Return to Bear Mountain

The North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon at Bear Mountain (what a mouthful) was my main goal for the first half of the year.
I had felt really strong in the last couple of weeks leading up to Sunday's race especially on easy runs but was unsure how close I would get to last year's 1hour 51mins (6th place) as I knew I ran hard and remembered that I had finished really strong last May.

Again, we hired a car for the day and set off at 5am. A little bit delayed as we had to navigate some road closures due to Sunday also being the 5 Borough Bike Ride where thousands of cyclists get to ride on closed roads. Luckily we were off before they got going.
The weather forecast was dry and overcast but with the threat of rain later on that afternoon. In the end it was perfect, slightly cool at the 8am start but with the sun breaking out towards the end. It was actually the hardcore rain we had two days before (apparently Wednesday was the 10th wettest April day ever in Manhattan) that changed the course... for the better.

This was bone dry last year!

On the very first climb into the woods within half a mile we encountered a big pile of mud across the path and then a slightly rocky uphill patch that had water streaming down it. I realised it was going to be a lot wetter than before and immediately I assumed I was going to be slower because of that.

fresh and clean

I went off quite fast and thought there must've have been about 10 people up ahead and then like last year within 3 miles it settled down to where I ended up following the same guy for the next 7 miles with nobody really behind me. The other difference from last year was that around the 3 mile mark I decided to stop at the side for a pee! It had bothered me since about 400m into the race, I could've carried on but it was bugging me mentally, ha ha. You think a lot about different stuff during a half marathon. That guy passed me while I stopped and it took me the next 7 miles to finally catch him and pass him. And just like last year, it kept me going trying to keep him in sight so I didn't have to try so hard to spot the course markings.

I didn't think I'd really remember the course but occasionally I'd remember bits as I got to them, I knew there was a long-ish climb after the 9M feed station and although there are no miles markers, when I did pass one saying 11M I knew that was incorrect based on how long I'd been running for, more like 10M!

There were a few tiny stream crossings, plenty of mud patches and a lot of running water on the rocky downhill stretches. In the last couple of miles you meet up with the 10K race runners and I looked forward to this as I knew I'd get that same boost as last year plus knowing it was the home stretch meant I felt I was flying! I seen the photographer positioned right after a mud bath and as I stormed through it I hoped he'd get some good photos of me, and he did!

splish

splash

dash

I hadn't really looked at my watch for a while, just in case I tripped! I only really looked at a handful of times, just to get an idea of where the water stop would be as I planned to take a gel and then just to know there was 20 odd minutes left to go.

300m from the finish!

I came into the finish, crossed the line and then was extremely pleased to see that I'd crushed last year's time by over 2 minutes, 1 hour 48min 52secs.

They have timing mats at 2.6M and 8.3M so afterwards I seen that I was actually about 35 secs slower to the 2.6M and 8.3M marks this time, so I must have picked up all that time towards the end.

I finished in 5th position out of the 677 finishers and as the overall 3rd place prize was taken by a 42 year old I got 1st place in the 40-44 category! Incidentally I was only 9 secs behind 4th, damn that pee stop. Age group prizes weren't up to much though, a water bottle, some gels and a smartwool sticker. The post-race food they offer is really good though as is the technical race t-shirt and Smartwool socks you get.

I scoped out some pancake place in New Jersey that looked like it was in an industrial park just off the Palisades Highway on our way home but despite the look it was an old school diner and the strawberry banana pancakes I had were just what I needed.

Then of course, we used our rental car to take all our winter clothing to our storage unit, switched it for the remaining summer clothing, a little active recovery doesn't hurt..... and then went for pizza.

So I was well pleased indeed with that result. An easy week this week although a couple of weeks ago I did enter a 10K for this coming Saturday, ha ha. It's around Roosevelt Island, so it was more the different location that encouraged me to do it, plus it's an NYCRuns event, so a little cheaper and lower key than a NYRR event... AND it's directly off the F train and that's what matters!

Urban Environmental Challenge

As part of the training for running the Bear Mountain Half and also as part of a continual search for new (off-road) runs I took the one hour forty minute, three train ride north into the Bronx to Van Cortland Park where the local club organise the Urban Environmental Challenge, excitingly billed as "a 10K of true cross country trails".

After last weeks "vacation" walks around the city and getting the cold I got my training back on track with a couple of 6 mile efforts during the week and then finally got a longer 11M run in on Friday morning. With my dry throat and runny nose combined with the warmer weather it was a pretty rough run. I had to lie on the stretching mat for 5 minutes with my eyes closed to recover but then went and killed myself by playing soccer later that night!

So my quads were a little tired this morning but I felt quite good once I got going. Spring is most definitely here now, luckily it was all under tree cover but afterwards it was flip flop weather and mild sunburn weather too, probably.

Right in the middle

The course started on the gravel paths but very quickly turned off onto proper little woodland trails, yay. At last, some true off-roading. Well marked with little orange flags and marshalls at the turns. I had no idea where I was in relation to the main park and even when we dipped back down to the starting path, we quickly went back into the woods and took a different route thus avoiding running the same trail, which is always nice.

Breaking out the vest for 2014 on the main gravel path

As usual, after a couple of miles things settle down and you have the same few runners in your sights, etc. I ended up passing a few without really being passed at all. You can maintain a decent pace despite the twists and turns and it was similar to Bear Mountain (and most other proper trail races) where your attention doesn't really shift from where you're planting your feet and staying on course that you don't have as much time to focus on things like tiredness!

I knew the age group prizes were (some supposedly very tasty) carrot cakes and knew/hoped I would be there or thereabouts for an award. I reeled in a guy in the last mile but he passed me dropping back onto the final gravel path run in and I didn't have the strength to keep with him.
Turned out that there were some good runners in the 40-49 age group and of course, he turned out to be the 3rd one!! I finished 12th overall but 4th 40-49 so just missed out.

Urgh, 4th. WTF.

I had persuaded two friends of ours, also doing the Bear Moutain Half, that this would be good training for them and Dawna, in her first ever trail run managed 2nd in the 30-39 females! So in the end after brunch we shared a piece of her carrot cake. It was tasty, more cake-like than usual but thankfully it was only the winners that got the massive ones otherwise I really would have been upset.

Only $19 to enter too. So if you ever want to run a 10K in Central Park with 8000+ people strictly organised by NYRR's and then the following week do a relaxed, low-key, couple of hundred people trail race where they delay the start by 4 minutes as people walk over from registration then this is your time of year to visit.

Scotland 10K

Anne & Murd's visit was timed with Tartan Week here in New York which meant the NYRR's Scotland 10K on the day before they left. It had to be done, so I made sure they had entered the race a few weeks before they came over here.

Took them to New York Road Runner's HQ to collect their numbers the day before and combined it with a walk past the reservoir in Central Park.

Race day was sunny, cool, perfect running weather, one of the few races of that distance that I never took any fluids from the water stations during the race.

I made sure I started far enough up and pushed a little harder than last year. I ended up feeling strong and ran the first half faster than than last year and then tried to hang on as I was marginally slower over the second half than 2013 but I pushed for the line to crack 40 minutes again, 39.55.

It's certainly a rolling course running a lap of Central Park. Anne & Murd enjoyed it even though it took them a little bit to get past all the people in front of them and get settled into their running. Anne actually managed 4th in her age group!!

They had a great trip, I am knackered after planning out nearly every day with miles of walking every day and far larger dinners than normal each night.

Prospect Park was officially opened for the season this weekend, some more port-a-loos installed and the water fountains turned on, timed perfectly with getting back to normal and stepping up the training as I realised the Bear Mountain Half is around 4 weeks away, yikes.

Greenwood Cemetery

Heather & I live one street over from Greenwood Cemetery. Nearly 500 acres (and over 1/2 million graves) that I had still to explore! We booked a 2 hour tour on their trolley bus and joined about a dozen people on a grey day to see and hear about some of the famous people buried there and learn more about how it's a historical site in relation to the American Civil War and the Battle of Brooklyn.

General Custer posed for this monument on Battle Hill, the tallest point in Brooklyn!

The statue of Minerva had some historical significance in the way it was planned and positioned to be raising her hand right across to the Statue of Liberty. A monument to a battle that the Americans lost and the impressive tour guide told us is not part of school history as they don't teach kids about battles the US lost.

They run three tours tours that visit different graves with only the Battle Hill repeated so I would definitely go again or at least have a walk through with Heather at some point in the near future.
Some of the famous graves we visited, with accompanying story, included Leonard Bernstein, Henry Chadwick (baseball founder), Samuel Morse, the Tiffany family, Henry Steinway and Bill the Butcher & Boss Tweed (I need to rewatch Gangs of New York).

Some of the architecture of the headstones and tombs was amazing.

Inventor of the hot dog!

As we got off the bus to see the above one I walked right into this one:

Creepy

One of the best ones was saved to last, amazing detail.

So probably not somewhere that most visitors to New York think of going considering even setting foot in Brooklyn is something that is relatively new to most tourists but a definite recommendation for any New York City trip!

Two thumbs up.

Statue of Liberty

One of the things I've never done is the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tour. We booked tickets for a day when the weather was supposed to be a bit warmer and joined the airport style security line to board the boat.

30-40 mins before getting on the boat!

Of course it was barely 12 degrees but the sunshine and staring upwards meant a little forehead sunburn the next morning!

Mysterious army chinooks accompanying two helicopters

The short boat ride is cool. You get a good view of Manhattan and Ellis Island and obviously the statue gets larger the closer you get. I've only really seen it from so far away.

The boats went to Ellis Island every 20 mins so you were free to wander the small island and spend some time there. Although the small food court reminded me of a crowded American High School cafeteria what with all the visiting tour groups so we gave that a miss.

We only had the tickets up to the mid level pedestal as the newly reopened crown tickets are sold out until late May. But the best view is supposed to be form there anyway.

Empire State building compared to the new 1WTC

How bout deez nutz?

Small Anne & Murd

The small museum in the base was actually really interesting with how it was constructed and shipped over from France. They had a few letters from immigrants written mainly on the 100 year birthday saying how it was the first thing they saw entering the harbour area with all its references to freedom etc.

We did a 30 min guided tour of Ellis Island. Some interesting stuff and you had to use your imagination to picture the lines of immigrants and what they had to go through on arrival to this new country, hoping they would pass the medicals and tests.

There wasn't too much else to see as Hurricane Sandy wiped out all their proper building climate control so they had to move most of their exhibits out.

After nearly 5 hours of on the go time we just passed through the Wall Street area then headed back into Brooklyn for some excellent BBQ food.

Mmmm, smokey

Being a tourist again

Mum and dad finally got round to visiting so I booked the whole 9 days off work and set about being their tour guide for the trip. This meant visiting a lot of places I've been before but I also got to tour a couple of places I've never been to.

Just walking around the different neighbourhoods is so much a part of any visit to New York but it's something you can't really get tired of as you always see something new or some little bit of graffiti or art or humour that someone has added.... such as this little hot dog under a tree.

I put up with the walk down a crowded 5th Avenue, Rockefeller centre and through the nightmare that is Times Square, etc; those are places no local wants to visit at any time in order to give them the full New York City visit.

Unfortunately there were a few rainy days mixed in with the Spring sunshine. It had been so cold and dry before that I said they must have brought the rain with them!

Some of the 260+ Easter Faberge egg scupltures that were dotted around the city. They must have been well hidden as we only spotted about 6 of them!

"The Kelpies" sculpture by a Scottish artist in Bryant Park as part of Tartan Week here in New York.

Madison Square Park had these water towers that when you stood underneath and looked up it had the effect of being a lot taller inside with this neon lighting.

C'mon, lets celebrate

Last Sunday the Dons finally ended their silverware drought!

I had seen weeks before that the game was on at 2.30pm UK time so I thought I'd get to see it on the BBC website as I don't normally start work until after 1pm on a Sunday. Of course, I didn't realise the US clocks go forward a few weeks before the UK so in the end I got to see the first half then had to leave.

I ended up seeing the remainder of the game when I got home, combined with the extra time and penalties it was after midnight here before I was done. At least here, as long as you stay of twitter, etc it is quite easy to avoid the results of games back home.

Heather had deferred her Marine Corps Marathon (DC) entry until this year. After managing to do a reasonable amount of running here I was tempted with the distance. So I entered their lottery at the beginning of the month and last week I found out I got in!
So hopefully if all goes well I'll be running my first ever marathon in October.
Training for a half marathon at the moment, I ran 8 miles and although the pacing is different, the thought of going out for training runs 2 & 1/2 times that distance is scary. More so how my legs will feel and what will I eat? I just have to put it out of my head until June or July and these other races are out of the way and concentrate on it then.

So Anne & Murdo are due here tonight! There was supposed to be another big storm front this past Tuesday brining 2-6" of snow but it past out over the sea so it is just very cold instead.
I think that is it for the snowy weather and apart from some rain forecast it should be up into double figures by next week. Just in time for touring the city with the parents!