Two weekends ago, over 10,000 women gathered in Central Park, NYC to run the Mastercard Mini 10K. Even though I live on the east coast and have been running for over 20 years, I had never heard of this historic event. It began in 1972 as a women's-only race, named after the mini skirt, a symbol of women's liberation.
Ultimately, that athlete ended up not running the 10K after all, so the panel event never happened. I still had my race entry, and decided to make the trip to NYC and experience it.
Greg and I took the train to NYC on Friday, checked into our hotel, and then went to pick up my bib number. At number pickup, they placed a big "C" sticker on my bib, indicating that I was in corral C. I had looked up the previous year's results online, and I knew it would be very likely that I would finish among the top 500 runners. I assumed that corral "A" would be my natural placement, or "B" at the very least, but they told me that "C" was the furthest forward I could be because I hadn't run another NYRR race that would qualify me. I told them that I ran a 41:38 10K last December and could share that result with them, but they said it had to be a NYRR race.
I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Because the weather would be warm, I saw it as an opportunity to go out slow and then pass runners along the way. I probably could have advocated a little bit harder, but I didn't really care that much. I had a very "chill" attitude towards this race. I wanted to run well and run my best, but my primary objective was to experience it.
Greg and I ate dinner at a fancy restaurant the night before the race. Probably too fancy because I wanted something bland, and that's not what you order at these types of places. I focused on staying hydrated and I drank around 75 ounces of water + electrolytes that day.
We got back to our hotel, watched Jeopardy (a treat for us, since we don't have cable) and then went to sleep. I slept relatively well. I don't actually remember because it's now been over two weeks since the race, but we'll say I slept decently.
Before the Race
For breakfast I had a banana and UCAN energy powder. I got dressed, pinned on my bib, and was ready to make my way to the race start. Back in the 2010's I wore running skirts for most of my races, but when we moved houses I had gotten rid of them all. I definitely wanted to wear a skirt for this race because it was the "mini" 10K, named after the mini skirt. I had found a cute outfit from Alo that was pink and frilly and perfect for a women's race. I opted for my New Balance SC Pacer shoes - perfect for the 10K distance.
It was already 76 degrees at 7:15. It was supposed to get up to 80 by the time I would be finishing! On my personal weather scale, I give this a 1 out of 10. I would not be able to run anywhere close to my 41:38 from December, despite being in almost as good of shape.
Once we got to around 80th street, I said goodbye to Greg so he could get to his first spectating location. I did a very easy jog to the start line and then up and down one of the side streets once I reached 90th. I also used one of the porta potties.
My grandparents lived on Central Park West, and I found myself right in front of their building. I waved to the security guard and he let me inside. They passed away over 20 years ago, but it brought back memories to see the lobby of the building. I remembered being a child and visiting that building often. As a child, I don't think I could have imagined returning to that building as a 47-year-old runner lining up for a 10K race in the park. I was wearing a necklace with my grandmother's diamonds and my wedding ring also has her diamonds, so it was cool for them to be back in their place of origin.
I took a caffeinated gel, finished drinking my water, and made my way into corral C. Throughout the entire morning I was recognized by many runners from social media, and it was cool to meet so many people in person. I loved the all-women vibe, and everyone was super energized and chatting with each other.
Once we started walking towards the start line, I tried to get up a little closer to the front, but it wasn't really possible with so many people. There were probably 2,000 runners ahead of me.
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| Mile 1 |
Mile 1 was all about passing people and trying to run my ideal pace. It was a net downhill so I didn't want to waste it by going out too easy. The first mile was not in Central Park- it was on the city street of Central Park West. Greg would be looking for me shortly before we entered the park at mile marker 1.
I did a ton of weaving, but it was hard to make my way through the crowd. The course was not very wide and there were thousands of runners. I tried to stay to the left so I could see Greg and he could see me, but I ended up running wherever I could to pass people. I saw Greg on the side of the road, but he didn't quite see me and I yelled out to him and then he saw me. He wasn't able to snap any photos of me, but I'm posting a screen shot of a video he took.
Mile 2 was fully inside Central Park. It was still crowded and I was still passing runners right and left. This was another net downhill mile so I wanted to make the most of it.
Mile 1: 7:11
Mile 2: 7:01
Miles 3-4
Because it was so hot and hilly, I didn't give myself a goal time. I figured I would run it based on effort level. My 10K pace from last December was around 6:40, but I knew I would spend the majority of this race in the 7:00's with the heat. Mile 3 featured "Cat Hill" which was definitely a challenge, but there was a ton of crowd support on it.
I can't say enough about how amazing the vibe was with this being a women's race. I like running with men too, but at my pace, I typically find myself surrounded by men. I saw Greg during the 3rd mile and he saw me and took photos. The course was finally starting to open up which made passing people easier.
Mile 3: 7:20
Mile 4: 7:09
Miles 5-Finish
I knew that mile 5 would be the most challenging from an elevation perspective. I was mentally prepared for it and told myself to just focus on getting up the big hill and then it would be mostly downhill afterwards. I did not look at my watch at all during this mile, I just focused on pushing hard and getting up the big hill. My watch finally beeped and my split was 7:41. OUCH - but not surprising given how hot it was and how big the hill was.
After that, I don't remember much. I remember almost nothing about mile 6 except for the fact that I don't remember it.
This has never, ever happened to me in 20+ years of racing: I totally zoned out, and did not know that I had made it to mile marker 6. I didn't see a mile marker, I did not hear or feel my Garmin beep. I looked around for Greg but never saw him. I had stopped looking at my watch entirely and had no concept of how far away the finish line was.
Suddenly, I came upon a timing mat which I assumed was mile marker 6, but that was actually the finish line. There was no finish line arch, which I had expected in a race of this size, so I just cruised through it with no finish line kick. If I had known that I was approaching the finish line, I could have gunned it a little more, but instead I was totally just zoned out and I had no idea that the finish line was coming.
Mile 5: 7:41
Mile 6: 7:21
Last 0.29: 6:59 pace
My official time was 45:46, which is my slowest 10K in over 10 years! The last time I ran a slower 10K was December 2013. I do not see this as a reflection on my fitness, but rather the impact of the heat and the hills.
I was thrilled to place 9 out of 841 in my age group at a competitive NYC race. That's really the metric that matters most to me, not my actual time. I consider this a huge success. I also placed 235 out of 10,075 women. Given that I was in corral C, this means I passed over 2,500 runners along the way. I plan to run this race again next year so I can start in corral A and hope that it stays below 75 degrees.
I enjoyed the post race experience because multiple women recognized me from social media, asked to take photos with me, etc. Seems like everyone had a similar experience - ran much slower than their typical 10K because of the heat.
My plan was to meet up with Greg at the first possible location after the finish line chute, but I did not see him. Turns out he was waiting for me to run past him. He never saw me during the last mile and I never saw him. I used a volunteer's phone to call him and we were able to meet up about ten minutes later.
I told him all about the race as we made our way out of the park. He recorded a video of me for my Instagram story. We briefly stopped on the way out to look up a place to have a post-race breakfast. At this point, I had finished about 25 minutes prior. As he was looking on his phone, I felt like I really needed to sit down, so I did. And then I started to feel strange. I felt weak, like I couldn't get up. I told Greg I just needed to sit for awhile. I sipped water and Gatorade. He asked me if I wanted to go to the medical tent and I refused.
I sat there for a few more minutes and then realized how absolutely horrible and weak I felt, and that I might not be able to get up off of the ground on my own. I knew at that point that I had no other option than to be taken to the medical tent. Greg approached a volunteer and they called the medical people who arrived with a wheelchair. I was slurring my speech, I felt like I was totally knocked out. My whole body was limp.
Once inside the medical tent, they surrounded my body with ice packs. Lots and lots of ice packs. After about 5 minutes, I very suddenly snapped out of it. It was like an instant awakening. All of a sudden I was able to talk normally and I felt normal. It was very, very weird how suddenly I went from my haze to feeling normal.
I was in the medical tent for about 20 minutes and I finally was able to leave. Greg and I walked towards a bagel place, ate, and then headed back to the hotel. It all made sense why I didn't remember the last mile of the race. I don't remember ever reaching mile 6. I think I was starting to suffer from heat exhaustion but it didn't fully kick in until 25 minutes later.
I've been saying for years that I am far more heat sensitive than the average runner and this again confirms it.
I showered, relaxed, and then we headed out for the train station. We ended up walking there (it was about 1.5 miles) and when we were about half a mile from Penn Station, I told Greg I needed to sit down inside. I started feeling really awful again, so I got a fountain soda Coke at a pizza place and drank it with more water. The remaining half mile walk to Penn Station felt like an eternity. I felt super exhausted, like at any minute I might pass out.
We finally arrived and it was like heaven to sit down. Greg got me another Gatorade and I still felt very weird. We had to wait almost an hour for our train, but as long as I could be sitting down in air conditioning, I was fine. I actually was sitting on the ground because the actual seating area was completely full.
Then, on the way home, a barge hit the bridge and we were told our train would be delayed for a minimum of 2-3 hours. Greg and I decided we would take an Uber from Wilmington, DE back to DC, but as we were getting off the train, they announced that they fixed the bridge and we could proceed. Thank goodness.
Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
That was a very eventful weekend. The race itself was a total blast and I loved the five miles of it that I remember. I'm extremely proud of how well I placed in my age group and in the overall field. I also enjoyed wearing my pink skirt and meeting so many people who recognized me from social media.
I don't really have any other final thoughts aside from my heat sensitivity being confirmed for the hundredth time, and being thankful for the opportunity to run such an iconic race.
