NYC Marathon...maybe...

After Hurricane Sandy, Manhattan and the other 4 boroughs have some bad timing. It's marathon week in New York City.  Planning and preparation was going on and I'm sure the NYC Marathon will go off without a hitch...except mass transportation (Read: SUBWAYS, which are down currently).

Take a look at how things are looking the day after Sandy.  Still, people in Wisconsin are optimistic about how New York will handle the adversity.  Yes, you read correctly: Wisconsin.  Then again, the folks at the Wall Street Journal, are using the same AP article.  That is hopeful, I suppose.  Stay positive. As the AP article states, "...if flooding or other damage affects the course or logistics, NYRR has contingency plans every year to adjust to any potential problems."

Also, with the race ending in Central Park, it passes within a block of the now infamous 57th Street Crane. NYC Mayor, Michael Bloomberg said last night, 57th St. between 6th and 7th Ave. were evacuated. Miles 25-26 are within a block or so of that area (albeit, they're in the park).  Kind of scary!  Where is our friendly, neighborhood Spiderman on this one?

See the course map. And review the storm damage and its impact on the race courtesy of the New York Times.  Finally, here's the Times' coverage of all things marathon related.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

As the race crosses the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan, it crosses over Roosevelt Island. Here's what that looked like, yesterday. Here's how things were on the Queensboro Bridge (Courtesy of the WSJ): Here's the home stretch, leading from Harlem 116th into Central Park:

Best of luck to all that are running.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

*Update: 2:20 PM, 10/30/12-An astute colleague noted, without the airports up & running, much of the field won't be able to arrive. Unless flights are detoured/rerouted to Albany, Westchester, or Bradley (Hartford), which are all possibilities, the field could be slim.
*Sidenote-A friend is flying from Florida, and was set to return today. His flight was delayed to Friday as of this past weekend.
*Update: 6:46 AM, 10/31/12-Weather.com has an article posted entitled Crippled Subways Could Hamper NYC Recovery, covering the issue of mass transit. "Mayor Michael Bloomberg guessed it could take four days for train service to resume. And even then it was unclear how much of the nation's largest public transit system would be operational," according to the article.
*Update: 6:00 AM, 11/2/2012-The NY Post went after event organizers today. Not really sure how justified this article is, considering the resources were privately purchased by the NYRR, and that they'll pay for anything they need. The Post and Daily News are not what I would consider reputable. Meanwhile, NYRR president, Mary, "Wittenberg explained how the marathon course, itself, had been spared by the savage storm, how NYRR would use private security and transportation to release the strain on city services which would be needed for storm relief, and announced the institution of a marathon Race to Recovery Fund with an initial contribution by the NYRR, the Rudin Family, and sponsor ING to the tune of $2.6 million."

*Update: 5:32 PM, 11/2/2012-After declaring it would be good for New York to hold something that lifts the spirits like a marathon, Bloomberg has backed out of his previous statement that the race would happen. Instead, it is officially cancelled. 
"We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it," the mayor said in a statement. "We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event — even one as meaningful as this — to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track."

Bloomberg called the marathon an "integral part of New York City's life for 40 years" and "an event tens of thousands of New Yorkers participate in and millions more watch."

He still insisted that holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, but understood the level of friction."
*Sidenote-To me, this is just his way of saying that the vocal minority of people who called for the marathon will get their way.  Why? Because they had access to the media. Mike Francesa has made a big deal about this. Stephen A. Smith has made a big deal about this. Local news in CT has made a big deal about this. What none of them understood was, you can't POSTPONE the race, it had to be cancelled. The race could have been run, or it could not be run. Either way, I'm still not so sure this is the right choice, but ANY decision is going to be viewed as wrong. It was a lose, lose situation.  In this case, EVERYONE lost. The problem is, a marathon is not something that can just be postponed. They're lucky they can pull it off once a year in the 5 boroughs. I think if they pulled it off, it would have been a tremendous testament to the willpower of the city and all New Yorkers.

*Final Update: 8:28 PM, 11/3/2012-Things are settling down a little. There are sad stories on both sides. Again, it was a lose-lose situation, and everyone lost. That being said, I think that this article, by runner Toni Reavis, looks at all this whole unfortunate mess and puts into full perspective. It's the most complete telling of this debacle I have yet to read.  I encourage you to read it, as well. Reavis has done a MUCH better job following this whole situation over the past few days. Read the blog. Trust me. It's way better than this.

Vacation

With our Cape Cod vacation about 3 weeks early, my summer training is a little off-kilter than July has gone over the past four years or so. We have had het waves over the past four weeks with intermittent cool periods. My times are off. Still, when we get to the beach, I like to run. I also like to race during vacation.

This Saturday, the wife and I are entered into the Cape Cod 5k Championship. It sounds bigger than it really it is. This is a fundraiser for the local public library. Still, I have loved the five previous races I have run on the Cape. It is a great way to see sights. The breezes off the ocean are fantastic, and locals usually run their sprinklers and hoses to help the runners.

I don't think this is going to be a big race. I am feeling healthy. And, I have my goal (a new PR...sub-25). Knock on wood, the weather and race will be ideal. It is one big loop, past the ocean, with minimal elevation changes. Temps will be in the high 60s or low 70s. Knock on wood, I will do my best and exit healthy.

I am really excited and nervous for this race. Cannot wait.

Return of the 20 mile week...

*** Warning - This is not an exciting or well-written post.  I'm just happy. ***

This week, for the first time in over 6 months, I logged a 20 mile week.  Actually, it was 21.  This never happens at this time of the year.

Since I've caught this running bug, I usually take a winter break.  Then, I'd start again after I gained a bunch of weight.  When track season began, and I had to coach, my running became more irregular.  This year, I gained the weight, never stopped running, and maintained some strength.  Therefore, having my first real time off since Christmas, I took to the road with a vengeance this week.

It isn't as though my most recent weeks have led to this.  The fact is, that is as far from the truth as possible (the past 3 weeks, I've only run 22 miles total).  However, something made me feel strong on a long run last weekend, so I decided to try it again on Monday.  Somewhere around the second 2 mile loop on Monday, I had made up my mind...I'm going for 20 this week.

For "real runners" 20 mile weeks are meant for recovery.  For me, they are always an accomplishment.  Married, 3 year-old, work, coaching, the work I bring home, trying to do the right thing...all of these generally come before running.  Plus I'm slow.  This week, I was able to juggle all my hats, run a bunch, and actually nap a few times.  That made me a very happy camper.  It's a really simple system (when I don't have work) to reach 20: 4, 2-3, 5-6, 3-4, and 5-6.

There have been hot days and cold days.  Sun, rain, and wind have met me on my runs.  Through it all, I've just been psyched I could get this mileage in.  The times weren't fantastic, but they weren't awful either.  I just really am happy about all this running, hoping that I've got a really good base, with less than 2 months until summer vacation, and some real training.

And it was all possible, thanks to the music this week...

Kinship on the Run...

Marc Parent's Newbie Chronicles are a monthly column in Runner's World.  Each month, with great anticipation, I await reaching that column.  Up until my mid-twenties, I awaited each week's Sports Illustrated in much the same way so that I could read, in order, Rick Reilly and Steve Rushin's columns.  Rushin left to freelance for Golf Digest and Time, and be a parent and husband to Rebecca Lobo.  I've seen them together, and they're both giants.  Reilly is now working for ESPN, putting out less-thought-provoking material than he had a decade ago.  Alas, I digress.

In the April 2011 issue of Runner's World (how do publishers get away with such time travel?), Parent's article reestablished a constant kinship I feel when reading his work.  Though I have been running since 2004, I constantly feel new to the sport.  Or, at the very least, and outsider.  Each month, Parent's work reminds me that there are other runners out there struggling with getting their sneakers on each day, let alone hitting split times.  This is why I relish the words he writes.  He writes what I think and feel, and so much better than I ever could.

Don't get me wrong.  I enjoy reading both the blogs and tweets of @pigtailsflying and @frayedlaces. They're "real" runners who write well.  They've been all over the world, running in huge races, despite their recreational obsession.  I envy their running experiences, which amaze and entertain readers.  However, with Marc Parent, I don't envy his running experiences.  It seems, so often, that I have lived them.  That is what makes the difference in his writing.

In the most recent Newbie Chronicles, Parent describes his first run with an iPod.  He also goes on to describe his running, stating that "...[he] can fairly describe the action as a cumbersome movement."  Chuckling, mental note was taken of such an accurate description.  Coaching youth runners, one hopes to help them achieve a fluid running motion.  As a runner, my running motion is a fluid motion.  In my mind, I imagine that fluid motion to be sloshing.

The music on the run changed this cumbersome movement into something "...fun, easy, and efficient."  My own running is a cumbersome movement, and often, it is the music that gets me through my runs.  Like parent, the sound of running involves a lot of "whistling wind, smashing feet, and honking lungs."  So, running with music guides me though my endeavors, adding pacing, inspiration, and distraction.  Purists might scoff at this, but for me, it's a necessity.  The soundtrack of my run changes daily, but always helps me through things.

Today was one of those runs.  I felt every bit of cumbersome.  Stopping, not a half mile from home, I knew I needed a change of soundtrack.  Switching to the top-plays on the iPod generally breaks a funk.  So, in the low-40s, I restarted the run, and continued out to the nearby state highway, to run past the nearby state prison, the nearby town park, the nearby elementary school, and up the nearby pain of a hill.  Thus, I sloshed up the hill, past the first mile marker (the start of the prison property!!!), wondering if I would bonk completely on this run like last week.

At the top of the hill, reaching the intersection, it was my first opportunity of 2011 to be chicked.  Being passed on runs after work by runners on the school's track and cross country teams does not bother me.  Inevitably, they join me for a while, and then, after I've slowed them enough, they take off OR they continue with me until I finish my run, then go back out for a quick few more miles.  However, in public, female runners blowing by me brings out my pride and a unhealthy dose of machismo.  Note: I rarely pass the female runner; she always seems to pass me.

The 5-way intersection produced an interesting aspect.  I saw that the woman (well, actually she could've been anywhere from 17-37) was fit, running a better pace than me, and had much better gear.    She was coming up on a side street from my left, and we reached the intersection at the same time.  We barely made eye-contact (still no idea how old she was), gave that runner's wave (a quick moment of kinship, as we both looked like we'd rather be doing anything else...not like that macho signal people on motorcycle's give each other when they pass one another), and she slowly, but consistently, ran ahead of me.  Every ten seconds or so, getting an extra section of sidewalk further way, her ponytail swayed from side to side in front of me, taunting me.  Then my pride rose up, my favorite running song came on, as I began to hit her rhythm and catch up (longer strides, hahaha!!!).   The sloshing stopped, and between the cadence of that fast girl (all the women who pass me are fast girls), and All These Things That I've Done. Then, with my run rescued, I reached my turn, and she continued on.

This was barely a mile and a half into my 4-miler for today.  Suddenly, I wished I had raced today.  Not the race mMiL was running, but rather something flat.  It was really a beautiful morning.  Up a hill, down a hill, over sidewalks that had snow on them for nearly 2 months without being cleared.  The run went pretty well, and then, about a mile after my run was saved, somebody nearly backed into me.  The drive had made eye contact.  She saw me.  She nearly hit me anyway.  What?  I was going to stop, so you could go get your coffee at Dunkins?  I don't think so lady.  Really?  I'm a pedestrian.  OH YEAH, BY THE WAY, IN THE WINTER, YOU DON'T CLEAR YOUR DAMNED SIDEWALK.  Figures it'd be somebody that has already tried to kill my runs.

So, thanks to crazy older lady driver X, my pace was screwed up.  I struggled about a quarter of a mile, and there was "nice, elderly gentleman runner."  That's his official name in my head.  I see him from time to time.  We make small talk.  I let him set the pace.  It's faster than mine, and he's fitter than I am, so it works.  He is a great pace setter.  It's where I should run.  So, once again, we did our little dance.  Talking about how we hadn't seen each other all winter (he preferred to run before the sun), and how it seems we always meet in the same area.  As always, we parted at the corner to my street.  He went towards his house, and I towards mine.

As I settled into home, running the last half-mile at a nice clip, I thought about Parent's article.  My cumbersome movement had been fixed twice by strangers going through a similar experience  So often, besides Parent, just talking with or running alongside another runner, brings that instant kinship.  Two weeks ago, I absent-mindedly led my dog on a 4-miler.  We meant to go for two, but she looked to be loving it, and so we just kept going until she looked as tired as I did.  She's usually hyper, but is a great running partner.  Sydney has sat at my feet consistently since that day.  That's the kinship of the run.  Beautiful days like today were made to run, and the people we run with, meet on the run, or just those that sing to us as we attempt to run, really make the difference between a good run and a bad run.