Tonight was a great night to race in Central Park and I think the 3.5 mile Chase Corporate Challenge went off without a hitch. It was a slightly humid 70 degrees which made for pretty comfortable conditions. I had a good race, coming across the finish line at 21:25 with 6:07 mile-splits. I’m going to guess that puts me in the top 150 or so.

The journey to the starting corrals seemed a little less hectic than it’s felt in previous years. I began the race 7 or 8 rows back from the start line and never felt like it was too congested. I heard from people further back in the corrals that the start went pretty smooth for them as well.

I like the course. Although there are a few rolling hills, I think its actually a small net decline. I’ve never seen so many water stations in a three mile race, but I guess that a lot of people do this as a fun run and are therefore out on the course for a while.

There are also some pretty fast runners that come out for the Corporate Challenge. I heard the winner was a JP Morgan employee and that he ran a 16:45-ish race. That’s really freaking fast. Like 4:45 mile split fast.

There’s also a lot of runners that go out really fast and then die after the first mile. I was passing people left and right starting at the 1.5 mile point. There were also a lot of people that finished around me looking pretty strong, whereas I know I was completely spent running a 21:25.

There was good food in the tents for those with access. The beer tickets at the end were a nice treat as well, thanks JP Morgan Chase!

J