I’ll be honest about this — I signed up for this race because we got a Nike Dri-Fit shirt. I am that shallow. The distance, four miles, was actually the distance I was supposed to run for my marathon training plan so I guess that sort of helped too.

The race itself was a late addition to NYRR’s calendar and given the amount of last minute email messages from them to get people to register I didn’t think there would be as many people as there were. I believe just under 3,500 people ran the race, which was far less than most of the other races I have run this year. It was still crowded at the start with a lot of jostling for running room but Cat Hill took care of that like a good hill should.

It’s been a while since I have gone for a run in Central Park and it certainly was nice to get back to my old stomping grounds, it was also nice to run at night for a change. I think NYRR should sprinkle a few more of these in.

Running-wise things felt good. I didn’t have any issues with my quad so I think I’m finally over that but I will continue to take extra care of it so I don’t have to worry about it again. I also proved once again that I am the queen of the positive split. You are all jealous that I can do this on a regular basis. Admit it, you know you are. Seriously though, I have to find a way to actually have a negative split. No matter how slow I start out, I always seem to finish slower. Positive splitting aside my overall pace was a lot better than it has been in recent weeks so I am very happy about that.

One note about my Hal Higdon Marathon training app. At .45 miles into the race, Hall told me I had reached the one mile mark. According to the app I ran that first “mile” in 9:13. I’m not sure this app, or any running app due to the smartphone gps, is great for running in densely populated areas. According to the app I ran 4.99 miles with a 9:46 pace. I dream of running that fast. Again, this may work better in less populated areas with fewer tall buildings but I hope no one is relying on this as their sole distance calculator for marathon training. Stick with a gps watch like Garmin or Polar for better accuracy.

Speaking of which, this is a step down week in training so tomorrow’s long run is only 10 miles and I think I’ll head back to Central Park for that. We’ve had a couple of nice low humidity days here in NYC but of course the temps will be rising, in the high 80’s, for my long run. This will give me a chance to try out another running accessory and provide a review. Hint: It’s supposed to help you stay cool.