UAE Healthy Kidney 10K

The race of the day in the park was UAE Healthy Kidney 10K.

Do you remember how I complained about the crowds last time? It was nothing compared to this. There were double the number of runners (about 8000). In fact I lost my standard position in the Pink bib-wearing 6000 block and dropped down to Gray bib-8000 block. (The faster you are among the participating runners the smaller your number). The list went up to 11000. Unfortunately, corrals were not established after the 7000s. So, 8000 to 11000 group mingled quite a bit. There was a lot of passing and zig-zagging for us slower mortals throughout the race.

It took me 9 minutes to go through the start and there was a small army behind me. (by the way, there are no good jokes one can make in this situation. You can't just go with "The leaders will finish before we start")

Crowds are a fact of running in the Park and so are the hills. The 10K loop starts on the West Side and goes up. The rolling hills of the West Side are followed by the majestic Harlem Hill. Knowing what was ahead, (also going without warm-up and on shaky legs due to the beers I rolled down last night) I ran the first 5K in 28:50. I was feeling pretty tired and not really enjoying the run.

In the second 5K I decided to go as far as I can and started to pass people trying to find a comfortable pace. Of course down the Cat Hill you gain some speed and you can't really drop it going into the last mile. The last mile, especially the last tiny hill positioned right before the finish line at the Tavern On The Green (yes, where the marathon ends) was painful. I ran this section in 26:50 for a 55:40 finish.

The winner, Patrick Komon, kept a phenomenal pace for the initial three miles (4:17-4:21-4:17). How he climbed that hill that fast, I will never know! He broke the Central Park course record.

Congratulations to all the finishers. Also, thanks to the NYRR, the volunteers and the UAE embassy (especially for the tech shirt! If you want the runners to like you, give them tech shirts!).