It was a rainy Sunday morning, and the weather had been threatening floods for that day, but it didn’t stop over 4,000 runners from heading out to Central Park to participate in the NYRR Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5M race.
It had rained the night before, but had stopped in time for us to run the middle and lower loops of the park as it prepared to host the NYC Marathon.
The course started on the west side of Central Park at 67th Street and headed south to the lower loop. We turned left at 60th Street and headed east until the road curved back north and took us to the east side of the park. From there it was a straight run north up the east side, which has some light rolling hills and isn’t a bad run until Cat Hill. The rain started to come down, but thankfully it was only a light rain as we reached the top of the hill and continued between the raindrops. Turning left and heading west across the 102nd Street transverse was a welcome respite across flat ground until we turned left one more time to head south down the west side. More rolling hills greeted us on our run until reaching the finish line at 70th Street.
With the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff completed, I was one step closer to the 9+1 I need to enter the 2018 NYC Marathon. I finished the race in 52:17, which isn’t a bad time considering the road conditions, but gave me incentive to start training again to bring down my times for my next races.
