Boomer’s Cystic Fibrosis Run to Breathe 4 miler – Race Recap

With summer here; although I am training & racing – I’ve fallen a bit behind on my blogging! Here I am, back & catching up! On Saturday, July 16th I got out of bed bright & early to head this NYC. Today, I would be running my ” 6th NYRR race toward my 9 + 1 for

NYCM 2017. It was another hot, humid summer morning in the city. I did not have any time goals going into the race & decided not to put any pressure on myself to run a certain pace. My thought was “its hot – its humid – I’ll run with no music – listen to my body & see how this goes.” The race began with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner, announcements from the race director – telling us to run safe in the heat and some inspiring words from Boomer Esiason. Within minutes, the race started. It was a hot one but I felt good. My goal was to not focus on the time on my watch but instead ruin by feel & hydrate along the course! I crossed the mile 1 marker at a pace of 7:58. I wasn’t all out racing, I was running a comfortable pace & feeling good! I made sure to grab water sip some of it & pour the rest over my head at every water stop. At mile 2 I was at a pace of 7:59, still feeling good. Halfway through, the sun was shining bright & it was getting even warmer but I was so determined! I crossed the mile,3 mark at 7:44 pace and at that point I said to myself “finish this race strong!” We came to a downhill in the park where there was a crowd of spectators yelling “less than a mile to go!” I kept repeating to myself, you’ve got this! I conquered the heat finishing mile 4 at 7:37! Average pace was 7:48/mile – finishing just 27 seconds off from a 4 mile PR even in the scorching heat.

Overall, I was very happy with the way I paced myself in this race & content with my time. Below; I’m sprinting full speed to the finish line!

After the race I ran into my amazing friend Martina who ran the race as part of her long run for TCS NYC Marathon! It’s always so great to see this girl!!

I headed back over to the finish to stand with my hubby & brother- in-law as we cheered on my amazing sister-in-law Jess as she crossed the finish line!!

We hung out in Central Park, took some pics & just enjoyed the beautiful summer weather in the city!!

As always our hubby’s were there to support us & to be silly!

We grabbed some Starbucks coffee!

Of course Jess & I got our Instagram names put on our cups!!

After we said goodbye & headed back to the parking garage where our car was. The guy in the parking garage was nice enough to let us know that if we came back in 30 minutes (which would be 4 hours of parking) the cost would be half. We decided to grab some protein smoothies so we found this cute little place nearby and that’s exactly what we did!!

It was a wonderful day with wonderful company!!

Thank you as always for following my journey! Mere @meretherunner14

 Next up – Neptune City 5k – 8/6 (I placed 1st in my age group – blog coming soon)!