5th Avenue Mile

A few weeks back I ran the 5th Avenue mile. I don't think I'd run "the mile" since middle school PE class, so I wanted to test myself. Before marathon training I knew in most races longer than 4 miles I ran about 9:45/mile. But I really had no idea how fast I could run just 1 mile if I pushed myself.


This is special road race, in that 5th Avenue from the Metropolitan Museum south to 59th Street/The Plaza Hotel is closed off. There are various heats based on age. I was in the 30-39 year old heat. Next year I'll be with the 40 year olds (!yikes!). Prior to my heat I did some warming up in front of the Met. Oh! I love NY!



It was exciting to watch each heat line up and to see the truck with the official race clock lead the runners. When it was my turn I definitely ran faster than normal, but I knew that I had to still pace myself, because a mile is not that short of a distance in reality! I tried to be present, as I always do when running races in NY...aware of my body, breath, thoughts but also aware of my surroundings: running past wealthy 5th Ave apartment buildings on my left and Central Park on my right.


In the end I was actually surprised. Most of you won't be impressed by this, but my time was 7:47 with an age graded time 7:26 (isn't it nice that they'll factor in old age!). Granted I was sucking wind when I crossed the finish line, but for a first test of my mile time, I was pleased. After the marathon, I am going to focus on speed training. I may make it a winter goal to see if I can improve my mile time. In the photo above, I'm hanging out with Konjit's Godfather Yonas (who also ran that day) and our friend Firehiwot, who is a faithful runner...I always run into her training in the park or at races. In fact, Firehiwot has been so kind to me, jumping in with me during training runs in the park to pace me. She's a great coach.

The 5th Ave mile was really fun. Great to see the different heats (my 72 year old TFK coach won his heat), especially the elite runners and the inspiring young-at-heart folks in their 80's and even 90's running that day. I hope that is me in the future!