On a New Track

I'm raising money for the NYRR Foundation's Team For Kids when I run the NY Marathon in November. It's a great charity, and I'm happy to be helping out, but that's not what this post is about. If you want chip in though, I've put the URL at the end of this post. OK, enough of that.

In exchange for agreeing to raise money, TFK provides guaranteed entry to the marathon (the big draw), as well as coaching, group runs and other benefits.

Until now, I hadn't taken advantage of any of the team training, mostly because my running club, the New York Flyers, provides so much. I didn't get out for my usual Flyers speed training session Tuesday morning, and TFK had a great looking run planned for Tuesday evening, so I decided to give it a try.

I put on my nuclear florescent TFK singlet, which felt like cheating on the Flyers, and jogged over to the meet point at Engineer's Gate in Central Park. There was a good turnout, maybe 45 runners, and four coaches. Of course, I was the only one uncool enough to be wearing the team singlet. I didn't mind though, I wasn't wearing it to fit in. I was really wearing it because I can't imagine not wearing Flyer gear at the marathon, and I wanted to get used to it.

Although the crowd was a mostly younger than me, folks seemed very friendly, and it was a happy group that set off at an easy jog toward the Great Hill. The plan was to do intervals at the cinder track at the top of the hill, a place I have always wanted to run. I have know for some time that folks trained up there, but I assumed it was a remote and deserted place that I shouldn't explore on my own.

It turned out to be a gorgeous spot, with runners on the track, and lots of folks frolicking in the infield. We ran 10 X 400 -- a really nice workout. I was actually one of the faster runners -- the young folk were probably more focused on getting dates with one another than trying to outrun an old man.

By the time we finished, it was getting dark, but the place was lit, and still full of people. All in all, a very nice evening.
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Here's the info you need if you would like to contribute to my TFK fund raising effort:

https://www.nyrrc.org/cgi-bin/start.cgi/mar-programs/nyrrf/team/2007/donations.htm
entry number: 97346
last name: whitfield

For general info on Team for Kids, look here: http://www.teamforkids.org/