Sunday was my first 20M long run this “season”, and it went relatively well. Slower start with a stronger, faster finish. But enough about myself. Let’s talk about what we saw on the road in Central Park this Sunday!
Mr. Tom Has A Favorite Shirt: For a while, every time Mr. Tom ran, his go-to shirt was his Philadelphia Half Marathon shirt. You know the one! It’s dark navy with the stars and stripes. If you saw that shirt, it was Mr. Tom. Then when summer rolled around his favorite shirt turned into the Brooklyn Half Marathon T-shirt. He’s worn it to class, speedwork, to long runs. If we didn’t have a AODF uniform for him, I’m sure he’d wear to all his races too! Thank goodness he seems to have a good, functioning laundry washer. He never stinks.
But Other People Did: Now running in a pack of 15-20 people on a long run in the summer is awful. You can’t breathe. The temperature around you is at least 5 degrees higher in the pack. But you say to yourself, “I better get used to pack running because in a marathon, I’m going to be in one giant pack!”…but girl…the smell, the smell!!! Anyone that has ran the NYC Marathon will tell you that one purveying scent throughout the race is the funk of 50,000 human bodies. While this past Sunday’s temperature was a much more tolerable low 70s, it was still plenty warm enough and we were graced with “that guy”. You know, that one dude that forgot to wear deodorant in the morning. (It wasn’t Mr. Tom) If you were wondering why I broke ahead of the crowd…well, I needed air and wanted to get away from Sir Funky.
NYC Marathon & the Funk: OK, so now we’re talking NYC Marathon, my biggest pet peeve last year was the lack of deodorant wearing people. I aint saying where they came from, but let’s say they put the le pew in Pepe le Pew! But not all were human made…or at least I hoped so. At one point in Brooklyn and another along First Avenue beyond 100th Street, I had encountered a poo-like smell. I was horrified thinking one of the Pepe le Pews had leakage!! It wasn’t until the following week, while running in Central Park that I realized that the poo-like smell wasn’t from Pepe, but was from a Ginko Tree. So folks, if you encounter poo smell during your fall marathons, check to see if there is a Ginko Tree nearby. If NOT, then it’s definitely poo – so watch your step!
Enough with the stinky. Let’s talk fashion: Seen on the long run course this Sunday was a leopard print skort with leopard print headband. Carefully matched with neon pink Zensha leg warmers and top. I’m going to leave it at that.
Headphones: I’m not like some old fashioned coach so I’m not condemning these. I do believe music brings your spirits up and it might be helpful for your cadence. Hey, if “Eye of the Tiger” is going to help you push through mile 18, be my guest. BUT. BUT. BUT. Don’t sing off key out loud. Don’t get so into your music that you become oblivious to your surroundings. Because dude, I will shoulder check you down. I watch enough NHL - I know how to do it.
Finally, seen at 102nd Transverse was Coach Alem: He false started my pace group and got in trouble with the NY Flyer lady who was non-too pleased. “WHY ARE YOU SENDING THEM OUT?!” awwww It’s OK. My pace group broke apart for the last loop and everybody did 30 seconds faster than they were supposed to anyways.
Fun Weekend!