Run for the Red Marathon

2:53:48

12th overall out of 411

Pace/Mile: 6:38

Age Grade: 75.5%

Age Group Place: 4th of 104

Date: 5/17/2009

Location: Stroudsburg, PA

Comments: This is a FAST course, however, the downhills really pound your legs. According to marathonguide.com 30% of all finishers ran Boston Qualifiers and I would definitely recommend the race to anyone that is within a few minutes from a BQ or some other time goal.

CHERRY BLOSSOM 10K

36:27
5th overall out of 602
Pace/Mile: 5:52
Age Grade: 79.7%
Age Group Place: 2nd of 89
Date: 4/5/2009
Location: Newark, NJ (Branch Brook Park)
Comments: I was pleasantly surprised by this race since it was much better than I thought it would be. My last car was stolen and ended up in Newark, so I don't have the fondest memories of Newark. Anyway the park was nice, the awards were nice (fleece vests with race logo made by Columbia) and everything was fairly well organized. I guess my only complaints are that I am not crazy about out and back type of courses and that one or two spots on the course could have been more clearly marked. My 5k splits were 18:14 and 18:13. I actually did not run as evenly as those splits suggest, my splits were 5:53, 5:38 (caught a few people, however was hurting after 2 miles so I back off the next mile), 6:05, 5:57, missed the last two splits but they had to be around 5:50.

Wurtsboro Mountain 30k

2:00:24
5th overall out of 161
Pace/Mile: 6:28
Age Grade: 75.9%
Age Group Place: 1st of 41
Date: 3/28/2009
Location: Wurtsboro, NY
Comments: The Wurtsboro 30k was a very interesting, scenic and challenging (Hilly, with a Capital H) course. I actually lead the race for the first mile since the race went out slow. I stayed with the leaders through most of the hills until about four miles; there was a pack of four of us. I let them go after that (i.e. they dropped me) since I felt the pace was getting to be more than I could handle. I was on pace to break two hours up until about 25k which I hit in 1:40:03, however my legs were wasted by then and did not have another sub 20:00 5k in them. I would definitely recommend the race, not as a time trial, but as a different, challenging race. More accurate course description available at: http://www.sullivanstriders.org/30k_up_and_down.htm

Rover and Clover 5K

17:16.1

3rd overall out of 467

Pace/Mile: 5:34

Age Grade: 80.9%

Age Group Place: 1st of 75

Date: 3/15/2009

Location: Hillsdale, NJ

Comments: I decided to run this race since Hillsdale is one of the towns that boarder where I live and figured (wrongly, once again) that I would have an outside chance of winning the race. This was my first race as a master that I got an age grade Performance Level Percentage of over 80% (80.9%) based on compuscore's calculator. http://www.compuscore.com/agegrade/calculator.php This meets one of my yearly goals to achieve an 80 plp. The course was kind of poorly laid out with a 90 degree turn 100 ft or so into the race thru an opening about 10 to 15 wide and a few other oddities that one should expect at a local 5k run. By half a mile I was in 6 or 7th place with all HS guys ahead of me, however by 1.25 miles or so I moved into 3rd place and that is where I stayed since I was unable to make up any ground on 2nd. All in all I was very pleased with the time.

NYRR Manhattan Half Marathon 2009

1:19:24

33rd overall out of 4586

Pace/Mile: 6:03

Age Grade: 79.5%

Age Group Place: 3rd of 410

Date: 1/25/2009

Location: NY, NY (Central Park)

Comments: The air was crisp and clear...I could complain that it was too cold at 14 degrees, however, something was working for me since this was the second fastest half marathon I have ever run. And my best if I take age grading into account (which I really can't). I went out a little fast at 5:55 for the first mile, 12:02 at two (6:07), 17:52 at three (5:50), 24:02 at four (6:10), from that point on I kind of ran a more even pace between 6:00 - 6:05, except between miles 9 to 10 which was my slowest mile something between 6:15 - 6:20. I think my split at 10 miles was 1:00:34. NYRR's changed the course slightly they moved the start and finish back approximately two miles, start was at West 63rd, I liked it.

1st Day 5K

17:56.5
4th overall out of 227
Pace/Mile: 5:47
Age Grade: NA
Age Group Place: 1st of 26
Date: 1/1/2009
Location: Fair Lawn, NJ
Comments: I have always wanted to run a race on New Years Day however, I never got around to it till this year. Course had some ice/snow in some parts which slowed down the times. Considering the condition of the course I would not have run this race if I had not pre-registered.

Running Goals 2009

1) Run at the 80% for my age in at least one race this year. In 2008 I received age grades of 79.9% in two races and 79.5 in one race. Close but like they say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Which until September means.
Distance........Time ..............Pace
5K................17:27 ..............5:37
5 Miles...........28:52 .............5:46
10 K..............36:19 ..............5:51
15 K..............55:15 ..............5:56
10 Miles.........59:31 ..............5:57
13.11 Miles...1:18:58 ..............6:01
(using http://www.compuscore.com/agegrade/calculator.php)

2) Win a road race. The last race I won was 9/11/04 which is too long ago (http://www.compuscore.com/cs2004/sept/ramsey1.htm). The funny thing was I was not even in very good shape back then I was just running about 15 or so miles a week plus some biking. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. However, I would like the race to at least have a 100+ people. Lately I seem to be very good at getting second or third place because instead of taking a risk and going for it and possibly 'blowing up' and getting 5th or 10th place for that matter, I just run a 'safe' nice and even pace race and collect my second or third place award. Like they say No Guts No Glory.

3) 2:55 marathon. Since breaking 3:00 I have felt less urgency towards the marathon. However, I would still like to improve my PR and 2:55 seems like the next logical step. A 2:54:48 is 6:40 pace which seems doable if I get the miles in.

4) Run 2700+ miles this year. I ran 2652 miles in 2007 which was my second highest ever. My PR is 3001, which was from about 20 years ago. I would like to increase my mileage more however; I need to mindful not to ignore my family and job commitments. Also run 75+ mpw for at least one week. My high week in 2008 was 70 miles, my all time PR is 91 miles, I would like to break that sometime, however I want to be smart about it and not get injured in the process. The purpose of increasing mileage is to improve race times, period.

5) Run different types of races. Yes this is an easy one, not even really a goal. However, I know I need to be mindful to not just run the same races as I did last year. I would like to do at least one XC or trail race, track race, hill or mountain race, maybe a stair climb. Also some different distances like 4 miles, 15K, 20K, 30K, etc. Furthermore I should extend this to workouts.

6) Finish higher in the USATF NJ point series. In 2008 I finished 153 place in the series. I must admit I have never been much for series since I feel that they do not prove much (just who collected the most points throughout the year).