Just venting

The ruins of Burg Hohenecken
at night

While I am out of the country I keep in touch with the running community mostly through Facebook. There is one thing that annoys me quite a bit about some of my fellow runners: the complaints about races not having medals, not being eligible for the 9+1 program, shirts being cotton instead of tech, etc. etc. I have a question: when did we stop running races for what they are? Events to compare you with your past performances and you with other runners, in short, events to compete. Where did this expection come from that a race also has to have bling, swag, or other non-sense? Yes, it would be nice to get something for your achievment but shouldn't the fact that you ran it and finish it be the most important reward? Well, that's what I think. Luckily there are plenty of runners that disagree with the spoiled folks which can be seen that even the most humble NYCRUNS and NYRR races get sold out. Phew!

I have been running a little bit through the Pfälzer Wald and I am still on for the 10k a few towns over. I am already working on my travel plans to get there.

Running in a different country

Shamelessly stolen from the Internet

I am going to Germany this coming Friday and won't be back until mid-January. My father was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer 18 months ago and the doctors just told him that the chemotherapy is not helping anymore. It's time for me to go over and see him one more (and last) time.

While I am there I am planning to keep running, though. If I understand my parents correctly, there is a lot of forest surrounding the town they live in (they recently moved so I am not quite familiar with their new hometown) which means, hopefully, a good deal of trail running, something I always wanted to try. I also got in touch with a local running club there and asked it it were okay to join them for their weekly group runs. Of course, it is okay. I guess I can bring my love for running with me and hopefully it will help me to get over hard moments a lot easier. I even staked out a race I could attend over there and found one close by for December 31st. The registration fee is a ridiculously low €6 but the runners do not get shirts or any other swag besides the bib. I am excited to attend this race and I hope my dad's health will hold long enough and he can come with me and watch and celebrate the new year one more time.

I am still taking my running very easy. I get out at most three times a week because my knee is still acting up. It actually hurts at a different spot now, so I assume I got the ITBS handled. I gave myself until the new year to see what's next: either straight into training for a half-marathon or the doctor's office. I hope it will be okay. I entered my name into the lottery for the 2014 NYC marathon, as well. One can always hope. I believe NYC residents get some kind of priority, but I could be wrong.

Sidelined and volunteering

All lined up

Last weekend's NYC60k race (aka the Knickerbocker) was probably the most low key running event the NYRR is in charge of that I have attended so far. I assume the XC runs up in the Bronx and the announced Classic runs for next year are very similar? No fancy signage, no DJs (AFAIK), no thousands of runners, no national anthem and pre-start entertainment. Just 500 runners lined up in a no-frill race ready to run 37.3 miles in nine loop in Central Park.

Oh, just to make sure we don't misunderstand each other. I did not run it. It did look like a lot of fun, though, so maybe one day? In a couple of years or so? Let's say three years. I volunteered, though. I thought that would be my +1 credit to get into the NYC Marathon next year but since that's not going to happen (I was only able to run three out of the nine required races to get guaranteed entry) I volunteered to a) to do something good, and b) to be part of something exciting. If I cannot run a race I still love to watch. And you may think that watching the same runners go pass you nine times can't be exciting but you would be wrong. It is great to watch how these amazing people make the best out of a situation that tests their physical and mental limits and since I was stationed right in front of the start/finish line I loved to see the beaming smiles every time they had another lap in the sack. Some of the volunteers and spectators were amazing to keep the spirits up even hours into the race (the winner finished in a little over four hours). You could hear them scream and shout the runners' bib numbers and encourage them to keep going. The watching crowd was in no way close to, say, the Marathon but it was just as noisy and up-lifting.

After watching these runners go by round after round I got a feeling who is in the leading group and who has how many more laps to go. The NYRR has a very nice write-up about the race but let me just add my few cents. The first seven laps were dominated by Vinicius Tavares (he's the guy in blue working his watch in the picture above) who clicked off one mile after another with a below seven minutes per mile pace. He really looked like he could keep it up forever but eventually he was overtaken by the winner and came in on a still respectable second place. Did I say these guys are amazing? Even when my shift was done at 11:30am (it started at 6:30am and, let me tell you, standing non-stop for five hours hurts just as much as running for an hour or two - at least for somebody like me who sits all day long on his job) I stuck around to at least see the top three finishers for the men and women. I finally made my way back home at around 1:30pm.

So, how was my volunteering experience? This time I signed up to help out in the start/finish area because I thought this would be the most exciting and rewarding spot to be. I definitely wasn't wrong with that and not just because it was a great place to be to celebrate with the runners and the spectators. Our captain, I assume an NYRR employee, was also a very interesting character. He sure knew how to secure the start/finish area. Most of us were positioned to secure the cross walk in front and at the back of the start and finish line at 90th Street and East Drive and made sure that pedestrians and bicyclists don't interfere with the runners. The NYRR got permits to use the pedestrian lanes of the upper short loop of Central Park and everybody else had to use the bike lanes instead. It sure got busy later that morning and in the afternoon and we had our hands full directing traffic across. We also had to make sure that non-participating runners would go around the start/finish area and most did do just that but some people couldn't care less and gave us the "but I don't want to" speech and just ran straight ahead. It wasn't such a big deal but it would have made the folks in charge of keeping tracks of the runners' laps a bit easier. They needed to see the runners' numbers and always had to remind folks to show their numbers when they cross the line. So folks who didn't want to help us out made things a bit harder but, again, luckily there were only a very few (I counted two) who behaved like the Lords of Central Park. After all it was a great experience, especially interacting with onlookers when I told them that this is a 60k race. Many couldn't believe that anybody would run such distances - especially on such monotone routes like Central Park. I also have to add my own kudos to the runners here. For volunteering my time I got a nice tech shirt and a great time. I will so do this again.

A few closing words about my own running. Well, my IT band sidelined me. After my last race I promised myself not to run until it cleared up. It's been two weeks now and it is getting better - very slowly, though. I am itching to get back on the road and run my heart out but I really, really, really shouldn't. For now I reset my training calendar for December, 1st to start a training program for a half-marathon that I want to run in the spring but I will keep this open because if I still cannot run for at least half an hour pain-free it is back to sitting it out until at least the start of 2014, which after all, would mark my first year anniversary for being back in running. We will see. I am not signed up for any races so the temptation is limited.

Marathon weekend

Running up on 6th Ave
Picture by MarathonFoto

It's the pinnacle of almost every runner's running career, I would assume. Running a marathon and keep running them. Last weekend was the NYC Marathon. It was an exciting few days and I got really into it. I did not run, for many obvious reasons like I only started running for "real" this year, my knee needs a lot more healing, and I didn't do any training to run 26.2 miles, but I did participate in a 5k the day before which finished at the Marathon finishing line in Central Park and I volunteered with my fellow team members at the Power Gel station on mile 18. It was an awesome experience and it just made me want to participate in the New York marathon in the future even more. Maybe not for 2014 due to not having a guaranteed spot but definitely for 2015. Let's cross fingers and knock on wood.

Almost at the finish line
Picture by MarathonFoto

Let's start with the Dash to the Finish Line on Saturday, a nice little 5k race that started in front of the UN, brought us over 42nd Street to 6th Avenue, all the way up to Central Park South, into Central Park at the corner of CPS and 5th Ave, up to the 72nd Street traverse, and going over the south loop to the finish line. This race, the NYC Half, and of course the NYC Marathon, are the only three races per year where Manhattan streets are closed to car traffic for us runners (I guess we have to count in NYC Summer Streets for leisure running) and it is such a rush to run Manhattan Streets with spectators lining up on both sides of the street. It was a sold-out race with 5,000 runners and it got a bit crowded. I believe it is rather hard to run PRs in short races with such huge crowds because you always end up jockeying for position. You rarely run in a straight line for the first 10 minutes or so and lose a lot of momentum when you have to find a way to get ahead of runners in the way or cutting in, etc. My knee was not recovered at all (thanks to my inability to just not run for a couple of weeks) but I just ran through it and made it to the finish line in a decent time despite everything including not really seriously running for a few weeks now. I finished in 316th place, 28th/496 in my age and gender group, first for my team, with a pace of 6:56 minutes per mile and a total time of 21:28 minutes. Not the best time (I had better) but considering everything not bad at all. Of course, the fact that thousands of really good runners were running the marathon the next day they either didn't attend this one or ran really slow to avoid any injuries. I know, for example, that there are a lot of faster guys in my running team, but they didn't show up.

Package pick-up for this race was at the Marathon Expo at the Javits Center on the West Side of Midtown. It was crazy there. Thanks to security (I tell you, the terrorists have won...) I had to stand in line to get into the building, stand in line to get through security checks, stand in line... you get the picture. In the end I got my shirt and my bib but no bag. Only marathon runners got a bag for their goodies. We 5k-ers are second class citizens who had to wait until bag check-in or crossing the finish line to get a clear plastic bag. Ugh. Well, I did throw it away eventually after eating the meager snacks that came with it (one apple, a baggie of pretzel sticks, and a pint-sized bottle of water) so none of this really matters in the big picture. And that big picture was: I ran the streets of Manhattan and I crossed the NYC Marathon finish line without actually having to run the marathon. It was awesome. Period.

Cheering on some runners
Picture by Linda Chan

My motto for this weekend was: if you cannot run the marathon at least do some volunteering work. And that I did happily. My running team has been staffing the Power Gel station at mile 18 of the race for a few years now (I think). This year I signed up for it and helped out. It was amazing. By the time I arrived at my spot the wheelchair racers were just passing by. Image propelling a wheelchair for more than 90 minutes just with your arms, shoulders, and back. Some people say running is hard but doing that motion non-stop? Then the hand-cycles whizzed by, followed by the woman pro-athletes (which I missed because I jumped into a deli to get some water), then the pro-men, followed by the amateurs. I was able to stand right there at the curb, without a barricade, and have the runners pass by me just like that. Very few of the pros and the wheelchairs needed gel - I assume they have their own fueling system - but as soon as the masses of runners (more than 50,000 I read) started to come by we all were handing out packets of gel non-stop. I wasn't able to stay there for the entire day (the last runner crossed the finish line after 10pm) but was able to see probably the first half to 2/3s of the runners. We had runners of all kinds. Serious ones, costumed ones, always smiling ones, picky ones ("does this have caffeine" or "ugh - hate that flavor"), polite ones ("thank you!" or "It's awesome you guys are doing this"), you name it. I even had two people recognize me (one co-worker and one other runner from Roosevelt Island who I met on the way to the Bronx) and I was told a few others noticed me but didn't make themselves noticeable to me. I was just standing there, stretching out my hand, with a packet of gel in my hand, for everybody to grab. Some women runner had long fingernails which scratched my hand when they pulled the pouch out of my hand. After a couple of hours my hand was cramped up but I did what all endurance athletes do - push through it. If I can run a few miles, I can keep handing out gels for a few hours.

Marathon is over now. The races are not slowing down, though, but I will for a few weeks. I promise that I will not run for at least two weeks and then pick it up very slowly. I have to let that IT band heal. Starting January I will start a training program towards marathon distance for the fall of 2014. That's the plan and will, as always, be adjusted.

Staten Island Half aka My first half-marathon

Well, as the picture to the left shows you, I did run and finish my very first half-marathon. It was an interesting but humble experience. Again, it was rather massive (almost 7,000 finishers) but extremely well organized, that's what the NYRR does. I admit, I did not train for it properly and I only ran this distance once as part of the long run I volunteered for to be a pace leader so I should be proud of the fact that I only played with the thought of giving up twice at around miles 11 (I pushed through then) and 12 (when I slowed down to a walk to drink up some Gatorade.)

Crossing the finish line
Picture by MarathonFoto

Let's get the numbers out of the way first. I placed 1051st total, 134th/596 in my age group, and 9th for the NY Flyers. My total time was 1:42:02 hours which gives me a pace of 7:48 minutes per mile. After all, and despite everything, I did rather well and stayed below my hoped for 1 hour and 45 minutes finish time. With some proper training, though, I think I can bring this under 1:35 hours and maybe down the road under an hour and a half. I wonder, though, if this is wishful thinking for a guy approaching his mid-40s. I read that the 40-44 age group is usually one of the most competitive age groups, i.e. it seems that most runner who have been doing this for a while peak. From then on it is just downhill and by the time you are in the 60+ group you are one of the few who still run, anyway, and win an age group award by default, as long as you keep your health up (*knock on wood*).

I got my finisher medal
Picture by MarathonFoto

Crossing the 10 miles was entering unknown territory for me. I have been racing 10 miles before and many of my long training runs capped out at that distance but I thought to myself that running 13.1 is just another 5k on top of a distance I already know. I think this is actually true and I noticed that my mind started to play tricks on me as soon as I passed the 10 miles marker. As they say, running happens mostly in your head. My right IT band acted up at around mile 6 or so but I was able to ignore this just nicely until I got this idea that once I passed 10 miles I should do a whole body check and identify the aches. Not a good idea! I focused more and more on that pain and it just ruined it for me so much that by the time I reached the fluid station at mile 12 I stopped, walked, and drank a couple cups or Gatorade and water. My idea of a good run has always been "Do not walk - keep running" but I just couldn't hold it up anymore. Of course, as soon as I rested a few seconds and wanted to start running again, my knee was in searing pain but I was able to run through it and miraculously made it to marker 13. Just one more tenth of a mile and I made it. I turned the corner, noticed that it is an awesome feeling to finish a race on a declining segment of road, saw my wife and kids standing at the curb side, high-fived them, picked up speed, and crossed the finish line. I made it.

I really have to rethink my training. I need this knee to recover first and the start slowly and really build up to a half-marathon. I really cannot just increase the mileage nilly-willy, but it seems that I am not the only one who falls into this ego-trip. I'll promise I do better. Until then I have one more race on my schedule: the NYRR Dash to the Finish Line. And then will I rethink my training.

One more thing: hills suck. Even the smallest hill can become your greatest enemy after an hour or two into a run.

Change of plans of the previous change of plans

This year we got digital medals

Ha! I could not resist. I just ran the Bronx 10 Mile. In my previous posting I wrote about my ankle being in need for an extended amount of rest and that I should rethink my training and racing strategy. Well, when I went out to the NYRR headquarters to pick up the shirt and the bib that I already paid for I looked at all the people coming and going, looked at the nice looking shirt, and saw that bib that just longed to be pinned onto a shirt, and I started to have doubts. I really wanted to run these 10 miles and I deferred my final decision to Sunday morning. I couldn't resist and made up my mind Saturday night. I tested my ankle. I put weight on it, I hopped on one foot, I ran back and forth, I made the decision that I will be fine. I could always just drop out or slow down or put ice on it or whatever.

Sunday morning came, and even though the alarm was set for 5am I woke up without the need for it (thanks goes to my two youngest kids going in and out of our bedroom who made sure I was kept awake that night - that and the usual excitement and nervousness, of course), got my gear in order, taped some gauze over my ankle for some cushioning (which I ripped off almost immediately during my warm-ups before the race because it was a lot more uncomfortable and painful with it than without), packed my seven things, and off I went. Getting to the Bronx was rather simple even at that time of the day and you always know you got the right train when it is full of folks sporting running gear.

Ready, set, go!
Picture by NYRR

Once on location time rather flew. It was a very well attended race, the last count is 6,555 finishers. Not as many as my very first race, the JPM Corporate Challenge, but so far a lot bigger than in the previous few months. Despite the size it was very well organized and I found my start corral rather soon. I like to be early so I get to stand in the front row - might as well run with the best. When I signed up for the race I put myself into the 8:30 minutes per mile pace group which I based on my training at the point where I was able to run those distances comfortably. That was a mistake, though, because I had to zig-zag around a lot of people to find my spot. Up until the very last couple miles I kept overtaking other runners (while being overtaking by others as well, of course). The organizers claim that the course (which brought us up and down the Grand Concourse) was supposed to be flat but, my oh my, flat is relative. Going those few hills up on the first five miles is easy but doing the same on the last five? Killer.

Chugging along
Picture by MarathonFoto

Anyway, I finished the race in 694th position (out of 6,555) total and 93rd out of 579 in my age group. Well within my top 20% goal I want to keep for all my races. Some of these runners are truly amazing. The fastest male runner was able to finish the course in just a bit more than 50 minutes. That's a constant pace of 5 minutes per mile over the duration of almost an hour. This is crazy. Within my running team, the New York Flyers, I placed 2nd in my age group and 10th in total (out of 58 runners who affiliated themselves with the club). My net time was 1:13:59 and my average pace was 7:24 minutes/mile, a lot better than the predicted 8:30. The good thing is that from now on I will be automatically put into the right pace group for all NYRR races, no more second guessing.

Now to the bad things... my left IT band has started to bother me again on the outside of the knee. I am going to take good care of it over the next two weeks and see where we are for the Staten Island Half-Marathon. I have not registered for that race, yet, so I may really just take the month off and go back to the training and race plan I talked about in my last entry. Or, I could just run it and then take a few weeks off? The words of an addict, I know...

Change of plans

Not my ankle
Picture from FXRX

It finally happened. I injured my ankle and I don't think I should be running for a few weeks. What happened in the past was that I just randomly did things like normal runs, long runs, speed work, strength training without any real plan. In between I participated in races. I am not sure if I can just blame my non-existing training plan on my injury (I know I got injured when I did a few too many sprints around the soccer field) but I thought I should give it a try and make the whole thing a bit more predictable and with real goals in mind. The Bronx 10 Mile on Sunday is out, unfortunately. I will get my shirt and my bib, so at least I have the souvenirs without actually running. I may just go up there and show my support to the other runners at least.

What's next then? I kind of felt horrible about the whole thing (running seems to be an addiction for me) but on the way to work I figured out a plan that I can live with. I am planning on taking the entire October off from running and focus on strength training only while my ankle heals. I will follow some of the work-out plans on the Internet to strengthen my core and whatever else while I will religiously use the bicycle to stay active as well. Most injured runners swear on swimming but I am not real a fan of the pool and I'd rather go to the gym (now this is something I never imagined me saying). By the end of October (depending on my ankle, of course) or start of November, I will start a training program towards a 10k race in December, which will be my first one then. After that I will pick up a half-marathon training program in order to really prepare me for a long-distance race in the spring (around March, I would guess). In between I will keep racing anything between 5k and 5 miles or so as part of the training.

This whole thing, of course, puts a stop on a guaranteed entry into the 2014 NYC Marathon but I will still aim towards running a marathon in the fall of next year. If I don't get in through the lottery there will be others that are easier to get in (and they cheaper in the first place), like the Yonkers Marathon or the Philadelphia Marathon.

New York is small

by f.trainer, found on Flickr

I just realized something. You do not need a car or a bicycle in this city. Nor do you necessarily have to depend on public transit all the time. If it weren't for getting sweaty I would pretty much run everywhere. I just read an article about where to celebrate Oktoberfest here in NYC and one of the suggestions were to have a nice dinner at the more down-to-earth, much quieter and more appropriate for older folks like me (ha!) "Zum Stammtisch" in Glendale, Queens. A hard place to get to by public transportation so I mapped it out on Google Maps. It's seven miles from home. I could get there within an hour if I strapped on my shoes and ran along the streets of Queens. Very tempting. Of course, there is that one little thing that will prevent me from doing this for getting to the destination for a sit-down dinner: I will smell like pig. If only businesses were required to offer shower facilities to their customers...

I am preparing for my longest race, yet: the Bronx 10 Mile. I know I can run the distance (I just ran more than that last weekend for training and a few times before that) and I am quite sure I can keep at least an 8 minutes per mile pace. I will aim for 7:15, though. Crazy? Maybe. I admit that I even think of running my current 10k race pace. In the end, what is 3.8 miles more? Just another 5k and a bit. It will be a much bigger race, though, since it is an NYRR event. That just means that getting an award is pretty much out of the question. This year, that is!

I still owe you a recap of my latest 5k that I ran in Coney Island a week ago. Stay tuned and wait for me to get into the mood to write about it. It was a great race and the first 40 or so runners even got a medal and we all got a free beer and a hot dog.

A truck on fire wrecks havoc to a race

It's a go! Start of the 5k.

For Labor Day I decided to run a 10k in my backyard. It was my second 10k and I was eager to improve my time. Unfortunately, it did not work out. It was a very humid day and I thought to myself that it was probably a much better day to run a 5k instead of a 10k, especially that the 5k was scheduled just before the 10k. Nevertheless the gun went off and the race was a go. The route pretty much makes you go around the island almost twice. When the Queensboro Bridge was back in my view I noticed black smoke coming from the lower roadway and when I got closer I saw fire. That was the second fire on the same bridge and roadway in three weeks. Since I heard small explosions I wondered if race management would stop or reroute the race but by the time I was at the bridge I was waved through to run the predetermined route and that was that. I reached the finish line in 44:24 minutes which is equivalent to an average pace of 7:10 minutes per mile, just a slightly bit slower than last week. During the award ceremony, though, we were told that only the top three finishers of men and women would get an award because there was no correct time to be had for everybody else. The reason was that just moments after I passed the bridge the rest of the runners were rerouted to a much shorter route which, of course, invalidated the finishing times because nobody knew who ran what distance exactly. NYCRUNS did the decent thing and offered all runners a discount to the next 5k/10k on Roosevelt Island in December (which, unfortunately, I will not attend because I want to run a NYRR 15k the day after instead).

First finisher of 5k race

My next race will be a simple 5k on Coney Island and two weeks later I will tackle longer distances. First off a 10 miler in the Bronx and a week later two half-marathons on the following two Sundays. I am not quite sure how I will prepare for it but I will make it work somehow. I am still suffering a little bit from the week I ran around 40 miles so I had to reduce my mileage by quite a bit and had to take two weeks off here and there. I am thinking of starting out with a single loop around the island in the morning followed by some speed work around the soccer field behind the apartment building I live in. Then ramp it up to a mix of single and double rounds with a long run across the Queensboro Bridge and then up or down Manhattan up to 10 miles on Sunday, concluding with a relaxed 6 mile group run on Mondays. Tuesdays and Wednesdays have always been my rest days. I am planning on running the 10 miler with a 8 minutes/mile pace. That will determine my fitness for the two 13.1 miles races. Stay tuned.

Summer is winding down

I have two more races planned for the summer and then I am ready to welcome fall. Marathon season is upon us as well and I am planning on doing some volunteering work for the NYRR. I am actually going to get qualified for next year's ING NYC Marathon. NYRR's rules for guaranteed entry is that you have to run 9 qualifying races and have to volunteer for one race in the prior year (9+1 program). The following line-up meets those requirements:

• Sep 2 (Labor Day), Mon, 9:30am: NYCRUNS Labor Day 10k, Roosevelt Island
• Sep 14, Sat, 11am: The Great Irish Fair 5k, Coney Island
• Sep 29, Sun, 8am: NYRR Bronx 10M (1)

• Oct 6, Sun, 8:30am: MSK's Fred's Team Presents Grete's Great Gallop, half marathon (2)
• Oct 13, Sun, 8:30am: NYRR Staten Island half marathon (3)
• Oct 27, Sun, 8:30am: Poland Spring Marathon kick-off 5M, Central Park

• Nov 1, Fri: Volunteer work at the ING NYC Marathon (+1)
• Nov 2, Sat, 8:30am: NYRR Dash to the Finish Line 5k (5)
• Nov 3, Sun, 6am: Volunteer work at ING NYC Marathon
• Nov 17, Sun, 8:30am: Join The Voices! 5M, Central Park (6)
• Nov 24, Sun, 8:30am: Race to Deliver, 4M, Central Park (7)
• Nov 28, Thu, (Thanksgiving), 9am: PPTC Turkey Trot 5M, Prospect Park

• Dec 7, Sat, 9am: Jingle Bell Jog, Prospect Park (8)
• Dec 14, Sat, 8:30am: NYRR Ted Corbitt Classic 15k, Central Park (9)

If I pull this off I am pretty much committed for next year, the 2014 ING NYC Marathon.

First 10k race

It was a beautiful for a nice run

Yesterday I ran my very first 10k. I now have some data that I can use to figure out my progress. And progress it was indeed. We ran along Shore Road Park down in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and in the organizers' words (paraphrased) "we ran 3.1 miles this way, turned 180 degrees, and ran another 3.1 miles back." The route brought us to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (the bridge that connects Staten Island with Brooklyn), underneath it, and another half mile beyond it. I like landmarks like that because it shows you a) how short a mile can be by looking back and seeing how far the bridge is behind you already, and b) how long a mile can be by looking at the bridge in front of you wondering if you can make it there. I did make it back to the bridge, under it, and back to the finish line in 44:02 minutes, a pace of 7:06 minutes/mile, on 13th place (out of 122 finishers total), and 2nd in my age group of 40-49 (out of 17 finishers in that category). And again, no, no awards were given to anybody but the first finishers in each age group and the top three of the race. One day I will snatch
one up, one day. When I looked at the splits in Endomondo I also realized that I ran my best 5k in the first half of the race with a pace of 6:55 minutes/mile with a total of 21:26 minutes. That's a 20 seconds improvement over my last 5k. I think I can be proud of that achievement, too. My 10k finishing goal to cross the finish line under 45 minutes is already done. Next run I'll try a 6:45 pace for a finish time of under 42 minutes.

The Verrazano Bridge is about 3 miles away

When I came back home I published my results on the NY Flyers' web site and noticed that the guy in red shirt, who kept running in front of me all the time and was just a lot better at keeping a constant pace, was a fellow Flyer and he placed first in my age group. I then checked his racing history and he has been doing this for at least 12 years now and his first 10k times back in 2001 were around 55-57 minutes. That gives me hope that within the next 10 years I will finish first somehow somewhere. Another guy also in a red shirt (which you can actually see in the picture above - he's got PPTC written on his shirt, Prospect Park Track Club) placed third and was 45 seconds behind me.

I always hear that you usually run a lot faster than usual when you run a race. This is very true. It seems that a little bit of competition and probably a bit of the need to show off makes your legs go faster. Also see my more recent post why I always want to finish in the top 20%.

How did I train for this race? To be honest, I did not. After the 16 miles the previous Sunday and another 6 miles the day after my left knee was in pain. I did run 40 miles over 5 days that week and the golden rule is never to run more than 10% than the previous week(? month?) but, of course, I hardly heed such rules. Maybe I should. Anyway, I took the rest of the week off. Literally. I didn't run, I didn't ride the bike, nothing but walking. The first time I ran again after five days of rest was when I got out of the subway station in Brooklyn and ran the half mile to the start line for warm-up. While my knee still felt it could use another week of rest I noticed that the pain disappeared as soon as I started running. That's the way I like it.

Sore legs

8:30 group just started
Photo by NYRR

Last weekend I did something crazy. I volunteered to be a pace leader for NYRR's Long Training Run #2. My task was to keep a constant pace of 8:30 minutes/mile (pace groups started at 7:00 minutes/mile up to 11:00+ in 30 seconds increments) for a length of 6, 11, 16, or 20 miles so the runners behind us were able to meet their training goals. Training for a marathon is not to run as fast as possible from the get go but to stay at the fastest pace possible that keeps your body run most efficiently so you will not run out of fuel half way in (aka hitting the wall). That usually means you train to run a certain pace all the way through the 26.2 miles. That's why pace leaders in long distance runs are extremely helpful. You don't have to keep checking your watch. Just follow the group leaders.

Quick break after first six miles
Photo by NY Flyers

I initially signed up for 11 miles (the 6 and the 5 miles loops in Central Park) but decided to run one more 5 miles loop at the last minute. It was quite the experience. The first 11 miles were rather easy. It sure helps that you run in a group and keep each other in check. The third loop was a challenge, though. I was lucky that midway of the loop another runner was curious and asked me about this event. The conversation I had with him took my mind of the thoughts that were trying to convince me to throw in the towel and actually gave me one more boost to get back in front of the group. Thank you, stranger! The last couple miles were surprisingly easy but when the lead asked me if I would join him for the last four miles I had to say no. All in all I ran 16 miles in a bit less than 2 1/2 hours. It felt great to know that I was actually running a half-marathon and a 5k on top of that. My legs were wobbly and my joints stiff and now, a day later, I am still sore but it is all worth it. Imagine how many days it will take to recover from a full marathon.

On the way back home - bubbles!

After the run I sat myself on a rock and watched the other groups come in and leave for the last loop. Another runner, who also ran 16 miles, joined me and we talked a bit about running. He is also more of a newbie runner (he started in October of last year) but he keeps himself busy with a race every weekend. That's quite ambitious. I will probably see him again at some race in the future. Good luck, Robert!

Before I headed back home I stopped by the Bethesda Fountain (thinking how good it would be to put your legs into the water) and walked/limped by a guy making gigantic bubbles. Central Park in the morning is an interesting place to be.

Tonight I will leisurely run another six miles down the Hudson River to the Battery and then take a couple days off. I've got a 10k race to prepare for.

Three reasons why you really want to finish a race in the top 20%

1. There will still be plenty of Gatorade and post-race snacks available (at my last race that was bagels, strawberries, blueberries, Marathon energy bars, and other goodies) and you do not have to stand in line to get to them.
2. You get to cool down and still go back to the finish line and cheer on the other half of finishers.
3. You walk away from this race knowing you did something above average!

Why am I doing this?

Good question. Let me recap last week first and I will attempt to give a semi-satisfying answer later on.

Before the race

So, last Saturday morning I had my fourth race on Roosevelt Island (second on the island, fourth in total since mid-June). Another 5k, finished in 21:45, average pace of 7:01/mile, placed 36 out of 461 finishers and second in my age group of 40-44 year olds. Yup, second, but no awards this time for the top three in each age group. Just my luck. I still think, though, I really have to get my 5k race pace between 6:00 and 6:30 to have a solid shot at placing in the top three of the 40-49 years young ones. This is going to be a tough one and I will focus a bit more on 10k races moving forward for now but I will get back to it eventually. I am signed up for a 10k down in Brooklyn on the 25th and a 10k on Labor Day on Roosevelt Island.

The first mile is always the easiest
Photo by Bob Cowin

I have been reading up on other runner's experiences in their first marathons. It seems to be pretty much a pattern of 1) being all hyped up and feeling good at the start (after many weeks of training and hundreds of miles run), 2) running the first few miles like a champ, 3) following all the tips and tricks they have learned, 4) at the half-way mark checking the time and realizing that they are doing better than they thought they would, 5) starting to hit a physical and then mental wall at around mile 20, 6) starting to realize that the last six miles make a marathon what it really is, 7) being proud and relieved to cross the finish line with a time that doesn't matter anymore, and 8) nursing the wounds and soreness for many days to come, wondering at first why they did this in the first place and then researching what's the next feasible marathon they could and should sign up for.

Why am I running? At first this was just all about taking care of my physique. I was overweight, I ate too much and unhealthily, and I was just plain lazy to do something new. After pushing and prodding, as I already mentioned in a posting before, I got back into running and I rediscovered how much I liked it. Then I realized that running doesn't even have to be boring. Pick new routes, run races, meet people. Challenge yourself. Challenge others. In essence what I am doing with running is to fulfill a part in me that wants me to do something that is different from being "normal" or "average." I think we all have that and many of us do that and I finally caught up with it. It just feels good.

I was eventually able to meet up with some members of a running club, the New York Flyers. They are a great bunch of people and while I am usually not so much the social kind of person I am going to treat this as an opportunity to make some changes. Running is challenging me physically, the social aspect of being a member of team will challenge me mentally as well. I signed up to volunteer to be a pace leader in the upcoming NYC Marathon long training run. I picked a pace (8:30) and distance (11 miles) I can maintain and run with a group of other volunteers with the runners that train that day. We would be pretty much in charge of keeping those poor saps (kidding - lucky runners, I meant to say) who are training for the ING NYC Marathon in November company and making sure they know what pace they are running. Kind of like cheer leaders, just a lot sweatier and usually not that good looking.

Oh, and the marathon experiences? I want that. I want to go through that as well. I want to push my physical and mental limits as much as I can. I am only in my early 40s and I have many years to catch up with some of the awesome runners I have met and heard and read about. Wouldn't it be awesome to run with thousands of people, and cheered on by another thousands of people for four hours? If all goes well I want to run my first one next year. Training will start end of summer next year and until then I will just do what I do best: keep running those miles.

One bridge, awesome views, new personal record, and plans

It's only a matter of minutes

This last Sunday I had the most scenic race so far. The Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5K Run/Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The course is an interesting one because it starts at the Manhattan end of the bridge with an easy but still noticeable incline, then a rather steep decline on the Brooklyn side, a sharp U-turn around a metal pole that was perfect to sling your arm around to pick up some speed, the same steep decline and incline in reverse, half-way around City Hall Park, and through the finish line. I guess all my running for distance and speed work played a part in achieving a new personal record again. This time I finished the 5k in 21:43 minutes (average pace of 7 minutes exactly per mile) and placed 77th out of 937 finishers in total and 10th out of 80 participants in my age group. I am curious how this translates to a much flatter course, like the one next Saturday on Roosevelt Island. I would love to break the seven minute-mile.

Waiting and warming up

Now that I have been running competitively for a few months now I am starting to set some intermediate goals for the near future. I would love to break into the top 3 finishers of my age group. So far it seems that I have to be able to run the 5k in 18 minutes and a few seconds or so. In order to get there I need to break the 20 minutes first. That translates into something like 6:30 minutes per mile. That sounds daunting but if I consider that I improved my pace from 8:30 to 7:00 within only 2 1/2 months I am still optimistic. Never say never. I think I am on the right track with my training and I just have to learn how to pace myself a bit better during a race. I noticed that I am very light-headed from excitement and probably nervousness for the first few minutes or so, i.e. getting myself into the right rhythm plus jockeying myself into position for the first half mile or so slows me down a bit. I also have still quite a bit left in me when it comes to the last stretch. Something to think about and work on. I am also planning to run my first 10k later this month. I do not know what my race pace for that distance is but my training pace is an 8 minutes per mile constant - no matter how long I run. So far I still have to break into the two digit distances but even for my longest runs so far (just a few yards shy of 10 miles), and no matter how hard I try to run as slow as I can, I always end up in the 7:50-8:15 range. And while running at that speed I am still able to talk just fine. So, my guess is that I will run my first 10k a little bit under 50 minutes. For the next one in September I want to get this closer to 45 minutes with the ultimate goal to get between 40 and 45 minutes. I also want to work on more distance. I originally planned on running my first marathon the year I turn 45, i.e. in 2015 but I think I will revise this and give it a try next year already while I want to try half-marathons around the end of this and start of next year. Until my knees, ankles, and feet give up!

And before I forget - NYC Summer Streets rocks. The day before the race I took a bike from 58th Street/2nd Ave, rode it all the way down to Brooklyn Bridge via a car-free Park Avenue, dropped it off at City Hall, ran all the way back up to 72nd Street via Park Avenue (lots of runners that day doing the same thing), did a little loop in Central Park, and ran back to 59th Street. The result was a good 6 1/2 miles of running with views that you can only get three times a year when the city closes Park Avenue for car traffic. It was amazing.

Next race on the horizon

Brooklyn Bridge
Source: Wikipedia

I just signed up for a race across the Brooklyn Bridge. It is organized by the NYPD and will involve running across the bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and back. My right knee is a bit sore right now (thanks to a couple of really nice long runs and one fast run over the last three days) so I will take the
next two days off from running. On Thursday I will do one more fast run and on Friday another long run, Saturday will be, maybe, a slow jog around the island, and then is race day. I will try to get down to 7 minutes per mile. Not sure how realistic that is but you never know.

I have been looking to join a running club here in New York for a while now. At first I looked at the Dashing Whippets but I personally think the average age of their members is at least a decade too young (for my taste, i.e. w/o having a couple of drinks in me). Then I found the New York Flyers and I still have to join up with them successfully for a group run. They are also organizing a 5k on Roosevelt Island in a couple weeks and I am planning to run that one as well. In the meanwhile I have been increasing my mileage quite a bit. On Saturday I ran from Roosevelt Island, across the Queensboro Bridge, down to 37th Street on 1st Ave, and then all the way down to the Staten Island Ferry terminal along the East River, all in all it was a bit more than 8 1/2 miles. It seems my current average training pace is in the the vicinity of 8 minutes. I read a lot about how training runs should be taken easy and should be 3 or 4 minutes slower than your race pace but I just cannot slow myself down. Running fast just comes naturally. Until my knees give up....

Independence Day

It was a humid day
Photo by Ken Shelton Photography

I decided that I should run at least one race per month. For the month of July I thought I keep it close to home and use my home advantage. I signed up for the NYCRuns Firecracker 5k  which was held on July 4th (Independence Day and my mother's birthday) on Roosevelt Island at 8:30am.

Even though it was rather early in the day it was already quite warm and especially humid. I picked up my packet and was given a beer glass as souvenir. Since I had no place to store it (I live here so I didn't bring a backpack) I just went back home, left it on the kitchen counter, and did a light warm-up jog back to the start line. Compared to my last run this one was as laid back as it could be. A little less than 400 runners gathered at the start line and there wasn't much need to dodge others to get into a good position. Despite the weather I did extremely well and put up a new personal record (PR in runner's speech). I finished the 5000 meters in 22:46 which put me in 48th place, 7th in my age group of 40-49 years. I tried hard to gather some more speed in the end but I was too exhausted already. This was a great race and I stuck around the finish line to watch the finishers of the 10k race that was scheduled right after. It was amazing to see how the winner looked as fresh as if nothing happened over the last 30-some minutes. I want to be in that place some day (not necessarily being able to run 5 minute miles but running 6 miles as if it was just a walk down to the grocery store). The winner of the 5k was a 13 year old boy who finished in 17 minutes or so. I'm in awe. I wonder if I can persuade any of my children to take up running with me.

I poked around NYCRuns calendar and I picked a few races and runs that look interesting and will challenge me further. I think I will double my number of races per month (as my wallet permits, of course; races cost money after all).

Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5k Run/Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

Aug 4, 2013

The Laurie Harris Hope & Dreams 5k race against pancreatic cancer

Aug 10, 2013

14.2 mile Manhattan training run

Sep 1, 2013

NYCRUNS Labor Day 5k & 10k

Sep 2, 2013

Paine to Pain trail half marathon

Oct 6, 2013

Zombies take Manhattan

Oct 26, 2013

Flushing Meadows 5k

Nov 23, 2013

These should keep me busy. I am not quite sure, yet, about the 14.2 mile run (which is not a race and therefore shouldn't demand too much) and the Labor Day run the following day. If I decided not to do the long one (and it would be a shame not to because the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is one of the most awesome routes to run in Manhattan) I'd do the 10k Labor Day. Otherwise I will just do a 5k or skip the Labor Day altogether. We'll see.

Running on Roosevelt Island

Before I talk about my second race on Independence Day let me talk a little bit about Roosevelt Island from a runner's point of view. Ever since my stint in the German military I had a knack for running. Back in Gymnasium (something like high school here) I despised anything that had to do with sports. Mostly because of the group aspect of it. The least I hated was field and track but I hated it nonetheless. Fast forward to a physical activity that our commanding officer told us to do: run or at least walk a few miles through some forest. It turned out that I and one of my roommates were the only ones who actually ran. I ran because he ran and I realized it was fun. It wasn't a great time I ran or anything like that but thanks to him I found something out about me: running can actually be fun. I assume I especially like the solitary side of it. I don't have to mingle with people. Nothing substantial came from it until many years later when I was living with my wife on Staten Island, right across Silver Lake Park on Victory Boulevard. The lake in the middle and the pathway around it was a huge invitation and temptation to just give it a try. When I lost my job and was "in between jobs" for two months back in 2001 I had nothing better to do. My wife went off to work every day and I strapped on my shoes. Some crummy sneakers I found in the closet. It was an easy 1.3 miles run but, me being me, I did not start it slow and a couple weeks in my knees were creaking, popping, and hurting and I had to stop. I realized, though, that having a place to run right across the street makes things a lot easier.

I didn't pick up running for another five years or so. My first child was around three years of age and we were living on Roosevelt Island. I remember the day when my toddler was invited to a birthday party in some other part of town (I believe it was on Staten Island) and we were on the way to the subway station when my wife said that she forgot something at home. It was something important and I suggested that I would just run back home quickly to fetch it while she and the kid would just go ahead and wait for me at the station. For some reason I literally ran home, fetched whatever we forgot, and ran back to them. I felt good. I suggested that same day that I think I should do some running. The rest, as they say, was history.

Running on Roosevelt Island is a dream. You step out of your building and you just run. There are no streets to cross, no cars to avoid, no traffic lights to stop at, no pedestrians or bicyclists to dodge, or dog poop to step in. As I mentioned before, one  time around the island is a little more than 5k and it is nearly flat (so, if you want to do some hill work you either go to nearby Central Park or, more about that later as well, go across the Queens Boro Bridge [excuse me, Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge]). It doesn't give you many excuses not to run and a lot of reasons why you should not skip today's run. It has been becoming quite popular with a lot of residents and non-residents as well. Organizations, like NYCRuns, use Roosevelt Island for more and more of their events.

My First Race

Waiting for the start

I am the kind of guy who needs to know what to expect before he goes into something new. I wanted to know what to expect at a 5k race. To be a bit more specific, what to expect at your very first 5k race. I found a lot of information about how to train for it and race etiquette but nothing really about the experience of the race. That's probably one of my main motivations to get this blog going. I want to tell about my experience. Well, here we go...

First off, it all depends on what the race is, of course. There are races that attract thousands of people and there are once that are a lot more laid back. There are ones that are organized to the wazoo and there are others that are not. The JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge attracts thousands of people (think five digits). It is also quite chaotic and I didn't see that many volunteers trying to keep order but maybe they were just drowning in the masses of runners. The run started in five waves, all of them color coded with the first wave, i.e. the fastest runners, being red and the last wave, i.e. the slowest runners, joggers, and walkers, being white. I was assigned orange which was the one just before the white. Just when the race was about to start you were supposed to walk to the coral of your assigned color and wait there with thousands of other participants. A quick look around already made clear that quite a few runners didn't take it too seriously and just walked to the for them most convenient starting point (even though it was said that there will be staff to make sure that everybody will start in their assigned wave - no exception - but I just can't see how realistic that could be). Among the orange there were all other colors represented, too. The corals for the faster runners were the farthest away from the lawns where the teams gathered, so I guess it is not surprising too much. I'd wager a guess that it is probably more enforced when you go towards the "elite" runners in front. I will see for myself next year.

The picture above shows how crazy crowded it was. The starting line was not visible at all from my location and once we all started to walk/jog/eventually run towards it it was clear how many runners there were. It took us probably around 5 to 10 minutes of walking before we finally crossed the line. There was no gun shot or any announcements. The only reason I knew we were starting was that the crowd in front of me started to move forward. I then prepped my music (lately Eisbrecher seems to be the perfect companion music for me) and my running app (RunDouble - but see a planned entry for my reviews of selected running apps) and as soon as I crossed the line it was on. Well... almost. I was faster than most in the orange group. As I mentioned in my last entry I underestimated my pace by quite a bit and that pretty much resulted in me running around many people, unfortunately stepping into other people's way, and running on the grassy and muddy shoulders of the route. The stop and go impacted my overall pace quite a bit.

Eventually I did get into my running routine and ran. I ran the same route once before to get acquainted to it so there weren't too many surprises, with the only exception that it was a 3.5 miles race and not a 5k (3.11 miles). In the end I had to push quite a bit to keep the pace up but I made it. In training runs before I was able to maintain an 8 minute-mile but due to the stop-and-go and zig-zagging I averaged a 8:30 minutes per mile and finished the course in 29:46 minutes. Not too bad, I'd say. I ended probably in the top third of all participants and I placed number 14 of NYU's team of 124.

This was my very first race ever. The first time I pinned on a bib on the front of my shirt (number 14744). The first time I ran by a water station at the side of the road. The first time to run with a bunch of other people. The first time with the potential of being competitive. It was an awesome experience and I am hooked. My goal from now on will be to run at least one race a month. For July I already signed up for the NYCRUNS Firecracker 5K in my backyard on Roosevelt Island. Stay tuned.

Backstory

I know I should have started this blog a lot earlier when I decided to pick up running again as a New Year's resolution for 2013. Well, I didn't and thus I owe you some backstory:

I used to run quite a lot when my first born child was 3 years old. When my second child was born 18 months later I got too busy to keep on running. At that time I ran 3 1/2 to 4 miles (the entire circumference of Roosevelt Island that was runnable back then - it shortened a bit over time) at least 5 times a week. Due to the lack of gadgets that were a) easily affordable and b) easily portable I never made the effort to figure out how long my runs were and how fast I actually ran. I did put in my fartleks  already, though.

Fast forward more than six years. After getting in trouble with my wife I was finally convinced that I really should pick up some exercise routine again. She was right. I was closing in on 200 pounds at a height of 5' 11" and my food cravings were all over the place. I was also plagued by hip pain and was still recovering from a fracture of my right knee cap. A lot of excuses to not do anything drastic. But change I did (thanks, Spatz!) and I started a simple Couch-to-5k program that brought me back into running. Some short term health problems in February made me rest for a month but I kept on pushing forward. Then my employer sent out an e-mail inviting us to join the NYU run team for this year's JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, a 5k race, and after thinking about it for a day or two I signed up. I did not complete a full 5k at this time and I had to pull a number out of thin air when I had to give my pace. I think I picked something like 10:00 minutes per mile. Pretty much the next day I just went for it and ran an entire 5k circuit. My pace was 8:24/mile. I was ecstatic. For somebody who didn't really run for many years I was surprised that I was able to run that distance rather easily and not as badly as I first thought.