The American Heart Association Wall Street Run is my anniversary race. It was the very first race I participated in as a runner. It’s always crowded, the streets are narrow, and it can be hit or miss with Wall Street commuters trying to cross the street to get home.

Those are reasons to love it and to hate it. Sometimes I run this race pretty well and others not so well. I never really set a goal for this race because of all the above. This year, it seemed more crowded at the start and surprisingly at the finish. There were several times in the first mile and a half when it came to almost a stand still.

Overall I was happy with race. I wasn’t convinced that I was going to have a great race during the first mile. As much as I try not to waste too much energy weaving around people at the start of a race it almost a necessity for this one. During the second mile things opened up a bit as the streets got a bit wider and I was able to settle into a consistent pace. It was this point that I looked at my Garmin and noticed that I would be close to a PR if I kept at my current pace.

I always hate thinking that in the middle of a race. I usually end up miscalculating how many miles I left or do the math wrong. I’m dyslexic so give me a break. Since this was only a three mile race I couldn’t screw things up too much right? Well I did forget about one portion of the course that we had to run but I did manage to get the math right for the last mile — whew. It was going to be close and I knew I would probably have to get a decent sprint to the finish to get it.

Well, I wasn’t able to get that sprint going due to the crowded finish. It ended up being a spurt with two yards left. But, you would have been impressed with how I found the little whole to accomplish that. When I crossed the finish line I wasn’t even sure if I got that PR. Later when I checked my phone (thank you Dropbox) I saw that according to my Garmin I had a 23 second PR. Too close to call.

NYRR finally posted the results this morning and I ended up with a 27 second PR. I’m happy with that. Could I have pushed myself a little harder in places? Perhaps, but given the type of race this was, I’ll take it. I’m hoping this can continue to for the Mini 10k on June 9. That’s another favorite race of mine and I’ve some nice PRs there. I’d like to have another!