Cherry Blossom 10K Run
I ran an NYRR race this morning, but before I give the briefing on that, I need to catch up a little.
On April 9, 2006, I ran the Cherry Blossom 10K Run. This is actually my first 10K. "What?!", you exclaim. "Jon, didn't you run a 10K in Virginia?", you might ask. No, very observant reader. I was supposed to run a 10K in Virginia, but the hillbillies down there aren't real big on math or time or distance or any of those fancy science terms. Instead, they just let us run some random course and then changed the name to the Leesburg Fun Run. It was actually 12.8K or something, but I digress.
The race was in Newark, NJ (where they know how to measure things like distance) at Branch Brook Park. It was part of the Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival. I guess I'm not mature enough to appreciate the wonder that is the Cherry Blossom. There seems to be all kinds of Cherry Blossom celebrations across the country. Is it the first tree to flower in the spring or something? I saw asian people with cameras (imagine that!) taking pictures of the flowers on the tree. They're pretty and all, but I don't get it. Where's the beer?
The race was my buddy, Yaniv's, idea. He lived in that area for a while I guess and this was one of his annual races. As I had never done a real 10K, I agreed to join him. My friend, Natalie, ran with us too.
Before the race I went into the bathroom and some old dude asked me if I could get the current scores for the Masters on my Garmin Forerunner. I guess he was talking about golf or something. I just laughed politely and did my business. Can I just take this moment to just comment on how backwards Virginians are? I think I had my Garmin down there and I was also using my iPod Nano. You wouldn't believe how many people came up to me to ask about the new fandangled technology. My goodness. You would think we were in West Virginia. I'm not too concerned about insulting anyone because it's clear none of them have even heard about the Web.
Anyway, back to Newark. It was really cold. Yaniv took off before the race to go find his lovely family and I didn't see him again until he was running back the other way on the course. Now, I know Yaniv is a fast MFer, but I'm a little suspicious that he might have started the course up a mile or two. Maybe he found his wife, Tamar and his son, Samuel and then a few minutes later he saw some of the fast runners coming up the path and rather than run back to the start, he just joined them. I know that probably didn't happen and I apologize in advance for even suggesting it, but I looked all over the starting line and I swear he was nowhere to be found. But then, strangely, I saw the guy running the other way at about 2.5 miles. Weird. This is one of those mysteries that may never be solved.
I started the race and everything was cool. Natalie had an injury with her ankle a little while back, so she told me to go on without her. (I never wait for anyone anyway.) I started running and when I got to the first water stop there were some local kids who obviously volunteered (or maybe they were paid?) to hand out water at the water station. One kid was wearing a sweatshirt that said "G-Unit" which is a hip-hop group founded by 50 Cent. I have diverse musical interests and have listened to "In Da Club" more than a few times, so I was familiar with G-Unit. At the end of "In Da Club" fitty says something like "Hahaha! Don't try to act like you don't where we be neither, ni**a. You in da club all the time, ni**a, so go on and pop off, ni**a. G-Unit!" The way he says "G-Unit" at the end sounds more like "Guh guh!" depending on what you play the song on. It sounds funny. For a month or two in 2003 or 2004 I was walking around and going "Guh Guh!" to random people. Fun stuff. Anyway, so I wanted to connect with the kid handing out the water so I said "Thanks. G-Unit!" when I grabbed the water. It made most of the water kids laugh. When I got to another water station, there was nobody wearing any G-Unit fashion, but, once again, I said "Thanks! G-Unit!", and they all appreciated it too.
And then at some point I saw Yaniv coming the other way and yelled our usual "Yeah!" to each other. This is sometimes proceeded by "18!", but that's a story for another time. And then not too far beyond the turnaround point I saw Natalie coming up the other way and I think I yelled something to her, but I forget what it was. It might have been "G-Unit!" or maybe "Hey Fat Tire!" (a reference to the duathlon category she was in). I don't recall.
Between 4 and 5 miles, some people started passing me and although I'd try to catch up with them, they'd quickly push on past me. Finally, at 5 miles, I put the pedal to the metal and picked up the pace pretty good. I passed all those people and a few more. As I was getting close to the finish line I could see the time was like 59:30 and I tried to crank it up another notch, but I didn't have the juice. I came in at just over 1 hour. In fact, it was 29 seconds past the hour.
Afterwards we ate stale bagels and oranges and drank water. We took pictures with the cherry trees and each other. Good times. When we got up to the parking lot, I decided to lie down on the tarmac. I was tired. Pretty soon, a Sheriff car came driving up and asked me if I was okay. ha ha!
Just a side note... while I was running, I noticed a sign for a restaurant called "Nanina's in the Park". My grandparents, on my dad's side, used to take us to a place called "Nanina's in the Park" when we were kids. As 8, 9, 10 year old kids, this place was horrible. I think it might have even been jacket-required. The waiters were all proper and I think they wore white gloves. It was no fun at all. I make fun of my friends, a lot, for being "fancy," but my brother and I were totally fancy growing up. I wonder if this is the same place. My grandparents lived in Newark when that was a cool thing, so it wouldn't surprise me. I wonder if I'd appreciate that place now that I'm older.
I'm not terribly impressed with my performance, but it's still cold out. I have some time to get myself back up to speed. I seem to be in a motivational slump, but I think that'll end soon. I'm working on ending that soon, anyway.
Essex County Cherry Blossom 10K Run
Branch Brook Park
Newark, NJ
April 9, 2006, 10:00 am
Time: 1:00:29
Pace: 9:44
Overall Place: 393/520
Age Place: 77/86
Gender Place: 265/323
Complete Results
...and I'm Just Getting Started.
On April 9, 2006, I ran the Cherry Blossom 10K Run. This is actually my first 10K. "What?!", you exclaim. "Jon, didn't you run a 10K in Virginia?", you might ask. No, very observant reader. I was supposed to run a 10K in Virginia, but the hillbillies down there aren't real big on math or time or distance or any of those fancy science terms. Instead, they just let us run some random course and then changed the name to the Leesburg Fun Run. It was actually 12.8K or something, but I digress.
The race was in Newark, NJ (where they know how to measure things like distance) at Branch Brook Park. It was part of the Essex County Cherry Blossom Festival. I guess I'm not mature enough to appreciate the wonder that is the Cherry Blossom. There seems to be all kinds of Cherry Blossom celebrations across the country. Is it the first tree to flower in the spring or something? I saw asian people with cameras (imagine that!) taking pictures of the flowers on the tree. They're pretty and all, but I don't get it. Where's the beer?
The race was my buddy, Yaniv's, idea. He lived in that area for a while I guess and this was one of his annual races. As I had never done a real 10K, I agreed to join him. My friend, Natalie, ran with us too.
Before the race I went into the bathroom and some old dude asked me if I could get the current scores for the Masters on my Garmin Forerunner. I guess he was talking about golf or something. I just laughed politely and did my business. Can I just take this moment to just comment on how backwards Virginians are? I think I had my Garmin down there and I was also using my iPod Nano. You wouldn't believe how many people came up to me to ask about the new fandangled technology. My goodness. You would think we were in West Virginia. I'm not too concerned about insulting anyone because it's clear none of them have even heard about the Web.
Anyway, back to Newark. It was really cold. Yaniv took off before the race to go find his lovely family and I didn't see him again until he was running back the other way on the course. Now, I know Yaniv is a fast MFer, but I'm a little suspicious that he might have started the course up a mile or two. Maybe he found his wife, Tamar and his son, Samuel and then a few minutes later he saw some of the fast runners coming up the path and rather than run back to the start, he just joined them. I know that probably didn't happen and I apologize in advance for even suggesting it, but I looked all over the starting line and I swear he was nowhere to be found. But then, strangely, I saw the guy running the other way at about 2.5 miles. Weird. This is one of those mysteries that may never be solved.
I started the race and everything was cool. Natalie had an injury with her ankle a little while back, so she told me to go on without her. (I never wait for anyone anyway.) I started running and when I got to the first water stop there were some local kids who obviously volunteered (or maybe they were paid?) to hand out water at the water station. One kid was wearing a sweatshirt that said "G-Unit" which is a hip-hop group founded by 50 Cent. I have diverse musical interests and have listened to "In Da Club" more than a few times, so I was familiar with G-Unit. At the end of "In Da Club" fitty says something like "Hahaha! Don't try to act like you don't where we be neither, ni**a. You in da club all the time, ni**a, so go on and pop off, ni**a. G-Unit!" The way he says "G-Unit" at the end sounds more like "Guh guh!" depending on what you play the song on. It sounds funny. For a month or two in 2003 or 2004 I was walking around and going "Guh Guh!" to random people. Fun stuff. Anyway, so I wanted to connect with the kid handing out the water so I said "Thanks. G-Unit!" when I grabbed the water. It made most of the water kids laugh. When I got to another water station, there was nobody wearing any G-Unit fashion, but, once again, I said "Thanks! G-Unit!", and they all appreciated it too.
And then at some point I saw Yaniv coming the other way and yelled our usual "Yeah!" to each other. This is sometimes proceeded by "18!", but that's a story for another time. And then not too far beyond the turnaround point I saw Natalie coming up the other way and I think I yelled something to her, but I forget what it was. It might have been "G-Unit!" or maybe "Hey Fat Tire!" (a reference to the duathlon category she was in). I don't recall.
Between 4 and 5 miles, some people started passing me and although I'd try to catch up with them, they'd quickly push on past me. Finally, at 5 miles, I put the pedal to the metal and picked up the pace pretty good. I passed all those people and a few more. As I was getting close to the finish line I could see the time was like 59:30 and I tried to crank it up another notch, but I didn't have the juice. I came in at just over 1 hour. In fact, it was 29 seconds past the hour.
Afterwards we ate stale bagels and oranges and drank water. We took pictures with the cherry trees and each other. Good times. When we got up to the parking lot, I decided to lie down on the tarmac. I was tired. Pretty soon, a Sheriff car came driving up and asked me if I was okay. ha ha!
Just a side note... while I was running, I noticed a sign for a restaurant called "Nanina's in the Park". My grandparents, on my dad's side, used to take us to a place called "Nanina's in the Park" when we were kids. As 8, 9, 10 year old kids, this place was horrible. I think it might have even been jacket-required. The waiters were all proper and I think they wore white gloves. It was no fun at all. I make fun of my friends, a lot, for being "fancy," but my brother and I were totally fancy growing up. I wonder if this is the same place. My grandparents lived in Newark when that was a cool thing, so it wouldn't surprise me. I wonder if I'd appreciate that place now that I'm older.
I'm not terribly impressed with my performance, but it's still cold out. I have some time to get myself back up to speed. I seem to be in a motivational slump, but I think that'll end soon. I'm working on ending that soon, anyway.
Essex County Cherry Blossom 10K Run
Branch Brook Park
Newark, NJ
April 9, 2006, 10:00 am
Time: 1:00:29
Pace: 9:44
Overall Place: 393/520
Age Place: 77/86
Gender Place: 265/323
Complete Results
...and I'm Just Getting Started.
posted by Jon at
2:09 PM
5 Comments:
You said something like "your going too fast!" to me because I was totally running so quick on my sprained ankle and you were afraid I was going to beat you.
By
natalie, At
6:31 PM
You North Jersey snots...at least when we get excited about Cherry Blossoms, we can bother to run 10 MILES!
By
Dave, At
8:39 PM
Dave, How many miles was your Cherry Blossom 10 Miler? 12?
By
Jon, At
10:49 PM
Natalie, that's right. I remember that now.
By
Jon, At
10:51 PM
No, numbnuts, it was 10. You should be happy they screwed up in Leesburg that day...the only way to get you to run that far is to lie to you. Or, to line the course with strippers.
By
Dave, At
11:00 PM
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