If I had to pick a favorite Winter month, it would be January. For most, represents an opportunity to start the year on a clean slate. For me, this month is used to reflect on my past accomplishments and setbacks from 2016; take a step back and re-align myself with my short-term and long-term goals. One of those goals is to race my first Boston Marathon on April 17 – so short term, there WILL be lots of running!!!

Here are some pictures to start!

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Jan 7, 2017 – NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K

Location: Central Park, NYC

Weather: 23 degrees F, 46% humidity, 9mph wind – Light Snow into heavy snow

Before heading out to a work trip on the first weekend of January, my friend Henry convinced me to race the NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K in Central Park. After racing it last year and setting a 10-kilometer personal best of 35:27, I knew that contesting for a personal best would be a stretch. So instead, I utilized the race as a workout – I ran the first 5km as a threshold effort, then 2 miles at goal marathon pace, followed by a 1.2 mile hard effort to the finish.

Total finish time of 36:32, 5:53 avg. per mile.

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First Pacing Event of the Year! 

Jan 22, 2017 – NYRR Fred Lebow Manhattan Half

Location: Central Park, NYC

Weather: 43 Degrees, 100% Humidity, Wind W 3 mph, Fog/Mist

Pacing the 1:30 group meant that my goal time was 1:29:30 (30 seconds under). The new course featured 2 ½ counter-clockwise loops of Central Park. For my fellow New Yorkers, that meant 3x’s up Cat Hill and 2x’s up Harlem Hill…a challenging course with all within the park. And to make things a bit more interesting, there was a nice blanket of fog that made conditions, well, moist! Nonetheless, I was set out to hit even splits given the undulating course. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred 

Total finish time of 1:29:22, 6:49 avg. per mile.

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Fast forward to SuperBowl Sunday and seeing that Christina has neither raced in Central Park nor a 4-mile race, it was fitting that we both registered for the NYRR Gridiron 4M.

Feb 5, 2017 – NYRR Gridiron 4M

Location: Central Park, NYC

Weather: 34 degrees, humidity 52%, wind 9 mph

It was another chilly February morning so Christina and I stayed bundled up until we finished our warmup jog and pre-race rituals. We lined up in the A corral with about 5 minutes before the start and wiggled our way towards the middle. Huddle for warmth, right? At 9am, we were on our way – counterclockwise around the park just like the Manhattan Half (minus the Harlem Hill). I let Christina do the pacing so my goal was to stay beside her. We hit the first mile a few clicks under 7 minutes, where we did the most weaving through the slower runners. For the most part, we held a very constant pace, faded just slightly on Cat Hill and then booked it to the finish! And with that, a new personal best for Christina. (We’ll be racing the RnR DC half marathon in March, too!)

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Feb 19, 2017 – PPTC Cherry Tree 10M

Location: Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

It was a beautiful Sunday morning in NYC; unseasonably warm for mid February! Coupled with fine weather and a relatively late race start (10am) meant that I was able to sleep in, grab my racing flats and head over to Prospect Park in no hurry. Once I arrived at registration, I bumped into a fellow CPTC teammate, Nobu. We decided to warm up together and catch up.

Having never raced a standalone 10 miler and coming off of a 60 mile run training week, this race would serve as a long threshold workout. Right from the start of the race, I settled into 5:50 per mile pace and found myself racing alone. Nobu and a handful of guys were up ahead but their pace would not have been sustainable for me. So for nearly 95% of the 3-loops of Prospect Park, I ran completely alone. Instead of worrying about my pace, I focused on my breathing and leg turnover…especially during the climb towards Grand Army Plaza. The first lap of the race was my fastest and my 2^nd and 3^rd laps were nearly identical, guiding me across the finish line in 58:18, 5:50 avg. per mile, and good for 7^th place overall.

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And just like that, two months of the year are already behind us.

I’ve logged over 500 running miles as of writing this post and The 121st Running of the Boston Marathon is just around the corner.

Run fitness is finally starting to take shape and I’ll have more updates soon!

Thanks for reading – my next update will be posted after rockin’ Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. half marathon on March 11th, 2017.