5 Days Off + 80% = SUCCESS

The weather this morning was perfect, I got good sleep last night, and I carb'd up and hydrated properly over the last 24 hours. This alone is a race preparation anomaly for the mother of a one-year old! My darling son awoke me at 5:30 this morning, so no need for an alarm clock either :). I was feeling cautiously optimistic about my race when I headed out the door at 8am to go meet some friends before the race. A 1.5 mile warm-up jog, bag drop, and port-a-potty stop later I was lined up in my corral. 

My strategy was to start off slow for the first lap (the race course was 2 laps around Central Park), then pick it up and "race" the last lap to mimic my strategy for the marathon where I plan to run a pedestrian 20 then race a 10k. Overall I wanted to run a 9:09 (MP) to see how it felt. Here's how it went down:

Mile 1: 9:32

Mile 2: 9:46

Mile 3: 9:08 (I saw my son & husband at mile 2.5, ha!)

Mile 4: 9:23

Mile 5: 9:34

Mile 6: 8.58 (oops)

Mile 7: 9:12 (pace at half way point about a 9:21; time to pick it up)

Mile 8: 9:02

Mile 9: 8:39 (saw my son & husband again)

Mile 10: 9:01

Mile 11: 9:18

Mile 12: 8:41

Mile 13: 8:42

Total 13.1: 1:59:46 (9:08 pace!! I did it)

Okay, so my splits are all over the place and I can not claim consistency in any way shape or form, BUT I was able to accomplish my MP while running at 80% to be cautious with my leg. Yessssssss.