See Christi Jog

NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K December 5, 2010. Time: 1:08:13
Last year, NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K December 6, 2009. Time: 1:08:09.

If I had known that 5 seconds separated me from a Personal Record I would have hustled through the side stitch and sick stomach.

I didn't expect much after battling shin splints for 6 weeks. If it wasn't already paid for I wouldn't have gone. So I made the race about getting out there and running again... and to prove that my shin splints were not a stress fracture. Surprisingly, my leg felt great from the start. And because I assumed I'd end up walking at some point, I didn't hold back on the first mile which included the Great Hill. The hardest part of Central Park. After that, I would very well PR if could keep a steady pace. Mile 2 good, mile 3 better. Then at mile four I threw up a little in my mouth. Yes. It was awful. It tasted like wine or apple.

The night before I went to Cynthea's Hanukkah party. Normally I don't drink before a race, but since I wasn't planning on trying I had a beer, two glasses of wine and a hard apple cider. This was over the course of 6 hours and with food. Lots of food. Laktas, cheeses, squash kugel, cookies, hummus, hmmm.

Anyway, at that point I felt like the time Rebecca and I ate Taco Bell then tried to run a mile around the middle school track. Rebecca threw up her chalupa. I really didn't want to throw up my bagel or what ever else might follow. Plus, according to my watch, if I ran mile 5 in under 10 minutes I would beat 1:05 which I thought was my best 10k time. The determine look you might see in my photo is me determined not to puke.

On the last quarter of mile 5 I caught a side stitch probably from holding my breathe. My watch said 1:06. Well, its still going to be a good time I thought. And tried to coast in at a non-vomiting pace. It was only after I looked at my time on the nyrr website that I found my 10k PR has never been 1:05, but maybe its good I aim for it. I don't know. There's always next time.