NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Mile - Marathon Qualifier: 2/9

I ran the NY Road Runners Club's Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Mile this morning. Apparently Al Gordon wasn't into chicks because they had the men run at 8:30am and the women run at 9:30am. I ran with my brother, Dave. He decided to run with me (at my pace) which was cool of him. Natalie and her sister also ran - in the women's race.

My brother kept saying he hadn't run in months but he was really comfortable running the whole race at a pace faster than I could deal with. I don't think I would have run as fast if he wasn't right in front of me the whole time. I really appreciated having him to pace me. That said, I was hurtin' pretty bad on the last mile and a half. I was ready to walk a bunch of times, but my brother was determined to get us in under a 9:00 pace.

This race was the same as the last NYRR race except for the gender split. It was really friggin cold. I got a new pair of running pants and I wore my Murray Greenberg SilkJohns. I also picked up some Windstopper gloves (not warm at all) and a wicking beanie. I was pretty good for warmth. After the second mile I was overheating and had to start shedding anyway. I also pissed myself to stay warm, and by "pissed myself" I mean I zipped up my microfleece to cover my neck.

There were 2,300 dudes running the race and my brother decided he would take the train into the city and meet me in Central Park. We used Google Maps to decide on a specific location to meet. We got on the phone and zoomed in and decided on this spot. The internet is cool, isn't it?

The race was good. I finished with an 8:50 average pace which is my best for a 4 Mile run. Actually, my pace on the Turkey Trot 5 Mile run was a little better, but that was coming off of a pretty active summer/fall. I consider myself in ramping up condition after being pretty lazy this winter. The apple after the race was the best tasting apple I've ever had - but then again, anything I eat immediately after a race is the best thing I've ever eaten. Kinda weird like that.

Natalie and Vanessa cheered me in at the finish line and then gave me all their stuff.

My brother and I went over to P.S. 171 to get a bagel and a hot chocolate and we listened to the awards. It was about 9:15am and all the women were in the park getting ready to run. The guy reading the awards was like 80 years old and was wearing a shirt that said "Grandpa". He said something like "I appreciate how nice and quiet it is here. It's because all the women are in the park." OH, SNAP! After we realized we didn't win anything, my brother took off to the train and I went back to watch the women finish. I watched Natalie get to the finish line and then yelled some "Move it!"s and some "Let's Go"s. I ran up ahead towards the finish and took a picture of her with her camera and got another apple. Yum. Vanessa finished a little bit later. They had some interesting experiences with their race, but I'll leave that for someone else's blog.

My next race is the Coogan's Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K on Sunday, March 5.

NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Mile - Bib # 7625
Central Park
New York, NY
February 25, 2006, 8:30 am
Weather: 26 deg., 33% humidity, wind 14 mph.

Time: 35:22
Overall Place: 3113/4721
Age Place: 749/871
Gender Place: 1874/2337
Pace: 8:50

Complete Results (Link to NYRR site)

...and I'm Just Getting Started.

NYRR Gridiron Classic 4 Miler - Marathon Qualifier: 1/9

I ran the NY Road Runners Club's Gridiron Classic 4 Miler this morning. I ran the race with Natalie. It's funny because on the way into NYC, I saw two of the guys in the video clip that's in my last post. They were riding their bicycles with a couple of other dudes down Hudson Street.

Yesterday, I had my good tire put back on my bike at Marty's Reliable Cycle so I could get back on the road. I bought some fancy bike shoes and a pair of clipless pedals. I rode my bike, with Natalie, for about 11 miles yesterday. I hadn't been on the bike for a while, so my butt bones were hurtin' pretty bad. As they say, ride the bike 5 times and your butt will stop hurtin'. I'm gonna get right on that. The clipless pedals were cool - they definitely helped me be more efficient with delivering power to the crank. I had practiced getting in and out of the pedals the night before because I didn't want to wipe out in the middle of the road, but sure enough, I came to a stop at the top of a small hill and the extra step of rotating my foot out of the pedal threw off my coordination and I did a slow motion wipeout. I was able to keep my bike off the ground while I got intimate with the pavement. For some reason I was more concerned about keeping my bike nice and shiny than I was about getting run over.

Anyway, back to the run. This was my first NY Road Runner race. I went into NY yesterday to pick up my bib because the race was held 13 blocks from the NYRR HQ, and I didn't want to be rushed to get to the run. It was a madhouse. It's a good thing too, because it took us 30 minutes to find parking. There were 4,812 people who finished the race. It took us 4:42 to get to the starting line. Luckily they have the "ChampionChip" system which records your start time as well as your finish time so you can take your time getting started. The system reports your Net Time.

I was feeling kinda of groggy because I played ice hockey last night (two assists!) and had two espressos with my brother and his girlfriend before the game and a light beer after the game. I went to bed around 2am and woke up at 7:30am... ugh.

This is the largest race I've ever been in. I decided I would just walk at the water stops because I wanted to be able to drink the water and I did stop at a porta-john to take a leak. That said, I finished in 38:06 and had a 9:31 pace. I'm happy with that.

NYRR Gridiron Classic 4 Miler - Bib # 11072
Central Park
New York, NY
February 5, 2006, 9:30 am
Weather: 45 deg., 58% humidity, wind 16 mph

Overall Place: 3300/4812
Age Place: 792/969
Gender Place: 2092/2658
Pace: 9:31

Complete Results (Link to NYRR site)

...and I'm Just Getting Started.

Cycling Rules!

I haven't really been diggin' my bicycle trainer. It's just not as cool to cycle when there's no wind at your face and the scenery isn't moving, so I'm going to Marty's tomorrow to get my fancy tire put back on my bike.

I found this site hosted by the state of NJ that has bike routes they recommend:

Biking in New Jersey

I'm thinking about riding one of these routes on Saturday if the weather is nice. I've also signed up for a Biathlon on April 2nd. This is the first Biathlon organized by the New York Triathlon club. They organized the Biathlon I did last year. If you want to join me, you can click here for more info about the 20th Annual March Madness Biathlon in Central Park.

Also, here's a cool video of some dudes riding really fast through traffic in NYC.

Doing the Qualifying Runs

I've been a big bum since around Thanksgiving, and I think it has to do with the fact that I haven't had many races to run. Having a race to run in the not-so-distant future seems to keep me on track. Having discovered this about myself, I'm going to try to step up the number of races I'm going to do. This wasn't easy for the last few months because there are just fewer races being held. In any case, I'm working on getting back on track.

I ran with Dave in Virginia a couple of times last week. First, 4 miles last Thursday and then roughly 7 miles on Saturday morning. I ran 4 miles this morning. I plan to run again on Friday.

I need to run 9 NY Road Runner races in 2006 to qualify for the 2007 NYC Marathon. There are at least 2 races in February I can run to start working on my marathon requirement. I'm also planning to run a half-marathon in April and I need to start working up to that.

I'm going to run the NYRR Gridiron Classic (4M) this Sunday. That will be my first Qualifier. Qualifier: 1/9

Here's some info if you'd like to join me.