NYRR, We Have A Problem

Last time we checked, 5 boroughs of NY consisted of:  Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island.

http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/2013

Can you find 5-Borough Series: Queens in this race schedule?  Not at this point in time...It’s not even there as a TBD like Brooklyn Half! 

Normally, a missing race isn’t a big deal, since there are plenty of other races to do, but this is a bigger deal because it’s part of NYRR’s signature “5-Borough Series”.  There is a perk to this series, where if you complete 4 out of the 5, you get a coveted guarantee entry into (expensive) NYC Half Marathon.

Did NYRR ditch this deal?  NOPE.  They say so in the race recap of the Manhattan Half that happed this past weekend!  (Fantastic job for braving the cold Gio, Rachana, Linda, Haralampos!!)

Many runners took to the hilly Central Park loop with hopes of completing their first race toward a guaranteed entry to the NYC Half 2014. NYRR members as of January 2013 who keep their membership current through 2013 and complete four of the five races in the series will be eligible for guaranteed entry. (emphasis added)

So did Queens get the short end of the stick?  Did it become the new “forgotten borough”?  Tweets to @NYRR went unanswered as of this post…

BTW:  Manhattan Half had awesome long sleeve tech shirts this year.  Sure is better than a medal!

NYRR Bronx 10 Mile Race Report

Coach Terry:  Do you want to race Bronx?

Me:  No.  I don’t have to race it.

Coach Terry:  OK.

So with 4 weeks to go to Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the weekend long run was scheduled as 18M long run, broken in to 3 parts.  6Ms at 8:30, 10Ms at 8:00 and 2Ms at 8:30 as recovery for Saturday.  Sunday was a Recovery Run of 4M.  hmmm? 

Turns out, I thought “race” meant “go all out, sprint the hell out of it and PR like no other”, while Terry thought “race” meant what it’s supposed to be:  A road race.

Now I don’t mind doing a 18M then a 10M race, but being that I’m susceptible to injuries these days, I had to get Terry’s permission.  Last time I didn’t listen to him I ended up with Shin Splints Round 2.  Well, the answer was an obvious “um.  No.  Can’t do 18M then a 10M.” 

After a bit of back and forth, we settled on 12M on Saturday at 8:30, then 10M on Sunday.  Having no pace direction on Sunday’s race, and Saturday’s 12M being one of the most humid runs ever (I ran before the down pour) I decided that marathon pace of 7:45 will be a good pace for Sunday.

Rabbi, Bobby and Jenny from the Block was at the race.  G-Man was supposed to run, but he had fallen to the Curse of Maharaja.  The weather was almost perfect.  It could’ve been colder, but the 63F weather was a big relief compared to the 90F weathers we’ve been subjected to.

I wished my team mates good race and entered my corral. 

Now.  People.  Please be considerate of other runners and wear deodorant.  If you don’t believe in chemicals and if you are crunchy granola “born-to-run” yoga vegan sandal runner, you can still wear the all-natural rock deodorant.  As soon I enter the corral, pungent smell hits my nose.  And it’s not even a hot day.  Ugh.  I can’t wait for the horn to go off, so that Mr. Sweatypits can leave me in peace.  The race finally starts after some opera-fied rendition of the national anthem that is way too scary for a Sunday morning.  Between the soperano voice and the tart, eye stinging smell, I am in censory overload - and not in a good way! 

When the race starts bunch of people pass me and I try to practice being Zen.  I have to keep my marathon pace so I tell myself it’s all part of marathon training.  “Your time will come…ohmmm”.  Stay clam, Pace yourself, Stay calm, Pace yourself.  I repeat like a mantra.  I’m Japanese, the people that invented Zen.  This Zen crap should come to me like second nature. 

But I suppose years of living in NYC has ruined me.  I’m all Zen’ed out by mile 4.  Something clicks inside my head.   “ZOMG!!! WTF!!!  I’m all FXXKING TIRED OF PEOPLE PASSING ME!!  SCREW ZEN!!!!!”  I’m like that GEICO commercial’s Angry Cyclist on the Brooklyn Bridge.  “YO YO WATCHOUT WATCHOUT!”

I take a hit of performance enhancing substance and decide I’m going to negative split this b!tch.  I catch up to Mr. Sweatypits so I pass him.  He’s more pungent than he was 5 miles ago!  YUM YUM!  I zoom down some hill and zoom back up the stupid hill.  I see the stupid ginger hair dude that pushed me at mile 2, so I push him out of my way on the hill.  I pass some chicks in skorts and cute hair bands.   A nice volunteer at a water station shouts, “YOU GO 1570!!!”  I give him a salute for some reason as I pass more dudes.  And before I know it, I’ve finished the race.   Heh.  I felt like I could do another round after getting my medal, so I guess that’s good sign. 

Strangely, I didn’t see any Frontrunner Queens near me.  Maybe Bronx aint their style?  Although post race, one sat down next to me and watched me stretch badly.  He looked like he wanted to ask questions, maybe he had proper stretching suggestions...?

Overall, I had a good run with decent numbers even though I didn’t try all that hard. 

Coming This Weekend:  20M. 

Coming Next Weekend:  23M. 

AND…more on Curse of Maharaja next week!

Scotland 10K Runner Needed!

We are currently recruiting fun, fierce, fabulous male runners of all ages! 
We need more fearless men to run the Scotland 10K on April 7th. 
It's Club Points race, and we need 1 more dude to make this happen for us.

If you know somebody that would like to join us, please let Chris know.  He says he'll waive the beauty requirement just this once.