How to Get a PR!
by Ryan Cooper
September 2nd was finally here and the team at NRS was ready to tackle Nark Racing’s signature event, Run4 the River Half Marathon 2023, that signaled fall racing was here. After training in the summer heat, the weather was perfect, and the team was chatting about PR’s while praying that the fog would not lift until Monkberry was deep into their set on the beautiful deck at Frog Alley. Due to an issue with wearing spikes on the track that I don’t want to talk about, I made the right choice to Run for the River and not Race for the River. Mat had paired me up with Carmela Giodarno as she was doing great in her training block and with a buddy, she should be able to snag a PR.
After the gun went off, we settled in nicely with one problem, Carmela likes to talk and so do I. As shown above I needed to remind Carmela that “I would do the talking.” This almost cost us the “CO-PR,” as I said if she gets a PR I am humbly taking the credit for it.
As the miles clicked away and the sun remained hidden, we were on track for the goal. The plan was to take a gel at the 30/60/80 minute marks which was the right Rx. As we approached the finish line, we saw the clock and knew that we did it. Carmela was able to snag a 40+ second PR with a time of 1:46:56 and for me it was a great feeling that I was able to support a teammate reach their goal.
Below is a list of the in-race activities/shenanigans:
Mile 1 - Made a video of our progress and loaded it to the NRS Page.
Mile 3 - Another video talking about the train going overhead.
Mile 5 - Instituted the quiet game, this lasted 95 seconds.
Mile 9 - Facetimed Alyssa (Carmela’s daughter) to tell her to stop texting. She hung up, twice.
Mile 12 - Talked to some random guys running with a speaker and asked them if they took requests. They put on a song by Zedd.
Final Stretch - Went live on NRS facebook page to tell everyone we were going to get our PR. Upon running up State Street I yelled to the people on the street that Carmela was fading and she needed their support. Thank you to all who did this as it was loud and worked.
Up next for Nark Racing is the Wineglass Series!
Stronger. Faster. Further.
Ryan Cooper is the VP of Business Development for IEA Infrastructure Services as well as “The Mayor” of NarkRunningStrength.com and a Founding Member of Team Bark.