I finished the NYRR NYC/Knickerbocker 60K - and am more than a little surprised to be writing that sentence! As I pointed out early, when I picked up my shirt and bib earlier in the week, making it to the start line didn't seem like a realistic possibility given how much time I've spent "sick" during the last couple of weeks! But things looked up on Thursday, and I managed an easy 4.5 mile run on Friday - so at a minimum, would go in, line up, and run as many laps as I could eke out!
Five laps (21 miles) was my initial goal. Even that seemed like a stretch considering I only ran twice since the NYC Marathon (the Raven Rocks 10K, on trails, and the 4.5 miles, on roads, Friday). Somehow 10.7 miles, broken up by Bronchitis and a chest cold, didn't seem like a realistic lead in to an ultra! But in a counterintuitive miracle, maybe all that "rest" that came along with feeling sick worked some magic!
After the 5 loops I stopped for hot soup! The perfect thing, actually, and I also took a couple of minutes to switch my phone over to a mofi because the charge was dying. At that point I was on a solid 9:40 pace (roughly 3:23 in). The next loop I stopped for a cup of coffee (mainly for the caffeine). But I had started slowing down (10+ minute miles). The last two loops were the toughest - I had slowed to 11/12 minute miles by this point. But, amazingly, the only cramping I had the entire day was in the last 2 miles of the entire distance! The only walk breaks I took were during the last (9th) loop.
I was incredibly happy with my 6:46:07, 10:54 pace, finish. While it was way slower than my PB for this course (5:23), it was a solid - and gratifying - finish! Given the trepidation I had at the start, I count this as one of my happiest race finishes :D
Here are the official results from NYRR.
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