A note before I start my regular blog post: I’m sick reading this news about the Orlando shooting, and I just saw a man getting beat up on my way home from work. This world we live in makes me very sad and makes me count my blessings.

Saturday morning, I ran the Mini 10K. After a rough start to my spring/summer running season, I was a little nervous about this race, especially knowing how hot and humid it usually is, too.

I took a cab up to Central Park and jogged to pick up my bib. The site said bib pick-up was closing at 7:30, and I arrived around 7:20. I’ve picked up bibs after pick-up “closes” before and been OK, but I know one of these days I won’t be. Thankfully that wasn’t Saturday morning.

As I jogged down to Columbus Circle to the start, I heard them yelling that the corrals were about to close. SWEET.

I knew I was nowhere near PR shape, so my goal was just to run as good a race as I could that day. I managed to sneak into my corral and saw Meggie up ahead with Ali and a few other runner girls. I texted Meggie that she was just ahead of me, but there were too many security guards for me to sneak up. And weirdly, a minute after, one of the security guards asked me if I wanted to move up. Maybe I was in the wrong corral? I stood and chatted with those ladies for a few minutes until the race start. They’re all faster than me, and I didn’t even try to keep up with them. I was going to do my own thing.

That first mile up Central Park West felt INTERMINABLE. I’d look at the street signs and wonder how I’d only gone another block or two…so I put on Spotify and tried to zone out and just run. By the time I got to the first mile marker, I saw that I’d run it in 7:50-something. OH that’s why it felt hard.

As we got into the park, it never felt easier but I tried to just stay strong and enjoy the downhills. For the uphills, I decided that trying to run hard up them would use too much energy when it was getting warmer and warmer, so I would keep an even effort.

Every time I get to the south end of the park and we start to head back west, I always channel the marathon and remind myself how close I am and even if I feel like I’m struggling at a shorter distance, I have run this stretch SO MANY TIMES.

I finished in 54:31, a 8:47 pace. Would I have liked to have finished faster? Sure. Is this pace representative of my current fitness level? Yes. It’s giving me a good baseline of where I am right now.

I used the Nike+ app, which has gotten MUCH more accurate since I last used it, oh, seven years ago. I’d forgotten a watch that morning and I know Jordan really enjoys the app, so I gave it a shot. 10/10 would app again.