marathon training.

Going in my goal was to either PR or get close to it. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go due to the cold I had last week which limited my running a bit. But I was sticking with my goal but decided not to put too much pressure on myself. I also realized on my way to the race that this would be my last one as a 39 year-old so I had a reason to just enjoy it for what it was.

The race was super crowded, I think at one time it had reached capacity and the NYRR re-opened registration. Nice for those people who got in but it made for a very crowded first couple of miles.

This was only my fourth 15k race and, admittedly, I’m still learning how to race this distance. I know I went out too fast, I think may have been due to the large number of yellow bibs entering the last corral late and being surrounded by their speed threw me a little bit.

Shortly after the third mile I noticed that my pace was beginning slow down and at that point I knew I went out too fast and that a PR would be hard work. I stuck with my plan and just enjoyed running in the great weather we had today.

At about the six mile mark I tried to do the math and thought if I pushed the last three miles I could possibly get that PR. I did pick up my pace a bit and felt really good about it but alas, there would be no PR, I missed it by four minutes. But I’m not disappointed in the results. Sure I would have loved to PR and maybe I could have pushed just a bit harder but this was second best time for this distance and I improved my time from the Colon Cancer Challenge 15k this by four minutes, so for that alone I’m pretty satisfied with how I did today.

This is an excellent start to my training for the Miami Half Marathon and now I know where I have to focus on things if I want to go for that PR in Miami, which just might be my first race as a 40 year-old.