Thank you for your wonderful responses last week to Marathon Training: Handling My Fear. It is helpful for me to know other people have the same struggles and can understand how I am feeling.

So, finally! My first race post injury is complete. I was supposed to run the Celebrate Israel Run 4 Mile race in June, but my hip was bothering me after brand new exercises in a new class shocked it into pain for a few days.

The 10K is my favorite race distance. My first 10K, the Joe Kleinerman 10K, was in December, 2009. I don’t know what I was thinking signing up for a race in 20 degree temperatures. I was freezing before it started! But I was also inspired at that time as I saw two older ladies, in their 60s,  next to me in the corral, discussing how they were running this race “just for fun” and not complaining about the cold. Once that race got going I warmed up and had a really fun time, finishing in a respectable 1:03:22, an average pace of 10:13 per mile — amazing for my very first 10K when I had only started running less than six months earlier, and amazing considering I struggled with serious knee pain toward the end.

The next 10K I tackled was about five months later in the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K, greatly improving my time and finishing in 1:00:37. But a few weeks after that I ran the Women’s Mini 10K and crushed that PR was a time of 56:05. Yep. I went from 1:03:22 to 56:05 in six months.

I love this distance because it is the perfect amount of running; an hour, give or take.  It is short enough to push yourself, but long enough to warm up and get into a groove. It is a nice, round distance.

So now, let’s talk about the Boomer’s Cystic Fibrosis Run to Breathe 10K.

My training plan had 8 miles on the schedule. I ran two slow miles around my neighborhood on the way to Central Park and arrived at the corrals for the race, where I met up with my friend Z.

My main goal was to not bust out of the start at a fast pace like I tend to do, which (1) would be difficult to maintain and (2) would affect my hip. I wanted to start off around 10:30 with a goal of negative splits. Z had the same goal so we decided to stick together for as long as possible.

The race started and I felt awesome. Within the first minute, this photo of me and Z was taken:

And subsequently placed on the New York Road Runners homepage.  My hamming has paid off.

I felt so awesome during this first mile. I was thrilled to be racing again! I love the energy of all the people around me. Running is so much more fun during a race. I looked down at my Garmin and told Z we were running too fast! “I know!” she responded. We both slowed down.

You probably know I love my race music and I love making playlists. I have an uncanny ability, no matter how fast or slow I am running at a given race, to time my playlist so perfectly that I cross the finish during the very last song on my list. Whether I PR by 4 minutes or don’t PR at all our run my slowest time ever — I just time it right. I don’t know how I do this and I am sure my powers will soon fail me, but at this race I once again timed it that perfectly.

[I promise I was struggling at Mile 6. Also, I think I need a new race photog pose.]

Even better than the total playlist timing was the coincidental timing of the song I ran up the Harlem Hills on and the song that played as I ran down. Uprising by Muse could not have been more perfect for pushing me up those crazy and long hills, and  Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap couldn’t have been better for coasting down after. Both songs were PERFECT at these exact times. I couldn’t believe it worked out this way.

The rest of my playlist was just as awesome. Thanks again Gena for introducing me to DJ Cobra. Final Escapade made me think of GOB Bluth, and then that made me think “But where did the lighter fluid come from?” And then I laughed. During the race.

So after that downhill, I felt pretty great. At the downhill that came after the Harlem Hills downhill, as I sped up, I decided to stay up with my newly faster pace.

At one point during mile 5 I looked down and my Garmin said my pace was under 9:00. Not. Good. I slowed down. But I was still running fast. I felt great.

Until the next mile when the race became immensely difficult. My pace was too fast, the weather too hot, and I needed the running to stop. I slowed down, but it is so funny how relative running is. After I relaxed on the too-fast pace, I felt like I was crawling. In reality, I was still running under a 10 minute mile. It just felt slow in comparison.

I didn’t think I’d have a final push in me at the finish, but I did. Something about seeing the finish so close makes me forget my pain for a few seconds. I finished with a smile and was so happy — happy to be finished running and happy with my strong effort. Happy my hip did not hurt at all. Happy to be ending on Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby.

[Mid-air finish!]

Splits (I started my Garmin a little early):

1 – 10:04
2 – 10:22
3 – 10:06
4 – 10:15
5 – 9:15
6 – 9:30
6.33 – 9:01

Official time: 1:02:22
Average pace: 10:04

NOT BAD at all! After coming back from injury and having already run 2 miles before the race, I am thrilled! I beat my Joe Kleinerman 10K time even after recently dealing with my hip injury. And I achieved my goal of negative splits from first half to the second. My first race back post-injury was difficult but it was awesome. I am happy to be back.

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In other news…

Check out my latest NBC New York: GO Healthy NY review:

Dori’s Quest: Indoor Cycling at Flywheel Sports

And this video from the BeFitNYC.org launch event to Make NYC Your Gym. Missy and I are interviewed (I am the one dripping in sweat in a colorful headband) and a quick scene from our IntenSati launch event class is shown:

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