Races Like a Girl

Yesterday we ran in the Rockland Road Runners Turkey Trot 5 Miler in Congers, NY. The weather was so bad that it was comical. And the best part? Over 900 people showed up to slog through driving rain, high winds and a wind chill below freezing.

Yesterday’s race really made me appreciate whoever invented Gore-Tex. And I learned the difference between water “resistant” and water “proof.”

I wore my Gore-Tex rain pants, a Gore-Tex baseball cap and my Gore-Tex shoes. Since I don’t like my Gore-Tex rain jacket (it’s way too big and has no vents), I opted instead to wear a new jacket I bought recently. I didn’t know when I bought it if it was “resistant” or “proof.” Within about 4 minues of the race, I had my answer. 🙂 I was soaked to the bone, through three layers of jacket, midlayer and tech tee…down to the bra.

Fortunately, I brought a change of clothes, and since the windows of the car were completely steamed up, I could change in complete privacy.

Runners really are nuts. Why else would we elect to get up at 6:00AM on Thanksgiving to run in the rain, wind and cold? And pay to do so?

No age awards, but I did run a 41:09 race, which sort of amazed me given the conditions. 11th in my group, out of 49, so I’m still holding onto my usual goal of being in the top 20% (give or take) in larger races. And I again ran evenish splits, with faster ones toward the finish. Hoozah.

Oh, and I spotted a sodden Elvis impersonator standing along the side of the course in the last mile, cheering (and I use the term loosely) us on, and trying to drum up business.

I came home and ate a heaping plate of turkey and the usual Thanksgiving fare, guilt free (no pumpkin pie, though), along with copious amounts of Chardonnay. Then collapsed early. Today is a 10 mile recovery run. Naturally, the weather is perfect today! Then tomorrow off (for errands, a movie and some rest for my legs) — and then hiking (probably over to Rockland again) on Sunday.

I’ve also been tweaking my marathon training plan. I realized that I had too many very long runs scheduled too close to the event, so I cut those down. I also added in some longish “marathon pace” runs. But the training is going well. I’m out of my mileage building phase (up from 30 to 45+ MPW) and now in the speed phase, with some progressively longer runs also happening. No problems so far, knock wood.

The other big news is that we’ll be doing the Sedona Half Marathon in February. We’ll be visiting family there, with the trip capped by the race. I’m excited not only to visit family (in a beatiful place to boot), but to also get the hell out of the NY winter weather for a bit and to get a gauge of how the training is going. The half is about six weeks before the marathon. Of course, if it turns out the training hasn’t gone as well as I’d thought, it will be too late to do much about it. But at least I can adjust my expectations for March accordingly.

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I ran in the first of two turkey trots this week: the Mamaroneck Turkey Trot 5 Miler. And, I’m happy to report, it was (relatively speaking) my best race ever. I’m told the clock said 39:57. Since my goal was “under 40,” I’m quite happy with that.

Which just goes to show you that race times are unpredictable. I had three “problems” going into this race:
1. My left shin was hurting a bit during warmup. It bothered me quite a bit during yesterday’s easy 4 mile run, although I ran a fast 9 miles on Friday morning with no pain whatsoever. Go figure.
2. My watch was malfunctioning. The distance calculations were way, way off, so I had no idea what my real pace was.
3. The wind it was a blowin’. Right in my face for two of the five miles. Sometimes I had a small hills to go along with the brisk headwind. Whee!

And yet, I had my best race time — in a race I’d decided while standing at the start line that I shouldn’t get my hopes up for.

The best part of the race is that I’m getting a sense of how much speed endurance the last five weeks of easy running has helped to build. I’ve built my mileage up from 30 to 45 miles per week in that time, and my pace has increased on easy runs, helped by the fact that I’ve been finishing some of them a marathon pace for the last couple of miles. I was running a fast pace (for me) in today’s race — 7:59 — and my last two miles were much quicker than my first three.

Jonathan won 2nd in his age group (he always seems shocked by this) — a lovely silver-plated memo-pad holder — and the awards ceremony was fun to watch. It was a well-organized race and I’ll probably do it again next year.

Next turkey: the Rockland Road Runners 15th Annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5 Miler.

And after that, the 14 pounder thawing in the fridge downstairs.

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I never gave a hoot about the ING NYC Marathon until last year, which was just after my first race ever in October. Suddenly, watching other people run for two+ hours was interesting. But I didn’t follow racing then, so had no idea who the people running were.

This year’s different. Our house is abuzz with excitement this morning (or, at least, as abuzz with excitement as a two person household can be at 7:30AM on a Sunday), as we await the start of televised coverage of the 2006 event. There are so many great runners in it this year that’s it’s truly impossible to predict who will win.

Apparently Deena Kastor is plastered across every bus and subway in the city right now. I’m wondering if she gets a USA win (and/or Meb Keflezighi — or Alan Culpepper, or Katie McGregor for that matter) if that will boost interest in (and television coverage) of the bigger marathons. I would loved to lie on the couch and watch the Boston or Chicago marathons, for example. But, alas, I would need couches in those cities to do so.

As for our own, considerably less spectacular efforts…

We took a couple of hours yesterday to drive up to Rockland State Park to check out the course for a 5 mile “turkey trot” we’re doing on Thanksgiving. We just did an easy run around the course so we’d know what to expect.

It’s in the same park where I ran my best 10K time in the spring, although the course is different for the first 1.75 miles — lots of hills, some of them quite long, on local streets, then flattening out when you enter the park and run around a lake. It’s also a huge race, relatively speaking: there were over 1,000 people running it last year.

Given the hills, I don’t think it’ll be my best race. But it should be enough to work off some of the pumpkin bread I plan to make.

We noticed another race on the Westchester Track Club calendar…a 5K/10K race in Hastings on November 19. Might do that one too, as Hastings is quite hilly and a 10K would be a good early hill workout equivalent.

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Well, I learned the hard way over the past week or so that too much racing can cause some problems — at least on the left side of my body below the knee. I ran three races in a row over three Sundays: the Westchester Half Marathon, the Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger 10K and the Mystic Country 10 Miler.

The good news is that the 10 miler was my best race ever, in terms of relative performance. I finished in 1:24:04, and my goal time was 1:24:40. I wish I could have made it to the finish line just five seconds faster, but such is life. But that put me in the top 20% in my gender/age group, which has become a goal of sorts for larger races.

The bad news is that on my first few runs after that last race, I suffered bad pain under my left arch and along the ankle up to the front of my left shin. Yes, I managed to screw myself up.

But I’ve run for almost seven years with no injuries, and I didn’t want this to be the first. So I took some days off and did some very easy running when I got back to it. I did a seven mile run yesterday and the pain is almost gone. Yay.

I vow to stretch more often from now on. Early New Year’s resolution.

As for the Mystic Country race, it was a good experience. There was also a marathon race, which some elite runners won (people from Eastern Europe and Kenya, mostly). Enthusiastic spectators in some bits and well-staffed water tables. The course was 95% flat, the wind at about 4MPH. I ran a steady pace of around 8:28 throughout and picked it in the last two miles, running around 8:20 and then kicking it in the last quarter mile to the finish.

The post-race refreshments were outstanding: clam chowder, fresh bread and Krispy Kreme donuts! I haven’t had a donut since my fat days. I suppose one every few years is fine, especially after hoofing it 10 miles at (for me) high speeds.

And they gave out nice long-sleeved race tees with a simple logo on the left breast, sponsor “NASCAR” area on the back. I can actually wear this one!

And there’s a strange pleasure in getting up at 5:30AM on a Sunday and driving two hours to run in a race.

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Don’t mind me. I’m sure she’s a very nice woman. But she came in 23 seconds ahead of me this morning, and as a result took home what would have been my cheap plastic (actually, cheap metal) trophy (plaque, actually) for my gender/age group. Third place.

The race was the Harry Chapin Memorial Run Against Hunger in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. And what a race! Very challenging — big, long hills. And very scenic, with a run over the Croton Dam itself and lots of winding roads and quiet suburban streets.

The race starts with a brutal uphill (which you get to go downhill for the finish), followed by slight uphill. Then more uphill. Then, around mile 4.25 it veers sharply downhill and you fly for about a mile or so. Then another half mile uphill, then down the formerly brutal uphill to the finish.

There were probably around 250 or so runners, and it was a beautiful day for a race. Sunny and dry in the mid-60s. The race is in its 26th year and is very well-organized. Although they need to start bundling the raffle prizes. They began raffling off what seemed like the start of a hundred prizes. Around prize number 30 they decided to give out the trophies since people were both freezing and leaving.

That’s when that bitch stole my trophy.

Oh, well. I’m very happy with my finishing time: 53:07. Next year I’ll be back for my stinking trophy.

Fun Fact: A zillion years ago when I worked in book publishing, I used to work with Harry Chapin’s mother.

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Okay, I’m now a true believer in the value of training. I shaved 5:31 off my late April half marathon time, and this was a harder course. I won’t know the official chip time until tomorrow, but my watch has my finishing time as 1:54:07. The best part? I finally ran a race with a negative split. “Don’t go out too fast” has at last sunk in. And I don’t feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. This is progress. The real test will see if I walk down the stairs like a robot tomorrow.

It was a fun marathon to run, primarily because the course is one I drive often (the Bronx River Parkway), with the turnaround point at the bottom of our street. (We could have charged people to use our lovely bathroom!) So it was fun to see it from a new perspective. Also, I enjoyed running past the big board that gives your traveling speed. When I approached it, it said “Your Speed: 06”. That gave me a laugh.

The weather was near-perfect (in the 50s, with very little wind), and there were plenty of water tables (which I heard was a problem last year). Very few spectators, and one band. One very bad band. But their enthusiasm made up for a lack of talent.

The ratio of half marathon participants to full marathon participants was around 4 to 1. I have a theory that so few people run the full marathon because it’s only a month before the New York City marathon, during a time when I presume runners in that race are starting the tapering phase of their training. Since the marathan course was doing the half marathon loop twice — and it started half an hour before the half mary — I passed lots of marathoners (or saw them coming the other way on their second loop as I neared the end of the course) and wondered how odd that must feel. Or maybe this is how lots of combined races work.

I’m hoping to place in the top 10 percent of my age/gender group. And I plan to do the full marathon portion of this event next year, so I guess I’ll find out for myself how it will feel to be passed by a bunch of half marathon runners so early in the race.

I’m feeling quite pleased with myself, and celebrating with wine, smoked salmon and a lovely pot roast this evening. Recovery food, you know.

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Today I ran in the South Nyack 10 Mile Race in Rockland County, New York. It was an interesting race, but a tough one.

My goal had been 1:25:00, but I came in at 1:27:05, and felt like horking afterwards, which I usually don’t. That may have been due to racing against some other woman for the last quarter mile. I couldn’t hold her pace (7:15), so she beat me. Oh, well. I came in #177 out of 450-odd people (no results online yet), so I’m still pleased.

It was cool enough (in the mid-60s), and I should have been able to make 1:25, but I have a feeling some environmental aspects of the race conspired against me. I say this because everyone around me seemed to get fatigued between mile 6 and 7. The race started in South Nyack in a local park, ran under the NY Thruway/entrance to Tappan Zee, and south along the Hudson river — and back. Mile 4-6 was a run out along a mile-long pier jutting into the river, which was very scenic (and very windy).

I was flying during the first half, and then the second half was a chore. My pace was 45 seconds slower. I have a feeling there was a very slight incline, which is tough to deal with over several miles. Also a brisk headwind in some spots. And the end of the race featured a little steep hill (200 yards?) followed by a very long steep hill. I could hear other runners groan when it came into view. But I used my trick of breaking it up into little goals (“My next goal is that blue mailbox…”), which helps me deal with it mentally.

So, I blew my goal time, but I’ve got a boatload of excuses. 🙂

But I got some free ice cream, half a banana and a whole bunch of water. And we picked up our racing numbers yesterday at a ravioli shop, race sponsor Gracie’s Ravioli, where we bought some homemade meat and cheese ravioli. That made an excellent carbo-loaded pre-race meal last night.

And I had a bonus celebrity sighting at the post-run awards ceremony and raffle — Rosie O’Donnell, South Nyack resident, with her gaggle of kids. She didn’t run the race, but she was taking lots of pictures.

Even though it’s still summer, I’m marking this race as the start of fall racing season. Yay!

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