One of the series of events leading up to the NYC Marathon is a 5K through Manhattan the day before. It shares a finish line with the marathon allowing those unable to get in or unable to complete the marathon to experience the thrill of crossing the finish line in Central Park. Once we spotted that the race was available, Jennifer decided she had to do it to fulfill a goal of running through Central Park, and I figured it would be a nice way to get a shake out run in before the main event.
It was a damp and chilly morning so we bundled up and were still cold. I wasn't worried about overdressing since I was taking things nice and slow. I think our time was somewhere around 32 minutes which I was completely fine with. The course also gave a sampling of how misleadingly hilly NYC actually is. I warmed up a mile or so into the race and felt great by around mile 2. The goal was achieved for a shake out.
After crossing the finish we had a long walk to get out of the finisher chute. We got some of the same goodies that would be given out the next day for the marathon finishers. We finally found some caution tape that had been torn down and snuck out through the shortcut. We walked back towards Midtown and found a diner to grab some breakfast. While dining I looked up the results and saw that the winners were an Olympian steeplechaser, Donn Cabral, and ITU Triathlon World Championships gold medalist Gwen Jorgenson.
Sounds cool. Might have to do this next year to shake things out before the marathon. Hope it wasn't too expensive since it's just a 5k.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if there was an early discount, but it was $50 to sign up a few weeks before the race. A bit expensive for a 5K I know, but how often do they get to shut down Midtown? Race actually had a lot of bandits, and there was a bandit exit before the finish line.
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