My husband and I have been talking about booking an adult trip to NYC for a while. The last time we went to NYC together, our son was just 5 months old so it’s been 11 years. So last week, during a stroke of genius combined with a moment of weakness, I decided to make this trip into a runcation. I immediately googled “races in NYC” and found the Shape Women’s Half that runs 2 loops in Central Park in April. Perfect.

The race is happening in 2 weeks which means I’m going to be racing 3 weekends in a row: ATB30K, Spring Run-Off 8k, and Shape Half.

That’s crazy. Who does that? 🤣😂🤣

Obviously, it’s not realistic to go all out and race them all so I’m trying to figure out my strategy for each race.

ATB30K

For ATB30K, I’ve decided that my #1 goal is to run with Lisa. Even though she has been telling me that I should run ahead because her ankle is still bothering her, I don’t want to run by myself. I want to cross the finish line together, just like at all the other races that we have run together!

Lisa, I’ll be doing many other races this year without you. This one isn’t going to be one of them. You can’t get rid of me that easily! 😄

Even though we signed up for different corrals (again), I’m going to start in her corral and see what happens. I think we should start at a 5:40 pace and if we are able to sustain it, great. If we have to slow down, so be it. The most important thing is to run it together. #solemates

Spring Run-Off 8k

For Spring Run-Off, we may run/jog to High Park to make this a 28k long run. If we do run there, I’ll probably be doing this race at a pretty slow pace. Maybe 6:00/km. Since I don’t have a 8k race time, it’ll be a PB regardless.

Shape Half

Despite the hilly course, it would be nice to finally get my sub-2 so I guess I should try. Third time’s a charm! If the ATB30K strategy works, I would just do that, i.e. go out at 5:40 and just sustain it to the end or speed up if I feel good enough for a negative split.

According to my training plan, I’m supposed to do a ~34km long run that week but I think I’ll end up doing it the week after when I’m back from NYC. Then it’s taper time for the Toronto Marathon in May!

Look at all the races that Lisa and I ran together last year! Great memories!!

S