#9 - A Biathlon

I completed race #9 on Saturday, qualifying me for automatic entry into the 2009 NYC Marathon. The only thing I need to do now is volunteer for an event some time between now and the end of the year and I've complied with all of the strange and silly NYRR requirements.

As with nearly all of the previous races, the event took place in Central Park. Adding a new dimension to the day and turn it into a biathlon: I decided to ride my bike to the starting line, do the race, and then ride home. Doing so added a 9-mile bike trip to the front and back ends of the 4-mile run.

Not surprisingly, it was not such a big deal. The ride took about 40-minutes each way and my pace for the four miler was 8:30/mile, very close to my previous record for that distance. So, adding a bike element to the day did not diminish my time at all. I might try doing a similar kind of thing in Prospect Park using my house as a home point.

Apart from the stifling heat, nothing really unusual to report. Here's what the numbers looked like:

Run For Central Park
Distance: 4.0 Miles, 6.4 Kilometers
Date/Time: July 19, 2008, 8:30am
Location: Central Park, NYC
Weather: 79 Deg. 65% Hum. hazy
Overall Place: 1771
Gender Place: 1302
Age Place: 152
Finish Time: 34:01
Split Time:
Pace/Mile: 8:30
AG Time: 31:25
AG Gender Place: 1200
AG%: 53.6
Total Finishers: Men – 2326 Women – 2281 Total – 4607 Age Group 40-44: Men – 303 Women – 239 Total – 542