Alley Pond Park, Queens
3 June 2017
21 miles completed
I had this event on my calendar as a 6-hour, which I think it usually is? When I got the registration info, it was for either a 40k or a 40-miler. I decided I wasn’t in shape to do 40 miles in the time allotted, but I figured I’d shoot for the 40k and see how it turned out. It didn’t turn out that well.
The weather reports predicted warm temps and sun, but instead it was cold and rainy early in the morning. I had an extra shirt, so I wore that to stay warm prior to starting, but a lot of people were wet and shivering. [NOTE TO SELF AGAIN: always take a jacket, even if you think you don’t need one.] It quit raining during the first loop, so everyone dried off and the morning ended up being quite pleasant. The sun did come out later and it warmed up as expected.
Loops were about three miles through Alley Pond Park in Queens. I’ve run parts of the course before and it was nice to be back out there, even if it’s a pain to get to. I would say half the loop is modestly hilly and half is flat, so overall it’s a pretty easy course.
I was doing well until the 7th loop, when I started having pain in my right heel: a sharp pain followed by dull throb, repeat. I’ve never had that before, and it got worse and worse throughout the loop, so I decided to stop at 21ish miles. I put some ice on my heel, ate some pizza, and headed home. The pain subsided over the next day and I’ve been doing stretches for plantar fasciitis ever since–not sure what was going on, but the stretches seem to be somewhat universal for heel pain.
Anyway, as always Richie and all the volunteers did a great job with the event and it was fun while it lasted.
Happy 40th to the Broadway Ultra Society!