2009 ING New York City Marathon Recap – Part 1

The 40th running of the ING New York City Marathon was my fourth New York City Marathon, and it was my best ever. To me, it was all about experience this year, and I set a goal before the race – to enjoy every single moment running through the Five Boroughs with a great friend. Despite my faster times in previous three tries, I suffered a lot of bad moments and heartaches during and after those races -- the moments I only experienced in the New York City Marathon.

In previous two years, Stacy came and supported me on First Avenue and at the finish line, and she was able to make my bad feelings go away quickly. This year, she was in the race running with me, and what a feeling it was when we crossed the finish line together after a 26.2-mile journey – more than 2 1/2 years in the making.

The marathon week went by fast this year. We ran the Nike+ Human Race and Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff back-to-back, plus a few extra miles at Riverside Park the week before the marathon. On Thursday and Friday, we spent a little time at the expo. Due to economy downturn the expo was getting smaller than ever, as a result we didn’t spend as much time at Jarvits Center as we used to.

It was a quiet day on Saturday and we missed the fireworks because of the rain. I still remember what a great pre-marathon day back in 2007 where we witnessed Ryan Hall's victory at the Olympic Trials in the park. We also went to a TFK pre-marathon party and met Bernard Lagat, which was quite entertaining. Hopefully a day like that can happen again in the future.

We got an extra hour of sleep because of the end of daylight saving, and as usual I got up at 2:45am thanks to my seven alarm clocks near my bed. It was Halloween Night and I bet most people were still out there trick or treating when I got up! We took the subway to Times Square and walked over to Bryant Park to catch the bus. By 5:15am, we hopped on the marathon “coach” [I refused to get on that NJ Transit bus] by the Library and since it was so early, we were able to get to Staten Island within a very short period of time. Though, we weren’t able to take a nap on the bus and we had to wait 4 hours at Fort Wadsworth. Thankfully the temperature was quite mild and more importantly, the rain stopped.

Since we were the first ones arrived at the Marathon Village, we didn’t encounter any bottlenecks at the main entrance like I did the past 3 years, and we were greeted by cheerful volunteers.

We then headed to our village (blue). For some reasons I had this crave for coffee so I headed to Dunkin' Donuts for a small Cup-O-Joe, while Stacy went to a tea tent and met a very nice lady from [where else] and had a brief conversation with her.

We then tried to find a place to settle down without Snuggies, and we found this bench by a building. It was a great spot because we didn’t need to sit on the wet grass/ground. Our plan was to sit there and had our 3 breakfast breaks until the baggage drop off. The hours went by pretty fast this year because I wasn’t alone, and we met a runner from Washington state area, and another lady from [where else.]

At some point we realized Dunkin' Donuts were giving out fleece hats and SC wanted a hot pink one because it was chilly out. Though, I had no idea where they gave them out, so I spent at least 10-15 minutes walking around to look for one, but no luck. I returned to our staging area and that gentleman from the great Northwest, now with a pink hat on, told me DD was giving out hats where I got my coffee earlier that morning… really?

Of course when I walked over there they weren't giving out hats, but there was a pack of people waiting for something (not coffee.) I waited there for an additional 10 minutes and I was about to give up, but a DD guy finally came out with a bag full of hats so I took a hot pink one for SC and an orange one for myself. It was very chaotic to be honest.

We had to drop our bags by 9:30am so we walked down to the UPS trucks around 9:10am. Logistically it was a nightmare because they parked the trucks on a muddy grass field and I had my flats on. It was annoying to walk on mud with race shoes on.

It was almost 9:35am and we had to stop by Brightroom to take a pre-race picture. Since the [where else] lady had the 24XXX number (so as SC and they were in the same corral) she tagged along with us. The only problem is, I got a higher number (25XXX instead of 24XXX) and by rule we were supposed to go to 25XXX if we wanted to start together. I didn’t realize that until SC and that lady went into their corral and I was stopped by the security guards, they wouldn’t let me get in. Bad.

I got very upset because I was scared to lose SC in this marathon (I shouldn’t be but oh well) so I ran down 30 feet to my corral and guess what, they just closed my corral. I had to beg (literally) the security guard to let me in and they finally let me, and I had to walk through the crowds back up to 24XXX to look for SC, thank god she was there.

We finalized our preparations but we realized that we were standing by a loud speaker, frankly it was not a good experience standing by it for 5 minutes before a race, I think I went deaf...

It wasn't too cold so I made a decision to ditch my throwaways (from Conway, ugh) as we slowly moved to the start near the toll booths. It was almost 10 and here came the singing of America Beautiful. I often got emotional, whether they sang the National Anthem and God Bless America before my previous races, and this time was no exception. From sea to shining sea… and this time I was starting with SC, what a moment it was.

It was 10 o’clock, and they just fired the starting cannon. Oh god.

[To be continued]

Bronx Half-Marathon 2009

So I got pretty sick after the Manhattan Half due to the cold plus other factors, but I got even sicker after an evening running on the West Side Highway four days before the Bronx Half on Feb 8th. I had to stop training because of my lingering cough, and my running nose was very much out of control.

I forced myself to run a mile the night before the race, and realized that my lungs couldn't take it and had to stop after 0.8 miles. Though, I couldn’t bear not being able to complete a mile as I sucked it up and finished off it, before I headed to Whole Foods for "Mom's Chicken Soup."

It was a terrible night and I couldn't sleep at all. Moreover, I had to leave home early to get to Grand Central first to meet up with SC before we headed north to the Bronx. The shuttle was terrible and I wasn't a happy camper. To add insult to injuries, a drunk guy was laughing the whole time on the train and we were very annoyed. If I couldn't handle Beavis or Butthead on TV back in the days, I couldn’t handle this bozo.

We got to the Bronx early and had plenty of time to get ready. The weather was pretty good -- at least it wasn't 14 degrees like I had in the Manhattan Half two week ago. Knowing that I was sick, I didn't know if I should start from the first corral or not, but I convinced myself to give it a try.

I felt fine at the start but immediately knew that I wasn't 100%. Though, I was able to run at a 6:45 pace the first 3 miles before I hit Mosholu Parkway. By Mile 5 I was out of it and I felt like I missed a gear, and couldn't pick up and maintain my speed. Other runners started to pass me left and right and it was a terrible feeling. My lungs were suffering and I had to slow down a bit in order to maintain my form. With 8 miles to go, including the unforgiving miles on the Grand Concourse, I had to fight on.

By the time I hit the Grand Concourse, the only objective was to carry myself home in one piece. I also wanted to look for SC on the other side of the road and see how she was doing. As I headed back to Mosholu Parkway, my pace shot up to 8:10. It was very bad but I kept on pressing in order to stay away from the 8:00 threshold (overall pace.)

I crossed the finish line in 1:41:11 (7:43 pace), some 10 minutes slower than my PR last October in the Grete's Great Gallop. It was an eye opener because I had to prep for the SunTrust National Marathon, and a slow time like this was really not ideal with only a month to go.

Despite my sickness, it was still a good day for us to run up in the hood. I took it as a training run for D.C., and hopefully I could turn things around fast because there’s not much time to get ready for the March 21st marathon.

Manhattan Half-Marathon 2009

One of my biggest flaws is the fact that I always want to do beyond my best, unfortunately most of the time I get negative results from trying too hard. In running, the ING NYC Marathon was the best example -- the harder I tried the worse result I got. It was a really rough week, but I committed to run well in the Manhattan Half-Marathon so I had to fulfill my own obligation to kick off a new running season with a good race.

I missed three days of running due to severe shin splints on my right leg, and my training didn't go well prior to the downtime, so I was a bit hesitate to set up a goal before the half. Additionally, the temperate dipped to teens over the weekend and it felt like single digit when you were outside at 7 in the morning, it was brutal. Thankfully there was no wind or it could’ve been worse.

I wasn't going to take a chance and wore 3 layers for the race, and 2 more light jackets for pre-race. Shorts were not an option so I kept my running pants on. My gloves were unable to block off the cold and my hands were freezing, and red.

With the new course in Central Park, the baggage area was pretty far away from the start. I waited and waited and finally had to remove the extra clothes for the race. NYRR Staff Bill told me I should walk around or warm up, but my heart definitely wasn't there this morning so I just stood there until I headed to the start.

The start was relatively clean because runners from Corral #0 mostly knew what they were doing. Though, some runners who weren't supposed to be there sneaked in and they weren't fast -- we had to weave around a few of them as we began to loop around the park twice.

Like the Great Gallop, my aim was to keep a good running form early in the race and maintain it throughout. I also wanted to stay under a 7 min pace so I could count 7, 14, 21, etc. on my Garmin. At one point I was a minute and a half under the 7:00 pace, which was roughly about 6:50 pace or so and I felt pretty comfortable at that pace.

Running Central Park anti-clockwise was tough because of the hills, and going up the Cat Hill and Harlem Hill twice were definitely brutal. Though, I was able to suck it up and ran with the flow, so I didn't lose too much time going up the hills.

The other challenge was that I couldn't take any fluids at the stands because they were cold if not icy, and I didn't want to freeze my lungs or put water on myself. Knowing that my sweat was turning into ice, I definitely didn’t want to put water or Gatorade on myself.

Late in the race I really thought about things that took place during the week and the night before. It was a moment where I could reflect and running was the only sport that could provide the space for me. If you ask me why I run, here’s your answer.

The finish was at the 72nd Transverse and I thought about Race for the Cure back in 2007, it was a good day. As I approached the finish line, the runner in front of me was too far ahead and I had to settle and pace myself to the finish.

I could compare this finish to the Brooklyn Half last year. My finish time was 1:31:06 (6:57 pace), which wasn't too bad, but at the baggage area Bill could tell that I was disappointed. Though, I did try my very best and with the icy sweat and little tears perhaps from the cold, I had to be OK with my performance.

My friend Annie also ran the race. I intended to watch her finish but since I was freezing, I stayed for 5 minutes and bailed.

My next race is going to take place in two weeks in the Bronx. I just hope it's going to be warmer because the Grand Concourse is very unforgiving when it’s cold and windy.

NYRR Thursday Night at the Races - Men's 1-Mile 1/8/2009

So I did it. I bought my new Asics spikes and took them to Washington Heights for my first NYRR race of the year - an indoor track event at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory. It was the first time in 18 years I ran in an indoor track event and I was really nervous before the race.

To be honest, I knew the field was really competitive as more than half of the field would run sub-5 minutes in an one-mile race, add to the fact that I hadn't ran a miler since the Continental Fifth Avenue Mile in 2006 (5:41), I decided to keep my real expectation relatively low... although I wanted to run a 5:30 in the race.


The Armory was really a first class facility and I was really impressed. I arrived early and ran 2 laps on the open track to warm up. My spikes were new and I pretty much had to adapt on the fly, like I said I hadn't ran with those in 18 years!

The atmosphere was pretty tense before the race, and this guy came to me and asked me about the race format since it was his first time to run in this venue. When I asked him what his Fifth Avenue time was, he said 4:52... I was like okay brother you'll be fine. Anyhow, it was a long wait before I got to do the draw because there were so many dudes racing in the miler, and I think I took the track in the seventh heat out of nine tonight.

I drew 11th before the race, that means I had to start on the outside lane and had to cut in before the first turn. The start was really smooth I didn't really push it and I was able to cut in second after the cone. I tucked in before the leader and ran closely behind him for the draft. In the first half of the race I had this determination like I had in the marathons, it was a great feeling and it brought back a lot of childhood memories especially when we made the turns.

Though, my lungs started to struggle after lap 4 and I began to fade slightly. It turned out the leader wasn't a rabbit as he started to increase his lead and my form started to collapse. After all, it was the first time in 2 years I ran like this so it wasn't a surprise to me. By lap 6, three more guys passed me and two more passed me on the final lap, so I finished 7th out of 14 in the race and my finish time was 5:32.8 -- a 9-second PR in a miler.

It was rough in the last 200 meters because I didn't have the kick I normally had in road races, and I couldn't stop coughing after the race. Originally I signed up the 800m as well but since my cough didn't subside, I didn't want to push it and withdrew from the race. After all, my priority is road racing, although it was a great experience back on the track.

Now I want more. For sure I'm not going to kill myself doing this but this is something I miss dearly. I'm going to do it again on Feb. 26th and hopefully I could do both 1500m and 800m next time.