Race Report: Al Gordon Classic 4 Miler

Results
Chip Time: 31:19
Overall Place: 1059
Gender Place: 195
Age Group Place: 27


The New York Road Runners organized a race this weekend in Prospect Park. Over 4,000 people participated, including me and my visiting Boone friend. NYRR's website invited people to courageously step outside of Manhattan and enjoy the countryside of Brooklyn, where I'm sure they were surprised they didn't have to step around cow patties upon stepping out of the subway station. I kid. But their race description that was geared toward people living in Manhattan, as though the most populous borough of Brooklyn isn't filled with runners who support NYRR races, was really silly.

But I digress. The point is that I PR'd with a 7:50 pace. I am familiar with Prospect Park and I think it gives me some advantage when I've been training well. Despite my familiarity I still steered my Boone friend wrong and told her that "the hill" should appear around mile three (I thought we would be starting out differently). "The hill" actually happened right away, so she was taking it easy (and also thinking that it wasn't really a hill since she lives on the side of a mountain and knows real hills) with the expectation that she'd have a hill to conquer later on. That never happened. And she was one second slower than her goal 10 minute mile. Oh no!

In more exciting news, I got the Forerunner 210 Garmin watch! And heart monitor. (The Garmin is a GPS watch that records all kinds of highly classified information.) And if I knew how to use it I am sure that it would be really awesome. Right now I can honestly say that it tells very good time. Very good. Like if NASA were to design the most precise clock in the world, my watch and that clock would say it was the same exact time, but my watch would be better because it would be on my wrist. All weekend long I've looked at it to see what time it is and I'm really glad I have it. The woman who sold it to me at JackRabbit Sports invited me to a monthly long-Sunday-run, and I showed up this morning hoping she would be there so I could ask her how to use the watch. Alas, she wasn't there, but I still really enjoyed myself. We ran 10.5 or 11 miles (depending on whose watch you believe), winding through Brooklyn along the water front and even passing my apartment at one point.

The best part of the whole run was that we ran past a row of firemen in a very industrial part of Redhook. They were standing in the street beside each other, maybe six or seven of them, and each of them was smiling and holding part of a long hose.

Friday Picture Wrap-Up

The people on the street have spoken and here is what they have to say in Brooklyn:

Plus, a cat paw on a dog snout, while he is sleeping.

Fetch Me My Smelling Salts

I'm so fragile. Apparently a little yellow fever and typhoid causes me to faint. Yesterday, I went to get my travel vaccinations for Africa at a clinic in the financial district, Wall Street Medical Associates. The yellow fever vaccine is required to visit South Africa and Zambia so you actually get a little certificate to put in your passport to prove you aren't carrying the cooties. I think I found the cheapest place in NYC to go and for this kind of thing I guess they are good enough. But my body was super surprised to receive the vaccines. One thing led to another and I ended up on my back with my feet propped up on a shoulder of a very nice lady who told me soothing stories about earthquakes and 9/11 in a very thick Brooklyn accent while the blood drained back into my face. 

My plans to run yesterday were completely derailed. I'm going to try to get 11 miles in tonight and a long one in tomorrow. I took the day off tomorrow because one of my best friends from North Carolina is visiting! We're running a 4 mile race together on Saturday in Prospect Park. 

 

It's really hard to make any plans past April right now, but I know what I will be doing on June 24th. Modest Mouse and Built to Spill are playing on Randall's Island on the same day and I am going to pee my pants* in excitement. Summer concerts in NYC!

This song gets me so amped. It's perfect to run to.

 

And of course...

 

* I'm not really going to pee my pants.

Race Report: Cherry Tree 10 Miler

Results
Chip time: 1:22:46
Overall place: 360
Gender place: 101
Division place: 12

I've been looking forward to the Cherry Tree 10 Miler, organized by Prospect Park Track Club. I had some rough races at the end of 2011, including PPTC's Turkey Trot which was only 5 miles but ended up being very aptly named for me. Before the Cherry Tree I was curious to see how much stronger I've become from Two Oceans training.

I don't want to say anything bad about the PPTC or Jack Rabbit (the local running shop) races because I am so happy they are organizing Brooklyn races, walking distance from my apartment. These races are smaller than the ones by New York Road Runners, and getting 12th place in your age group sounds  a lot better than getting 3012th. But if I had one complaint it would be not having bagels right there at the finish area, handed to me like a delicious gluten-filled trophy by a smiling volunteer who says, "Congratulations!" They did have some refreshments but they were at a high school a mile from the finish area, in the opposite direction of where I needed to go to put my pajamas on. That's all. Done complaining.

The 10 mile races in Prospect Park are three loops around the park. It's not an easy run because there is "the hill" in the park that is long and challenging, and this means it has to be run up three times. But the park is really beautiful and if you're lucky you'll get to see ducks and horses along the route. If you're unlucky you'll get cussed out by a biker with road rage.

I got a ride to the race from a friend and arrived nice and early. I started out kinda slow today with what felt like a million people passing me, but at the 7th mile I started to feel high and unstoppable (maybe this is one of the reasons I'm a long distance runner and not a sprinter). The finish line was after a downward slope that curved left into a side road and I felt like my legs were moving on their own and I was flying. I could see the clock at the finish line reading 1:22: 50, so I kicked it up a notch to get under 23 minutes. My chip time (the chip runners wear to record their official results) was 1:22:46 (8:17 pace). I came in 360th place out of 867 finishers. Or 12th place in my division.

Also, I had on new pants because yesterday my cat ate almost an entire sock (if he was a human being he'd be a pack a day smoker) and then threw up on my running pants. When he gets really sick like this (or hungover) I have to force feed him water through a baby syringe. Fun times.

Friday Picture Wrap-Up

This has been a great week! I'm on track to get 45 miles in, even completing 7.5 last night in the rain. Also, I talked to someone who ran Two Oceans last year and she said it was the most beautiful ultra marathon she has ever done and she even had tears when she saw the ocean. I like how she qualifies the marathon with "ultra". This woman has run a lot!

In addition to the running preparation I finalized some of my trip to southern Africa. I had it in mind that I would get a safari outfit with a 40 per cent off coupon I had for the Gap. So, a couple of days ago I walked the 5 blocks from the office to the Gap store, picturing the awesome khaki pants I was going to get, along with a khaki vest with lots of pockets to put binoculars and sunscreen in. I could see myself in the safari truck; everyone would mistake me for a biologist or some kind of lion expert.

But I left the store with tight turquoise pants and a polka-dotted tank top. Doh!


This Friday Picture Wrap-Up has really gone down the toilet.

View of the sunset and rising moon from the East River Park

An orphan left at the entrance to Fort Greene Park 

Foam rolling at the office

 He loves to sit in the bathroom while I shower after a run home from work (pervy cat)

Heart Beets

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had big plans for a Valentine's Day post and of course I procrastinated for too long. I was going to interview my coworker (and after work running partner) and her husband because they are both avid runners and they recently started blogging together! I love how supportive they are of each other even though Paul is "a mad runner" going for distance and time and Shamala is going for opportunities to photograph the change of seasons. I'll get it together and ask them some questions, but for now you can visit Live Boulder Run Bolder and read about their running adventures together.

Last night at the end of my run home from work I stopped at the grocery store. After wandering around for way too long in a daze, this is what I came up with: a red, creamy, tangy dinner that is perfect for a romantic evening with your dog and cat.

Heart Beets with Brussels Sprouts and Pumpkin Seeds
My bff in college used to make a delicious dish with toasted sesame seed oil, pumpkin seeds, and kale.We'd eat it while getting drunk on Chardonnay in her kitchen, deciding before the end of the evening that we were the most awesome people ever. So this is Valentine's Day for me: Red and pink veggies flavored with some of my favorite memories.

Chop your (heart) beets and halve your sprouts and lay on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seed oil and a liberal amount of pumpkin seeds. Salt and pepper and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or so, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on these guys because you don't want to burn them. For softer veggies you can cover with aluminum foil for the first 20 minutes and then uncover for the rest of the time.

Creamy Coconut Rice with Lemony Leeks and Fish
Cook a cup of basmati rice in one cup of water and one cup of coconut milk. (Or one part rice, one part water, one part coconut milk for the amount you want to make.)

Building the flavors (this is for one serving but can be adjusted accordingly):

Slowly melt a couple of tablespoons of butter in a skillet.
Cut one leek in half (to wash out the leaves carefully) and dice the light green parts, and then add it to the butter. Add salt and sweat it on low heat, stirring frequently.
Add four chopped cloves of garlic and stir.
Add the juice of half a lemon and half a cup of water and continue to stir.
Add half a cup of chopped basil.

You should have a nice buttery and lemony broth. You can add a little more water if there isn't enough juice. Because at this point you want to add a fillet of tilapia  and spoon the leeks and broth over the top and cook. Flip once.

Serve the fish and leeks mixture over the rice!

And of course this Valentine's Day meal is not complete without some red wine and Jose Gonzalez.

Friday Picture Wrap-Up

I see some interesting things when I'm running around Brooklyn.

Birds in Prospect Park

I think it's safe to assume that Lou Reed signed this telephone pole on Atlantic Ave.

Too many bran muffins before a long run and this could be a picture of you in someone's yard.

Post long training run beverage (and drunk cat).

58 Days, 14 Hours, 59 Minutes and some Flaming Lips

I'm getting strong, y'all. Last night I crossed the Williamsburg Bridge on my way home from work, took a left to head up to Greenpoint in order to add a few more miles to my run home to Fort Greene, and as I ran back south on Kent Ave. I could feel all the muscles in my legs really working it. Working it like they really needed the money. And I was moving through Brooklyn's hipster district like this and smiling even though you're not supposed to smile when you're all by yourself because it makes you look like a sociopath, when this song began to play and in my runner's high state of mind I became...a....superhero....

It's an Uphill Battle

It's not quite two months before race day and I completed my first long training run. It was roughly 21 miles long. I ran a 10.9 mile loop twice (but walked a few of the last blocks on the 2nd loop). My good friend and fellow runner (we've run three marathons and many other races together, although with different finishing times) joined me for the 2nd loop. After making a pit stop at my apartment where I tried out some boiled baby potatoes with butter and salt and some flat coke (both are offered at the refreshment stations on the Two Oceans Marathon course), we headed back out. I think the potatoes were a success! However, I definitely felt as though I'd already run 11 miles. My friend, the gazelle, was springy and fresh while I felt every hill, big and small.

Speaking of hills, the TOM  has two really challenging hills that arrive after already completing 26.2 miles or the distance of a regular marathon: Chapmans Peak (rising 180m or 590ft) and then the big doozy, Constantia Nek (rising 215m or 705ft). Both of them cover about 4 km each of the course. I expect there to be a lot of cursing at this point in the race.

Race Profile. Gnarly.

I found this video that is sort of like a self help video for how to survive Constantia Nek. This dude is so calm. I'm a big believer in being mentally prepared for races. Unfortunately, I haven't always been consistent with this, instead taking it for granted that I know I'll finish. But for this race I'm trying to visualize myself reaching the finish line frequently. I've actually already finished this race half a dozen times in my head. I've also accepted a gold medal and given a victory speech with the American flag draped around my shoulders.

I'd like to increase my mileage over the rest of the month. The general rule is to increase no more than 10 percent a week. This seems like a good idea for me since I have never put in this many miles a month before. Finding the time is going to be the biggest challenge.