Turkey Trots and Touchdowns

What a beautiful day yesterday!

Just as I was heading out to the park I checked my email and saw that my friends were playing football there. I didn't want to cancel my run, so I tried to include it in. I ran 2.7 miles around Central Park until I saw them playing. I joined them for an hour or so, and then finished up the 6 mile loop.


I scored a few touchdowns, but they've come with a price. I am sore all over. My upper quads are killing, my arms are killing, and my nose hurts. (That's from slamming into someone's back. Or maybe that's from sliding on the ground - without even being tackled.) Either way it was a lot of fun, but I can see why professional athletes are usually retiring at my age.

Of course I ended up stuffing myself later in the day, but truth be told, I don't think I was too bad. My folks are in Canada so I don't usually go home, but I had a really nice dinner with friends.


I came in too late to see the turkey whole, but it looked amazing!


What a beautiful looking dinner! (Thanks Sara and Dan!)

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, and I wish you all a great weekend.

Run for Harold

I got back to racing today. 4 miles in Central Park.

I started the day in a really special way. After I parked my car, I changed out of my winter coat and into my running jacket and light running gloves. It didn't seem that bad at the time, so I decided to leave me coat in the car. It was at the exact moment that my alarm beeped and automatically locked my car, that I realized my keys were with my coat - inside the car. Sigh...

There was nothing I could do about it at that point, so I went over to the park. Today's race was one of the regularly scheduled Road Runner races. However, I was part of a little sub-event. Some friends of mine run a fairly popular website in my little circle, and their father was both a doctor and a marathoner. (Sound familiar?) Unfortunately, he was killed by a reckless driver while running several years ago. Since that time, his family has always put on the "Run for Harold" event as part of this race. While they do raise money for charity, the primary goal is to get people out and running - as their father would have wanted. It's really a nice idea.

The "team" met up just outside the park, and they distributed t-shirts. It was really amazing how many people came out on this freezing cold morning. Anyway, after a few group photos we all headed over to the start area.


(The person I gave my camera to barely caught me in the frame!)

Like usual these days, the race was packed. Over 5000 finishers. I squeezed in about 1000 spots back from the front. It said "5 min pace" or something ridiculous there, but it seemed right based on the crowd. Joan Rivers made a little speech, and invited everyone back to her place for coffee. Then Miss Teen USA made a little speech - but didn't invite people back to her place.

The race started, and it was jam packed as usual. I ran most of the race on the outside of the course, trying to stay away from people. I didn't weave too much, but I did run a little extra being on the outside all the time.

I pushed relatively hard in the beginning, and was actually pretty tired by a mile in. At that point, I didn't really let off, but I didn't rev it up either. Looking at my splits, I did kind of sped up a little. But I felt like I was kind of just going at the same pace - until the end. My old PR was 30:57, and pretty quickly I knew that this was going to get beaten.

Splits:
7:22
7:05
7:00
6:47

Total time 28:14, for a 7:03 pace. And a new PR. (With very pretty looking negative splits I might add.)

I hung around for a little bit to socialize and freeze my butt off. I'd say it wasn't worth it, but someone did give me the idea to call roadside assistance. I was planning on taking a train both ways, and in the end I called GEICO and had it open in less than an hour. (I hadn't even finished my bagel and coffee.) So that wasn't too bad.


(Lou from "Pop-A-Lock".)

And so another PR gets smashed. I'm really looking forward to setting new PR's in the all short distances. Since I haven't set up a new training schedule, I'm not sure how many short races I'll be doing. But in the meantime, it's something to train for. I'm planning to keep up with the speedwork for now.


Final group shot of Team "Run for Harold". Pretty impressive, I think.

Onwards

As I move on from the marathon, I realize I've never really analyzed my performance. I guess I should do that some time - but not now. Suffice it to day that I was very pleased, but I've also realized how much potential I have. I once thought I didn't have it in me to qualify for Boston. Now I know I can - but it would take a lot of work. (Quite frankly, I'm not sure I'm all that interested in putting in that work. But knowing it's within my potential is kind of cool in itself.)

Before I do move on though, I really want to say thank you for all the supportive comments in the last few weeks. For some reason, ever since the new Blogger came out, I don't get most of your email addresses forwarded to me when you comment. So even though I don't respond, I do want you to know that it means a lot to me. I was fortunate enough to have a lot of "real life" friends who were supportive during the marathon experience. However, they're not really along for the whole training period, and many of them don't really "get" it. So thank you for being there.

Anyway, I was back out there tonight putting in a few miles. I did two of them at tempo speed. I didn't really pace myself, I just ran hard, but definitely comfortable. As per Garmin when I got home, those miles were at 7:42 pace.


I don't really mean to brag, but wow! Last marathon it took months for me to run 2 miles, and here I am a week later running them at this speed. As I said above, I am just starting to get a sense of my potential.

In terms of future goals, I haven't yet come up with a new race to train for. (Although I'm kicking a few around my head already.) For now, my next goal is to hit 1000 miles for the year. (See David's blog, who posted the same goal recently.) I've been realizing over the last few months, that 1000 miles for the year will be in my grasp. I've always been jealous of those people that hit the "4 digit mark" for the year, and I've never even been close. It shouldn't be hard for me to reach it, but it will give me some motivation to get out the door, and not to totally slack off. Check the "Training Log" section in my sidebar to check up on my progress...

Marathon Pictures

For those of you who are curious, I'm feeling pretty good. I ran 2 miles on Thursday which were a little slow and tough. Today I went back to Central Park for a 6 mile loop. Gotta keep moving...

After the Marathon

After crossing the line I was totally psyched. I was tired, but not destroyed. I knew I'd done well.

I think the first thing I got was the heat sheet. Strangely, I knew the girl giving out the heat sheets. I remembered her telling me in the past how she really loved watching the marathon. I guess she signed up to volunteer this year, and there she was. It was kind of cool seeing a familiar face at that time.

A few steps later I got my medal, and then recognized one of the runners. 38,000 runners, and there's a good friend of mine ten feet in front of me! (This was the guy who took the late ferry. He'd gotten to the start area at 9:55, and since he had a blue bib, he still started the race way before me.) We made our way out of the park together, and met up with his family.



After chatting for a bit, I headed back to Akiva's apartment. I remembered going down the subway stairs in 2005 and was dreading them. But they weren't so bad. Not easy, but manageable. Another sign of how much better trained I was this time.

I got back to his apartment, and found this sign on the door.

Awww....

I took a totally awesome shower, and then relaxed for a bit. Then some great friends of mine went out for dinner with me. Last time I'd collapsed at the end, and was pretty much out of commission for a week. So it was nice to be able to spend the evening with friends this time.



I'm still on a high....

The Marathon

(BTW, I don't have any pictures from the race. I hope to add some from Brightroom down the road. In the meantime, this guy took pictures of the race last year, and it really is a great photo-documentary.)

As a result of the wave start, there was only a few people ahead of me when I started. Within a few minutes I had some open space. That was the last time I'd have open space for the rest of the day!

My plan had been to run 9 minute miles until the Queensboro Bridge. I had in the back of my mind that Adeel had "okay"ed anything up to 8:30. (Sort of.)

The first mile went by in 8:32. Ok, a little fast. I had expected mile 1 to be crowded, and to take me 10 minutes. I didn't feel like I was pushing hard, but I at least tried not to speed up.

Mile 2 - 7:43. WTF? I think the downhill of the Verazzano Bridge did that, because it was way faster than I expected. Either way, I got nervous. I didn't want to crash on First Avenue like last time. Better. Slow. Down!

The next mile brought us into Brooklyn. I passed by a group of people running as Star Wars characters at this time. (I'd seen Princess Leah in Staten Island, but now she was with Darth Vader and Chewbacca. Chewbacca!!) 8:13 for this mile.

The next few miles continued through Brooklyn onto 4th Avenue. This is a really fun part of the course. The spectators are really enthusiastic, and you still feel good. I generally run towards the sides, although I was definitely doing a ton of dodging. Either way, people on the sides were constantly calling my name, and trying to high five me. I usually gave a thumbs up sign to these fans, but resisted giving high fives. (I had a long way to go.) These next miles went by in 8:16, 8:32, 8:25, 8:10, and 8:26.

I was still feeling pretty good, but I remembered my last marathon. I had felt great for the first 15 miles that time too.

Onwards through Brooklyn I went. First Downtown Brooklyn, the Williamsburg. As an orthodox Jew I really get a kick of seeing the Hassidim in Williamsburg. Some of the kids come out and cheer, and even give out candies. The older people are usually just staring in wonder as if they've never heard of the marathon. 8:38, 8:25, 8:30, 8:25.

One last mile in Brooklyn, through Green Point. ("Green Point loves you!" I remember someone shouting.) I saw the Pulaski Bridge ahead of me, signaling the halfway point of the race. Just before the bridge, I saw a por-ta-potty with a green door indicator. What luck!

Sadly, the indicator was broken, and the port-a-potty was locked. I tried to get into another one, but someone else beat me to it. I started waiting for a few seconds, but then got frustrated. At that point I kind of "made my own port-a-potty" -- just next to the last one. 9:13 for this mile.

My split at the half was 1:50:26. (It was 2:07:24 two years ago!) I was happy with that. I did some calculating in my head and thought that it would be pretty tough to end up with my proposed negative split. (I must admit though, it did cross my mind how clever I was taking my bathroom break just before the half.)

Onwards through Queens I went. There are only two miles in Queens, with a lot of turns, and through a lot of commercial type areas. There were still fans there, but it always seems short there. 8:25, 8:45.

And now the Queensboro Bridge. I remembered it as the "beginning of the end" from last time around. So I slowed down noticeably as I began the long climb up the bridge.

It is freaking long!! I've run this before, and driven over it, but it really seemed a lot longer than I could recall. I was going slower, but still having a tough time. A lot of people stopped to walk and stretch, and I definitely was passing people, but it was tough. 9:38 for this mile.

Mile 17 includes the end of the bridge and the turn into Manhattan. There were some cute signs on the bridge that said "If only ten miles left is easier, then welcome to easier!" Coming off the bridge and turning onto 59th street is so exciting, it's hard to explain. The bridge is so quiet, and all of a sudden you're in Manhattan surrounded by fans (again). Turning onto 1st Avenue you see a wall of fans on both sides of the street practically squeezing onto the road. (They're all held back by barricades, but it seems that way.)

I had some friends waiting by 89th street, so I was really pushing to get to them. I started to feel tired, but I was energized trying to get up to them. (Both Akiva and Sara were there.) 8:33, 8:16, 8:32.

At this point I was at the top of First Avenue, going onto the Willis Avenue Bridge and into the Bronx. Since I live in the Bronx it's exciting to get there, but I was really tiring at this point. I felt like I was pushing just as hard, but my times started to slow down. Mile 20 - 9:05.

At first I thought it was because of the bottleneck trying to get over the bridge, but then mile 21 went by in 8:51. A little better, but I felt as if I was running as hard as I had been for my earlier 8:20 and 8:30 splits.

As I headed back into Manhattan, I was really feeling tired. I knew I could finish, but I was trying to keep up the pace. This is really where the race gets to be mental. I refused to allow myself to stop or slow down. The next few miles went by in 8:54, 8:35, and 8:55. I was just hanging in there.

At this point I was starting to calculate things in my head. Maybe I could get under 3:45. Or better yet, maybe I could get under 3:43:50, and beat my PR by an hour! I started to push hard during mile 25, which was in Central Park. I was passing people left and right and ended up with just an 8:30 mile. I think that just goes to show how tough it is at the end of the race, and how tired everyone is.

Then came mile 26. The last mile. I was still trying to make mental calculations. I was pretty sure beating my PR by an hour was going to be tough, and 3:45 seemed reachable. I talked myself into running full steam - mostly to prove to myself that I could do it.

By then I was really flying past people. I was trying to dodge in and out of people, which I'd been doing all day. With 800m to go I tried to squeeze past this cop, who in their typical arrogant fashion, wouldn't get out of the way. Ow! I smacked into his bullet proof vest, and the loss of speed was enough to cramp up my calf. My first cramp of the day and I was almost finished!

Well guess what. I didn't stop and I don't even think I slowed down. I ran about 400m on what felt like a numb leg, and I remember going past the event photographer like that. I bet it looks like I have a drop foot or something in the picture. I didn't care, I wasn't going to stop. Amazingly, the cramp even disappeared before I got to the end. Ladies and gentleman, mile 26 went by in 7:57.

I sprinted the last 0.2 miles with whatever I had left. I knew my 1 hour goal was gone, but I was just pushing for the sake of racing at this point. I crossed the finish line with (what I later found out to be) a net time of 3:44:17. It the end of the day, it was close enough that I'm telling everyone I beat my old PR by an hour. (What's 27 seconds between friends?)


(For the record, the second half split was 1:53:51. Not quite a negative split, but not too positive either.)

Needless to say I was excited. More to come in the next post...

Before the Marathon

Before running the race there are a lot of annoying things about running the NYC Marathon. First and foremost is getting there. I got up at 4:45 to get there on time - for a 10:10 race!

I took care of my morning routine, and had a coffee with some oatmeal. (I felt like I had just finished the pasta from the night before.) I ended up leaving my house a little before 6.

The information provided by the MTA for runners was completely wrong. It suggested I take the 5 all the way down. Which would have been nice, if the 5 was running that early in the morning. And so instead, it was the shuttle to the 2, and then to the 4, to the ferry. While I was in the Bronx, there wasn't a single other runner on the train. I had jeans on, but I was carrying the big marathon bag. A few people looked at me funny, but I think they mostly had no idea.

As I made it to lower Manhattan, a few more runners got on the train. Most of them seemed to be tourists who were probably staying in Manhattan hotels. It starts to get exciting when you see all the other runners.


I got to the Staten Island Ferry about 7:40, and it left about 7:55. By 8:15 we were in Staten Island, and then we had to wait for the buses. As I suspected, it was too much of a zoo to check who had bought a ticket. My suspicion is that half the people didn't buy a ticket. And so my 20$ was subsidizing all those people. If I do this next year, someone else can subsidize me!


It took a while for the buses. About a half hour. Not that I was in a rush, but even if only 5,000 people bought tickets, that's $100,000 to spend on buses. For a ten minute ride they could have had enough buses so that we weren't waiting.

I finally got to the starting area around 9. It had taken me three hours to get there from the Bronx by bus. (Interestingly, it took me about three hours to get back to the Bronx. By foot!!)


I had hoped to see David and Susan before the race, but it was kind of on the late side, and I didn't want to wander too far to another color start area. I hung out for a bit, and used the bathroom about 5 times. Maybe I was nervous, but every time I went there was something in my bladder. I decided to stop drinking at this point!


Although I had carried a throwaway sweat suit with me, it ended up being warm enough to go without it. I had modified a heavy duty garbage bag into a new type of fashion statement, and I wore that. I had also bought a cheap sweater last week, and I cut off the arms to wear as sleeves. (Got that idea from the elites!) After being nervous about the morning cold, I was pretty comfortable in my getup.



(I checked my bag at this point, and so that was it for my taking pictures.)

While waiting for the race to start, I went over to stage area to listen to the band. There was a band called "Blues BBQ" playing, and they were pretty good. A couple of runners started dancing. I admired their enthusiasm to be swing dancing moments before running a marathon!

Eventually, I headed over to the starting area. There was a lot of construction on the Verrazano this year, and so the green start was done in waves. Which meant that they let about a thousand people start, and then they held up the rest for a minute or so. Then they let another thousand go at a time. What that meant was that the cannon went off and everyone clapped. Then nothing happened. We were all just standing there for 15 minutes. (Actually, a bunch of people went off to the fences for their first pee break!) Eventually we walked up towards the starting area, and by the time we started, the race was over 20 minutes old.

More to come in the next post...

Finished!!

Net time 3:44:17. I'm VERY happy.

Report to follow.

New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19 20 Kilometers 1:43:58 8:21 Half-Marathon 1:50:26 8:25 30 Kilometers 2:38:58 8:31 35 Kilometers 3:06:16 8:33 40 Kilometers 3:33:27 8:35 Finish 4:05:14 9:21

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

You receive alerts because your e-mail address was added to our notification list by a runner or yourself.

New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19 20 Kilometers 1:43:58 8:21 Half-Marathon 1:50:26 8:25 30 Kilometers 2:38:58 8:31 35 Kilometers 3:06:16 8:33 40 Kilometers 3:33:27 8:35

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

You receive alerts because your e-mail address was added to our notification list by a runner or yourself.

New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19 20 Kilometers 1:43:58 8:21 Half-Marathon 1:50:26 8:25 30 Kilometers 2:38:58 8:31 35 Kilometers 3:06:16 8:33

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19 20 Kilometers 1:43:58 8:21 Half-Marathon 1:50:26 8:25 30 Kilometers 2:38:58 8:31

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19 20 Kilometers 1:43:58 8:21 Half-Marathon 1:50:26 8:25

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19 20 Kilometers 1:43:58 8:21

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17 15 Kilometers 1:17:40 8:19

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10 10 Kilometers 0:51:31 8:17

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.

Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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New York Road Runners Alert Notification

Event Information:
Event:	The ING New York City Marathon
Runner:	DANIEL FARKAS
Latest Results:
Location Time Pace/mile 5 Kilometers 0:25:23 8:10

All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

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Sincerely,
New York Road Runners

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Show Time!

Almost time to go. Just having a little breakfast, and getting together the last few details. My back is still a bit sore, but definitely better.

Thanks for all the supportive comments in the last few days. It really means a lot to me.

I believe I signed up this blog to get updates from the marathon every 5K. I went back to check just now, and they've closed out that section of the website. (Pretty annoying, as there was no warning beforehand.) It bothers me not being able to double check. Especially since about 18 people are signed up the google group. Too late (or early!) to do anything about it now.

So this is it. Time to just go out and do it! I'll report back later....

Last training run

Just got back from my last run before the big race. Very exciting. I was supposed to do 3 miles at marathon pace, but ended up running them faster. Pace is definitely going to be an issue for me Sunday.

Speaking of issues, my back is killing me. My roommates moved out on Wednesday and I ended up helping carry some things. I knew it was a bad idea, but it's hard to say no. I didn't feel too bad than, but my right upper back hurts a lot now, and it's difficult to move my right arm well. It was really bothering me when I took a deep breath in, and I even thought about getting a chest x ray to make sure I didn't have pneumonia. But I'm pretty sure that's just crazy paranoia, so I took some motrin, and I hope it will settle down by Sunday.



I went to the expo yesterday to pick up my number. The actual number pickup took 2 minutes. The system worked really well. The rest of the expo sucked.



First of all, they're charging 20 bucks to get you from the ferry to the start of the race. This is a 5 minute bus ride!! I've heard it was free in the past, and that there might be city buses to take you, and that you might even be able to walk it. So I really feel like a sucker. But everyone else was on line, so what the hell. But it is upsetting that a marathon with almost a hundred dollar entry fee, has to charge another twenty bucks to drive you 5 minutes.

In fact, the whole expo was a ripoff. Nothing is cheap at the expo. Asics sponsors the marathon store, and there was no discount. At least I didn't have to waste time shopping. I'll do that some other time, thank you. Even the throwaway gloves I used to buy for 2 bucks, are now 4 dollars. That's 100% increase!


GU, anybody?

Anyway, I'm done with that. The next big challenge is getting to the race. I'm going to take the Staten Island Ferry, and I'll probably take the train there. Once again the sucker feeling comes in here. They tell you that the last opportunity to get on the ferry and bus is the 8:00 ferry. Which means leaving my house before 6:30. My friend took the 9:00 ferry last year, and felt he was too early. He's shooting for the 9:30 ferry this year, so he doesn't have to sit around in the cold. I'm sure he's going to be fine, but I just don't have the guts to do it. So like a sucker I'll be up at 5 or something, so that by the time I start the marathon, I'll already be exhausted!

(All this really makes me want to run smaller races in the future. For both Toronto and New Haven I drove up to the race, parked a few minutes away, and could sit in my car until right before the race.)

Ok, I think that's enough complaining for now. The weather seems like it will hang in there. The forecast is for temperatures in the 50's, though there will be some wind. Somehow, rain has appeared on the Saturday forecast. That's really a shame for the marathon qualifiers (and their fans). I hope it's not too bad.

I did see the medal at the expo, and that was kind of cool. It features the finish. I seem to remember that the past three years featured the beginning, middle, and end. I guess I'll be one short of the whole set. But this year's medal is still pretty cool.



Also, this sign was above the highway on the way home.



Very exciting!