A Trip to Washington DC for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (April 1st to 3rd, 2017)

by Papa Bear

The Lincoln Memorial across the Reflecting Pool

Back to 1990

My

first Cherry Blossom 10 Miler was in 1990 when there were a couple of thousand runners and a very informal organization. I don't remember if the starter said "go" or there was a horn, but it was typical of the good old days. This year there were over 17,000 participants and like a lot of races nowadays it was highly sponsored, well marketed and well organized. There were a number of corrals (something unheard of in 1990), and I think the announcer said that my corral had it's own sponsor — "The Orange Corral, sponsored by so-and-so, will be starting in two minutes". But you know what? I loved the race in 1990, and I still love it today although my pace has slowed about 3 minutes a mile. Ouch!

For the last several years my friend and running partner Susan and I had registered as a "group" so in the lottery we would both get in or both lose out. You have to apply for the lottery in December, so you do it on "spec", hoping you'll be ready and able to run the race. I was a bit under-trained when April came around, but Susan had sustained a knee injury about 3 weeks before. But she soldiered on and figured she'd just do the best she could.

Besides, we don't go only for the race — there's lots of sights and scenes in Washington, including good (but affordable) restaurants, museums, historic sights and even the ballet at the Kennedy Center (yes we went: The Little Mermaid, sad but beautifully done). And we always try to do it on the cheap: bolt Bus ($35 round Trip) and staying in the HI Washington D.C. Hostel ($43 per night).

Saturday

We took the 7:30 Bolt Bus and got to Washington around noon. We then took the "DC Circulator" bus to the Hostel ($1), dropped off our stuff and tried (but failed) to get dinner reservations at Capitol City Brewing, a favorite of ours (we tried again on Sunday night and got in with no waiting — everyone had left town!). So we walked to pick up our race packets at the National Building Museum (a beautiful structure inside and out) which was the race head quarters.

From there we walked down to the Mall and checked out the United States Botanic Garden, new to me and quite lovely — but not a match for our own NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

We then trudged back up the hill to one our favorite restaurants: Busboys and Poets, a must for you if you should visit Washington. To quote from their website: "The name Busboys and Poets refers to American poet Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1920s, prior to gaining recognition as a poet." It is more than an eating place, it is a performance space and venue for many progressive happenings and is devoted the ideal of an egalitarian and inclusive community.

So, we had a long bus ride from New York, did quite a bit of walking, picked up our race packets, visited the Botanic Garden and enjoyed an excellent meal at a unique restaurant — AND — we had a 10 Mile Race to run early the next morning. The best thing to do would be to get back to the Hostel and to retire early to bed, yes?

No! Susan had bought tickets to a ballet (The Little Mermaid) at the Kennedy Center, way out on the west side of town and it started at 8:00 that night and we didn't know how to get there. So we got back to the Hostel, changed into our going-to-the-Kennedy-Center clothes and waited for a bus. It didn't come for 10 - 15 minutes, so we gave up and took a cab. Hey it's like a vacation, it's OK to take a cab!

The Kennedy Center

We greatly enjoyed the whole experience, even though it's a dark tale. It was brilliantly danced by the troupe and although I thought I would fall asleep and was tempted to go home (and to bed) at the intermission, we stayed till the end and enjoyed the beautiful ending. We "ran today's race" from New York to the Kennedy Center and finished very satisfied (and took another cab home). Would we could do it again Sunday in the 10 miler!

Sunday Morning

 

The Start of the Orange Corral

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
Mile	Split
1	10:41
2	10:21
3	10:21
4	10:21
5	10:25
6	10:22
7	10:17
8	10:20
9	10:08
10	9:59
Finish	1:43:15
Pace	10:20

I met Susan about 6:45 in the kitchen/dining room. Breakfast was not officially served till 7:00 but we could at least get some coffee which is available at all hours. John, the manager of the kitchen, was setting up. We had chatted with him on Saturday and he knew us from previous years and had actually fetched some food for us (an apple and a muffin).

The elites didn't start till 7:30, so we back-of-the packers had plenty of time. My corral didn't start till about 7:45 and Susan planned to get at the very back of the pack, so her cut off to get down to the race start was 8:00 or something like that. I said good bye and started out about 7:20 and made it down in plenty of time to squeeze into the Orange corral. This group was expected to run somewhere in the 10 to 11 minutes per mile range so I was in the right place. (I looked up my 1990 race results and I had run that race at a 7:25 pace. Wow! What a difference 27 years can make!) I knew I was under-trained but I wanted to do as well as I could anyway. I recalled the Cherry Tree race in Prospect Park in mid February where I really died in the last 3 miles, and hoped that that would not happen here. Besides this was a flat course as opposed to Prospect Park which is very far from flat.
I got a good start (the wave starts work well) and ran cautiously the first mile and then picked it up a bit. It turns out my first mile was my slowest, no doubt due to the crowds, but my last mile was the fastest. Check the splits in the table on the right.

Two things surprised me in a very positive way: I never felt like I was running out of steam as the miles went by, and my right forefoot never felt numb. This latter was very welcome since I have lived with this problem for over 5 years and had learned just to put up with it.

The course was lovely, but the few cherry blossoms we encountered looked past their prime. The weather also cooperated with temperatures in the 40°s at the start and in the 50°s at the finish. And there were no howling winds like last year. And although we tried to forget politics for the weekend in this "seat of the government", we all got a chuckle from one hand lettered sign: "You run better than the government".

I had some strength left the last mile or two, and pushed as much as I could and they were the fastest two miles for the race. The finish line photo on the right certainly shows this.

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
	Split	Pace
1st Third	34:51	10:27
2nd Third	34:33	10:22
3rd Third	33:53	10:10
Finish	1:43:15	10:20

Cherry Tree 10 Miler
	Split	Pace
1st Third	32:59	9:53
2nd Third	34:15	10:20
3rd Third	36:13	10:53
Finish	1:43:28	10:21

Well, how did I do compared to the Prospect Park race? The two tables (on the left, this race, on the right, that race) tell the story very well. Although the finishing times were close, the splits show a dramatically different story: in the Prospect Park race I had strongly positive splits (getting slower: 9:53, 10:20, 10:53) and this race I had negative splits (getting faster: 10:27, 10:22, 10:20). I was very happy with that and it encouraged me to train a bit more, especially by doing longer weekly runs to get some increased endurance and further improve my times.

Papa Bear at the Finish

I climbed the hill back to the Hostel and after cleaning up and recovering a bit, I met up with Susan and we had a bite to eat and planned for our afternoon: we would visit the new African American Museum.

Sunday Afternoon

The new African American Museum in Washington opened in late September 2016. The attendance was so overwhelming that they had to introduce "timed entry passes" which you could get on-line for future dates. At the time when we registered for the Cherry Blossom and received our lottery acceptances (December 12th), they were "sold out" for every day till March and their web site said they would not be opening it up for April, May and June till "to be announced".

Susan and I agreed we should really try for these passes and decided the afternoon of race day would be the best. So we checked the web site every day and finally in late December they announced the passes would be available on-line starting on January 4th. So we both logged in at 9:00 on January 4th and agreed who ever got through first would text the other. We figured since this was the first weekend of the new batch of timed entries and the weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival to boot, that the demand would be high. Well, I won our own little lottery and I got two passes for us for 2:45 on April 2nd, race day.

Now, back to race day, we were a little "itchy" when afternoon came around so we went down to check out the National Gallery (just a bit east of the African American Museum) first. There were interesting archival photos and period furniture but we managed to lose each other and cell reception was poor. Well, all's well that ends well, and we did find each other and walked along the mall in the warm sunny April afternoon and got to our destination about 15 minutes early. A line was already forming up for the next "wave start", so I asked a security guard if we should get in the line (thinking it might be the 2:30 wave) but she just let us skip the line and go right in. And there we were.

The African American Museum

The building which is shown above, although it appears to be rather large, is actually much larger. When we went in and looked at the guide pamphlet, we saw that there were three floors below ground level showing the history of the Black experience in North America from the beginning of the slave trade in the 16th century up to the present. And the three floors above showed African American art and artifice. So we figured we'd take the elevator down and check out the history first, and then explore the upper floors.

Well, it didn't work out that way. First off there were large crowds everywhere and we took our time and looked carefully at everything. We knew we may not make it back here for some time. As for the narrative shown in the history floors, which included historical articles, quotations from early leaders, both African and American, they showed every detail of that terrible period.

The narrative took us step by painful step from the start of the slave trade in the mid 16th century, where European traders found there was more profit in shipping a human cargo of slaves to North and South America than engaging in the trading of goods, though the colonization of the New World and the establishment of the U.S. — which at the time was highly dependent on slave labor in both the southern and northern states — through numerous slave uprising, which were brutally suppressed, through the abolitionists movement in the 18th and 19th centuries which fostered the "Underground Railroad", through the Civil War, the "Jim Crow" period, the "Great Migration", the Civil Rights Act and and up though the present day.

I'm sorry but I can't verbalize all I saw — it was just too powerful and moving. We were shaken. When we got back to the ground floor it was almost 5:00 and we had to leave. We vowed we would come back to visit what we had missed. If you go, try to pick a time when there would be less crowds and allow plenty of time. You may need two visits since you'll need time to digest what you've seen, which I'm sill doing.

Monday

We had tickets for the 12:00 noon Bolt bus back to New York City. So over breakfast, we figured we needed to leave the Hostel by 11:00 or at the latest 11:15 to make the bus. That would give us a couple of hours to check out the west end of the mall, in particular the Vietnam War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and some adjacent areas. Monday was by far the nicest day, weather-wise, so we both went up, packed our stuff up and met in the lobby for a nice Sunday morning walk.

Beautiful Row Houses at Lafayette Square

We walked down and along the beautiful row houses along the west side of Lafayette Square (which were saved from development by none other that First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962 among others — see this), past the White House and down 17th Street to the Mall just west of the Washington Monument. It was totally cleaned up and you would never know there were 17,000+ runners here just one day before.

We had both seen this area numerous time but it's always an inspiration to visit. The Lincoln Memorial seen over the reflecting pool is just a marvel. I love that picture above with the clouds streaking up at an angle from the Memorial with the building and clouds reflected in the pool. We split up on the way back but this relatively long walk for a small number of objectives was well worth it.

We both managed to get everything down from our rooms, checked out and took a few minutes to relax. Then we left the Hostel and got the "Circulator" bus on time at 11:20. Unfortunately it didn't stay on time and we were held up by a construction project about half way to the station. So we got out of the bus with our luggage and walked the rest of the way to Union Station and got there with about 10 minutes to spare. And since we both had "Group A" tickets, we were first on the bus. About 4 and a half hours later we were in New York, and I was home about 45 minutes after that. It was a wonderful weekend!

This post is adapted from Papa Bear's blog  
Beyond Central Park 

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Looking Back at 2016

Looking Back at 2016
by Papa Bear 

Awards: a Carrot Cake in the VCTC UEC / a Pyramid of NYCRuns 5K awards / a Carrot Muffin in a VCTC XC 5K

If you look at the awards I won during 2016 (triptych above), you might think I did nothing but run races and win awards. That would be a mistake, since I was actually quite busy with other pursuits. And even though I was happy to win awards, truth be told, there is little competition in the 70+ age group to which I belong. At some races I was the only one. And as you might guess, this sport gets tougher and tougher as the years go by and I am happy to just be out there just giving it my best efforts. The races keep me honest and my goal is to not slow down. And by most measure I was getting about the same times at the end of the year as at the start.

Dorothy and Scarecrow

But even when I ran races and won some age group awards, the two pictures here (Dorothy and the Scarecrow left, and me and my daughter in those hoodies, right, below) mean more to me than all those awards. You can see we were Just Plain Having Fun.

Me  and Suzy in Hoodies

Yes, racing is hard work, but it's fun when you meet up with friends and family and just enjoy yourself.

And by the way, both of these photos depict prizes: best costume award for Heidi and me, and a couple of chance lottery prizes for Suzy, my daughter, and myself.

When I'm just running—not racing—I go easy. And many of those "easy" runs are with friends to destinations, sometimes to brunch and sometimes to a park or other lovely place. Among others, this year have I run to the NY Botanical Garden, The historic 1848 High Bridge, the Cloisters, the Morris Jumel Mansion and more.

Bottom line: Yes, I won a number of age group awards, I more-or-less kept my fitness level intact, but most importantly, I had fun with my running in 2016. You can't do much better than that!

But Speaking of "Destination Runs", here's a story of a run I did with my friend Susan a little over a week before the New Year:

December 19th: A Cold Run to the Cloisters

On December 19th, the day before the Winter solstice, Susan and I met at about 10:30 AM to run from Central Park up to the Cloisters, a distance of about 7 miles. 7 miles not enough for you?  No problem, loop to your heart's content in Central Park before you head north.

It was sunny but the temperatures were in the mid to upper 20°s. Cold, in other words. We fooled with our layers and finally got warm enough for running, but we just couldn't stop, or we'd really feel it. A note on the pictures: I didn't take any photos till we got to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters — it was too cold to take out my camera during the run. So the text doesn't catch up with the photos till around the 4th paragraph.

Full Route Map

We took the straight route, mostly along the long diagonal of St. Nicholas Avenue. No, we were not trying to hit any of the parks today. We did veer up to Convent Avenue at 141st Street to check out the lovely town houses in Hamilton Heights but got back to St. Nicholas about 152rd where it catches up to Convent. Then when we got to 154th a few minutes later, Susan said "What's that park over there?" I said "Let's check it out" and we soon found ourselves on Amsterdam Avenue, opposite Trinity Cemetery, which was the "Park" we had found.

These zig-zags didn't materially affect our route since we kept heading north and we eventually had to get to the west anyway. By 162nd Street St. Nicholas caught up to us again, so we left Amsterdam and resumed the diagonal route north and westward on St. Nicholas. Finally at 169th we reached Broadway where it exchanges its heading with St. Nicholas so we headed along Broadway which now took up the diagonal. If this sounds confusing, look at the full route map (click on the map caption) and you'll "get it".

Fort Tryon Park

We knew we had to move one more block west to get on Fort Washington Avenue, but it didn't much matter when we made the switch so we chose 174th because it looked like a nice street. Now we had about one more mile on Fort Washington Ave. plus Fort Tryon Park, a lovely northern Manhattan oasis, to get to the Cloisters. And here it was when I got out my camera taking shots in the park and inside the Cloisters.

"What's the Cloisters?" you ask? Well, if you have to ask, it

View of the Cloisters From the Park

means you have never been there, and you should drop everything and go there, like NOW! You'll find an old building made up of pieces of much older structures — mostly parts of churches and assorted artifacts — from medieval Europe, which I believe were mostly stolen, oops, I mean collected by John D. Rockefeller. The park land and the

Unicorn Tapestry

Cloisters were later donated to the city. It's actually a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of art and is one of the hidden gems of Manhattan and well worth the run (or bus ride if you like) to get there. 

I'll let the pictures tell the tale, so here is a link to a slideshow of the photos starting at the entrance to Fort Tryon Park, going up to the Cloisters and then exploring some of the areas within: Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters.   << Don't skip this slideshow: there's some gorgeous pictures.


After spending about an hour at the Cloisters, we braved the cold again and walked as quickly as we could down the park road to Dyckman Street, thence to Broadway, and finding no suitable alternative, made our way to our favorite eating place in this neck of the woods, Indian Road Café, the "Last Café on the Only Road" in Manhattan.

Better Than Truffles

Luckily they were open for business even though it was after 3:00 PM on a Tuesday and there were very few other customers. But the food was as good as ever — we both ordered Mac & Cheese with lobster and truffles. Yum! But where were the truffles? Of course, we both ordered cold ones as well — those were better than the missing truffles, for sure!

That's all for now folks, but take my advice: run for fun in 2017, and run to nice places!

Papa Bear 

This post is adapted from Papa Bear's recent posts on his blog:
Running and Stuff for 2016

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Advice from Papa Bear

Papa Bear (aka Richard G.) wrote these tidbits of wisdom (and occasional humor) for the New York Flyers monthly Newsletter during the year 2000. Over the years they have maintained their relevance to today's running scene. As the saying goes, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."  Pay special attention to the last 3 months' advice below; this is where we are in the calendar today.  You may find these particular bits of advice relevant to the marathon very helpful.

They were originally published month by month.  Yes, the Newsletter was published every month and mailed (snail-mailed, not emailed) to the membership back then.  Now that, give today's myriad of communications channels, has certainly changed.

January: Cold Weather Running

Papa Bear says: use the 20 degree rule in cold weather - dress as if the temperature is 20 degrees warmer than the thermometer shows.  So if it's 30 out, dress for 50 degree temperatures. If there's wind, use the wind-chill factor instead of the temperature and then add 20 (and remember to wear a windbreaker).

February: A Four Mile Race

This month's points race is the Snowflake 4 Miler on Feb. 26th. Note: this was in 2000.  Next February the corresponding race is the February 27th 2017 Al Gordon 4 Miler. Here's the link: NYRR Al Gordon 4 Miler

Papa Bear says: to run this race you must know the miles. To know the miles you must know their names.
And the name of the first mile is EXHILARATION.
And the name of the second mile is DISTRACTION.
And the name of the third mile is DOUBT.
And the name of the fourth mile is PAIN.
When you know these names you will know the miles. When you know the miles you can run the race.

March: Wet running shoes

Papa Bear says: When you get home from a wet workout, stuff crumpled up newspaper into your running shoes. If they are really really wet, change the newspaper before going to bed. Works like a charm and doesn't destroy your shoes like a hot radiator.

Special hint: take the shoes off before stuffing the newspaper in.

April: Rounding

Papa Bear says: When training, we round our training mileage UP. So naturally 5.7 miles becomes 6 miles in your running log. When racing, we round our finishing times DOWN. So when asked our time after a 3:10:57 marathon we say 3:10, or to be really brazen to non-runner friends we might say "three hours and change". Note how useful the expression "and change" is, use it often.

May: Rest

Papa Bear says: as you get on in years, consider taking an extra day (or 2) off each week. The extra rest may actually improve your performance. Rearrange your mileage into longer runs with more days off in between. Papa Bear has trained just 4 days a week since 1995, during which time he has run 6 marathons and qualified for Boston twice. Rest works! Try it.  

Note: now in 2016, Papa Bear still follows this schedule and you can add 3 more Bostons to that total.

June: Bathrooms

Papa Bear says: if the race starts in 15 minutes and the port-o-san line is 20 minutes long, what to do? GO SOUTH about a half-mile, past Cleopatra's Needle to the traffic light at the top of Cat Hill; turn right on the maintenance road at the light. Bathrooms are in the maintenance building about 100 feet in from the road.
Or GO NORTH about a half mile along the reservoir track, past the stone pump house; go over the arched foot bridge and follow the walkway down to the tennis house. I have always found these facilities clean and safe. Besides you get a nice extra pre-race warm-up.

July: Hot Weather Hydration

Papa Bear says: now that the weather is hot and humid and we must increase those long runs, here's a trick to stay cool and well hydrated. Take a half-full quart container of Gatorade (or your favorite sports drink) and put it on its side in your freezer the night before your long run. In the morning it will be frozen. Fill the empty space with cold water and put it in a plastic bag. Hide it in the park where you will pass by every loop. Each time around take a drink - more and more of the liquid will be melted. It should stay cold for at least 3 loops.

August: Long Run Pacing - your U.T.

Papa Bear says: It's long run season and long runs cause soreness or injury for two reasons: 1) you run too fast, and 2) you get dehydrated. In both cases you break down your muscles and delay recovery. Papa bear says to avoid these problems, run your long runs under your U.T. (Urination Threshold). If you aren't making a pit stop every 5 miles or so, you're running too fast or you're drinking too little, or both. Slow down and drink up!

September: The Bridle Path

Papa Bear says: as you increase your mileage training for the marathon, your legs take a beating, especially you ankles, knees and hips. Give them a break - get off the pavement and run on the Central Park Bridle Path whenever you can. You can run about 2/3 of the way around the Park on this path and your legs will thank you. As an added benefit you will likely see Giorgio in his multi-colored running clothes!

October: Marathon Hydration

Papa Bear says: One of the most important ingredients for a successful marathon, and one that is easy to get right is hydration. 1) The last 3 days before the race, keep absolutely full of water: every time you "go", follow it up with another drink. 2) Race day: drink until about 30 minutes before the race, then STOP. Empty your bladder one last time as close as possible to the gun. 3) After the gun, take a small bottle of water with you and sip from it frequently for the first couple of miles, then throw it away. Skip the crowds at the first water stop, but drink at all the other water stops. If you are running at your proper pace, you shouldn't need any pit stops during the race.

 November: A Great Marathon

Papa Bear says: Those of you who have just had the experience of doing a great marathon, and hopefully you all eventually will, where all your training and other factors have paid off, will know this advice already:
A perfect day and a well executed training plan do not allow you to run easier - they allow you to run harder!

 December: Recovery

Papa Bear says: Now that you have finished your big race it's time to recover. Spend your time in the pool, hiking, skiing, partying and socializing. No hard running workouts or races for several months. Your body needs a break. You'll do better in the spring if you take one.

  

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Looking Back At the Long Hot Summer

by 

Papa Bear 

If you take a look at the title picture of this post (above) you'll see two happy runners at a race in Van Cortlandt Park. It's me and my daughter Susan after both of us won raffle prizes (those hoodies) after the race. I had never before won a raffle prize although I have run every one of these races for the last 4 or 5 years. And my daughter Susan on the other hand, has only run in one VCTC summer 5K before — after all she lives in Portland Oregon. So it was a pleasant and unexpected happening that we would both win one of these prizes and the picture shows our delight. It was also my fastest race in the Van Cortlandt Park series this summer.

So why a title like "Long Hot Summer"? Well I didn't mean to imply it was not a fun summer or a summer when I didn't enjoy the races. It was and I did. But the problem, if you want to call it that, is that although I revamped my training in the hopes of improving my race times, I had very little success in doing that. And I think a major reason was the hot and humid weather that persisted across June and July and into August.

But it wasn't just the heat and humidity — it was an overloaded schedule of races that pushed my speed work efforts into the background. But first a word about that training schedule: in late May, when the summer series of cross country 5Ks was getting underway, I asked coach Joe, my massage guy, if I could fit two training workouts into the two week period between successive 5Ks (which are held on alternate Thursday evenings), perhaps at 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through the two week period.

Double Workouts

He said try something different: the recovery from a tough workout starts primarily on the 2nd day after the workout, not the next day. So do two workouts on two successive days focusing on different types of workout (say hill repeats, and intervals) and then take the next 4 days for recovery. So the double workout should be at least 4 days before the next Thursday 5K, e.g. Thursday/Friday or Friday/Saturday of the week before the race. The table below illustrates how this schedule would look.

	Date	Note
VCTC 5K #1	May 26st
Speed workout	June 2nd	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #2	June 9th
Speed workout	June 16th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #3	June 23rd
Speed workout	June 30th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 2x2 Relay	July 7th
Speed workout	July 14th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #5	July 21st
Speed workout	July 28th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #6	Aug. 4th
Speed workout	Aug. 11th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #7	Aug. 18th

So I started out doing just that: I would do hill repeats on Cat Hill (at first just 6 but building up by adding 1 or 2 repeats each time) and the next day intervals at the East 6th Street track (at first 200s with the same number of intervals as I did hills).

I was very tired after the 2nd day but I felt it was the "good" tired you get after you do a tough workout.

Oops! more races

But by the 2nd cycle of this routine, I realized that I had registered for a number of NYCRuns 5Ks, which happen usually on one of the weekends between the Van Cortland park 5Ks. See the next table. So some weeks I had to squeeze my double workouts in between the races, losing the valuable recovery time, and sometimes I had to do just a single workout, or none at all.

	Date	Note
VCTC 5K #1	May 26st
NYCRuns 5K	May 30th	Race: Roosevelt Island
VCTC 5K #2	June 9th
Speed workout	June 16th	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 5K #3	June 23rd
Speed workout	June 26st	Day 1: hills, Day 2: intervals
VCTC 2x2 Relay	July 7th
NYCRuns 5K	July 17th	Race: Roosevelt Island
VCTC 5K #5	July 21st
Club Team Race	July 30th	Race Central Park
VCTC 5K #6	Aug. 4th
Brooklyn Mile	Aug. 14th	Race: Brooklyn
VCTC 5K #7	Aug. 18th
NYCRuns 5K	Aug. 20th	Race: Governors Island

It's clear from the table that I was mostly going from race to hot and humid race without much in the way of training workouts between.

Just go with the flow

By the end of June I realized that I was trying to do too many things at once. And since I had no control over the heat or humidity, I just settled on doing whatever training workouts I could fit in without compromising the needed recovery period, and just wait for Fall to arrive with cooler weather and a much more reasonable race schedule. And that's where we are now, September 22, the first day of Fall.

Summer summary

The table below shows the results of the summer giving finishing times and age group awards. Although the times did not improve over the summer there was lots of fun races and good times.

	Date	Finish
VCTC 5K #1 Van Cortland Park	May 26st	32:22 2nd 70+
NYCRuns 5K Roosevelt Island	May 30th	28:42 2nd 70+
VCTC 5K #2 Van Cortland Park	June 9th	30:59 2nd 70+
VCTC 5K #3 Van Cortland Park	June 23rd	32:02 3rd 70+
VCTC 2x2 Relay Van Cortland Park	July 7th	Best costume award
NYCRuns 5K Shore Road, Brooklyn	July 17th	28:49 1st 70+
VCTC 5K #5 Van Cortland Park	July 21st	missed start 35:36 2nd 70+
Club Team Race Central Park	July 30th	51:19
VCTC 5K #6 Van Cortland Park	Aug. 4th	31:57 3rd 70+
Summer Streets Run Central Park to Brooklyn	Aug. 6th	Ice Cream
Brooklyn Mile Williamsburg, Brooklyn	Aug. 14th	8:37 2nd 70+
VCTC 5K #7 Van Cortland Park	Aug. 18th	32:36 3rd 70+
NYCRuns 5K Governors Island	Aug. 20th	29:56 1st 70+
NYCRuns 5K Roosevelt Island	Sept. 5th	28:40 2nd 70+

Susan and Susan with Me

The first photo shows me with my daughter Susan and my friend Susan at the VCTC 5K #2. This was actually my best finishing time at Van Cortland for the whole summer season and it was certainly a delight to have my daughter run one of these races during her visit to New York. Click for Slideshow.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow

The next photo shows Heidi and me at the 2x2 mile cross country relay. We won the best costume award, and as far as our race time is concerned, you don't want to know. It was lots of fun throwing those costumes together from odds and ends and thanks to Heidi, we looked pretty darn good. We won the costume contest (based on audience applause) in a landslide.

1st 70+ at the Shore Road 5K

On July 17th I took the subway out to Bay Ridge Brooklyn for the Shore Road 5K. Unfortunately I got off at the wrong stop and had to walk about ¾ mile to get to the start. Luckily I was in time to get my bib and warm up a little. But cooling off would have been better than warming up – It was bright sunshine, temperatures in the high 80°s and no shade. The 5K and 10K started together but the 10Kers had to do two out-and-backs vs. one for us. I managed a reasonably good race and went home with a 1st in the 70+ age group award. Click for Slideshow.

Crossing Brooklyn Bridge

Late July was miserable – I missed the start due to slow subways in VCTC 5K #5 and lost about 2 or 3 minutes as I spent the race trying to catch up with the back of the pack and the July 30th Club Team 5 miler in Central Park was a death march in extreme heat and humidity. VCTC 5K #6 was not much better but then came the August 14th Summer Streets Run. This is when they shut down Park Avenue and walkers, runners and bikers go down to the Brooklyn Bridge (or up the other way). I met the Flyers at 23rd Street and when we got to the bridge, we crossed over and ran through the recently built Brooklyn Bridge Park to the Ample Hills ice cream shop. Ice cream is the 2nd best thing (after beer) to enjoy after a long hot run. Click for Slideshow.

The Brooklyn Mile

Then came the August 14th Inaugural Brooklyn Mile sponsored by the Brooklyn Running Shop in Williamsburg. I had never run a 1 mile race in all my many, many miles of running so this would be a first. Coach Joe gave me some hints on this kind of race and it amounted to turnover and pacing. We calculated a target pace based on recent race (it was 8:36), and he laid out how to train with some intervals, how to warm up, etc. Well, the horn went off and I went out too fast by about 10 seconds for the 1st quarter. I slowed down down a bit but it was difficult since I had already "shot my wad" so-to-speak. Luckily the last quarter was slightly down hill so I came in at 8:37 and I was 2nd in the 70+ age group. Click for Slideshow.

But it was almost an embarrassment to recall that in my 1992 Grandma's Marathon (see this and this) where I first qualified for Boston, I RAN THE WHOLE DAMN 26.2 MILES OF THE MARATHON AT UNDER AN 8 MINUTE PACE! I know, I know, that was 24 years ago and age takes it's toll, but, but still ...

With Luiza and Pei at the VCTC 5K #7

Moving right along, the last VCTC 5K of the summer was rather more fun than usual, if not faster. Pei and Luiza from the Thursday night Flyers Group Run came up and ran the 5K. It's always nicer when there are friends and teammates there at a race. They give you encouragement and can join you at a post race get-together and of course join you on the long subway ride back to the city. Click for Slideshow.

Governors Island 5K

On the other hand, the last two races of the summer, the August 20th "Governors Island 5K" and the September 5th "Labor Day 5K" did get faster, if only slightly. I took the 7:30 ferry to Governor's Island with an absolute horde of runners. Due to some strategic planning, I was the first to get to the port-o-sans and had a chance to scout out the area. I had been to the island about 6 or 7 years ago when the Coast Guard gave it to the City but a lot had been done since. The race was well organized, as usual, by NYCRuns and went off as planned, if a few minutes late starting. It turns out they had only an hour to set up before the runners arrived.

The route was basically a clockwise circuit of the Island. Views were great in all directions although there was not much shade. But the weather was better than it had been for weeks and I had a credible race, just breaking 30 minutes, and 1st in the 70+ age group. I should note that this race was only 2 days after the last VCTC 5K and just under week after the Brooklyn Mile. Click for Slideshow.

Finishing the Labor Day 5K

The September 5th Labor Day 5K on Roosevelt Island had even better weather and I achieved, if ever so slightly, my best time this year on the Roosevelt Island course, a 28:40. As usual I took a cab at 7:00 to the Roosevelt Island Tramway stop at 59th and Second Avenue and I was at the race site on Roosevelt Island by around 7:40. I felt good in the race but in retrospect I should have pushed the 2nd mile harder. My 28:40 was satisfying, but remembering the 28:42 in late May before the summer weather kicked in, I knew I was back to just about where I started. Of course placing 2nd in the 70+ age group (out of 6) felt good. Click for Slideshow.

After the race, I took the tram back to Manhattan and the bus uptown to meet up with my friend Susan who had just gotten back from a 6 week visit to Switzerland and France where she did some alpine races in one of the most beautiful spots in the world.

We had a nice walk around Randall's Island and ended at Earl's Beer and Cheese for a couple of cold ones. And what better way to end a long hot summer than that!

Fall Arrives

Fall arrived yesterday and on Sunday I'll be back to Roosevelt Island with hopefully some new faster results. I did a solid interval workout this week and a tempo run last week so it's time to move into a productive Fall season.

This post is adapted from Papa Bear's recent post on his blog:
Running and Stuff for 2016

 

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