3 posts tagged “runners”
Today I ran a PR of 57:11 with a 9:13 pace; I can say I finished behind likely 2008 Olympic medalist Craig "Buster" Mottram of Australia in a race that shattered the all-time course record for a lap around Central Park; I qualified for the 2008 ING New York City Marathon (!!!!!!!!!!); I had a crumbcake at Starbucks; and then I went to see Shrek the Third just to hear Gingy's voice one more time.
Life is good! The Wait Is Ogre!
This morning was the Healthy Kidney 10K at Central Park, benefiting the National Kidney Foundation and sponsored by the United Arab Emirates. Cool and overcast, perfect weather. Over 7,000 runners. In honor of our Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees over at Shea Stadium on this first weekend of Interleague Play, I cut up a David Wright No. 5 Mets jersey and ran in that. Throughout the race, I was cheered by other runners and fans who yelled things like "Go, D-Wright!" and "Let's Go Mets!" Hey, even the Empire State Building is being lit up all weekend in both Yankees and Mets colors, the first time in history they have used a dual color scheme for that iconic skyscraper. It is Yankees navy and white on the north and south sides, and Mets blue and orange (which I wore today) on the east and west sides. Whichever team wins this series, the Empire State Building will be fully alit in its colors on Monday. Updated Monday: It will be blue/orange! So I figured it was special enough to dedicate this 10K to the Subway Series, too!
I finished midpack, feeling at times like I was just flying, and in the fourth mile like I was running on empty, then like Street Sense in the final mile, and I ran so fast and so hard that immediately after the finish line I made a beeline for the Medical tent and asked them to give me oxygen. "Do you have a medical condition?" she kept asking me. "No!" I kept saying between gasps. "I just can't get my breath!" She kept fiddling with her oxygen tank trying to get it ready and finally I caught my breath and said never mind, I'm good and I need water. I have never done anything in my athletic life like today, where I visualized it all beforehand that I was going to leave everything I had on the course and try my best to just fly around the course like I was Buster Mottram himself. It is so awesome to challenge yourself and see how your body reacts at this age. I love it.
This was my ninth New York Road Runners event of 2007, which means I am now officially in the NYC Marathon! I definitely will run my first marathon this fall, either NYC (pleaseplease) or Philly or somewhere more exotic after I work the World Series (which could end as late as Nov. 1). That will depend on the results of the lottery draw for the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, which I registered for back in February. There will be some 90,000+ applicants for about 37,000 spaces in that field, so we will find out in early June whether I will be among them! I did not join the New York Road Runners until last December, which is why I had to go through the lottery process for this November's. Still, though, it is a rewarding feeling to know that you just qualified for a marathon! And that 9:13 pace was exactly my pace in last Sunday's Mother's Day 4M race, so if my pace for 6.2 miles is identical to my pace for 4 miles, I think that is more progress.
Seeing Mottram in the awards ceremony was a highlight for me. He is my favorite runner. I watched him recently at the Millrose Games and I can't wait to see him soar in Beijing. Today, the two-time defending champ of this race was actually beaten by Dathan Ritzenhein, whose 28:08 time beat the course record of 28:10 set 10 years ago. It was awesome to hear NYRR CEO Mary Wittenberg describing the Ritz-Buster duel to all of us who had been running our own races at the time. It also was cool to see Ritz immediately turn over his $20,000 first prize check from the UAE directly to the National Kidney Foundation. Nice move. In the big picture, that's what it was all about. Gotta love being able to do that.
The funniest
part of the ceremony was after the three female finishers were awarded.
The sergeant-at-arms of the UAE national army informed each of them
that they will be coming to the United Arab Emirates in December to run
their event, with all transportation and accommodations covered. Hope
your families didn't have any plans for you in December, girls!!! 
Then he announced during the male awards presentation that the top seven male
finishers will be going to UAE to run that same event. That set off a
small buzz among the crowd, feeling kind of 1950s here. Why not the top
seven female finishers as well? I mean, how else would this crowd
react? I guess gender equity hasn't quite caught on over there yet the
way it has here, where women-only races sometime seem overly prevalent
to me. It doesn't get much more equal than NYC running, so they have to
be more careful not to make another diplomatic faux pas like that one.
Apologies to all those Yankee fans out there on the course today. I know it's tough. The Bronx Bombers are 10 games out of first place for the first time since 1995 (growing as I write this), before the Derek Jeter/Joe Torre/Mariano Rivera era really started. They just lost to the Mets, they are getting destroyed in the standings by the rival Red Sox...and here's a guy flying around Central Park wearing a sweaty David Wright No. 5 Mets jersey. Hey, I'm a winner, baby! I just finished behind Buster, set a PR and qualified for the world's biggest marathon. Let's Go Mark!
OK. Watched this afternoon's Subway Series game and then went to see the big green ogre and his friends Donkey and Puss In Boots. I don't care what anyone thinks, I just went to see this by myself in the top theater auditorium in New York City. Amazing! that was a blast. My next race is going to be a BLAST! It's the American Heart Association Wall Street Run -- a 3-miler on Tuesday (May 22) through the Financial District after the big board closes.
Congratulations to Amanda, the very cool girlfriend of my awesome son Matt, on graduating this weekend from high school! We are all proud of her! Now they will both be in college together in the same area, and I know that makes them both very happy so that makes me very happy!
BIG LOVE.
Today I ran 10 miles at Central Park by myself and for the first time I used
That is sick how much of a difference that just made. I am going to order a bunch of boxes of CLEAR off their website now. I may even see if they will sponsor a Major League Baseball guy like they did Jerry Rice. I'd love a BreatheRight with the MLB batter logo on it. Everything is on course for Marathon Season. This week: 25 m, longest run today. Knees are a little sore, typing now with frozen-pea bags on top of each knee for precaution. It's about to snow so good thing I did this today. To answer wefloat's question in the comments of this post: I have been hanging around 10:30 pace in this month, albeit on my own rather than races mostly, and for me anyway was scorching Earth at about 9:45 for the last 5 miles of my run. As noted in introductory posts, I traded smoking for Asics on Dec. 1, so it has been a progressive case of getting my wind back as well as the overall body change. This felt like a major breakthrough; I was usually panting at the top of my lungs when my heart rate was peaked, and I would wonder why I couldn't easily breathe in through my nose and get that fabulous oxygenation of my muscles that I read about in the runner books. I know this steered me in that direction; it felt so explosive TO ACTUALLY PASS RUNNERS instead of always being the one being passed. It was just one day, but that was a big "phase two" step.
And the boys of summer are in full workout mode now. Busier on all fronts. March 1 is a milestone for me, representing one full season in the calendar year that I succeeded in quitting smoking cold turkey and trading it for Asics and a new life with infinite possibility. My body is unbelievably thankful and better now. Doing Park Bench Pushups front and reverse (triceps) before/after every run. Now I even breathe better...life is so good.
2 degrees wind chill this morning at Central Park. Thousands of runners. New "wave" start. My fifth NY Road Runners event. 10 minute pace. Strong first two miles. Lead weights second two miles. Regrettably ran in full combat regalia including heavy fleece and Indiana sweats over tights. Felt like carrying weights. Don't care. Finished and improved pace. Running. Training. Battling. First marathon up ahead. Most beautiful running course on Earth, tough hills. Finished at Tavern on the Green. Straight in for warmth/sustenance. Satisfaction. My new mantra: "MY TERMS. NO CONDITIONS." Think I will put it on cafepress.com merch. What do you think? First sentence on front of a T-shirt, second sentence on the back. It means I will run wherever and whenever I want, and that I will never pay attention to so-called "conditions." There are no conditions, just a course to run on and a distance to achieve, and dress appropriately. Ice, 2 degrees, 102 degrees, rain, whatever. I run. I improve. I succeed. I thought up that slogan while turning north on East Drive at the South end of the Central Park loop last week. It stuck.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt.
Daring mighty things is something I will continue to do the rest of my life. Sometimes it means putting everything in your life on the line and watching 1.6 million shares of your own dotcom darling go up in smoke during the tech boom/bubble. Sometimes it means getting up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday and running in 2 degree windchill to build a base for a dream you are working on. It means pushing yourself in a new way and building adventure and attainable glory into your life. Because one day I am going to wake up and be 90 years old, like my grandfather who I am going to visit in two weeks back in the Midwest on his birthday. To paraphrase Mark Twain, I don't want to look back then and wish I would have done this or that.
Since becoming a member of the New York Road Runners at the start of December, I have run in all of the following events at Central Park except for the New Year's Eve Emerald Nuts Midnight Run -- because I was ringing in 2007 at Times Square that night:
NYRR Gridiron Classic 02/04/07
NYRR Manhattan Half-Marathon 01/21/07
NYRR Fred Lebow Classic 01/07/07
Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 12/31/06
NYRR Hot Chocolate 10M 12/16/06
Joe Kleinerman 10K 12/10/06
Not one of those five races I have run has been the same distance. First was a 10K, followed by 10 Mile, followed by 5 Mile, followed by Half Marathon (13.1), followed by 4 Mile. The variety is awesome.
Ten days, 22 hours, 59 minutes till Spring Training according to our countdown clock on the homepage. The Marathon Season looms just ahead. Winter training goes on. Now entering 4-Miler in my training diary, and inserting my fifth number bib inside front cover. My Terms. No Conditions.
