Now That Felt Good!

Hey All, it's Sunday night!

Today, I had pretty good race.  Ran in the 18-Mile Tune-Up at Central Park, and wasn't sure how I'd do.  Last week I tried to do 16 miles on my own crossing the Queensborough Bridge and back, but good old MapMyRun just wasn't cooperating that day.  Got a big fat "Auto-Pause" instead of an accurate tracking, so I couldn't really gauge how I did.

Today, however, felt different.  This was three loops of the big 6-mile loop of Central Park, including Harlem Hill!  I tried to start out slow and relaxed, but I fell in with a chatty bunch, including a pace group leader for other races who had a million stories to tell, and wound up doing a 9-minute pace along with them.  I worried whether I was wasting what I'd need for the end, and then took a mint chocolate chip Gu with a Powerade chaser as I began the second loop at Mile 6.  That sent a few bursts of energy through me, and I found myself coming close to 8-minute splits.  After a while, I just dialed in that pace and stayed with it as long as I could, although that second Gu at Mile 12 didn't hurt matters.  Towards the end, I felt myself slowing a tiny bit, but I reminded myself that the finish line was near.  Right on cue, I came within range of the PA system, reminding the runners still competing to stay in the rec lanes on the left side of the road and leave the rest of the park to everyone else.  Lady, you can remind us all you want, I'm coming in for the home stretch!  So as soon as I saw the turn on the 102nd Street transverse, I booked it!

Met up with that chatty bunch later, and we compared "gun times," and extrapolated them to likely marathon times.  Mine was 2:34, and I was pretty happy with that, but I wanted to wait until the "chip time" was available before logging it with good old MapMyRun.  After I did, and posted it on Facebook, I got a lot of likes and comments that made me smile!  :)

I'd like to thank everybody for the congrats and accolades, but this isn't the end by any means.  The first Sunday in November, I've gotta stare down 26.2 miles on a journey through the Five Boroughs of NYC.  So in between then and now, I've gotta do at least one 20-miler on my own, and then taper down.  I'll keep you all posted, of course.

But it's not all about me, you understand.  Another triumph today was that of a good friend of mine who competed in a duathlon outside Buffalo, and placed second in her age group!  As a prize, she was awarded a snazzy-jazzy plate specifically designated for second place in her age group, and a free jar of peanut butter, LOL!  I still think they should switch to Nutella, but that's just me.  :)

Either way you slice it, this really is a good way to start the New Year that many of my tribespeople are celebrating.  I've talked a little bit about new beginnings, about starting classes at a metaphorical new school, and making changes in life.  This race was one good way to get a jump-start on that, as I needed a little boost of confidence to get started on all of those things.  I hope to ride these new changes all the way to Marathon Sunday and beyond, and in other senses besides running.  This year I'm also going to be re-kindling old friendships, making new ones, and making vast improvements and overhauls to this part-time hobby I call my blog.  To the extent I can't see what can be done to make it better now, I plan to enlist expert opinions of those who know how to make these things successes, and continue to make great connections and spread a little extra confidence, self-esteem, and good old-fashioned happiness to all who read it.

Back to work tomorrow, peeps!  Monday awaits . . . .  :)

Spring Is Springin'!

That's right, people, we got to see the sun after 6PM tonight for the first time this year.  Stinks that we lost that hour of sleep, but we have ways of making up for these things.

Won't be long before spring arrives, and we all know what that means.  Baseball, America's National Pastime, will begin a new season.  Hockey will start its second season, The Playoffs!  And both Judaism and Christianity will be celebrating major holidays -- this year, they're actually happening at the same time!

Even at my office, we've got spring fever.  For the first time in years, we've been granted the privilege of business casual dress!  Usually, this option is made available to associates between July 4th and Labor Day, to account for the heat of the summer.  But now, provided that we have an "emergency suit" in our office to change into at all times, we may do so several months early.  All we have to do is not abuse this privilege, and maybe it'll continue! 

For those of us of the running persuasion, it means changing over the gear.  For the past several months, I've been using my "superhero" running clothes, consisting of the tights, the base-layer long sleeve cool max shirt, the medium-layer vest, the gloves, and the stocking cap (which just happened to be the same shade of lime green as the TFK colors we were already wearing for the first time in 2005 -- I still remember how  I had NO IDEA why everyone was laughing because it was on my head).  We all know we should always dress like it's 10 degrees warmer than it really is, but the way this winter went, I had to stay warm no matter what.  And yes, I said the tights, and most of us menfolk wear them without being self-conscious!

But now that spring is a-springing, it's time to hang loose with the clothes, literally.  Maybe just a loose fitting cool max long-sleeve that I got from that Half Mara I ran last year and some shorts -- if I must, maybe the warm-up pants will do, but the shorts are the best!  And as the months pass, downgrade the top to a short sleeve or a singlet. 

Unfortunately, many of us male runners are prone to a slightly uncomfortable problem that women never face.  You know what I'm talking about -- gunshot wounds, strawberry milk, piercings gone horribly wrong, etc.  Either get the 2"-wide Band-Aids, or the official Nip-Guards, and you'll be good to go.  Due to the friction of the fabric rubbing against you, even if it is cool max, the nipple/areola skin gets chapped and dry, and causes you to bleed embarrassingly through your clothes.  Makes laundry more of a chore, and makes a shower an exercise in avoiding pain!  Granted, this problem happens less in the warm weather, but don't tempt the Purple Nurple Gods!  Protect yourself!  Let the pain you experience be the good pain of calves and hammies stretched to their limit after a personal best, and not the annoying pain of the failure to shmear more Body Glide onto every nook and cranny!  Geez . . . give blood through the Red Cross, and not through your shirt!

So all y'all getting ready to run spring races, and haven't already been hipped to the above advice, you now know what you gotta do.  And for those running Half-Marathons in exotic locales, look around -- your friendly neighborhood blogger may be running alongside you, taking mental notes for his next race story!  :)

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