Double header weekend

Go Flyers!

Only six weeks or so left in this year's summer and one more month with a full racing calendar. I have been taking advantage of this weather and raced pretty much every NYCRUNS and some selected NYRR races and have a few left. I also enrolled in a coached running class offered by the NY Flyers, won a first place in my age group twice, improved my 5k, 5M, and 10k PRs, volunteered in this year's iteration of the Marathon Long Training Run, and injured my right knee once more. Let's start with an overview:

Date	Name	Distance	Time	Pace	Overall position	Age group position
7/13/14	NYCRUNS Shore Road Summer Series #2	10k	42:27	6:50	6/193	1/13
7/16/14	PPTC Al Goldstein Summer Series #5	5k	20:02	6:28	67/353	5/20
7/23/14	NYCRUNS Riverside Park Series #3	5k	20:53	6:44	19/334	1/33
8/2/14	NYRR Team Championships	5M	32:47	6:33	323/842	48/117
8/3/14	Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5K Run	5k	19:31	6:18	19/860	5/80

It all started with a very humid day out there in Brooklyn on Shore Road. After I missed the first race of this mini series (last year I only ran the very last one) I was able to attend the second one. It was again a very simple out and back race that made us cross underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge twice. Unfortunately, I bought a new pair of running shoes (New Balance 510v2, I am still trying to figure out if I like them or not) just the day before and decided to use them for this run. There was nothing really wrong with them except that one of them came untied and I had to stop a mile away from finish line. I could have run a new 10k PR if it weren't for that but nevertheless I finished just slightly slower than the Queens 10k and even won the first prize in the 40-49 age group. My first first place award! I repeated the same feat 10 days later in the third installment of the Riverside Park Series. There is one upside to winning awards rather regularly: your name gets noticed a lot more often now, especially at NYCRUNS events. I think I mentioned that already in a previous blog posting. That became especially clear at the Brooklyn Bridge race which I will cover in a bit. Stay tuned.

Focused!
Picture by Bob Cowin

The next race I want to recap a bit more in detail was this year's NYRR Team Championships. The New York Road Runners hold this event every year and it is open to members of local running clubs only. It's supposed to give us teams the opportunity to race each other. The women went first this year and the men followed an hour later on a 5 miles loop around Central Park. I actually planned on being on location to watch and cheer on the women but I wasn't able to get out of the house early enough. I arrived just in time to see the first woman cross the finish line, though. It is nice to see that a front of the middle of the pack runner like me struggles just as much as a world-class runner. The latter is just a lot faster but we all give everything we can. Oh, one more observation: puking after a race seems to be normal. One of the top-three female finishers made a pit stop on some grassy area, threw up for a while, and was then joined by a team mate of hers to comfort her. Then they chatted as if nothing happened. So, whenever you feel like throwing up, just pretend you ran your guts out and let it all out, literally.

The weather was perfect when the men lined up at the start. It was raining all morning long and the ladies had a little tough luck but we men were lucky. It was a rather smallish group of runners (less than 900) and we were not assigned to start corrals according to our predicted pace. If it weren't for all the NYRR branding you wouldn't have known it was the NYRR that organized this event. The course was a simple loop starting on 102nd St Traverse, going all the way south, back up on the East Drive, and ended a few yards away from the start. My strategy was pretty much to just run as fast as I could and keep it up and I was pretty successful with that. Within my team I ended up in third position which I am very proud of.

I think there are two dominant running teams here in NYC: the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) and the Westside Runners (WSX). The first is a very exclusive private club that takes in new members by invitation only, is extremely expensive, has a swanky building on Central Park South with overnight accommodations and dining facilities, and churns out Olympic medal winners. So, it is a quasi-given that these athletes rule most events, and that they rarely attend any of the NYCRUNS events. The WSX is open to everybody, dirt-cheap, and also has some extremely capable members. While I would love to run for a more competitive club like the WSX I am going to stick with the New York Flyers mostly because the average age of its members is around 40 years old and I don't feel like an old timer.

Rain does not discourage us.

The other race I want to talk about it one of my favorites: the Brooklyn Bridge 5k, aka Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5K Run. It was great fun again even though the weather just barely cooperated. It was the second race in the same weekend I ran the team challenge and it just stopped raining a bit after the start of the race. The wooden planks that cover at least half of the distance were a bit slippery and caution was needed not to fall and hurt yourself. I was surprised, though, how fast I went out and that I was able to hold a very good pace even though it was a bridge, i.e. up, then down, then up again, and finally down to the finish line. I assume the downslopes helped a lot to keep my pace up and the adrenaline made sure that I didn't slow down too much on the upslopes. Despite my new 5k PR I placed fifth in my age group which was a bit of a bummer but definitely added more motivation to keep on training and get the endurance up and upper! The race was spectacular but there was one thing that made it even better. While I was waiting for the award ceremony I hung out at the finish line to watch the runners come in. The race director was sitting there announcing each of the finisher over loud speakers as they come in and all of the sudden I heard him say: "Michael Hocke, how did it go?" Over the speakers. I looked and realized that he meant me and I gave my thumbs up. Then he just talked about me being a member of the New York Flyers etc. etc. I guess I earned my chops for real now and am officially a well known participant of NYCRUNS events. Even though I am not the person who wants to be the center of attention it sure gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling and I was validated for my efforts in running. I will make sure to volunteer as much as possible as well to keep my newly found status.

Running two race in two days was not such a great idea, though. My right knee flared up once more. Luckily a week of rest and some very easy running (NYC Summer Streets is back!) fixed this but it definitely has something to do with my arthritis in my knees. I have top be careful when going down hills fast. That said, tonight is the sixth installment of the PPTC Al Goldstein Speed Series in Prospect Park. One nice long downslope just before the finish line. Will I go easy? Nah, I don't think so. Ice and rest will do wonders.

I will dedicate a separate blog entry for the coached training class I am taking to prepare for my first half marathon that I want to run ready and hopefully injury-free. Stay tuned for that.

And fresh from the press: I was accepted to hand out finisher medals at this year's NYC marathon! This is exciting!

Keep on running!

Busy Summer

Welcome to Governors Island

It's been one of those weeks again. I ran three 5ks in one week. It started on Sunday with the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Cyclones Take Your Base (which I talked about in my last entry), continued with the PPTC Al Goldstein's Speed Series #4, and ended with the NYCRUNS Firecracker on Friday (Independence Day). In the latter two I placed in the top three of my age group and reaped awards left and right. It seems that I am finally able to run a fast enough pace in 5k and 10k races to be a strong contender for placement in the top 3 of the 40-44/49 age groups (in smallish races like NYCRUNS's.) I have another 10k coming up next Sunday so we will see how it holds up. Here are the results for my last two races:

• PPTC Al Goldstein's Speed Series #4, 5k, 20:28 minutes, 6:36 pace, 41st/223 total, 3rd/14 age group
• NYCRUNS Firecracker, 5k, 19:59 minutes, 6:27 pace, 19th/529 total, 2nd/38 age group

I need to improve those times to have a shot at NYRR races as well. There is some motivation, no? 

Taking this picture was verboten!

Let's recap the Firecracker run:

It was a race held on Governors Island on Independence Day. NYCRUNS organized three out-of-schedule ferry rides that brought staff, equipment, volunteers, and runners to the island which was still closed for the public. Not even spectators were allowed at that time and if we had anybody who wanted to watch us they had to sign up as volunteers. I believe this is one of the very few races where the organizers did not have a problem to find all the volunteers they needed. Volunteering spots went fast! At least we runners had the entire place to ourselves. Well, kind of. Park staff made sure that we didn't wander around and made us stay close to the start/finish line. I was caught taking pictures of the Manhattan downtown skyline and was asked to stop and wait until the island opens (at 10am) and go back and stay with the other runners. Luckily, I was able to do some sightseeing at the beginning, just minutes after arriving on the island and dropping off the only piece of baggage I had - an umbrella -, while doing my warmup run and discovered Hammock Grove. When I saw those hammocks I thought that the warmup could wait a bit and made myself comfortable for a but until the sprinklers turned on and forced me to leave.

Always a good time

Since most of the island was under construction the course was two short loops which went by pretty quickly. I kind of liked this arrangement because the more familiar I am with a course the better I can ration my energy and will not be surprised by a hill here or there. The first loop I ran as quickly as I could, trying to hang onto the fastest runners, and by the time the second loop came around I was familiar enough to get through the last 1.5 miles easily; just not as fast, unfortunately. A third or fourth loop would have been boring, though, so I am glad that they didn't try to make this a 10k race. When the finish line was in sight I still had enough reserves that I kicked it hard and outran somebody else who tried (desperately?) to stay on me. I also overtook women #3 and #4 at that time. I scored second place in my age group and the organizers already know my name. This is a rewarding feeling, I must say. A few other NY Flyers were in attendance and a few of us earned spots in the top 3.

 I have a whole week of no racing but finally doing some training runs. Next up: NYCRUNS Shore Road Summer Mini-Series #2 (I missed #1 because it was held on the same day as the Queens 10k.)

Keep on running!

This summer started out better than expected

Getting ready

I am in a racing mood. The warm and humid weather makes me want it even more - I guess I am perverted that way. Or, maybe, my constant streak of  improvements just gives me enough motivation to not slack off just because it's hot and sticky outside. In my last posting from a few days ago I mentioned that I set a running goal for this summer: getting my 5k race pace to 6:30 minutes per mile. Well, one week into summer and I already met this goal. At yesterday's NYCRUNS Brooklyn Cyclones Take Your Base 5k I finished in 19:51 minutes with a pace of 6:24 minutes per mile. That means I also achieved my long standing goal of running a 5k under 20 minutes as well.

Let me recap the race very quickly. I got out of the house a little late and arrived at the MCU Park (the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team) with just enough time to spare to pick up my bib, drop off my bag, and do a quick five minute warm-up with half-hearted stretches. Next thing I knew the gun went off (okay, no gun, the horn) and we were off. The start line was in front of the ballpark on Surf Avenue, and, as always, I lined up pretty much in front and like with all races my strategy for the first mile is just to hang onto the fastest runners and keep up with them as much as I can which I did by running it in 6:05 minutes. From then on it went downhill very quickly and my paces slowed down to around 6:30 for the last 2.1 miles. We turned left onto the boardwalk and ran a mile or so pass the aquarium until a hairpin U-turn at Coney Island Avenue which slowed everybody down, unfortunately. Then back towards the stadium, into the stadium, a three quarter loop around the field, and through the finish line which was installed right at the home plate. I think I ran a very good race. There were a couple of guys in front of me and I let them pull me along for the first one and a half miles until I noticed that either I was faster than them or they got slower and after a few attempts and a bit of playing around I overtook them and left them in the dust. Once I found my rhythm I was the one overtaking others and did not have anybody else overtake me. As mentioned above, I crossed the finish line in a (for me) breath-taking 19:51 minutes as 23rd finisher (out of 860, which, by the way, is probably the biggest NYCRUNS event I have participated in so far). Unfortunately, I placed a bittersweet 4th in my age group (out of 50) with the third place finishing 45 seconds ahead of me. I did see that guy but he pulled away fast in the last half of the race. Speaking about pulling away: the first female finisher went by me (okay, I kind of stretched the truth when I said nobody overtook me) in the last few yards and I tried everything I could to catch up with her but she crossed the finish line two seconds ahead of me but at least I was able to see how the whole thing works when you win a race. She was 13 years old. After the race we were provided with tickets for free food and beer. The food was provided by Nathan and they handed out pre-cooked burgers or hot dogs and a small side of french fries. We all got two food tickets so in theory you could have lined up twice; I didn't. I also skipped the beer because I did not feel like lining up in line first for a bracelet (where they check your age) and then again at the beer stand.

Finish line

So, what is next now? I guess I want to be ambitious and I set myself a 6:00 pace as goal for this summer. I believe I have the strength to do so but I have to train harder to get my entire body to keep it up. It should be interesting. The NY Flyers offer a speed pass program starting at the end of July to prepare runners for a half or full marathon. I am thinking of signing up for this so I can get a coach-led program to prepare me for a half-marathon late fall and as a first step to the marathon I want to run in November 2015. I will definitely sign up for this year's Bronx 10 mile race in September and maybe the Staten Island half-marathon (I ran both last year and I want to conquer them this year) but those will be the longest races for this year. I don't want to risk a knee injury again. For now let's go fast. Later we can go long.

Talking about fast: next up is race #4 of the PPTC Al Goldstein Speed Series in Prospect Park on Wednesday. It'll be hilly but I'll keep it under 6:30 - I hope.

Keep on running!

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!

Go Dawgs!

Another weekend, another race. Last Saturday I ran the 2014 Dawg Dash NYC 5k, a fundraiser for the University of Washington Alumni Association. It was a simple loop around Roosevelt Island (I just love events that don't require any traveling whatsoever) but due to the construction south of the Queensboro Bridge the first three quarter mile was going around the tram station and sport center twice before we head off north towards the lighthouse (mental note, create a blog entry that documents a loop around Roosevelt Island in photos), then back down south on the East side of the island and across the finish line close to the sprinklers. It was nice and easy.

Is that coffee?

I never attended UW but my wife did (I did apply once as international student for a year but was rejected). She mentioned this race many weeks ago and a team member of the NY Flyers posted on our Facebook page about it as well. I couldn't resist to register for it and my wife volunteered at the registration table. This was the third time that she was around when I crossed a finish line. The first time was at my very first race, the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in 2013, last year's Staten Island half-marathon, and this one. While I never want to impose myself and have kids and wife wake up early just to accompany me to some early morning race in one of NYC's corners, it is a nice change of things if they actually do. I guess my chances would improve when I decided to run a destination marathon (or half). Do Yonkers or Philadelphia count?

We lucked out with the weather. At first I thought
they brought over some Seattle rain.

It was a very laid back race with around 150 participants but, as always, some of the runners (including me) meant business and they ran their hearts out. Others took it a lot more leisurely and jogged or walked the distance, because after all, this is also about creating an atmosphere to socialize and network. The last 5k race I ran was the day before the NYC Marathon and I did pretty okay - any sub-7 mile is definitely okay with me - but this time I wasn't sure what to expect. I have been training and running longer races and runs and didn't focus at all on the 5000m distance. I would just wing it and go as fast as I can. As Bill Rodger wrote in his book, Marathon Man, running a 5k is about running as fast as you can and hang in there as long as you can. There is not much strategy involved. I sure didn't have anything planned in how to run it but I think I did okay (unfortunately, not "pretty" okay.) I was in the front line when the horn sounded and I tried my best to stay with the fastest runners for as long as I could. Unfortunately, I am no match for runners who can run sub-6 minute miles and when the adrenalin faded I was delegated to the back of the front group, as always in such small races. Elle, the NY Flyer member I mentioned above, kept running right behind me until around 2.5 miles into when she took off and left me in the dust. I tried to keep up with her, but then there is a reason why she ran two Boston Marathons in the past and I get injured from running a half-marathon, so I just picked up in speed what I could, which wasn't too much, but could not reach her anymore. She crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of me. I finished in 13th position (out of 145 finishers) with a time of 22:10 minutes and a pace of 7:08 minutes per mile. This is a far cry from the 6:44 minutes/mile I was able to run last summer but it sure is not hopeless. With my treatments for my knee coming to an end I should be able to get out there and train harder again.

After the run there was a after-party at Feile, some Irish Pub in midtown, where us runners could have gotten a free beer (yay for the Irish, the Germans, and the Huskies - three races that offered beer afterwards) but getting into the train instead of just walking home with my wife was not too attractive at that point. Maybe next time.

Next up: the NYRR Japan Run 4M in Central Park on Mother's Day (and after that brunch with my family at Max Brenner for some chocolatey breakfast.)

Keep on running!

Needles in your knee

Yup. That pretty much visualizes it.

Today I got my second round of injections into my knee and I am still alive to talk about it. It's actually not that bad, I must say. It's almost like going to the dentist but a lot shorter and a lot more comfortable. Let me start with summarizing what treatment I am getting.

As explained last time I was diagnosed with grade 1-2 arthritis in my right knee, i.e. the cartilage is worn down and too thin to provide enough cushioning between the bones and the knee cap. That can cause all kinds of uncomfortable pain in my knee after running, prolonged bending of my knees, etc. Luckily, there is that stuff called Euflexxa on the market that provides artificial lubrication for cases like mine. There are a few downsides to it, though. 1) It is quite expensive, almost $2,500 per treatment (which is covered 100% by my insurance - lucky me), 2) one treatment consists of one doctor visit, i.e. injection, per week for three consecutive weeks, 3) it needs to be injected via needle into my knees, and 4) it only lasts for six months after which the whole process needs to be repeated. The time between treatments can be extended if I decided to become less active but while I want to keep running it is suggested to follow the recommended treatment schedule.

So, when I come into my doctor's office I am asked to lie down with a wedge under my legs that keep my knees bent in a more or less 90 degree angle. Wait, not true. I have to sign a consent form first that relieves the doctor from all kinds of responsibilities for certain problems such procedure can cause - business as usual. The first thing the doctor will do is to sterilize the surface of my knee and then apply cold to numb the skin around the injection site. Then he will inject lidocaine to block the nerves on the side of the knee. This is probably the most uncomfortable part of the entire procedure and, not unlike at the dentist, you will feel a tiny bit of pain and some burning sensation when the drug goes in. In my case, most of the "drama" plays in my head (my dad used to call this "Kopfkino") and I am always lying there, waiting (instead of going to my "happy place") for any kind of pain to surprise me and make me jump up, swearing like a sailor. It never happens, though. All the nervousness for absolutely nothing. Once the knee is numb, which is a matter of seconds and feels absolutely nothing like lidocaine in your mouth, i.e. it doesn't feel weird or anything worthwhile to report, he takes a second syringe, the one with the Euflexxa, and injects it in that same area. I kind of looked when this happened the very first time and seeing a syringe sticking out of your knee does look a bit amusing. The doctor told me that there are certain spots on the knee that are perfect for this kind of injection because there are no tendons or muscles to puncture through, and I agree with this, because I have felt very little soreness afterwards. Since I am getting this done for both knees the same happens for the second knee as well. Last but not least he bends my knees up and down for a while to redistribute the gunk he just put in there and you can actually hear it move around. It's hard to describe what kind of sound it makes but with the sensation of what's going on inside the knee it made it sound like somebody is popping bubble wrap very quietly. The whole thing takes less then 30 minutes and I am out of there quickly.

It is probably too soon to tell if it actually does anything good, but I must say that my knees do feel quite a bit better than before. The 4.5 miles I ran two days after my first injection felt really good. No pain in the beginning, during, or after the run. It was pure bliss. At this point I want to credit the physical therapy and the injections for that.

I will get my third and last round of injections at the end of next week and I will report back over the next few weeks or months what difference it made. Stay tuned.

Next race up: The Dawg Dash 5k on Saturday. My wife will be doing registration, handing out bibs, and refreshments.

Keep on running!

The Scots are coming but let's talk about the Irish first

A Beautiful Day

So much has happened in the last few weeks that deserves mentioning on this blog but before I do so I want to give you a recap of a race that I ran on September 14th, 2013. For some reason I never found the right words to put my experience on paper and kept postponing it until now. That one day in September has been the pinnacle in my very short race career. I ran the fastest ever. It was the Great Irish Fair 5k, an NYCRUNS 5k race on the boardwalk of Coney Island and I finished it in 20:52 minutes, a pace of 6:44 minutes per mile. I placed 10th out of a field of 176 finishers but awards were only given to the top three male and female winners. That's fine because we all got free food and beer at the Irish festival afterwards. From that race on things went pretty much downhill pace- and injury-wise because I started to run longer distances without training for it correctly.

Just as you would expect it from an Irish event it started rather late, at 11am, which gave me enough time that day to get down to Coney Island without waking up in the wee-hours. The race was a good one. It started on the Coney Island boardwalk right under the Parachute Jump and led us West for a bit, back East all the way to the Aquarium, and once more West to where we started. The board walk itself wasn't the safest ground to run on because of broken wood and the occasional nail poking out but as long as you stayed on the planks that are parallel to your running direction you were fine. To this day I am proud of what I achieved that day and I hope that I will be able to get back into even better shape. I don't think I reached my best, yet. After the race I helped myself to a cup of beer and a hot dog, and did one of the things I always wanted to do after a race: I took off my shoes and socks and walked in the Atlantic Ocean. It was perfect (with the exception of having sand all over and getting wet quite a bit) and I will sign up again once registration for the Great Irish Fair 5k opens up for 2014.

We all know what has happened after that and how I have been plagued with injuries in my knees and feet for the last few months. After the last half-marathon I developed an unpleasant clicking in my right knee that just didn't want to go away and I eventually decided to see a doctor and have it checked out. When ice and rest doesn't do much you better get professional advice. The doctor figured runner's knee but sent me off for an MRI which agreed with his preliminary diagnosis. In my case I am suffering from chondromalacia patella, degradation of the cartilage under my knee cap, that causes my bones touch each other, bruise slightly, and keep the tissue surrounding them inflamed. For the medically inclined among my hardly existing readership here is the official diagnosis:

• Focal degenerative complex along the posterior portion of the lateral tibial plateau, with full-thickness cartilage defect, and subcortical reactive marrow edema.
• Focal grade 1-2 chondromalacia of the medial facet of the patella, with accompanying focal marked synovitis in the adjacent medial joint capsule. There may be an underlying medial patellar plica at the site, but this is difficult to visualize.
• Mild to moderate "iliotibial band syndrome."
• Evidence of old Osgood-Schaltter disease with superimposed acute component in the distal patellar tendon, and in the superficial and deep infrapatellar bursae.
• Small joint effusion.
• Study negative for meniscal tear or knee derangement.

Phew. That was just as hard to type as it is to read. Well, my cartilage in my knee is thinning, things are inflamed, there are some leftovers from a condition that I unknowingly had when I was a child, but the tendons in my knee are in good condition. I assume the fact that my right foot is not parallel to my knee is not helping my condition especially when pounding the pavement during a run for a prolonged time. Nevertheless, it is not bad enough to require that I give up running but if we don't do anything about the current condition I may end up with knee replacement down the road. So, for now I will get an injection into each knee. Two injections per knee once a week for three weeks, to be precise. Sounds bad? Yeah, I am not looking forward to it but it is not supposed to be as bad as it sounds. What's going to happen is that the medication that will be injected will act as a lubricant to keep the bones from doing damage to each other. It is supposed to reduce the pain I would get from too much running and prevent further degradation of the cartilage. The bad thing: that medication is extremely expensive (almost $2,500 for one full treatment of both knees - 10% of which will have to come out of my pocket, health insurance will luckily cover the rest) and it needs to be re-applied every six months. I will definitely do a progress report over the next few months and talk about how things improve, if at all.

The other thing that I was prescribed was physical therapy to make sure other muscles in my legs take off as much load from my knees as possible. The first evaluation showed that my glutes did less work than they are supposed to, especially in my right leg. So we are focusing at the moment on getting my glutes stronger and make myself more conscious about the bio-mechanics so that I activate my butt and hips more when climbing stairs or running or walking. I must say that I do feel a lot better after my first five sessions and the only thing that is left is the clicking (which only shows when climbing up stairs and may not go away ever again) and a bit of ITBS left over from my last race. We are working on it. Today I got a gait analysis and I was told that my running technique is almost flawless. I just need to work a bit on my hip extensions - I tend to turn out my legs a bit too much when running.

This has been quite a long blog entry already but there is more! Because of my injury I wasn't able to run the Spring Fling 10k but since NYCRUNS has an awesome volunteering program I helped out with the race doing course marshaling and I got credit for the missed race that I will apply to a future race. Volunteer for a race and get $25 race credit and whatever swag they handed out to runners, including the food. You cannot beat that!

Long sleeves wasn't the best
idea. Photo by Marathonfoto

And then the NYRR Scotland Run 2014 came along. I paid for it, I would get a point for guaranteed entry into the 2015 NYC Marathon, plus my knee didn't feel that much off, so... I ran it. I even finished it and not in last position. It was hard, though, but not unsurprisingly because I haven't run for almost four weeks now and jumping right into a 10k took a lot of effort. The fact that I was able to finish it and was still able to maintain a better than 7:30 minutes per mile pace still shows that my fitness level hasn't degraded too much, yet. It is far off from the 7:10 or so I did in a 10k last year but I am confident that I will be able to get back into it. I mean, I was in the middle of a 10k training program when my knee acted up.

The race was one complete loop of Central Park. We started on the West side at around 63rd Street, went all the way up north, back down on the East side, all the way down south, back north and a little bit further than the start line. The weather was great and the atmosphere awesome. Thousands of runners getting together is always an awesome experience - especially when you are one of them. Thanks to my performance in the Dash to the Finish Line from last year I earned my lowest bib number ever and I started in the second start coral from the front. In the beginning of the race I was able to keep up just nicely but when the rolling hills started up in Harlem I lost a lot of time. I think I have to run a lot more often in Central Park. The hills, no matter how small they are, really got to me very quickly. The mile that had the most hills was my slowest mile. I recovered in the end a bit but I spent my very last dose of energy that I had. It was hard. I crossed the finish line in 1,229th place out of 8,067 finishers, 126th out of 571 finishers in my age group (40-44), and 19th place (out of 87 participants) for my running team. I am proud that I was still able to stay in the top-20% of the entire field. My net time was 46:18 minutes which equals to an average pace of 7:28 minutes per mile.

Today is Friday and I am planning on getting back into a much more relaxed 10k training plan tomorrow. It is supposed to be a gorgeous Saturday outside and I really need to get back out there and run my heart out. I will officially be training for a 10k in July but will run multiple 5-10ks during that journey. No more half-marathons until fall, i.e. the Yonkers or Philadelphia Marathons may be downgraded to halves for me this year. I am in no rush, am I?

I want to finish with what's coming up next. The next race will be the Dawg Dash, a 5k on Roosevelt Island, organized by the University of Washington Alumni Association. Then May's schedule has volunteering three times and racing twice. Considering the condition of my knee I may have to postpone my first marathon to 2015 and focus on half-marathons only for this fall. I think I really have to take it slow and get a lot more miles under my belt before I do anything crazy.

Keep on running!