Ever run a 5k on a track? Now I have!
Week 7, Days 4, 5, 6, and 7 of NYC Marathon Training: A 5k at Randall's Island, a rest day, a 12-mile marathon training run, and a 20-minute Peloton ride
I have done a number of races on Randall’s Island, an NYC island (technically part of Manhattan!) located to the east of Harlem. NYCRUNS has put on a bunch of races in the park over the years there, and New York Road Runners had their first races after their 2020 COVID-19 shutdown there in October 2020.
And most of these races have either started or ended at the track at Icahn Stadium, a world-class track. We’re talking one loop around the track, though.
But I have never run a full 5k on a track until I did a few weeks ago! And it was wild!
Tracksmith, the cult-favorite running clothing company (the one with the hare as its logo) that has become ubiquitous in road races these days, sponsored the Twilight 5000 race, which I ran on August 18. And Trials of Miles, a race organization I have done a number of events with, was the race director.
Trials of Miles is an up-and-coming group that puts on some really amazing events, including a cross-country race I did on Staten Island last fall. The company was also behind the Five-Borough Bet that I did last November. This was a race where participants had to reach all five boroughs the quickest. You could run, cycle, and use public transportation, but not a car.
I won a $250 On Running gift card when I placed third in this event, beating people half my age. That’s not because I am fast, but because I know our subway system really well, thanks to all my side hustles.
This was my second-proudest running achievement of 2021, after the NYC Marathon. But I digress!
Anyhow, I had signed up for the Twilight 5000 after hearing good things about the first time this race was put in New York this summer. Also, I was able to get a discount for the race thanks to being a member of the We Are NYC Running Club.
So I skipped my NYRR Tempo Thursday class, put on my own new green Tracksmith singlet and shorts, and headed to Randall’s Island for the race.
When I signed up to do this race, they asked for my expected race finish time. Stupidly, I wrote down 38 minutes, which was an overly optimistic projection. This meant I was put in Heat 1 for the race, and they had the times listed on like this:
Yikes! I just hoped I could finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 38 minutes, as I didn’t want to be running many laps when everyone else was done. Especially since there were other heats right after this that needed to start. Not to mention the spectators! Granted, most were also runners, including fellow We Are NYC Running Club members. But still!
The Twilight 5000 consisted of 12 1/2 loops around the 400-meter track at Icahn Stadium. They even had pacers for different speeds in each heat.
When I started the race, I really thought to myself, “WTF am I doing?” Especially when the first few loops of the race seemed really fast and hard.
But I kept on going, clicking my watch’s lap button after each loop. I was really hoping to get to 38 minutes, but I didn’t quite make it, so I just hoped to get under 40 minutes.
Finally, I hit the last loop. I was going very fast. My singlet was riding up a bit, but I let it go instead of spending time tugging it down, as I wanted a good finish time.
One of the pacers ran with me for most of it to cheer me on, but he then stepped back and let me do the last 100 meters myself. I did them at a 7:41 a mile pace, which was my fastest pace ever!
My finish time was 39:15 — which put me DFL for the event, but I didn’t care about that!
I was initially worried that my time wouldn’t count, as it was above 38 minutes, but the staff assured me it would. Whew.
The staff and volunteers at the race were all top-notch and supportive, making even a back-of-the-pack runner like myself feel very welcome.
The other runners were terrific, too. This race was one of the highlights of the year for me, in no small part due to how great they all were!
Afterwards, we had free beer from Evil Twin Brewing and coconut water from Vita Coco. And I saw some super-fast runners take off before heading for home.
After the excitement of this race, the rest of the week was a little anticlimactic.
Friday was a rest day for me.
On Saturday morning, I left the house before 5 a.m. so I could do NYRR’s 12 Mile NYC Marathon Training Run. This event consisted of two loops around Central Park, with all the hills involved. It’s a good testing ground to see where you are when it comes to marathon training.
I wore the event shirt for the run, even though it was kind of a meh color. And I was hoping to finish under three hours, but it did not happen. I finished in 3:06:42.
But the important thing was that I was still faster than I’ve been on my long runs for this training season.
On Sunday, I mostly took it easy, only doing a 20-minute Peloton cycling class featuring the artist Saweetie. A fun end to the week!