With a week to go before the Boston Marathon, the last “long” run for my taper was set to be six miles. The same weekend, New York Road Runners had their annual UAE Healthy Kidney 10k, which I decided would be the perfect way to get in that last six mile run – plus an extra .2 miles – in preparation for the marathon.
We started the race on the east side of the park and began by running north from 69th Street up towards Cat Hill. As a pack we ran past the cat statue that overlooks the hill and moved onwards past the Engineer’s Gate and the 102nd Street transverse. From there it was time for the most challenging part of the course as we ran up Harlem Kill and curved around the top of the park. After a welcome downhill run to even out the time spent running uphill, it was time for the rolling hills after passing the other side of the transverse. Three hills that were not as challenging as the previous hills of the course that led past the 72nd Street transverse and the lower loop of the park. Curving down and around and back up past where we started until we turned on to the other side of the 72nd Street transverse and the finish line.
I had planned to take a nice easy run, but still completed the 10k in under an hour at 58:42. With my second 9+1 run completed, it was time to rest up and get ready to run the Boston Marathon a week later.
