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.