7 Mile Run = Home – Morley Hayes - Doctors - Home
Date: 7th September 2006
Conditions: Mild, Sunny
Notes: This was my first long run since starting my training. I began the first mile in high spirits as I had mentally prepared myself for the challenge ahead. I imagined I was actually preparing for the New York marathon. Halfway up the hill during mile two I began to get a really sharp pain just below my diaphragm and I nearly quit. I thought that I had set my goal too high and soon realized that this run was not about timing each mile or the speed of the run. It was about finishing the run. I pushed through the pain and made it to the second mile marker in sub nine minutes. If I can keep my slow miles sub nine minutes I will run a sub four hour marathon.
I really took my time during mile three so to not burn out and be stuck over three miles from home. At the three mile marker I began to regain my breath and I found my form again. The turning point of the run was just after the mile four marker. After two miles of flat road the course descends for about a half mile down Sandy Lane. This was time for me to save energy but more importantly the view was amazing. To my right I could see for about a mile. The sun was beaming down on the hills and I suddenly realized that I was enjoying this run. It was the best I had felt for such a long time and if I can get these feelings from the view of hills in my home country, then think what I will get from hundreds of thousands of screaming Americans in my favorite city in the world.
At the bottom of Sandy Lane I realized that I was soon coming upon the final hill of this course. I really took my time (hence the ten minute mile) as I knew that I only had little over two miles left once at the top of this hill and I now knew that if I got my tactics right that I would finish this run without having to stop. I did get it right and at the top of the hill I knew that I would finish this run and finish it with ease. I was physically tired but having felt like I had run a marathon at that point I imagined that I was running those final two miles in the New York Marathon.
I ran a 10k (six miles) in a respectable fifty four minutes and really pushed for the final mile. I did this on pure determination and was only twelve seconds off my PB. I will now take a few days off to recover from my first long run. My knees are sore now and I do not want to risk injury.
Positive: I ran nearly a third of a marathon.
Negative: I nearly quit at the second mile hill.
Fast Mile: 7.34
Slow Mile: 10.06
Run time: 1h01m40s
“Difficulties increase the closer we get to the goal”.
New York City
"Running 26 miles around this place.....I can think of nothing better"
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The Five Boroughs
"There's more to this place than Manhattan"
Staten Island
"Only the first half mile is spent on Staten Island as you immediately leave across the Varrazano-Narrows bridge into Brooklyn"
Brooklyn
"Almost half the race is spent in Brooklyn, where many different neighbourhoods and cultural changes are passed through"
Queens
"The race enters Queens at exactly the half way point by crossing the Pulalski Bridge, over Newton creek, where you get your first amazing view of the City. The next 3 miles are spent here until crossing the challenging Queensboro Bridge over the East river."
Manhattan
"The first of two visits into Manhattan comes at mile 16 as you leave the Queensboro Bridge. Greeted by thousands of screaming spectators makes this one of the most memorable moments of the race, before the 4 mile stretch up First Avenue towards the Bronx"
Bronx
"At mile 20 you cross the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx where little over a mile is run before returning to Manhattan across the Madison Avenue Bridge, where you see the Yankee Stadium, which has to be the highlight of the short trip across the Harlem river"
Manhattan 2
"As you arrive back in Manhattan the course proceeds down Fifth Avenue for 3 miles before entering Central Park for the final push and that moment that will last forever."
Varrazano-Narrows (Staten Island-Brooklyn)
Pulalski Bridge (Brooklyn-Queens)
Queensboro Bridge (Queens-Manhattan)
Willis Avenue Bridge (Manhattan-Bronx)
Madison Avenue Bridge (Bronx-Manhattan)
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