Day 12: Tweet-up

From Me and the Road

Date: 1/12/09

Consecutive Days Run: 12

Runner: Brandon Wood

Shoes: Newton AW Trainers

Location: New York, NY

Type of Run: Interval run followed by slow group

Time of Day: 5:23 PM EST

Distance Run: 11.00 miles

Time Run: 01:28:03

Average Pace: 8:00 per mile

Weather Conditions: Cold (27 degrees Farenheit), clear

Disposition: Good

Link to Run Detail: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22246646

About the Run: Today was a long day. I began at 5:45, waking up to shower, warm-up in said shower and go move my car (NYC alternate side parking rules, don’t ask). I got to my office at 8 AM and was there until 4:45 PM. Right before I left to go change and head to Central Park, I had a Cliff Bar because I knew that I’d need some calories. Bad idea.

I headed to the gym to change and then right back out again to go meet the Laminator who was gracious enough to put my bag in his locker at New York Sports Club on West 73rd. We met, he took my bag and we went our separate ways, only to meet again at Bethesda Fountain at 6:30 with a bunch of NYC area Twitter buddies.

My assigned run for the day was a tough one: Warm up for a mile then run 5×1 mile at your 5K race pace recover for 2 minutes between each. This was added upon by the fact that it was colder than I had expected and the wind had decided to kick up and swirl around the park. On top of that, my stomach had begun to do flip-flops from the Cliff Bar. I set off, doing my warm up and then getting into the first fast mile. Right away, I knew I was under what should be my 5 K pace, but I was aiming for 5 K effort rather than just pace. It so happened that sack in the middle of my first mile was Cat Hill, a lovely little slice of hell nestled on the East side of Central Park. By the time I got to the end of that mile, I thought I was going to lose my lunch, but managed to maintain things.

The rest of my run went OK. Not my best workout ever, but I still pushed myself. When I finished and headed to Bethesda Fountain, people had just begun to gather. In all, I think about 18 people showed up. About little less than half went to do a hill workout while the rest of us headed off to run the upper loop on the park. I really is so much fun to have a real sense of camaraderie while running, especially when the TriLife triathlon team comes at you from the other direction and their larger group doesn’t move an inch, thus making our smaller group run in the car lane (thanks guys). Afterward, we headed to Dive 75 to partake in a few libations before heading to respective boroughs. Good friends and good times!