Coogan's Salsa, Blues, and Shamrock 5K recap

This was my third race of the year.  I did the NYRR Gridiron Classic 4 mile and Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon last month.   I came into this race with plans to  sub-30 and officially  PR at the 5K distance.  I had unofficially finished a 5K on New Year’s Day at the NYC Commitment Day run in 27:30, but it was not scored so to me it does not count.  My previous best was 30:40 at the 2012 Labor Day 5K on Roosevelt Island.  I was still on a runner’s high from a half marathon PR at the RnR Half exactly 1 week prior.   Due to typical subway mayhem on a Sunday in NYC,  I arrived to the start later than I anticipated.  Bag check was a cluster@#%@!  I pulled off my sweats quickly and then chucked my bag over the barrier into the section for my bib number (No way was I going to wait to walk all around a bend just to get there).  I met up with ladies from my running group Black Girls Run BGR!NYC for greetings and our usual pre-race photo.  I headed over the corrals to get ready.  Taking a looking around I saw that the race was going to be quite congested.   The people in Washington Heights came out to cheer the runners on.   It took well over 9 minutes for my corral to get to the start line.   Off I went.  Within the first mile I had to dodge around walkers!  I am not speedy and walkers should have been two corrals behind me!   The front runners were already heading back down to the finish.  Ducking and dodging was the name of the game.  I had  kids running  in front who stopped dead in their tracks out of nowhere (can’t fault them though) but the adults should know better.   I am not afraid of hills (though I have a big love/hate relationship with Harlem Hill in Central Park) but because this course was new to me the hills were tough.  I ended up stopping to walk for problem 10 sec twice during the race.  On the second walk one of the ladies from my running group gave me the extra push I needed to get back on track.  I was still within in my goal and I pushed toward the finish.   It was nice to have the different mix of  Irish folk music,  blues, and salsa bands playing along the course.  With seconds to spare I hit my mark: 29:48, 9:36 min/mile pace!    I don’t know if I would run this again, but who knows.  I official PR’d and completed my 2nd out of 9 races to qualify for the 2014 ING NYC marathon.