One Year later, new adventures, awards, and new PRs

Portugal Day

Almost two weeks ago I ran the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge for the second time. That means this marks the first year anniversary of me running competitively. A lot of things happened but the most important thing right now is that I pretty much recovered from my injuries I sustained from running too far/long too soon and I am pretty much back to the same fitness level I used to be in the summer of last year. Over the last six weeks I ran quite a few races and I will recap some of the highlights. Let me start with the stats first:

Date	Name	Distance	Time	Pace	Overall position	Age group position
5/11/14	NYRR Japan Run	4M	28:23	7:06	463/5707	58/419
5/14/14	NYCRUNS Riverside Park Series #1	5k	22:33	7:16	24/100	3/40
5/26/14	NYCRUNS Memorial Day Ice Cream Social	10k	44:10	7:07	32/361	3/40
5/28/14	NYCRUNS Lousy T-Shirt Race	5k	21:53	7:04	12/72	3/10
6/4/14	PPTC Al Goldstein Speed Series #2	5k	21:12	6:50	70/301	8/18
6/5/14	JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge	3.3M	22:40	6:52	849	n/a
6/15/14	NYRR Portugal Day	5M	34:13	6:51	441/5027	59/481
6/22/14	NYRR Queens 10k	10k	42:25	6:50	333/8410	41/641

I was able to get my 5k pace down to below seven minutes per mile again and my goal for the summer is getting it closer to 6:30 minutes/mile. I also got my 10k pace down to 6:50 for the very first time (yay for PRs!) I have plenty of races on my plate to work on this more hardcore. My current week looks a little bit like this: Mon, Tue - one loop around the island for around 4 miles, Wed - a 5k in Riverside Park or Prospect Park (see more about this below), Thu - rest, Fri - one loop for about 4 miles, Sat, Sun - two loops around the island for a total of about 8 miles. If there is a race on the weekend I adjust accordingly and insert a rest day after the race as well, i.e. I will always take a rest day after a race unless the next day is race day again.

Front row seating

Let's start with Japan Day. When I went to pick up my bib at the NYRR headquarters I was surprised to see that my start number was in the three digits because that number determines the start corral and three digits means I would be running in front (the first corral in NYRR races is usually for start numbers 0-999.) For once I would be able to actually see the stage and whatever performance they put on after we lined up and before the gun goes off. You see, your starting position is determined by the pace you set in past races and the 6:55 I got in last year's Dash to the Finish Line 5k was enough to get me front seating at Japan Day. For the Scotland Day run and Portugal Day it was still enough to get into the second corral from the front (1000-1999.) Wait, this is not quite true. The truly competitive runners who can sustain a pace of sub 6 minutes or lower (that is entirely my own guess and I do not have anything but my gut feeling to support this) get two digits, i.e. they get to start in front of everybody else, there is no corral per se for them; they just line up between the start line and the first corral. The race itself was a good one and it felt really good to run a four miles loop in Central Park with thousands of others.

The other big thing that happened was that for the first time ever I got awards! Not just once but three times in a row. I will never be able to pull this off at an NYRR race due to the sheer size and awesome competition in those but in NYCRUNS races it is definitely doable and I sure did it. It started with a tough race in Riverside Park which is known for its hills. The Riverside Park races this summer are part of a series organized by NYCRUNS. For $25 you get to run four 5ks, one every month from May through August, just bring the same bib you got when you registered. In that race I won third place in my age group and won a mug that was given out as swag in one of the Hot Chocolate winter races. This is one of the reasons why I love running and volunteering for NYCRUNS races: they don't take themselves too seriously. Its owner does not earn a million dollar a year like NYRR's CEO and you actually get to talk to him and hug him if you want to when you see him. I digress. I was able to win third place in my age group again on Memorial Day and the Lousy T-Shirt race. I was especially proud when at the award ceremony I was introduced as "... another well known name in the NYCRUNS community..." Did I mention again how I love, love, love participating in NYCRUNS events? I think I did. Then once more in the aptly named "Lousy T-Shirt" race which happened at Riverside Park. It was an invite-only race, it did not cost anything, and it marked the three years anniversary of NYCRUNS. It was a very small but great event and I got one more hot chocolate mug for my third place in my age group.

The other series I am running is the PPTC (Prospect Park Track Club) Al Goldstein Speed Series which is even a better deal: eight races for $25. It can't get any better. It also happens on Wednesdays, every other Wednesday from end of May through August. Winning any awards there, though, is really tough. It is called the "Speed Series" for a reason: these guys and gals are out for blood. The race did make me break through the seven minutes per mile again, though, and I cannot wait to run this course again. It is hilly but there is a very nice and long downslope almost at the end which allows you to really ramp it up once more and literally fly across the finish line.

Now that I crossed the magic seven minutes (6:30, here I come!) it seems that my current default pace for anything from 5k to 10k is around 6:50 minutes per mile at the moment. That creates the possibilities for many more PRs this summer. In the Queens 10k I was able to shave off more than 90 seconds from my previous 10k PR and if I keep pushing the 5k pace I'll beat my current 6:44 PR for this distance soon. This is going to be a great summer! I just got out my injuries stronger and faster. I wonder if the strength exercises I learned to recover in PT also contributed to my better running.

Did I say front row seating before already?

I marked my first year anniversary or competitive running with participating in the 2014 JP Morgan Corporate Challenge and it was a great event. Just like last year, it was an enormous number of runners (around 15,000 AFAIK) but this time I was able to start from the yellow corral which is the second from the front, just like what I promised I would be doing. I was surprised, though, how far in front I was, because the red corral was quite small and so was the yellow. Unfortunately, nothing really exciting was going on on the stage at the start line. Some JPM executives talked and, well, that was the fun part, one of the sponsors had a personal trainer on stage who tried to animate the runners to follow him doing some warm-up exercises. That was quite the hoot. The serious runners in front of the pack couldn't care less and the participants that may have had some fun with this were not in sight of the stage (do I sound a bit like a snob?) In the end I finished the slightly shortened course (it was 3.5 miles last year and 3.3 this year) in fourth place for Team NYU.

Queens 10k

I want to conclude this post with a recap of the Queens 10k which was the highlight of the last 6 weeks or so. The race was held in Flushing Meadow Corona Park in Queens, where we can find Citi Field (home of the NY Mets) and the tennis stadium that holds the US Open. The start and finish were close to the Fountain of the Planets and took us on a grand tour of most of the park. We circled the Meadow Lake, passed by the Queens Museum, had a quick out and back which led us to a 3/4 circle around the Unisphere, and we finished back at the fountain. The views in the park were great. The race course was flat and the weather was optimal to do the best running I was able to do. I was able to keep up with many of the runners up in front and for the first five miles I was able to hold a pace between 6:30 and 6:50. At mile 3 I overtook one of my teammates and knew that I was pretty much in first or second position of all NY Flyers that ran that day, as far as I could tell by the shirts they were wearing. Unfortunately, my mind slowed me down so much in the last mile that he was able to get passed me once again and finished before me. I was able to make up some time in the end by sprinting across the finish line but in the end I was the third Flyer to cross it BUT since I crossed the start line almost 20 seconds behind the number 2 guy in the end I was the second Flyer to place. It is always satisfying to see that I am able to beat other runners who are 5, 10, or even 15 years younger than I am.

Did I not mention in a previous post that I don't run to compete with others and this is all just about me getting better? Well, forget that. I am at a point now where I actually get to win stuff and where only a two digit number of people separate me from the top (in my age group, that is... let's be realistic.) I am out for blood now, plus I am curious how fast I am physically able to run long distances. Right now I am mastering 5ks and 10ks but I am going to sign up for a half-marathon training program that will start end of July to prepare me for a good half-marathon in the fall. This may be the Staten Island or the Yonkers Half, I do not know at this point of time. I am curious how it feels to run longer distances without getting injured badly all the time.

Oh, I also volunteered at the Brooklyn Half and the NYCRUNS Mother's Day 5k/10k. I will recap those experiences in a volunteering special post some day.

Next race up: the Brooklyn Cyclones Take your Base 5k in Coney Island. I am not a baseball fan at all but crossing a finish line within a baseball stadium at home plate sounds like an awesome experience. Plus, we'll get free beer!

Keep on running!