As part of the Culture Committee member, I helped host the NYRR5k run in Central Park which SPG partook last Thursday (07/26/2018). I didn't need to help much. I wasn't aware that I could have signed up for it as well since the rest of our committee all signed up for it. This is a 5KM run = 3.1 miles.
The starting line had to be formed vertically like a snake due to the nature of Central Park paths. This is a drag for over 4k participants. The race started at 7pm sharp, but by the time SPG members could start walking to the starting line, it's already 7:10pm. So when I saw that people were finishing at 7:20pm at the finishing line, I thought it isn't fair.
However, it was clear that they kept accurate results with advanced technology. My guess is that in order to generate such detailed results, they had to plant some sort of radio chip in their bibs, which I did notice a special white tape attached to it with a note saying: Do not bend this. This means that those who thought they could finish quicker by cutting the line at the beginning would be disappointed. Everyone was measured very fairly with radio chips and auto-sensors.
Fastest from SPG finished at around 24mins while the fastest of the entire race was 16:33mins which is 5:20 pace per mile (Fastest for women: 18:09mins, pace = 5:51). Pace is the standard measure for runners. It means minutes per mile. My app Runkeeper uses such unit and not miles/hour or miles/minute. I think back when I was running in Van Cortlandt park, my average was around 11 minutes/mile. But I wasn't trying to race with time.
If I were to get a sense of where I am with these racers, I could try running the promenade at Brighton Beach. I would run 1 mile and see how many minutes it will take me. From Brighton Beach to Luna Park easily marks one mile on the promenade. If only I could do it in 5 mins. Runkeeper may yet again be of use now.
