2014 Newport 10k

Today my friends and I took part in the annual 2014 edition of the   Newport 10k . Newport, NJ is a busy commercial and residential neighborhood near Jersey city,  located across the Hudson River from lower  Manhattan, NY. It features modern condominiums, brownstones and a rich Financial and business office parks along the Hudson river.

We had been scheduled for this race last year, but showed up a day late (last year we arrived on Sunday morning, wondering why there was no one there..), this year however, we were sure of the fact the race was  Saturday, and showed  up on time. The weather was perfect and the course was flat.

The crowd…

Being a USATF open 10k championship, this race attracts a lot of top tier runners, its not uncommon for a half dozen or so runners finish the race in under 30 minutes. The elite field coupled with the proximity to NYC makes this a popular race with folks of all abilities. And this year 1600+ runners took part.

This year thus usual gang of folks took part, Christine, Jose , Duncan and other runners we know.. We didn’t see Duncan at the start but I did notice him around mile 1.5 about 20 seconds ahead.. and we caught up with him at the finish.. .

My goals.. Race morning

I was feeling pretty crappy just wrapping up a head cold, so I was still coughing race morning, my expectations were low.  Just finish.. I had no visions of any kind of good performance.

Race

As the race started it took about 20 seconds to cross the timing mats, Then we were off, I was right next to Christine before I started to pull in front a bit. Even though it was a large field the wide 3- lane roads gave everyone enough space. The first mile went by quickly and I was surprised to see the time on my clock.  After about 1.5 mile I noticed Duncan up the road, and contemplated for a second a surge to try and catch him, but realized he would only get stronger and It would be a futile attempt. Nearing the 2-mile mark Christine caught up with me, and we would run the rest of the race almost at the same pace side by side …

This course has a lot of turns as it meanders through the streets of Newport, so it’s really important to run the tangents, on this course, it can save a lot of time and distance. Also because of the tall buildings and density the GPS signal appeared to be off, my watch along with others appeared to by indicating the mile makers almost a minute before the actual miles appeared, so not sure why that was.

As we headed towards the waterfront around mile 4.8 the New york skyline came into view. This is the best part of this race, as you run along the waterfront for about 1.2 miles before a short turn inward and into the finish.

Finish & Results

]Running down  Washington Blvd, before the turn onto the finishing straight at Pavonia  Ave. Christine was still 5-7 seconds in front, but as soon as I realized the turn towards the finish was in site, I kicked it in and quickly closed the gap, passing Christine right at the corner.  I little more gas and about 50 meters later I was done, that was the only highlight of my day, my lethargic time was not something to be celebrated…

Somehow the official race results have me behind Christine , WTF??? I have it on tape that I was in front.. the injustice …

Overall as always it was a fun event , my form continues to suffer and  my performances in running this year have all gone in the wrong direction, not sure what’s up. So I’ll need to review my training schedule and see what I can do better.

This was pretty much the last of the running races for this Spring, my next race will be a triathlon in a few weeks, followed by my first open water swim after that..  lets hope my performance in multi-sport events is better than my running…