Oakley Mini 10K Race Recap + Weekend Updates

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope your weekends were awesome. Mine kicked off Saturday morning, so I’ll start with my Oakley Mini 10K Race Recap and fill you in on the bits and bobs afterwards. The Oakley is an all-women’s race and was actually the first such race in the nation when it was first run in 1972. 

Friday evening, I made a delicious gluten-free return to Pizza Beach with my friend Abby, where I feasted on a shaved asparagus, Parmesan, and feta pizza with squash ribbons on the side to fuel up for Saturday morning. We left feeling quite satisfied, but of course I had to end with ice cream for it to truly feel like the perfect dinner. 

 

 

Returning to Pizza Beach for a gluten-free asparagus, feta and Parmesan pizza fest!

 

 

 

Saturday morning, I was up at 7am and ready to go within 15 minutes. I decided to sleep in a little rather than eat something before the race, because I figured that so long as I hydrated, I would be okay without eating breakfast first for a 10K. I did drink half a bottle of water before jogging out the door though, to avoid a repeat of the Healthy Kidney 10K dehydration debacle. I arrived at the corrals in plenty of time, even though they were a little further than usual. Instead of lining up inside Central Park, this race actually started out in Columbus Circle, where the roundabout was roped off and the side streets blocked along Central Park West all the way from 59th to 89th Street.

 

The view from the corrals

 

The race kicked off at 8am, with the first mile and a half taking place heading north on Central Park West. It was pretty cool to have this first part of the route outside the park – while I absolutely love being able to run daily in Central Park, the experience of running the blocked-off streets of Manhattan is amazing. I’ve done it twice, during the NYC Half Marathon in 2014 and 2015, But that doesn’t include this particular stretch of avenue, so it was a fun new experience. We headed into the park approaching Mile 2, and the rest of the route was the same as it is for every 10K in Central Park, around the outer loop. I took my time heading up Central Park West and continued to pace myself carefully throughout the time in the park, since I was well aware that it was 80 degrees when the race started and the temperature was definitely climbing throughout. I stopped at three water stations and walked as I sipped, careful not to overdo it. While I knew I wasn’t going to set a PR, I felt pretty good for most of the race, enough to smile for the camera when I caught a glimpse of the awesome November Project volunteer photographer (a male NP’er, joined by several other male NP’ers in rainbow tutus to serve as the cheer squad!)

 

Just after Mile 5

 

I did start to feel the effects of the temperature about a mile before this photo op. Unfortunately, I am just not naturally a hot weather runner and the heat really takes it out of me. I took it easy until the last several hundred meters though, and despite the pounding sun, I ended up finishing in 1:00:30, with splits of 9:45/mile, which was pretty satisfying all things considered. I promptly started chugging water after I got my hot pink medal and pink carnation – such a sweet idea for them to give you at the finish line. Especially since I love pink. I was pretty beat afterwards and forgot to snap a photo, but luckily started to feel better a few hours later once I’d refueled and refreshed.

 

Heading home across the park

 

I spent the rest of the weekend in Connecticut, back to continue studying for the bar exam and carrying on as will be usual for the next several weeks. Sunday morning, we took Sasha for a walk on the Ridgefield Rail Trail which is always nice. It continued to be steamy, so we had to carry a collapsible water bowl for her.

 

Sasha on the Ridgefield Rail Trail

 

Hitting the books isn’t as easy as it looks when the summer heat sets in and that lazy feeling tries to take over, but I’m trying to fight it and keep moving forward. Now that the new week has begun, it’s on to another subject and time to tackle the mountain head-on!

 

So this all needs to be in my head by the end of July

 

Have you ever run an all-women’s race? What were you up to this weekend?

 

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