Okay, peeps, we are only going to talk about running today, and making it brief, because these taxes ain't gonna do themselves.
Woke up this rainy morning to head to Washington Heights for the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K. Coogan's is a community-oriented pub/restaurant in the area that sponsors this race every year. I love this race, even though for some reason, the weather never seems to cooperate. It's either cold or raining or both. Oh, well.
Wore a t-shirt and pants. Though it wasn't raining when I left the house, it was threatening, so on the feet were my VFF Flows, which seem to be the best choice for rainy weather. No socks. I had a rain jacket, but didn't know if I would wear it during the run. As long as the rain isn't in my eyes, I don't care about the rest of me.
Arrived at 8:30am for a 9:00am start. It had started to drizzle. I stood around for a few minutes trying to decide about the rain jacket, and finally decided not to wear it. I figured I'd regret it for the 20 minutes before the run, but not during it; whereas if I wore it, it would be the other way around. Nice use of semi-colon there, by the way.
Corrall time. I usually go two corralls behind mine, as NYRR still thinks I am a 7:53 miler. Those were the days...anyways, I try to start a corrall or two back to hold myself back as well, because I try very hard to stick to the negative split concept, which for the uninitiate, means doing the first half slower than the second. It defninitely helps with the pace and energy towards the end of the race, leaving you with gas in the tank for a strong finish. For a race as short as a 5K, my goal is to run each mile a little faster than the previous one.
And...we're off! Up from 168th & Broadway to Fort Tryon Park, into the park, around the Cloisters (a great addition to the course they made last year) and back. Not deceptively hilly -- obviously hilly, especially the exit out of the park.
One of the things that makes this race great is the music. There is music on nearly every other corner, and it ranges from rock bands to mariachi to drum circle to troubador. There's a marching band right outside the park that for some reason always makes me emotional. Something about those drums, I guess. Runners are crazy and will run in all kinds of weather, but bravo to the musicians who brave the elements to entertain us along the course. Most of them just went under bus shelters. It's kind of funny to run by a bus stop and see a bunch of mariachis crammed in there, playing "La Cucharacha."
The front runners started hitting us before I had even reached Mile 1, and that's just crazy! Either they were REALLY fast (they were) or I was too far back, even for me (I was). You can hear the cheer come through the pack in a big wave as the front runners approached. Is running the only sport where the losers cheer on the winners?
The only thing I would say is sort of sucky about the course is that it is pretty narrow, and because it's an out-and-back, there are sections of the course that you are just stuck behind whoever you're behind, because you can't get around them.
I spent most of the race running near a father and son. The son must have been about 10, and was running about 2 steps behind his dad. Dad kept looking back, checking on his son, and encouraging him. This kid needed no encouraging. He had a huge grin on his face from the second the gun went off, and clearly, the two of them were having a great morning.
The other notable sight I will take away from this race is the shirtless man running in what looked like Crocs. And I mention he was shirtless because he was one of those men who just should not be shirtless without a trip to the waxers. Sorry, gents with hairy backs -- blech. The only thing worse is when a hairy-backed gent wears a t-shirt that's kind of worn through, so you can see all the hair through it. Am I right, ladies? Um, PS, he beat me. Pissed me off.
Not to belabor, but my total time -- 29:20. Miles, approximately, according to my watch, was 10:15, 9:20, and 8:55, plus whatever was left for the .1 mile. I really tried to push the last half mile, but it was a little too crowded until really just before the end. I could tell I had a little too much in the tank, because I kicked for at least a quarter mile. Oh, well. I won't win the damn thing unless I disqualify everyone else. It's all about the doing.
As for pain, no tendon pain, and I think I might have had a little PF pain, but my feet were so cold and soggy it was hard to tell. I can say that I had no pain afterwards. So I think all the treatment paid off! So I think it's time to start increasing distance a little and see what happens next...
Showing posts with label 5K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5K. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Race Report: Coogan's 5K, What Is 229686, and More
Hello, dearest readers,
First off, No. 229686.
What's that, you say?
Why, my
GUARANTEED ENTRY INTO THE 2008 NYC MARATHON
of course.
Yup, $136 dollars later and I'm good to go. What a rip -- and yet, if it buys one more porta-pottie at Fort Wadsworth, money well spent, I say!
I said that my predicted finish time would be --
3:55
Yes, I am shooting to BREAK FOUR HOURS!!!
Can it be done? Well, of course it can, but by me?
We'll see.
This is the first time I'm going to go into training without having to start over; if anything, I'll start marathon training in about as good a shape as I was in about mid-way through training last year, if not better. This is going to be exciting, to see how much further I can push myself this year. And while at this very early stage I'm not hugely confident, if I could shave 30 minutes off my time between 2006 and 2007 , I can surely shave 15 off between 2007 and 2008.
I sense the makings of a good contest!
We'll wait until Fred's Team gets started up in April, and then -- LET THE CONTESTS BEGIN! Also, I'm looking for new and exciting "party favors" to give people for donating / guilt people into donating -- oh, did I say that last part out loud? 'Fraid so. Hey, ANYTHING to get you all to donate to the Aubrey Fund. HOORAY, FRED'S TEAM!!!!! If you think of anything good that would make a nice party favor -- I was thinking of key chains, for example -- leave me a comment here.
So today was the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K up by Ft. Tryon Park. You start on 167th and Ft. Washington Ave, head to the Park, into the Park a ways, and back. Simple, right? Pretty much, except that it's an almost totally hilly course. Mostly uphill to the Park, downhill once you get into the Park, and then, of course, the opposite on the way back. It's more tiring than it sounds, the Park's hill, I'd say it's about Cat Hill steep, maybe a little less, but it's about twice as long. The best part about this race are the bands they have set up along the course, playing, you guessed it, salsa and blues music (no, not "shamrock" music, but there was a guy with an accordian...) Right outside the park there's a drum corps. Most of these bands are kids, too. And after you finish, head a block over to Coogan's Pub and Restaurant for your free beer. At 9:00am! Mmm mmm GOOD!
Didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, but since it was a 5K I wasn't nervous, I was just thinking I wouldn't maybe do as well as I wanted. Oh, well. 30 degrees and breezy but I didn't want to overdress as I tend to do on colder days. Thermal shirt, cotton long-sleeve over the top, long pants, ear warmers. Gloves -- but only one pair (on Friday I wore two pairs, and needed them.) Looked for Teammates -- Nicole had invited those of us running this race over for brunch, as she lived in the neighborhood -- but couldn't find them, the crowds were huge. Oh, well, I'd find them after, Nicole told everyone to meet up by baggage claim. Lined up in the 8 minute mile pace group and stretched. How big was the crowd? The 8:00 corral was so far back we couldn't hear the starting horn. 8:00!!!
Oh, quick tangent -- starting mid-April NYRR is going to start using seeded corrals. In other words, when you sign up for the race, you're to give a predicted pace time, or if you're a NYRR member, it'll be based on your race history, and your bib will have a color code that will correspond to your pace's corral. BRILLIANT!!! I don't mean that sarcastically, I'm truly thrilled. So many people -- myself included -- have been thwarted of a PR, involved in collisions, or just plain old had a bad time at a race because so many runners either don't know how to properly estimate their pace and line up in the right group, or they just don't care. While I don't think this will completely solve the bottlenecking problem -- there's always going to be people who insist on being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the races are usually too big to really enforce this -- it will be a great help. Thank you, NYRR!
It's funny, I think a lot of people were expecting this to sort of be followed today, I've never heard so many people complaining about slower runners blocking their path. And yes, there was definitely a lot of congestion today. The road isn't that narrow, but it's an out-and-back, and because it goes so quick there's traffic in both directions nearly the entire time. This is also a race that brings out a lot of newbie runners, because it's early in the year and it's such a short race. Plus did I mention the free beer? LOTS of kids do this race, too, not just the kids' races but the whole 5K. I'm really so glad that NYRR has a Foundation that gets kids running, and their charity Team For Kids supports running programs in schools. It's great to see them out there, and a lot of them do really well.
Without further ado, my stats.
Out of 3259 people -- 1483 of them women, and 363 of the total # between ages 40-44 (with 147 of those being women)
Finish Time: 25:11
Pace/Mile: 8:07
Overall Place: 904
Gender Place: 180
Age Place: 23
Age Graded Time (don't ask me what this means, but I'll take it): 24:18
Age Graded Gender Place (but not this): 199
AG % (no idea what this means): 61.3 %
That's two PRs for me, both for the overall 5K time and pace per mile time!
After the race, an absolutely lovely brunch at Nicole and Richard's apartment. Nice people, good food and fun conversation. A perfect way to celebrate a good race. Thanks again, Nicole and Richard!
Too tired to get to the promised "and more" part of this post's title. And there is more.
Anon,
MG
First off, No. 229686.
What's that, you say?
Why, my
GUARANTEED ENTRY INTO THE 2008 NYC MARATHON
of course.
Yup, $136 dollars later and I'm good to go. What a rip -- and yet, if it buys one more porta-pottie at Fort Wadsworth, money well spent, I say!
I said that my predicted finish time would be --
3:55
Yes, I am shooting to BREAK FOUR HOURS!!!
Can it be done? Well, of course it can, but by me?
We'll see.
This is the first time I'm going to go into training without having to start over; if anything, I'll start marathon training in about as good a shape as I was in about mid-way through training last year, if not better. This is going to be exciting, to see how much further I can push myself this year. And while at this very early stage I'm not hugely confident, if I could shave 30 minutes off my time between 2006 and 2007 , I can surely shave 15 off between 2007 and 2008.
I sense the makings of a good contest!
We'll wait until Fred's Team gets started up in April, and then -- LET THE CONTESTS BEGIN! Also, I'm looking for new and exciting "party favors" to give people for donating / guilt people into donating -- oh, did I say that last part out loud? 'Fraid so. Hey, ANYTHING to get you all to donate to the Aubrey Fund. HOORAY, FRED'S TEAM!!!!! If you think of anything good that would make a nice party favor -- I was thinking of key chains, for example -- leave me a comment here.
So today was the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K up by Ft. Tryon Park. You start on 167th and Ft. Washington Ave, head to the Park, into the Park a ways, and back. Simple, right? Pretty much, except that it's an almost totally hilly course. Mostly uphill to the Park, downhill once you get into the Park, and then, of course, the opposite on the way back. It's more tiring than it sounds, the Park's hill, I'd say it's about Cat Hill steep, maybe a little less, but it's about twice as long. The best part about this race are the bands they have set up along the course, playing, you guessed it, salsa and blues music (no, not "shamrock" music, but there was a guy with an accordian...) Right outside the park there's a drum corps. Most of these bands are kids, too. And after you finish, head a block over to Coogan's Pub and Restaurant for your free beer. At 9:00am! Mmm mmm GOOD!
Didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, but since it was a 5K I wasn't nervous, I was just thinking I wouldn't maybe do as well as I wanted. Oh, well. 30 degrees and breezy but I didn't want to overdress as I tend to do on colder days. Thermal shirt, cotton long-sleeve over the top, long pants, ear warmers. Gloves -- but only one pair (on Friday I wore two pairs, and needed them.) Looked for Teammates -- Nicole had invited those of us running this race over for brunch, as she lived in the neighborhood -- but couldn't find them, the crowds were huge. Oh, well, I'd find them after, Nicole told everyone to meet up by baggage claim. Lined up in the 8 minute mile pace group and stretched. How big was the crowd? The 8:00 corral was so far back we couldn't hear the starting horn. 8:00!!!
Oh, quick tangent -- starting mid-April NYRR is going to start using seeded corrals. In other words, when you sign up for the race, you're to give a predicted pace time, or if you're a NYRR member, it'll be based on your race history, and your bib will have a color code that will correspond to your pace's corral. BRILLIANT!!! I don't mean that sarcastically, I'm truly thrilled. So many people -- myself included -- have been thwarted of a PR, involved in collisions, or just plain old had a bad time at a race because so many runners either don't know how to properly estimate their pace and line up in the right group, or they just don't care. While I don't think this will completely solve the bottlenecking problem -- there's always going to be people who insist on being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the races are usually too big to really enforce this -- it will be a great help. Thank you, NYRR!
It's funny, I think a lot of people were expecting this to sort of be followed today, I've never heard so many people complaining about slower runners blocking their path. And yes, there was definitely a lot of congestion today. The road isn't that narrow, but it's an out-and-back, and because it goes so quick there's traffic in both directions nearly the entire time. This is also a race that brings out a lot of newbie runners, because it's early in the year and it's such a short race. Plus did I mention the free beer? LOTS of kids do this race, too, not just the kids' races but the whole 5K. I'm really so glad that NYRR has a Foundation that gets kids running, and their charity Team For Kids supports running programs in schools. It's great to see them out there, and a lot of them do really well.
Without further ado, my stats.
Out of 3259 people -- 1483 of them women, and 363 of the total # between ages 40-44 (with 147 of those being women)
Finish Time: 25:11
Pace/Mile: 8:07
Overall Place: 904
Gender Place: 180
Age Place: 23
Age Graded Time (don't ask me what this means, but I'll take it): 24:18
Age Graded Gender Place (but not this): 199
AG % (no idea what this means): 61.3 %
That's two PRs for me, both for the overall 5K time and pace per mile time!
After the race, an absolutely lovely brunch at Nicole and Richard's apartment. Nice people, good food and fun conversation. A perfect way to celebrate a good race. Thanks again, Nicole and Richard!
Too tired to get to the promised "and more" part of this post's title. And there is more.
Anon,
MG
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