A Tale of Two Beaches (Part I)

To be honest, I can't believe I did that myself.

A lot of things happened in March and April, and the New York Road Runners didn't make my life easy as they moved the Brooklyn Half-Marathon April 26th to May 3rd -- the day before the New Jersey Marathon due to Passover. Like the role I had in the Philadelphia Marathon, I was supposed to be a pacer in the NJ Marathon, but well... things happened and the deal fell apart.

For the longest time I went back-and-forth of whether I should run the Brooklyn Half or the NJ Marathon because I signed up both. At one point I was going to drop New Jersey for an obvious reason, but then I revisited the opportunity and asked myself, maybe I could do both.

I really had no long distance training since the 13.1-mile training run on March 2nd at Central Park, where I slightly hurt myself running on the trails. Though, judging from the performances I had at the NYRR 8000 and the Adidas Run for the Parks 4-miler, I knew that I was in mid-season form and I shouldn't pass this opportunity to really challenge myself. Moreover, thanks to the NJ Marathon organizer where they added a special "4 a.m. Marathon Train" from Penn Station on race day, I didn't have to worry about overnight accommodations. Eventually I decided to do "The Goofy" on May 3rd and 4th. Actually it was like racing in the Indy 500 and then the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend!

The anxiety of running both races didn't really sink in until Thursday afternoon at my softball game. I was thinking about the races during the game and tried to preserve myself as much as I could in order to build up my endurance. Though, I had some Brooklyn Lagers at the Dive Bar that night... Brooklyn Lager and the Brooklyn Half? What a match!

On Friday, I first went to NYRR headquarters on the Upper East Side to pick up my Brooklyn Half packet, and then took the NJ Transit to Long Branch, NJ to pick up my marathon packet. Long Branch was a really nice town and I truly enjoyed my brief stay down there! When I picked up my packet in the "Big Tent" people were very friendly. As a matter of fact, it was so relaxing down there I didn't really want to take the train back to NYC! But I had a race Saturday morning in Brooklyn so I had to go back.

I got up bright and early on Saturday because the subway ride to Coney Island was... looooong. I got on the Q train at Times Square and it took forever to get down there. Whoever invented the iPod, thank you!

I was assigned to the first corral (#0) based on my Run for the Parks pace (6:23), but I wasn't sure if I was going to go all out because of the marathon the next day. Well, when you got the adrenaline rush you just couldn't back down and I didn't. We started on the boardwalk and since I ran the same race twice before, I knew how to tackle the crappy wood logs and it was actually a nice run next to the beach.

On the boardwalk I was focus, and consistently ran at 6:45 pace for the first two miles. And since I started from the front it was a smooth sail early, as we stormed down to Ocean Parkway for the yawner. Ocean Parkway was pretty much a flat straight and you had to run flat for four miles. Since I had a few flat traning on the West Side Highway the flat section didn't bother me anymore, and the whole time I was just trying to keep the pace and occasionally looked for people to draft to save some energy. Though, near the end of the straight I wanted to have some PowerBar gel on board and when I reached the back pocket of my new shirt, it wasn't there! I guess I dropped it somewhere, oh well...

As we entered Prospect Park, my previous Brooklyn Half experience came into play. The NYRR often falsely advertised the Brooklyn Half as a flat half-marathon... not true. When you hit Prospect Park you would realize that you run uphill 90% of the time. Lesson learned, as I saved enough fuel early for the final 4 miles in the park.

Unlike the previous years, the hills weren't as steep solely because I had something left in my tank. I was able to re-pass some runners who used up the power2pass on Ocean Parkway, and it really helped my psychologically. In the end, I crossed the finish line at 1:32:57 (7:05 pace), which set a new personal record that I set two months ago in the Bronx Half-Marathon (1:34:11). I actually felt pretty good after the race as I walked back to the finish line to watch other people crossing the wire.

But unlike the Manhattan Half-Marathon and the Bronx Half, I was by myself when I exited the park, and tried to get ready for the next race within the next 20 hours.

Stats
Overall Place: 483/5832
NYF Team Place: 7/109
Finish Time: 1:32:57
Pace/Mile: 7:05 (PR)

Run Around the Park for the Parks

As I stated in my last blog, I was flat the week before the Adidas Run for the Parks 4M because of the surgery I had on Monday, and the aquathlon qualifying the next day in which I burned all my calories in a pool of chlorine at Asphalt Green. I planned to have my West Side Highway 6-mile run on Wednesday but I had to cancel it because of the lingering pain on my lower gum line, plus some giant headaches that kept me from sleeping. I still refused to take any painkillers, and I only took two Tylenol 8 hours the whole time! Last year when I broke my arm (Monteggia fracture) I only took half of the painkillers the whole time – the doctors and nurses were impressed.

Enough with the drugs. The 4-mile wasn't on my schedule initially, but after the NYRR moved the Brooklyn Half-Marathon to May 3rd I had to enter a race to bridge the gap in April. As a matter of fact the New York Road Runners really messed up my schedule this year, but everything happened for a reason, right? Ironically, the Run for the Parks was the first race that NYRR seriously implement the corral system so it was a good opportunity for me to test it out. In the past they tried wave starts based on AG time, and they had corral system in place for the NYC Halfs, but nothing compared to the system we had on Sunday. The start used to be dangerous because some slow runners opted to start from the top of the grid and put themselves at risk (I don’t like to run over people and I don't like to weave around them.) Not anymore. Overall the system was pretty successful.

Based on my time from last year's 5k run at Shea, I was assigned to the first corral (corral #0.)

Unlike the NYRR 8000, I headed to the start early this time around. Since it was a heavily sponsored race, I got to check out some tents for goodies, and watched the kids’ races before I walked to the start. It was cute watching some 2-year-olds run 25 feet to the finish line.

When I arrived at the start the mood was a little different. People were more serious in my corral I probably missed some of the fun I used to have previously. Nevertheless, I was there to do my own thing so they didn't bother me, and I didn’t care.

Despite the new system, the start was on time and off we went at 9 am on the East Drive. The start was smooth because people around me were running at similar pace, but I had to squeeze in between two guys as we approached the uphill before the Boat House Curve. Going up a steep hill early wasn't really my thing, but I was able to maintain the speed at 7-minute pace as I tackled the most difficult part of the race.

My pace went down to around 6:30 outside the Met, and the field started to spread out -- the sub-6 runners began to drift away from me, but I was able to maintain my focus and hold the runners behind me. As we entered the Lebow straight, I began to pick up the speed and got my pace down to 6:00.

I wasn’t in perfect shape and I began to look down at the asphalt... I wasn’t sure what I was thinking at the time, I just tried not to do anything drastic – to speed up or slow down. I just wanted to maintain the form and hopefully I could carry myself back to the 72ndTransverse.

We cut across the 102nd Transverse and began to make the return trip on the West Side. There were two rolling hills that we had to tackle but they didn't bother me. And after 86th Street it was pretty much all downhill and I was able to pick up some speed again.

Before we entered the 72nd Transverse we had to deal with the hairpin, and the entry was very tight. Thankfully there were only two people around me at the time and we were able to stay on our racing lines. Though, I didn’t have much left in the final 200 meters, I picked it up a bit to pass those two runners and crossed the final line.

My finish time was 25:34 at 6:23 pace/mile (4th as a member of the New York Flyers -- my first race for them,) and my previous best was 27:41 at the Holiday 4-Mile back in December. A 2:07 PR was pretty good within 4 months, but now I have to go back to long distance races as my next race is the Brooklyn Half on May 3rd.

Stats
Overall Place: 169/5865
NYF Team Place: 4/72
Finish Time: 25:34
Pace/Mile: 6:23 (PR)

1,650 Yards and 33 Laps: The Stars and Stripes Aquathlon Qualifying

My plan to compete in an aquathlon last year shattered when the Manhattan Island Foundation canceled the Freedom Tower Aquathlon in September. It was a good thing though, as I had two surgeries on my left arm back in April and I probably didn't have the arm strength to swim a mile in open water anyway. As a matter of fact, my football injuries affected my running as well since I had no upper body strength for long distance. The Staten Island Half and the NYC Marathon were good examples.

There is only one aquathlon this year from MIF -- the Stars & Stripes Aquathlon on July 13th. It's a 1.5k swim/5k run in the Hudson and at the Hudson/Riverside Parks. As I'm steering my way towards a triathlon, this is a good opportunity for me to get some open water experience and the swim-run transitions. Since I've been a competitive swimmer all my life (only in a pool), the learning curve wouldn't be too great for me.

So what's the big deal Mr. Clorox?

I was unprepared, and I needed to swim a mile in a pool under 45 minutes in order to qualify for the aquathlon. Like I said I'm not a distance swimmer and I had never swam a 1500m before (I'm more like a 100m breastroker) so it was something new to me. Moreover, I wasn't able to access a large pool because the pool at NYSC was more like a hot tub (a 15-yd pool) I had to find out how to approach the qualifying in advance and tried to minimize any anxiety before the big swim.

I returned to Asphalt Green, the place where I used to go to when I lived on the Upper East Side, to get my qualifying done. They have an Olympic size pool (50m) there, but since I'm not a member I could only access the 25-yard as a drop-in. And the drop-in fee... $35!

367 days after my elbow surgeries and 1 day after my gum surgery, I went to AG on April 15th to qualify. With softball starting next week and several NYRR races on the horizon, I just couldn't delay this anymore. I wanted to get this over with.

Both of my arms were still sore from spending way too long in the batting cage and doing infield practice at the park on Saturday, and the discomfort from my gum surgery a day before really didn't help. As a matter of fact, I refused to take any painkillers/controlled substances to minimize the pain, so I had this giant headache after a long day of work and I felt really odd. But then, I was determined to get this over with and nothing could stop me.

Qualifying I could handle, I just hated to deal with all the paperwork and the drop-in fee! I went to AG and the front entrance dude told me about the fee, and I was like "Whatever, just get me in." So he gave me an armband to wear as a non-member and I was like "You're not serious, right?" The truth is, he just messed up my aerodynamics with that thing flopping around but he said, "It's the policy." Fine.

I hadn't been to Asphalt Green for more than 4 years and sure it changed a lot, but one thing didn't change -- the locker room. It was messy with water all over the place and it really smelled like a toilet! Towel service? Forget it. But wait, I just paid $35!

But I didn't care. I just wanted to have the paper signed that was my goal, so I went straight to the lifeguard desk. By the grace of god they had a very nice guard supervisor there and he told me he could witness my qualifying, it was easy! Of course I wasn't there just to qualify, I wanted to swim as fast as I could to evaluate my LD performance. I brought along my Speedo Stars & Stripes cap, my Speed Sockets and my Fastskin Jammers, and I wasn't about to fool around in the pool.

And there I started. The first 6 laps I swam like "normal" -- like sprinting for a 200m, but then it dawned on me that I had to swim 27 laps more… and I promptly forced myself to slow down. I was doing 4 strokes per breathe at first, and I had to switch back to two, in which I wasn't accustomed to do normally.

As the qualifying worn on, my left arm started to hurt because my metal plate in it didn't want to cooperate; my right oblique hurt because I had am oblique injury back in March. The middle of the qualifying was actually the toughest part but I was able to go through that.

And all of the sudden a dude wanted to share my lane and asked me if I we could do circles. There were only 2 people on the lane just get in and stop asking questions you amateur! I finally yelled at him as I was finishing my lap "I can’t stop, I'm qualifying here!" That actually woke me up as I began to finish the final 5 laps for the 1,650-yard swim.

Unofficially my time was about 35 minutes -- still a little off in an aquathlon standard but I had to make 65 turns and to deal with people on the lane. I went to Patrick the Lifeguard and he provided me everything I needed, then I asked him if he really checked my time and he said he had been checking from the chair. Congratulations Patrick, you did your job!

And I bumped into Ohio State alum and swimmer Dan Sullivan. He was playing with his water polo team at Asphalt Green and we got to do some chit chat before I walked out of the pool. Congrats on the new born Sully!

With no towel service, I had to trek back to NYSC to get a shower. Overall it was a cool and unique experience, and I look forward to swimming in the Hudson on July 13th. And don’t you worry I refuse to swim in the East River! Time to get back to the land and have my training run before Sunday's adidas Run for the Parks 4M.

Not Philadelphia, it's the New York Flyers

It's time.

I always look for purposes to run, and it might not be a bad idea to run for a team in races. I'll be racing under the New York Flyers (NYF) banner from the adidas Run for the Parks in three weeks and on, but my first point race is going to be the Brooklyn Half Marathon on May 3rd.

It won't be the first time I race for the team, as I previously ran for Fred's Team (FRED) and Team for Kids (TFK) -- but only in the ING New York City Marathons. Always a team player, I will try to score some points for the team in upcoming races. Hopefully I could get some motivation out of this, and have some fun on the track...

A Rough Go - NYRR 8000 and March 2008

Lack of motivation and an oblique muscle injury highlighted my pre-race preparation for the Central Park Challenge: NYRR 8000 this morning, but I was able to fight through the pain both physically and psychologically and set my PR (33:00/6:38 pace) in an 8K race. For the first time ever, all kinds of emotions went through my mind after I crossed the finish line -- not because of my time, but how the race unfolded.

A lot of stuff happened after the Bronx Half in February – I probably injured my left oblique muscle on March 2nd after I ran a half marathon training run on the trails in Central Park, and I made it worse at the gym the night after. In between I also managed to make a very poor decision that Monday afternoon, which has been an unknown issue since then.

As a result, I had to stop running altogether. I was only able to work on the CrossRamp machine to keep myself active, and I ran on the treadmill a couple of times for only a mile. Honestly I always tried to put my heart and soul to prepare myself before the race (and anything important to me), not this time.

And yes, I had a few “beverages" with my ex-colleagues last night it was my "I.N.A.G.D. Night #4". In fact, I woke up very late this morning I almost missed the start! Since the start time of the 8000 was 7:30 am, I had to get to the start on the East Side by 7:15 am. Walking out the door on the West Side at 6:50 am was bad, and not having a M86 bus at the stop made the situation worse. Basically I had to race walk about 2 miles to get to the baggage area in order to drop off my stuff, and then I had to rush to the starting corral. To add insult to injuries, I forgot to bring my PowerBar (breakfast) with me, and not enough pins to secure my bag. It was a total mess and I had to run the race with very little fuel in the tank.

Thankfully, I was able to get to the baggage drop-off area (in the mud) by 7:18 am, and I was able to get extra pins to secure my bib and my bag.

Expectations were high the day I signed up for the race last month. I was hoping to run 34:30 in order to improve my time in a 5-mile run (Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 2007). However, I understood the term “when it rains, it pours”, and all of the sudden I had no expectation whatsoever.

Due to time constraint I wasn’t able to settle down in the corral, and here came the start. The track was sttill wet after the morning rain and rooster tails were coming out from runners ahead of me. Entering the 102nd Transverse, I was in good shape where my pace went down to 6:28 and the runners around me were very professional, in which I was able to find a clear path without running around the traffic. I didn’t notice much pain on my oblique muscle, and I was able to use my modified strides to hang with the group.

Though, I started to feel the pain as we crossed the 2-mile mark. Remember what happened in Manhattan Half back in January? I started to feel lose and by the time we approached the water station near the Time Warner Center entrance, I didn’t know if I should take the fluid or not. I pulled in thinking to get a cup of water, but decided to skip the very last second.

Since we were running anti-clockwise in Central Park, we had to tackle several uphills on the East Side – including the Boat House Curve. Knowing that I was running under a 7:00 pace, I continued to keep the pace but the pain began to get worse. I tried to compensate by landing my left foot differently, but my left calf started to ache.

Despite the pain, the 5k split time gave me a little boost. When I looked at the clock I was running at a 6:32 pace, so I didn’t lose too much speed between mile 1 to mile 3. Moreover, I was still running below my best 5K pace (NY Mets Run to the Home Plate 2007) I just couldn’t slow down.

As I entered the final stretch on the Fred Lebow Straight, I spent sometime thinking about the "situation", and it carried me to the finish. My oblique and my lower back hurt, but with a downhill run to the finish I picked up my legs again and blew past the runner ahead of me. I knew I did well in the race, but the joy clearly wasn't there.

I probably learned a lesson here – perhaps I need to understand how to stay positive, have faith and see how the chips are going to fall. These are the only things I can do at the moment.

There were two professional races after ours – including the USA Men’s 8K Championships and the Women’s 8K Invitational. I’m glad that I stayed in the cold for an extra hour because both races were spectacular, and I was able to congrat both winners – USA Olympic Team hopefuls Jorge Torres and Shalane Flanagan at the finish.

My next race is going to be the adidas Run for the Parks 4M in late April, follow by the Brooklyn Half. I just hope things are going to come around in April. With Easter coming up, it might be a good time for me to reflect.


Stats
Overall Place: 110/1780
Finish Time: 33:00
5K Split: 20:16
Pace/Mile: 6:38 (PR)

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

Rear View Mirror - Mahattan Half-Marathon

The 2008 season kicked off with the Manhattan Half Marathon at Central Park. Even though I ran the Midnight Run on New Yea’s Eve, it wasn’t really a race so the wait was way too long. Thankfully I was able to see the movie "Spirit of the Marathon" on January 24 to fill the gap. This is my movie review on Facebook:

"It was worth it to trek all the way to Astoria to see this "limited edition" movie since I couldn't get any tickets in Manhattan. Spirits was inspirational, and it was interesting to see the common thread between professional marathoners such as Deena Kastor and regular runners who wanted to finish the Chicago Marathon. As a runner myself I got goose bumps at times because I could relate to the characters in the movie. Overall it was a very special night at the theater."

And my personal comment: "I run. Don’t ask me why and I’ll never tell you why."

Why I had to go to Astoria for a movie? There was only one showtime with only two theaters showing in al of Manhattan. Naturally I couldn’t get any tickets and I ended up going to Astoria to see it, thank you so much for putting in the effort. Anyhow, it was a good movie, four and a half stars.

And I managed to pick up a cold as I was stuck in the 1 train for more than 20 minutes because of the constructions at Columbus Circle. It was 1 in the morning, I had to work the next day and I had a race 2 1/2 days later! I was really sick after work and my teeth were all screwed up, I just set myself up for a disastrous outing.

Then came race day. I felt reasonable good and on the way to drop of my bag I bumped into my ex-colleague Jim from SM. Small world.

Under the circumstances I fell back at the starting line and started with the 8 minute pace runners. Oddly enough, I finished the race exactly at 8:00/mi. I started well and I was passing runners at the Fred Lebow Straight, but after Harlem Hill something went really wrong. I realized that I was stuck in gears I had absolutely no extra energy to push forward. I was able to run but I just didn’t have the extra kick, and I ended up following the crowd to the finish line. The run was beyond flat and the bagel at the finish line was hard as a rock. What happened to the hot chocolate and a warm shelter at P.S. something?

Like my life in general, I sucked it up again and finished the race. I was able to use the lesson I learned from the NYC Marathon back in November, anything could happen and sometimes you just need to learn to accept the results.

Though, I was happy for my running partner Stacy, who set a new PR in a half marathon.

The race was only thing, but my health was the other. My cold went from bad to worse following the half marathon, and I had to take a sick day the day after. Honestly I hadn’t been this sick since 1995 when I was a sophomore in college. I remember the trip to High Street (in Columbus Ohio) where I looked for a bottle of NyQuil in the drug store. I still remember the scene vividly, the way I took that little bottle off the shelf in the store.

Despite my illness, I determined to get better before the Bronx Half, which took place two weeks after Manhattan. I had very limited training due to my sickness and the cold weather, but I was able to rely on the cross ramp machines at NYSC. I’m not a treadmill person I ran 5k on it a week prior to the Bronx Half and I sweated like a hog. I just couldn’t deal with the heat, that’s all.

Next: Bronx Half

Stats
Overall Place: 1285/4997
Finish Time: 1:44:49
Pace/Mile: 8:00