Race Report: Portugal Day Race

Several months ago some of my coworkers and I decided to run the Portugal Day Race together since Portugal currently sits on the UN Security Council. I've run with colleagues before, Shamala after work for fun (and once in the NYRR Mini) and Nick back in February in a race in Prospect Park, but we've never done anything like this. One of SCR's staff members, Paul, even went out of the way to invite us all to his place afterward for a fun brunch with the whole SCR group and folks from the Portuguese Mission to the UN. I think we were all pretty excited for today to arrive.

And one of us really wanted to win. That would be me [insert two thumbs pointing at myself].

Usually for a 5 miler I wouldn't really worry too much about it. I'd drink a beer or two the day before and eat whatever was available. But yesterday I worked hard to stay hydrated (no beer) and I ordered a huge meal from an Italian place in my neighborhood and feasted on baked clams and pasta with shrimp and asparagus. I got seven hours of sleep. At 5 am I was pumped. "What time are you planning on finishing?" Shamala texted me so she could be ready with her camera to get a picture of all of us finishing. "I think the question is what time is the winner going to finish," I responded.

Portugal Day wrist bands!

I didn't see anyone before the race except for Nick and Tara for a brief second out of the corner of my eye. I saw a huge Portuguese flag draped around Nick's shoulders. Good, I thought, that is gonna slow him down big time.

A woman sang the Portuguese national anthem (a very good rendition I heard later from a man from the Portuguese mission) and then another woman sang the American anthem. I clapped enthusiastically and then put my game face back on.

I don't run in Central Park very often and I wasn't sure what the hills were going to be like or where they were going to be along the course. I started out running a sub 8 minute mile on the west side of the park and even hit a 7:30 on a downhill. The course looped clockwise around the park, cutting right at 102nd street. The first two miles came and went easily, and the people around me started to thin out so that we weren't elbow to elbow (this was a very popular, quickly-sold out race, with what I heard were 7,000 runners). On the East side of the park I got into a little trouble with the hills because I didn't expect there to be so many going up. But I still looked at my watch periodically (okay, very frequently) and I was mostly under 8:00, even when I went through a water station and dramatically grabbed a cup, took a sip, and poured the rest of it down my back. Winners have to stay cool.

The whole time I was thinking that my coworkers were behind me. I imagined them plotting the time when they could get me on a slow uphill. I imagined them running past me and then me running past them. I thought about Scott Jurek and how in his 100-plus mile ultra races he would turn his headlamp off at night so that the runners behind him wouldn't be able to tell where he was and thus catch up with him (psyching them out, so to speak). How could I psych out my coworkers? Should I weave in and out, side to side?

So much drama was going through my head.

Finally, the finish line appeared. NYRR used the same exact spot as the NYC marathon finish for the Portugal Day Race, and maybe not surprisingly, even though I've run the NYC marathon twice, I do not remember the finish line being in this spot. I think I'm so out of it by the time I finish the marathon that I don't remember what it looks like. Also, it looks a lot different with 40,000 runners and screaming fans in bleachers and medals being given out, etc. But I digress. I crossed the finish line thinking that maybe I'd actually beat everyone.

But I didn't. Turns out Nick and Eran were ahead of my the whole time. Doh!

My results:
Overall Place: 1,523
Time: 40:12
Pace: 8:03

The group left to right: Paul, Nick, Eran, and moi

Afterwards we had a great time at Paul's, noshing on pastries, bagels, salmon, fruit, and drinking coffee and wine. After one glass of wine I had to go home to shower and nap! It could have been all the competitiveness that exhausted me too. 

Me, Tara, and Shamala. How are they clean and pretty and I'm still stinky and sweaty?