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.

June Mid-Distance Doubleheader

A Flat Race in the Sun

When you play multisports, there is a small price you need to pay. After my Goofy Challenge in early May, I went back to play softball every week and unfortunately, I pulled my left Achilles tendon two days prior to the Japan Run. It was a fly ball to right centerfield where I had to make a sliding catch. My left foot was trapped in this nice grassy field at North Meadow in Central Park, and I knew right away that something was wrong. The pain finally caught up two innings later.

I was fine walking, but I just couldn't walk up and down the stairs properly or in running, I couldn't generate power running uphill nor downhill. The pain got more severe Saturday night and I had to ice it before I went to sleep for the race the next day.

It was business as usual on Sunday as I walked to the start very early from home for the 8 am start. Since the cap of this 4-miler was 3,000 (Why? look at how much stuff I got in my goodie bag!) I thought I might be able to set a PR in this race. After pre-race festivities including the introduction of Japanese top female marathoner Reiko Toso (she also ran the race), we took off at the 102 transverse for the start.

There were fewer people in the field, and I probably ran too fast on the transverse entering West Drive. I was running at 6:12 pace before going uphill and by 96th Street, I started to feel a little strange -- I couldn't generate any power from my strides. The feeling was very similar to my struggle back in January at the Manhattan Half, where I was really sick the day before the race. Though, I wasn't really physically sick this time -- it was just the pain from my Achilles.

I was able to hang with the front group until 86th Street, but for some reasons I just knew I didn't have it The pain then got worse, and I had to change my strides to compensate. By the time we made the hairpin turn on the 72nd Transverse, I was greeted by the sun -- in my face. It was getting hot and I just couldn't attack anymore. To add insult to injuries, I stepped in a pothole [again] at the corner of 72nd Street and East Drive, and it was my right foot that stepped in it. Great.

Surprisingly, I was still running at a good pace but now I had to tackle the Cat Hill. To tell you the truth, I really had nothing going up the hill I was sweating and I had no control of my left foot. By the time we ran pass the Met, my pace shot up to 7:00/mile. I knew it was time to lower my expectations and just carry myself home. The cheers at the Engineer's Gate and a guy yelled "Go Flyers" gave me a little boost, but as I looked ahead the front pack was starting to drift away. I had nothing to respond.

In the end, I crossed the wire at 26:25, which was 50 some seconds slower than Adidas Run for the Parks I ran in late April. What are you going to do? When it's not your day it's not your day. With the injury and the heat, it was not a bad showing but I could have finished first for the New York Flyers! I guess the second place, the first loser, wasn't too bad on this day.

Stats
Overall Place: 97/2491
NYF Team Place: 2/39
Finish Time: 26:25
Pace/Mile: 6:36

A Fun Race in the Rain

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the New York Road Runners, the NYRR put together a free race on June 4th for 5,000 runners at 5:30 in the morning.

I repeat, 5:30 in the morning on a workday! When I saw the posting I immediately signed up -- not because if was free but I thought it was something cool, especially that fact that it would be my 50th race with the NYRR as well!

Since I raced on Sunday I really didn't want to kill my Achilles, I immediately lowered my expectations and wanted to treat the NYRR Anniversary Run as a training run. I wanted to take it nice and easy, have a cup of coffee, go to work, and play softball in the evening.

But that wasn't really the case, as rain was expected that morning.

Despite the forecast, it was the first race where SC and I put the band back together. We met up and headed to the start line at 5 in the morning, and realized that the rain was coming down quite hard. Though, the actual storm actually came at 5:15 when we were at the start. The scene was quite surreal actually, "We must be hardcore," I said.

Only 1,700+ runners showed up because of the rain, and I promptly went to SC's corral since I wasn't going to race in this run. Thankfully, the rain did slow down once we got the race rolling, and it turned out to be a really nice run in the park, even though it was a little wet.

SC and I picked up the backmarkers one by one just like we did back in November at the Philadelphia Marathon. Since I wasn't pushing I was really able to enjoy the dawn and the park. Running is supposed to be fun, nice and easy, right?

We ran strong for the entire 5 miles and we crossed the finish line at 39:16/39:17 (7:51 pace). SC wanted to run under 40:00 and she did it in style, excellent work! More importantly, we both agreed that it was a great way to start the day. I had a lot of fun, and Happy Birthday NYRR!

Stats
Overall Place: 574/1784
NYF Team Place: 18/52
Finish Time: 39:16
Pace/Mile: 7:51

Rear View Mirror - Bronx Half-Marathon

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have much training before the Bronx Half due to my illness. In theory it wouldn’t make a difference if you walked to the starting line sick, so it was wise to put myself in recovery mode and pray for the best.

As it turned out, I recovered just in time before the race. However, like many things in life some other things popped up the night before, and I didn’t get much sleep before the race Sunday morning.

The Bronx Half -- it was a very significant race to me in many [bad] ways. I ran three of these prior to the 2008 edition, and I had zero good memories about this race. The first one was in 2005, and it was my very first half marathon. I wasn’t really ready for running 13.1 miles and I finished poorly at 2:06:54. I walked and suffered, and I asked myself “Why am I doing this in July?” But believe me or not I learned one thing or two that day. In 2006 the race was by far the hottest as we ran in the 90-degree heat the whole time. The sun was out and despite having a few showers on Grand Concourse, the race was simply brutal. I kept telling myself that I wouldn’t return the next year.

Ultimately, I ran the 2007 race. The NYRR was nice enough to move the race from July to February. Now Instead of battling the extremely heat, we had to fight the extreme cold. The temperature of the 2007 race was around 20 degrees. And I survived.

For this year’s race, I had to get up earlier in order to catch the 2/3 train at 6 in the morning. Naturally there were some crazy characters in the subway and this guy just scared away a female runner in the middle of Harlem. What else is new?

This year they moved the baggage area away from the start/finish line, which made it very difficult for people to navigate the area. Thankfully I was there early so I didn’t have to fight the extra elements, but I was distracted. I was distracted the whole time until 10 minutes before the race, and I had to force myself to put my focus in the race.

The weather was mild compared to recent years and I actually had my running shorts on. Off we went at 8 am, and I quickly picked off people one by one on the outside of the road. The traffic wasn’t bad at the start and I was able to hit the 7:00/pace earlier than expected.

I picked up the speed after the 4-mile mark and I felt good running uphill on Mosholu Parkway. Thanks to my broken arm last April I stopped all my upper body training until the end of 2007, but I was able to pick it up again in 2008, and it definitely helped my running. Unfortunately, my left forearm still hurts at times, and I still can’t put more than 22 ½ lbs or the metal plate and the seven screws are going to pop out right through my skin.

Going back to the race… My pace dropped down to 6:55/mi and it was time to maintain my speed, especially the fact that there were 3 people running at the same speed so it was good to run as a group.

I encountered a slight problem when I arrived the 6-mile mark. I went into the corner way too hot (it’s an auto racing term, meaning too fast,) and the water stands were right there at the exit (another auto racing term.) I was unable to grab my water twice, and I had to put on my brakes to stop. I almost slipped and dropped dead. Thankfully I didn’t injure myself, and the journey continued.

Now we were entering Grand Concourse for the most difficult 4-mile in all of 5-Borough Half Marathon Series. Not to mention that the headwind picked up all of the sudden and we had all kinds of issues running forward. I was still with my group and we started to duck behind each other for shelters – a real energy burner right there.

It was the first time I ran up front with not too many people running around me in a half marathon. It was a nice feeling. Though, I was still distracted when we turned around on our return trip on Grand Concourse at the 8-mile mark. I was still looking for someone on the other side of the road.

I looked at my watch and my pace went back to 7:00/mi. I tried to maintain my speed but fatigue started to sink it at the 12-mile mark. I struggled a bit but I was able to maintain my form until the final front straight. With the finish line ahead of me, I saw a runner 20 feet ahead of me and I was determined to pass him before the line. With the help of my iPod (I wore it for the first time in 46 races, and I was listening to What Hurts the Most from Cascada at that moment,) I used my final boost to pick him off and I was able to past him. I crossed the line at 1:34:11 – about 1:30 faster than my previous PR, which was set at the 2006 Staten Island Half-Marathon.

My next race is NYRR 8000, which will take place on March 15th. I added this race because of my poor performance at the Manhattan Half. In the meantime, I’m starting to prepare for the New Jersey Marathon on May 4th. I just ran a 13.1-mile training run on Sunday at 7:46/mi pace I think my condition is quite good. We’ll see what happen.

Stats
Overall Place: 268/3265
Finish Time: 1:34:31 (PR)
Pace/Mile: 7:11