Race Report: New York Road Runner Gridiron Classic 4 miler

Yesterday I ran the New York Road Runners Gridiron Classic 4 miler in Central Park. I could not have asked for a better morning to run my first race of 2011. It was 38 degrees and sunny. After logging so many miles on the treadmill, I was excited to be outside and see what I could do. I wanted to go out hard and see if I could run the 4 miles in under 30 minutes.

Going into the race, I thought the hardest part of the course was the first half mile. The race started just south of East 68th Street which meant we'd be hitting the dreaded Cat Hill very early on in the race. I was hoping this might work in my favor since NYRR races are usually the most crowded at the beginning. This would force me to conserve some energy and then let it rip once I crested the hill. Turns out the corral system worked well and I was able to settle into a pretty quick pace as soon as I crossed the timing mat. I felt fresh going up Cat Hill, the rest of East Drive, and across the 102nd Street Transverse. My pace slowed when I hit the West Side hills at mile 3 but I was able to recover and run a fast 4th mile. Here are the official results:

 

The 28:43 is a 4 mile PR. Needless to say, I am very pleased with my effort. I know there is a lot of training left before the Vermont City Marathon, but this is a great start. My next race is the Coogan's Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5k on March 6th.