In between the Chicago Marathon and NYC marathon, I was forced to reassess my NYC goals. I initially wanted to actually run a course PR there - but not necessarily go all out. I wanted to lay up a mid/high-2:40's. This shouldn't have been too difficult given my fitness level. All I needed to do was maintain a base over the 3 weeks and heal from Chicago.
Unfortunately, I didn't heal. The following weeks from Chicago, my adductor/groin injury started to become increasingly a problem. I gutted out one final CARA 5K race, which under better circumstances could've been my 5K PR. After that race, I never recovered.
~~Incidentally, I ran 16:39 at that Halloween Hustle 5K. Good for 2nd place in my AG, and that sealed my 2nd place overall in the 35-39 AG for the entire 2013 CARA Circuit. I'm actually quite proud of that accomplishment, given that the 1st place runner is probably one of the fastest guys in my age group for the entire country! I wound up 8th in the overall circuit standings.~~
~~Incidentally, I ran 16:39 at that Halloween Hustle 5K. Good for 2nd place in my AG, and that sealed my 2nd place overall in the 35-39 AG for the entire 2013 CARA Circuit. I'm actually quite proud of that accomplishment, given that the 1st place runner is probably one of the fastest guys in my age group for the entire country! I wound up 8th in the overall circuit standings.~~
Anyway, my adductor/groin started to weigh on runs over 10 miles. It then started to weigh on each and every run. The only thing that calmed it down was soaking myself in anti-inflammatories. I kept cutting my mileage more and took as many days off as possible.
This all forced me to redefine my NYC goal and I decided to make it merely a "fun run". I was expecting worse, but I was still fit enough to go roughly 2:50 if I ran it conservatively.
