NJ Striders 3000M Track

10:08.9
2nd overall
Date: July 10, 2008
Location: Mahwah High School, NJ
I have not raced much on the track since college, however it is definitely a change from the roads. I did race the NJ Striders track meet two weeks ago, that time running the mile in 5:06.5 for 4th out of 6. The race went out a little slower than I was hoping for (800m in 2:47, 1600m in 5:32), however since there was a fair amount of wind on the backstretch of the track I did not want to lead if I did not have to. There was a pack of 5 of us until about 800 to go when the leader picked up the pace; I went with him however just not as fast. He won by about 5 seconds. Before the race I was hoping to run under 10:00, however was still satisfied with the result since I did not really suffer until the last 800.

Glen Rock 9/11 Tribute 5K

17:32.8
3rd overall out of 283
Pace/Mile: 5:40
Age Grade: 78.93%
Date: July 4, 2008
Weather: Sunny 72 degrees (it felt warmer and humid)
Splits (5:29, 11:29) I believe these are wrong, however the course is certified so I believe the overall time is accurate.

Hawthorne Run Against Domestic Violence 5K

17:23.2
3rd overall out of 180
Pace/Mile: 5:36
Age Grade: 79.66%
Date: June 22, 2008
Weather: Sunny 75 degrees
Splits (5:32, 11:15)

Racing the Antelope by Bernd Heinrich

A little while ago I finished reading the book Racing the Antelope by Bernd Heinrich, so I figured that I would write a review. This book is very different from all the other running books I have read since it mainly compares the performance of humans to animals and insects. I would certainly not recommend this as one of the first running books to read. However, if you have already read quite a few other running books and are looking for something completely different this book might be for you. I must admit that I skimmed over some of the animal/insect chapters to move on to the more practical human application and the authors own training for ultramarathons. However there where certainly some interesting statics like the Antelope has been reported to cover 7 miles in 10 minutes and has a VO2 max of 300. My main criticism of the book is that there are too many chapters about animals/insects and not enough about his running. The author does discuss his training for his American Record attempt at the 100K distance and the race itself. All in all I would recommend the book, however, fortunately I was able to check the book out of the library because even though the book was interesting, I don't know if it would be good enough for most runners to purchase. Anyway my favorite quote the book mentions is... "Now if you are going to win the battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up."
George S. Patton, 1912 Olympian.

Ridgewood Run 5K - Money for Nothing

Many of the awards I have won are from sub par performances for me. Unfortunately the reverse is also true, I have very little to show for my PR's and my best races as far as awards go. For example when I was in High School and College I ran the Ridgewood Run many times over the years (a Memorial Day tradition for me) and always came home empty handed. Even when I ran my 5K Road PR of 15:52 I was still only 7th in my age group. Well this year I run the 5K figuring most of the better guys in my age group (and masters) will be running the 10K. Well I figured correctly and ended up 2nd in my age group (getting an age group award) and placing 5th master (getting $35 prize money), with my slowest 5K time in the last 2 years and worst performance time wise (even figuring age grading) ever at Ridgewood. I am definitely not complaining, just kind of funny how these things work out sometimes.
Here is my history for the Ridgewood 5K:
Date.............Time.....Place...Age Place......Age
5/26/2008......18:00......26.......2.................42
5/27/1996......16:45......33.......6.................30
5/29/1995......16:54......25.......8.................29
5/25/1987......15:52......16.......7.................21
5/27/1985......16:23.5....23.......?.................19
5/28/1984......16:30......14.......4.................18
5/30/1983......16:53......18.......?.................17
5/31/1982......17:06.3....42.......8................16

Boston Marathon 2008

Since my first marathon (NYC 2006) my goal has been to run a sub 3:00. Based on my shorter race times this should have been relatively easy to accomplish however the marathon is a long way especially if you have not put in the miles. If I ever get the chance I would like to post my training for Boston, but in a nutshell it was between 45 to 65 mpw (which I still believe is minimal if you plan on racing the marathon distance), with tempo runs (usually 4 miles) at 15K/half marathon pace, marathon pace workouts up to 10 miles, two 24 mile long runs, other long runs with the last 4 to 8 miles at marathon pace, etc. However, no speed workouts or intervals (these seem to work great for me for the shorter races, however, not for the marathon).

I ran Boston like almost all my other races, i.e. try to run the tangents (basically impossible because of all the other runners), concentrate on the task at hand and stare at the person's head/back directly in front of me. All, which makes up for a pretty boring race report about what is really an exciting/great race. I did allow myself one distraction and that was conversing with a teammate (Norby) that I ran into on the course around 5 miles. We ran together for the next 4 or 5 miles until Norby took off, which was a smart move for him since he ran a faster time.

I would have to say Boston was definitely the most crowded race I have even run, however, since the corrals are seeded everyone is generally trying to move at the same speed so it all works out. Below are my splits; the first mile was a little slow because of the crowds, picked up the pace during the second mile too much. Actually, I thought I messed up another marathon by mile 2, by running too fast at the beginning, tried to ease back the pace but that did not really work until around the 6-mile point. By 25K (15.5 miles) I built up a cushion of 1:44, which is right before the Newton hills start at 16 miles. By 25.2 miles (one mile to go) I had lost all but 13 seconds of my cushion and was faced by the fact that I had to run better than a 7:05 last mile to make it under 3:00. Fortunately I had one more 6:52 mile in me, however, this took a Herculean effort since my legs were pretty much wasted the last few miles, although not as bad as my previous marathons. During the last mile I keep looking for the 800 meters to go sign, however I never saw one. Once I was on the final straightway I tried to kick it in with whatever I had left which was pretty much nothing, stopped my watch at the finish and looked down and saw 2:59:49 (official time was 2:59:47) and smiled!

Splits
1 mile 6:57
2 mile 13:20 (6:23)
3 mile 19:48 (6:28)
5k: 0:20:29, cushion 0:50
10k: 0:41:26 (20:57) cushion 1:13
15k 1:02:39 (21:13) cushion 1:20
20k 1:23:47 (21:08) cushion 1:32
Half 1:28:19 cushion 1:41
25k 1:44:54 (21:07) cushion 1:44
30k 2:06:27 (21:33) cushion 1:31
35k 2:28:11 (21:44) cushion 1:07
40k 2:50:16 (22:05) cushion 0:22
1 mile to go 2:52:55
Last mile 6:52

Official Time 2:59:47
Finish Pace 0:06:52
Overall 1211
Gender 1159
Division 269

St. Paddy's 10 Mile Run

3-30-08 Freehold, NJ 10 Miles in 59:37 (5:58 pace), 28th place overall out 640, 6th age group of 63. I have been running (off and on) since I was 15 years old, however believe it or not this was my first 10 mile race. So technically this would be a PR for me, however, when I was younger and set my 1/2 marathon PR (which was also the only 1/2 marathon I ran before turning 40) I went thru 10 miles in 59:20, so in my mind that is my real PR. However, this counts for my masters PR. All and all I was very pleased with the race, ran it more like a time-trial than a race. My splits where almost perfectly even 6:00 per mile splits for the first six to seven miles, picked up the pace a bit for the last 3 miles, however, not enough since several of the guys in the pack I was running with ended up finishing ahead of me. Next up is Boston!