Well, I've been a little out of touch (insert excuses here), so in addition to reporting on today's 15K, I've got some old business to catch up on. Here's the agenda.

Old Business:

• NYRR 8000
  
• Dual Birthday Party

New Business:

• Colon Cancer 15K

Old Business

Last Saturday, March 14 was a big day. In the morning, I ran the NYRR 8000, and that night my wife and I attended a birthday party that was thrown for two of my favorite runners, CB and VB, who turned 50 and 70 respectively. 

The race was fine. I had never run an 8000 meter race before, so there was no PR to beat, but 8000 meters is very close to 5 miles, so I had some idea of what my pace should be. I felt pretty good, except for the moment when I had to stop to tie my shoe at mile 3. This was the first time I've ever had a shoe come untied during a race, and it was quite shocking, given my recent claims of shoe tying mastery. I'm sure I just slipped back to my old habits and tied a granny knot that morning. The perfect knot could not possibly have come untied!!! 

I ended up with a 33:25 (6:43 pace). I'm good with it -- that will be the time to beat at my next 8000.

The birthday party was spectacular. A video was played, made up of birthday wishes from a gaggle of runners, all praising CB and VB. The praises were well earned. The two of them have inspired many, including myself. 

When I first started running with my 6AM group, I tried to stay with VB as I struggled to make it around the loop. It was tough to keep up, but it was worth it for the excellent company.

CB has also been an inspiration. She is a triathlon monster, despite a demanding (and interesting) job and a family. She is forever making me push harder in speed work. 

The party was packed with runners who share my admiration for these two. I knew that they were universally admired, but to see so many folks in one place -- it was very cool.

New Business

It wasn't the best week for training -- in fact I've slacked off significantly since Coogan's. This was partly by design (I pushed pretty hard leading up to Coogan's), but it was also due to being busy with work, having jury duty, etc. 

Once again, I tried to convince myself that the training slow down was, in affect, tapering for the race. The mind trick worked pretty well, and I was able to run hard. My pie in the sky goal was to go under 7 min/mile, but I couldn't quite do it. I held a sub 7 pace for most of the race, but starting slipping at mile 5. I ended up with a 1:05:40 (7:03 pace). I have to be happy with that, given my 10K PR at 6:51 pace, and Half Marathon PR at 7:19 pace. 

There were some excellent Flyer sightings at the race, such as the Laminator, who passed me early on. I yelled out to him, and he made a valiant effort to turn around enough to see who was calling out, but wisely redirected his eyes forward, continuing on to a very fast finish. I also saw EF, another Flyer who finished way ahead of me as usual (3rd in our age group). Crazy Bandana was there snapping photos -- I watched the finish of the 4 mile race with him. He and several other Flyers I saw (CM) are training for Boston in four weeks. Gotta get there someday.

Scoring at Coogan's

My first goal for this year was to run a sub 20 minute 5k.  I planned my first attempt at this goal for lasts week's Al Gordon 5k, but I couldn't make the race because of a family trip. 

Today's  Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks Run was the next 5k on my list, and I felt ready to give it a go. I lined up aggressively in the corral, and found myself standing next to some of my faster teammates. This year, Coogan's is a club points race, so a lot more of the fast folks showed up.  It wasn't really appropriate to be starting with these guys, so when the crowd moved forward, I hung back a bit. 

Off the starting line, I was passing a good number of runners, but not so many that it was really holding me up. I hit mile one at 6:21, better than the 6:26 pace I needed to hit my goal. 

In the next mile, I surprised myself by passing a couple of runners that usually finish way ahead of me. Sure, they might have been going easy today, but I still took it as inspiration to keep pushing. Mile 2 had the big hill, and despite pushing hard, my pace slipped to 6:38. That put me behind, but the last mile was mostly downhill,  so I knew I could at least come close. 

For the last 1.1 miles, I dug deeper than I ever have. It looked like I was going to miss my goal by just a few seconds, and I wasn't going to let that happen without a fight. For almost all of the last mile, I was running at finish line kick effort.

When I saw the finish line clock I had a glimmer of hope, but it was clear that it was going to by down to the wire. I pushed to line, and when I looked at my watch it read 19:57. Unbelievable. 

My lungs were burning, but I was elated. There's nothing like running really really hard and hitting your goal. 

After the race, PL and I skipped the free beer at Coogan's Pub, and instead grabbed some eggs and plantains with onions (and hot sauce) -- quickly becoming our Washington Heights tradition. Good eatin'.

When I got home and checked the official results, there was more good news. Amongst my teammates, I finished 4th, and 2nd amongst the masters runners in the club. That means I "double scored" (scored in the open and masters divisions) for the team. It's the first time I've scored for the team in any club points race.

The only bad news is that now I need a new goal (yes, I must always have a goal). I think it can wait until tomorrow though...

Fit to be Tied

Once again, my running life has caused me to question one of the fundamental building blocks of my personal foundation.

After reading an article in Runners World, I realized that I didn't know how to tie my shoes. Ouch.

For my entire life, I have been tying "Granny Knots". I don't mean that I occasionally  mess up. I tie my shoes the same way every time.  The wrong way. Oh, the shame...

Now I am retraining, and the results are well.... satisfying. I will definitely try some training runs without double knotting, and if that works, I'll try racing that way. That's right, you heard me. I'm going to race single knotted. I expect at least a 5 second per mile improvement. After all, a double knot must be heavier, right?

The article claimed that about 50% of folks had the same problem. Are you wondering if you do it right? 

If you are more the "intuitive type", I suggest this video:

If you are more the "analytical type", take a look at this:

Be prepared, though. If you find out that you've been doing it wrong, it may be a bitter pill to swallow. All I can say is, tomorrow is a new day.

Better Half

Race Report: The Manhattan Half Marathon

I showed up at the Manhattan Half with TH and PL (as usual), and I was pretty fired up to run. One of my goals for 2009 is to improve my times for half and full marathons, which don't compare well to the times I run in shorter races. 

This is a long term goal, and I hope that my half marathon times will improve throughout the year. That said, my PR for the half marathon distance was old (Queens, 2007) and needed to be broken. Today certainly felt like the day.

The first mile went quickly, at 7:18 -- well ahead of PR pace. Either I was going out too fast, or I was headed for a solid PR. As it turned out, I was able to hold pace pretty well. I was even able to run really strong in the last mile. It was the first time I've had anything left at the end of a half marathon. I ended up with a 1:36:01 (7:19/mile), a PR by almost 4 minutes.

After the race, PL, TH and I stumbled upon a very quirky place called Patisserie Saint Honore at 189 Columbus (68th Street).  It's a tiny hole in the wall with just a couple of chairs along the wall, but if you happen to look up, you'll see a very cool, out of the way upper level with a couple of tables made cozy with some benches and cushions. We had "Morrocan Eggs", which were a delicious semi spicy tomato-y creation, and coffee. We took our treats to the upstairs area, which we had to ourselves, and told our races stories. Good times.

Resurgence of the 5K in NY?

The NYRR just announced that this year's Al Gordon Snowflake race will be a 5K in Prospect Park (Brooklyn). This is good news, from where I stand. 

I like the 5K distance, but I have only run it twice (Coogan's 2007 and Coogan's 2008). The only time I've run Prospect Park was at the end of the Brooklyn Half Marathon (ouch!). A 5K would be a chance to give Prospect Park a try on um... fresher legs. 

From what I've heard, the NYRR used to run 5K races in Central Park. The routes were "out and back" however, which meant using twice as much road space as a loop race. When the races got too crowded, they stopped running 5Ks in favor of 4 mile races, which can be done in one "inside" loop of the park. 

Hopefully, the Al Gordon change is a sign that the NYRR wants to run 5Ks again, even if they need to explore new locations.

This year we have at least two 5Ks in town: the Al Gordon 5K on Feb 21, and the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks Run in Washington Heights just a week later. This gives me two shots at my first official goal for 2009 --- (drum roll please)

Run a sub 20 minute 5K.

If I can't hit my goal in one of these two races, well there are 5Ks outside of the city, and plenty of training time left. But hey, why put it off?

Good Start

Yesterday was my first race of 2009 -- the Fred Lebow Classic, a 5 miler in Central Park. It wasn't really a target race, but I've been feeling good, so I figured I'd see if I could push my PR of 33.52 (6:46/mile). 

I jogged over to the start with TH and PL (it really is nice to have so many races just a jog away!). It was cold, but not too bad, and the roads were clear. I saw cap'n GW near the corrals. He wasn't racing -- just saying "hi". 

I ran mile one in 6:41. I didn't feel like I had gone out crazy fast, so the PR attempt was on. Mile two (mostly downhill) was faster at 6:36. Mile 3 held steady at 6:38, and I was starting to believe. 

I had worked up a pretty good buffer for the expected slow down in mile 4 (Cat Hill).  This point in a 5 miler, with 2 miles to go, and a big hill coming up, is usually when the going gets tough for me. I have to really dig deep for the next mile before the home stretch burst of energy comes. This time, however, I wasn't feeling the usual struggle. I actually felt pretty strong. 

When I topped the hill and saw that mile 4 had gone by in 6:41 -- below PR pace -- I realized that it was in the bag. For the cherry on top of the sunday, I looked up and saw several of my fellow morning runners, including FA, CB and I think VB, jogging the other way. I waved to them and they gave me a huge cheer. 

I really felt like a million bucks. The other racers around me were giving me looks varying from laughing to envy to "is that fair?". I felt bad for them. Not only did I have the unfair advantage of a cheering section, but those same folks cheering had also made me train with hundreds of repeats on the very hill we had just raced up. 

The last mile flew by, ending on a fast downhill. With a 6:30 mile 5, my time was 33:06 (6:37/mile), a 46 second PR. 

Afterward, I saw a bunch of folks including a lot of the morning crew. There were plenty of PRs, and a whole lot of smiles. The speed work must be paying off.

Running to the Edge of the World

On my first morning in Japan, I took advantage of the jet lag and went out for an early run. I was in Tsudanama for one night, in the Chiba prefecture just outside of Tokyo.  This area is a combination of urban sprawl, suburban and rural cultures that you don't find in the US.

I headed out from the house in a residential area near the Kesei (Train) Station, and headed North. After taking a long pedestrian bridge over the JR tracks, I found myself on a paved path running through farm fields. The sun was just coming up, and roosters were crowing. 

After about a mile, I came out of the farm area, to a good sized road that had a nice looking bike path along it. There was a line of trees between the road and the path, and occasion park benches. I followed the bike path for a long time, and it changed in character as it passed through commercial, residential and more remote areas. I kept expecting the path to come to an end, but it just kept coming.

It was a Saturday morning, so most of the office workers were still in bed. For company, I had the elderly folks, out for their morning constitutionals. The older folks in Japan never cease to amaze me.  They seem to stay healthy and active to impossibly advanced ages. At times like this, when they own the street, the country takes on a wholesome feeling that

 contrasts strikingly with the cell phone hustle of the younger generations.

As the path stretched on, I started to imagine what its end would look like. At first, I pictured a nice park,

with a map of the path on a sign. Later, my imagination became more dramatic. Surely I would arrive at cliff overlooking the ocean. Japan, after all, is an island. How much longer could I run in a straight line? When I started to imagine I would find the edge of the world, a la "The God's Must Be Crazy", I thought I better turn around. 

Running back through the farm fields in full daylight, I had a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. I had forgotten that on a clear day Fuji-san was visible from so far away. And this was shaping up to be a clear day if there ever was one.