On a rainy Sunday morning, I headed towards Central Park in NYC for my third New York Road Runners race of the year. My third NYRR race and my third four mile race of the year. As race time approached, we hid under the small tents in the Japan expo area, trying to stay dry before the race started. As 8am approached, we headed to our corrals for the Japan Run 4M.
The rain let up just as the race was starting and we headed out on the exact same (but wetter) course as my previous two NYRR races of 2016. We started on the east side of the park and headed north as our corrals were released with the sound of the horn. We quickly passed the 72nd street transverse and headed up cat hill. The famous statue was upon our left side before we had gotten very far and passed the 85th street transverse for the first mile marker. Without stopping we continued up the east side until we got to the 102nd street transverse and turned left. The second mile marker was in the middle of the transverse as we headed west until we turned left and headed south. Straight down the west side to 72nd street and turning left onto the transverse to complete our four mile course around Central Park for my first New York race of the year.
It felt good to get out on Sunday morning, even if I would rather have stayed in bed and avoided the rain. I was able to run it in 36:46, which was 44 seconds faster than my previous performance, even with the wet ground. I’m looking forward to my next NYRR run this weekend, the UAE 10k, for a slightly different course, even if it includes Harlem Hill.
