Oakley Mini 10K (a.k.a My Last Race as a New Yorker)

Trying to live life and also get ready for a life-changing move takes a lot of work and balance. I’m not sure how I’m doing really, but trying to keep it all together and get everything done.

Saturday was my last race as a New Yorker. I became a runner here in New York, so it’s kind of a strange feeling. I truly hope that this isn’t my last race in New York though! The Mini 10K is one of my very favorite NYRR races each year. All women. A different course. Great camaraderie. Men lining the 6.2 miles cheering the women who are giving it their all. The history – it was first run in 1972. It’s just a really great race.

Friday was absolutely miserable – Tropical Storm Andrea made it’s way through the area and soaking the city. I was nervous about what the weather would be like Saturday morning and hit refresh on weather.com about a million times Friday. Thankfully the morning turned out to be dry with even some peaks of sun and a lot of humidity (okay, not so thankful for that).

I met up with some of my Oiselle teammates in Columbus Circle before the race for a picture – it’s good we were wearing the same singlet, definitely made it easier to find each other in the sea of women!

^{Amanda, Abby, and me}

Grace and I found each other – we had promised to start the race together, although I was determined to run the whole race with her. I wanted to cross the finish line with my running partner-in-crime. If it wasn’t for Grace, I’m not sure I would have kept running as I have and really found a love for it. Running with her after work are some of my favorite memories of living in NYC.

The start was packed, like usual, but all women. More than 5,500 of us! It was probably a pretty interesting scene for people who weren’t aware of what was going on. We also joked how every single man in the city who wants to find a girl who is healthy and active should have been there!

The Mini 10K is part of the NYRR pro series, so toeing the line along with local elites were pro runners including Mamitu Daska (who won in 31:47), Stephanie Rothstein Bruce, and Desiree Davila.

The first few miles are run up Central Park West, in front of some of the most expensive real estate in the city. I’m sure the people living in those apartments were thrilled to wake up to us running by! Pretty quick after the start we realized how humid it was. Pretty cool but really sticky. We had the whole road so it wasn’t too crowded at first, but tightened up quite a bit once we turned into the park. The hills didn’t start till we made it into the park, and not long after we were starting up the Harlem Hills. I haven’t spent any time up there for many, many months, but they are ingrained in my memory so I knew a bit of what to expect. We pushed up the hill and it was pretty quiet. Seems to go on forever and I was a bit worried about the wet roadway. Once we got to the top, I congratulated Grace and the other runners, but it was for me too. I made it to the top and was feeling pretty good!

We continued on for several miles, taking a beautiful tour of the park. I wish I could have captured the beautiful bright green of the leaves in the trees, fresh off the rain. The sum came out every once in a while but for the most part it was a little cloudy, which was perfectly fine with me. The crowds really picked up as we came down Cat Hill (thank god we didn’t have to climb that one!) and a lot of local teams were out cheering on their teammates. It was just what was needed to get through the last few miles.

Grace and I stayed together pretty much the whole race, which I thought was impressive considering we took advantage of a couple water stops! We came around the south end of the park and knew we were almost to the finish. The thing I don’t like about finishing at Tavern on the Green – for the marathon or any weekly race – is the fact that you have to finish with a pretty decent uphill, which is not really the best way to finish a race if you ask me!

I heard my name as we entered the finish chute and Abby was off to the side cheering for us! It was great to see a teammate there and helping us to the finish.

We crossed the finish line together and it was awesome! I couldn’t have asked for a better last race. We got our medals and flowers and headed to grab some much needed water before meeting up with the birds again for one more picture. This time Robin joined us! I just love being a part of the Oiselle team and can’t wait to meet the women out in Colorado.

Some post-race smiles

And that’s it. My last race as a New Yorker. I am so lucky and grateful to have found my love for running while living here and I can’t wait to come back and run again!

Later in the day…

It seems a lot of things on our ‘to-do’ list before we move revolves around food. I’m not sure how that happened but two things on our list for this weekend was the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the Big Apple BBQ. All sorts of deliciousness.

How did you spend your weekend? Do you have a favorite race?