Guerrilla racing

Last night I ran in the State Park Summer Run Series 5k at Bethpage State Park. I went straight to the park from work. By the time I arrived I was informed that they were no longer taking day of race registrations. What the hell? I drive here, want to pay to run and am being told that I can not.

I play by the rules for the most part, but I am not going to sit in the bleachers or on the grass while other people run and wait for the parking lot to open back up so I can leave. So I do what any self respecting quasi anarchist would do. I run the damn race guerrilla style. You don't want to take my money and give me a number? Fine. I will run your race without a number and keep my fifteen bucks.

I decide that I am going to push myself and line up just a bit ahead of the ten minute milers at the starting line. I was worried that my lack of number and shoe tag would be easily noticed, but it seems like there were quite a few folks in the field running sans number.

The horn goes off and the herd starts to move towards the line. The field was so tight that it probably took me about a minute to get from where I was lined up to the actual starting line. In order to control this problem the race organizers limit the number of entries. However inconsiderate people like me show up and run anyway, clogging the field. Sorry.

There were so many people that it was like running in a rush hour A train. It was bad enough on the road for the first half mile, but once we all had to file onto the bike paths it got to the point where you could hardly breath.

I hit mile one in 10:28. Slower than I wanted to be but with such a dense field I think everyone not in the leaders pack was having the same issue. After the first mile the course gets back out onto the road and the field starts to break up. The next portion of the course is gradual uphill. My pace drops a bit and I hit the second mile at 21:30. Most of mile three is rolling hills over the golf cart path on the golf course. Some steep downhills are a lifesaver and helped me to build up some momentum to go up the next hill. As we round the polo fields and head toward the finish chute I pull off to the side and finish the race next to the finish line. Since there is a limit to how inconsiderate I am I decided not to cross the line and be screw up any official results.

I finished in 31:40. My goal for last night was to break 30:00. With the dense field of runners and the series of rolling hills leading up to mile three I am not surprised that I did not make it to the line as fast as I wanted.

Status:

14.75 miles into my goal of running 50 miles by August 17.

Upcoming races:

8/1 - Sayville Summerfest 4 Miler 9am

Doing my best to avoid upsetting the Golf Ranger

I live right off a golf course. The third green is practically in my front yard. We have been in our condo for about four years now. I have actually gotten up and played golf on this course twice. I have been telling myself that I really need to take more advantage of this nice little feature of the community.

So yesterday morning I decided to tempt fate and risk the wrath of the course ranger by taking my morning run onto the golf course. I know that at 6 in the morning I am not likely to get brained by a golf ball. I charted out a nice little 1.3 mile loop with a series of rolling hills and flats. Any golfers out there who may be pissed or scandalized by reading this please rest assured that I stayed clear of the fairways and the greens. It took me 17:30 to finish the loop, but that is with stopping every so often to fish a golf ball out of the rough.

Was it my best work out ever? Not by a long shot. Was it a welcome distraction from the same old loop that is now haunting my nightmares? Yes it was.

Status:

7.38 miles into my goal of running 50 miles in thirty days. I am going to need to run a half marathon before 8/17 if I hope to make it.

Of Mondays and shin splints

It has been a few days since my last post. First things first, I did not get to run the 5k in Westhampton on Saturday. Having a kid who is on the verge of turning two makes it a bad idea to pre-register for these type of events. Aidan had a fitful night of sleep going into Saturday morning and rather than wake him up early to go to the race Dori and I decided to let him sleep in and buy ourselves a day free of tantrums and meltdowns.

My brother Marc did manage to get to the starting line in time for the gun. In his first 5k Marc crossed the finish line in 33 and some change. Congrats to Marc for taking his run off the treadmill and onto the pavement.

With absolutely no running taking place on Saturday Dori and I headed to the local high school on Sunday to put some laps in. The bonus of running at the track is that we can bring a bucket, shovel and some other toys for Aidan to play with in the long jump pit. Don't judge me. He loves it.

Imagine our disappointment when we rolled up to the track and discovered that it looked like a construction site. Our track work turned into yet another nice loop around the neighboorhood. I did the mile and a half loop in 16:30.

I am getting very sick of this mile and a half loop. So this morning when I rolled out of bed can you guess what I ran? Yup. I felt like complete hell as my shins are really starting to bother me. I am not even going to bother posting how long it took me. It was bad news all around.

I know I need to take more time to stretch before I get out and go. Ignoring fudamentals in order to grab an extra few minutes sleep has not paid off. The alarm clock is going to be set a half hour earlier from now on to accomodate some decent stretching.

Upcoming races.

Monday, July 27 2009 - Bethpage State Park - 5k - 7pm

Saturday, August 1, 2009 - Sayville Summerfest - 4 miler - 9am

Status:

6 miles into my goal of running 50 miles in thirty days. Have to put in 44 more by 8/17. I really need to start running longer.

50 miles in 30 days

I wish I could say that the length of time between my first post and this one is based upon being too busy to blog about my training and other events. The honest answer is I have not been out for a run in about a week. So to motivate myself I am setting a goal of putting in 50 miles over the next 30 days.

With such a goal in mind I probably should have put in a longer workout this morning. After a short warm up I did a quick loop around the neighborhood, approx 1.52 miles, in 16:04. This works out to a 10:34 per mile pace. The route is all flat and on paved roads. A Bouncing Souls playlist provided the soundtrack and if there is a better song to run to than "Here We Go" I have not heard it.

Still anticipating doing a 5k out in Westhampton on Saturday.

Just took a decade or so off

Back in the winter of 2000 I ran my best three miler. At 18:40 it was much better than any time I ever managed to put up while running XC in high school. I think part of the motivation was the cadre of Platoon Sergeants and Sergeant Instructors offering their unique brand of encouragement along the way.

This high water point of my running career was short lived. A few days later I took a tumble during a boots and utes run through the scenic Virginia countryside. I tried to stand up and a practical demonstration of gravity showed me that I could not put any weight on my left leg. I pulled up my pant leg and saw that my kneecap was already the size of a cantaloupe and turning a nice shade of purple. The culture regarding injuries at Officer Candidate School is one of "ice it and suck it up" so imagine my surprise when my Platoon Sergeant takes a look at my knee and proceeds to fireman carry me to the corpsman. The resulting injury took me out of commission and led to the end of my Quantico adventures.

In the years since I fell off the running wagon. Desk bound jobs and going to law school full time led to me gaining more than 80 pounds. I would make attempts to get on some type of work out / fitness plan, but laziness would win out.

Back in April my wife approached me with the idea of running a 5K. Dori attacked this goal with determination and zeal. During the week we would hit the local roads and on weekends we would put Aidan in the jog stroller and try to put some miles in before doing errands.

I was a bit lost at first because any training program that I might have used in the past took a certain base level of fitness for granted. Sadly I did not possess that base level of fitness. To be honest I could not even put together two full laps around the track at first. The first few weeks were discouraging because I just didn't have the wind in me to do anything other than shuffle. I stumbled upon the Couch to 5k running plan and framed my workouts around it.

I can not lie. As a former competitive runner this training program was a major blow to my ego. Doing road workouts where I walked more than I ran was hard to accept at first, but as I stuck with the program I saw the improvement.

On June 20, 2009 Dori and I ran in the Shwachman-Diamond Dash for a Cure 5k in Sayville. I can not express how proud I was of Dori for setting a goal for herself and seeing it through. She finished her first 5k and is hooked on jogging.

I crossed the line in 36:45. Not the competitive pace of days gone by, but to be honest I was just thrilled to have been in the pack. A twelve minute mile average is better than what I expected going into the race.

On July 6, 2009 I returned to the State Park Summer Run Series and ran in the Hempstead Lake Park 4k. I crossed the line in 26:12, and on my first mile I hit 10:00 on the nose.

I am happy to be able to say that I am a runner again. A slow runner, but I am not too concerned about that. Dori and I are planning on doing our next 5k out in Westhampton on the 18th of July. We haven't decided whether we are going to push Aidan along for this one. He might wind up staying with grandpa that morning.