Road Race - New York City

I really thought I would continue posting regularly even once classes started this fall. Alas, I was easily distracted and haven't posted a thing. That doesn't mean I haven't been running. I've had a pretty successful training season and now I feel ready to run NYC this coming Sunday.
Today I ran my 16K at race pace. Actually, quite a bit faster than race pace. My watch needs a new battery so I wasn't timing the run but a man who ran with us said that our average pace for the distance was 5:03 per km and than we ran the last two kilometers together at about a 4:30 pace. I'm pretty pleased about that.
I'm guessing that the reason I've gotten faster is that I ran my last few really long runs by myself at a much slower pace than the gang likes to run them. For three Sundays in a row, I ran for over three hours by myself. I was lucky that the weather was beautiful - sunny, fall colours, little wind. I never thought I could do those runs alone but in many ways it was better. I had my music and my thoughts for company. There were many moments of true running euphoria.
One of those runs was the day before my 51st birthday. I was able to spend a lot of the run thinking about my life and where I might be headed. Basically, feeling blessed. I was full of gratitude again on my Thanksgiving Sunday run. I thought about my family gathering for dinner and all the things I'm thankful for.
I wonder what will play in my head as I run through the boroughs of New York City. I won't have music. They strongly discourage it, and I never wear my shuffle during races. I like to hear everything that's going on. Having said that, I have a habit of getting to serious and not enjoying these races as much as I should. My time goal is 3:45 but my true goal should just be to have an amazing time.
I'm going to try very hard to tell the story in my next blog post after the race.