Robbed!

I'm miffed. I crossed the finished line today at 5:38 and on NYRR official results page, I'm credited for 5:41. I feel robbed. I was so excited about doing a sub 5:40 mile! I guess I can try again next year.

Here's how the race went down for me...

- Warmed up for about 5m and arrived at the start 3 mins prior to gun
- Lined up about 4-5 people deep on the left side of Park Ave.
- As the gun goes off and I cross the starting line, I noticed there was no starting mat.
- Crossed 1/4m mark at 1:23
- Crossed 1/2m mark at 2:50...slowed by incline
- Don't remember 3/4 mile mark
- Crossed 1500m mark at 5:25(ish). At this point, I was already on my toes when I heard a girl scream, "KICK IT IN GUY IN THE BLUE SHIRT!!" As best I could, I obliged and managed to cover the last ~100m in what I thought was about 13 secs.
- As I approached the finish, I saw the clock at 5:35. I sprinted as fast as I could to finish below 5:40, and managed to cross the line at 5:38 according to the clock.
- Turned off my watch about 5 seconds later when I remembered, at 5:43.

I'm not sure where that extra 3 seconds from NYRR came from, but I'll use it for motivation next year. I know every runner feels that they could always have performed better, and this was no exception. I was way too strong over the last 400m, and even stronger over the last 100, which means that I could have taken the first 1/2 mile faster. Live and learn.

Anyways, here's my running day's recap according to my Garmin 405:

5.14m :@ 44:11.61 - warm-up through Central Park to starting line @ 77th and Park
1.03m @ 5:43.64 - 5th Ave. Mile race.
7.87m @ 1:28.18 - run/walk with Sara around the park