Maximo Park storm it.

Friday night I came home from work, ate, got my stuff ready to run into work on Sunday and then went back off out. There were thunderstorm warnings for all evening but when I left it looked a little dark but was fine in Brooklyn. I got out at REI to dump my Sunday stuff and it was a lot darker in Manhattan, almost like the sun had set already. I was only in 5minutes but when I exited it was torrential rain with everyone sheltering from the thunder and lightning.

Luckily the Maximo Park concert we were going to was moved to the Gramercy Theatre so I could immediately duck down into the subway outside work and the venue was a 1/2 block walk from the other train I transferred to so I didn't get too wet. Unlike Heather, who went for a run after work and got absolutely soaked. She met me in the venue and shivered her way through the concert for me.

Maximo Park were superb despite a couple of venue electrical problems where they had to leave the stage for 5 minutes! They were late in starting so it was a late night finish, luckily I was off Saturday so I could have sleep in before going off for a run and then enduring the Champions League final with the American commentators.

Wednesday night racing

Later that day, after I'd had a very tired one hour nap on the sofa, I downed a plate of oatmeal and put on my shorts and vest for the first in this years Al Goldstein Prospect Park Track Club 5K series of races.

I initially didn't feel that great, but it was more just tiredness and I managed a good couple of mile jog, mainly to the registration area at the bottom of the park and then another 1/2 mile looking for a toilet 3 minutes before the start! I would've had plenty time but they couldn't find my pre-entry. Turns out I hadn't entered as I thought, it was only the Roosevelt and Riverside Series I had entered, oops.

It was a mildly humid night so I was well warmed up even though it meant running the whole race with annoyingly dry lips. Due to the building work around the new centre there was a slight course alteration where the start was moved further down the hill to the bottom. This meant the first mile, luckily when you're fresh, was a gradual incline all the way before hitting the hill.
The second mile is along the top of the park rolling down into the completely downhill third mile, turning the corner into a nice flat run in to the finish.

It was a little difficult to pace yourself from the start immediately heading uphill but knowing it was just a 5K. I ended up with splits of 6.08, 6.05 and then a 5.41, pulling away from the couple of guys I'd been pacing with thanks to my new found strength, ha ha and finishing in a PB smashing time of 18.24 (@5.56 pace).

The better quality of the 231 runners meant that was good for 9th overall but only 3rd in my age group! Indeed, I ran side by side with an 11 year old for the first mile then watched him finish in 18.59!

Attorney at law

On Wednesday I worked until 11.30am then headed back into Brooklyn to meet Heather who was getting sworn in, the final act before becoming a fully fledged attorney. The process from her starting law school, passing bar exams, character assessments, various other interviews and now this seems almost as drawn out as me getting my US visa!

The courthouse had typical security screening to get in and then that feeling of there being many rules that you didn't want to get pulled up on by the many court officers present.
The lawyers were led into the court while all the family members and friends, the majority all suited and dressed up, sat or stood around the court.

There was a little opening statement on the procedures involved, a roll call and then it was "all rise" for the five sitting judges that entered. Then came the weirdest part. They mentioned something about the flag and everyone pledging allegiance to the flag. Almost instantly everyone, EVERYONE, except me which I felt very conscious of, raised their hand to their heart and said the pledge thing.
I almost expected one of the court officers to come over and ask why I hadn't taken part bearing in mind how they warned everyone about not using flash photgraphy.
The officers had to come over and tell a couple of people to stop taking photos when they couldn't work their camera to turn the flash off. This was before the judges came in and while waiting, one officer told us the judge wouldn't want a flash going off in his face while he was giving his speech, all very very strict.

After the speech all the family members were sent to the lounge to wait while the lawyers took their seats then were called up to sign a book and get their paperwork. We could see a little on the screen but no sound.

The room was quite cool with all the pictures of each years sitting judges. Funny to see how it was all white old men, then when it hit the seventies, some younger looking men, then it looked like the 90's before you seen a female, then the recent photos had more members of both sexes and all ethnicities.

Then I met Heather outside where she displayed her certificate copy, the real one she gets in one year, ha ha. The first benefit she gets is an instant pay increase in any legal job now that she's an attorney.
Indeed, I learned that a lawyer is anyone who has gone through law school but to be an attorney you have to then pass the bar exam! So all attorneys are lawyers but not all lawyers are attorneys, although most people just say lawyer as a general term I guess.

Gig time

On Friday I finished off Bike to Work Week (12th - 16th) by biking into work and making it about 56 miles for the week made up of a 7 mile each-way commute and Monday's couple of laps of the park before home.
On the last day the Transportation Alternatives people had various stations around the city such as on the exit of the Manhattan Bridge where as well as trying to sign people up they dished out free coffee, apples, Kind bars and coconut water.

This picture was obviously taken last year as my Friday, although warm, was cloudy with the prospect of torrential rain later. They also organised a bike party under the Brooklyn Bridge later that night but we had a concert to go to!

We went to Webster Hall on the east side of Manhattan to see Elbow supported by John Grant. Both were really good and the crowd had quite a few British, well English, voices along with some older couples complete with shouts of Manchester and occasionally flying their Lancashire rose flag.

When you see on the forecast is supposed to be 100% chance of rain and it's classed as "thunderstorms" you know you'll get wet at some point.
Around 10.45pm everyone exited the venue anxious to see what it was like outside. Yup, absolutely pissing down with water running down the streets!
Still warm enough for shorts though and now that mild humidity has broken and the weekend forecast is for 20 degrees and sunny. Great for running to work on Sunday to pick up my bike and bag from Friday!

Riverside Park Series No. 1

Wednesday night I tried another new event. A once-a-month 5K race held away up on the East side around 110th street in Riverside Park. It was only $30 for the entire 4 race series, worth it even if I just manage a couple of them.

I finished work at 4.30pm, ate a bit of food, cleaned my bike, ha ha then headed up to the very top of Central Park West. I've never actually walked around this area before, it is really nice. Definitely have to come back to explore more.

So I got there in plenty time, couldn't really remember the course apart from it is was all within the park and had a loop back around to the finish so I had a little jog warm-up to see what it was like.

The guy on the bike out front informed the runners on the line that he would lead but would have to pull away a little on the big hill in order to stay in front of us. I was like what big hill??!

Once the race started I was already in the front 4 or 5 runners.  The course was like one big running track shape with a flat front half and a rolling back half complete with incline to get up onto that level. At the far end you looped around a playpark and headed back up to do the top rolling section before dropping back down the big slope and having a nice straight sprint to the finish.

I kept steady in 4th place for most of the race and then really reeled in the 3rd place guy during the last mile, especially on the downhill then pulled in the 2nd place guy and finished on his shoulder with the exact same finish time.

Despite barely running for the last couple of weeks as I recovered from Bear Mountain, that training and last weeks 10K race, combined with cycling 42 miles this week as part of New York's Bike To Work Week I had a strong finish and came in at 19.21 / 6.15 pace... and won a mug. They gave out awards (leftover mugs from a previous race) to the age groupers and said where a lot of people were representing, clubs, etc. So when I went up for my award I said "representing Scotland" so the lady with the loudhailer told everyone "Representing Scotland. Let's have a round of applause for Scotland"... and they did, ha ha. By the time I waited for the awards, waited in line to get a burrito and took a couple of trains home it was time for bed. Ended up being a long day out, up at 6.30am and didn't get home until 10pm. I'll definitely be back to do more of the series although it won't be long before it's really warm and humid and nasty.

Roosevelt Island 10K

As I've mentioned before, without having a car, a lot of things you do here such as entering races depends on the race location and how easy it is to get there especially for an early weekend start.

NYC Runs is an alternative local event organiser to the NYRR's and they had a 5K & 10K on Saturday morning on Roosevelt Island, this narrow strip in the East River between Manhattan and Queens.

The only subway stop there is 'our' F train and with the 10K starting at 9.30am I thought it would be easy to get to. Of course, the MTA's year-round weekend subway work is always a surprise when you look it up a couple of days before to find the F train stops around that area are not in use over the weekend. The other pedestrian way to get to the island is by tram! But timing that right and thinking there might be a long line of runners put me off that option.

In the end, my new fairly regular weekday schedule of getting up at 6.30am helped as I comfortably left the house at 7am and following the MTA website intended to take the F a couple of stops past Roosevelt Island, switch platform and come back the way, where it stopped on the island heading into Manhattan.
This worked fine, despite it running on the M line and not the C line like the website suggested and so the conductor told everyone to switch at another station, completely different to the website instructions but it actually worked out better for me. But you can see how every New Yorker hates the MTA and their communcations.

I got there super early (read that as on time) around 8.40am and had plenty time to scope out the island.

Coolest portaloo view ever

I had briefly visited once before to a friend of a friends house but not walked around outside anywhere. It has a strange feel, like a community all of its own. Albeit a community with a scary abandoned smallpox hospital at one end of the island that is.

Walked over to the water and got a couple of photos while I waited.

Tram!

59th St / Queensboro Brdge

There was a NYRR's 10K in Central Park at the same time, with 8000 runners and this combined with the location meant the field was going to be nice and small. I watched the 5K leave the start line at 9am and there was a little over 200 runners in that.

Then they informed us 10 minutes before the start of the 10K that because of the train situation the start was going to be delayed 15 minutes. So annoying, you could see it was going to be like that a few days before so I don't know why it was a surprise to people? You go somewhere here at the weekend, you check the trains!
In the end it was 20 minutes late in starting. Never a good thing because you've timed everything for a particular start time plus the cloudy start to the day was ending and turning into bright sunshine.

I looked around and there didn't look to be many runners lining up. When they called us forward to the line, I was reluctantly at the front, I've never done a race where nobody wanted to be right at the front. When the horn went, I was second only to a young guy in long shorts and wearing headphones. Something told me the fast pace he went off at wouldn't last. I felt really weird to be in second place for the first half mile although I could hear some guys behind me.

The course had a little stretch at the start near the bottom of the island where you rounded a cone before heading back for two laps of the island.

Despite following a race marshall wearing a fluorescent yellow tee riding a stand up elliptical bike and despite there being an additional marshall behind the turning cone the leader turned left, got shouted at and came back, then headed straight on to the dead end. As I rounded the cone and headed back people shouted at him and then he came sprinting past me. I could hear someone behind me say that's why you don't wear headphones in a race.

Around mile 1 I was joined by two other runners and I settled just behind them. A taller guy came past us and slowly pulled away from our mini group. The original leader was passed by us all never to be seen again.

I found it funny to be in a 10K race where it was just like watching a road race develop on tv. You have this little group of runners all feeling each other out. I'm used to either doing races where I'm maybe beside others or trying to catch others but amongst hundreds or thousands of runners. Or, like last week, just pretty much on my own.

One guy broke away for a few miles and me and the other guy paced each other side by side for 3-4 miles before we caught him just after mile 5. The path on the far side was quite narrow so I took to the grass and tried to go for a long sprint to the finish with around a mile to go. I thought I just have to beat one to be in the top 3, ha ha.

Once I hit the wider concrete path, you could see the finish up ahead so I kicked again if you can call it that, more of a strong finish rather than any actual sprinting. I was actually reeling in the leader but he was too far away. I came in second and immediately as I crossed the line and started walking I felt the urge to throw up. I did the throwing up motion twice, felt me mouth fill with saliva but then it stopped and I managed to feel normal again.
I think the heat, it was around 22 degrees for the last half of the race, the sprint for home (maximum heart rate of 209) and the accidental sip of gatorade instead of water with a mile to go contributed to that.

I chatted with the other three guys and the leader said he was totally waiting for us to breeze past at any moment. The guy I ran alongside for most of the race said it was good pacing and how he like the little events like this. Turned out to be only 136 finishers.

I was 13 secs behind the winner in 39:57, 3 secs ahead of 3rd place. It felt like it might be a little faster, but again my quads were a bit tight from the previous nights soccer. And the course was a little exposed to the wind down one side of the island. Although anything under 40mins is good enough for me though.

Ta-da!!

Then in a slightly tourist style I took the tram back over to Manhattan. You just use your regular Metrocard and it only takes 5 minutes, then a little walk to get the train home.

The Jason Bourne roof top jump on the back left ha ha

Rear window view

The NYRR 10K in Central Park had some elite runners due to the $25,000 cash prize on offer from the UAE sponsor and this produced an amazing winning time of 27:39, the top 10 all under 30 minutes! My time would've placed around 150th place, more ahead of me there than did the entire Roosevelt Island race, ha ha.

But choosing to run somewhere different had a nice day out feel to it and it gave me the experience of running a race right at the front AND I came home with a little glass plaque with a Mother's Day wonder woman on it!

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!