Thursday, June 26, 2014

St. Jude's Children's Hospital 15K


The St. Jude's Children's Hospital 15K is a stripped-down, bare-bones affair that starts in Ridgewood at the Saddle River Park Duck Pond and follows the mostly flat trail that winds through the neighboring towns. Normally, one would expect a lot of amenities for a $50 entry fee, but since every dollar goes directly to the hospital, the frills are nil. Simple race, great cause, good people - that works for me. 

All I needed to know was one thing: At the start of the race, I asked Jeff, one of the race directors, "Are the turns clearly marked?" He said they were.

Having knocked out PRs in the 5K and four-mile this spring, plus the 10K last spring, it was time to try my hand at another distance that has had a long standing record in my books - the 15K.

One of the problems with the 15K is that it is hard to find, which is why I had never raced the distance outside of the Run Around the Block 15K on Block Island in 2006 and 2009.  But almost five years later with lots more racing under my belt and having shattered all my non-marathon PRs since then, it was time to seek out a 15K.  It would be the 2014 PR trifecta.

My previous record was 1:00:46 - a 6:32 pace, so a PR would be easily obtained. The bigger challenge was settling on how fast to push it.  Since my half-marathon PR pace was 6:27 and my 10K PR pace was 6:11, I settled on a challenging, but attainable 6:17.

Using Hal Higdon's advanced training 10-mile race training plan, I worked hard for five weeks. Each week included a tempo run, 400-meter fast intervals, pace run and long run; leaving only two days for easy runs plus one optional rest day (the other option is another easy run, which I took).  I felt pretty beat up by race day and I had hoped that one quality rest day would do the trick.

The trail at the park is narrow and was not closed off, so I made sure to get in the front of the pack right away. At the "go" command, I darted out with the front runners, staying in a close cluster with three other people. I was not wearing my GPS watch, but I had a stopwatch and the trail had mile markers at first. With a 6:07, I hit the first mile too fast (as usual), so I hung back.  But I slowed too much and swung the other way for mile 2 (6:23).


After the first turn - with only a chalk arrow on the pavement and the two front runners leading the way - the path no longer had mile markers.  I was on my own and had to judge my pace the old-fashioned way, by listening to my body.  After the turnaround that seemed in the middle of nowhere (again with only an arrow and the trust that the two people ahead of me knew what they were doing), I started to panic a little.  Was that really the turnaround?  Am I being led astray as I have in the past?

As I panicked, I slowed down - the front runners were getting away.  I could not see them beyond the twists and turns of the trail. I pushed again, hoping to at least keep a glimpse of the amazing Maria Danna, who was in second place but far ahead of me.

A half-hour before, the race director assured me that the turns were clearly marked.  Yet I came to an intersection that had no arrows and no volunteer to point the way. Perhaps if I was jogging, I would have had time to ponder the direction of the trail, the placement of the sun or the sign that had indicated which way led to what town. But blazing at a 6:17 pace (I hoped) does not offer such time for this, so I guessed and turned left.

Not long after, I saw Jeff on the trail. "Is this the right way???!!!!"

He said yes and I shouted as I passed him - "Get somebody at that intersection!  It isn't marked!!"

After the next and last turnaround, I could focus solely on my speed.  There were mile markers again, so it was a matter of maintaining that 6:17.  I kept missing it by about two seconds, no matter how hard I pushed. I did not know exactly how much course was left, but when my watch hit the mid-40s, I knew it only had to be a couple more miles.  Push.  Push.  Push.

51 minutes.  Only about a mile to go.  I can do this.  Ramp it up hard.  Dig deep.  Lay it all out there and sprint a six-minute mile. 

With my mind preparing for the final mile, I was suddenly at the trail head staring down the finish line.  "What??  This is it??" I said aloud, with my final time clocking in at 51:58.

The course was short.  I had no doubt about that. "Or maybe you're just faster than you thought," someone said. 

No, I know my body.  I know it so well, in fact, that when I found out from the rest of the runners (all of whom had the same confused looks on their faces as I did at the finish line) that their Garmin's read 8.3 miles, I did some math and calculated my pace to be 6:17.  Exactly in the sweet spot.  Nailed it.  Extrapolate that one extra mile and it is a 58:26.

But again, with all the money going directly to St. Jude's, it was hard to complain about the mismanagement of the course. I will take that 51:58 for 8.3 miles and call it a 15K PR.  Like I said, I know my body, and I know it would have crushed that last mile.

Click here for the full results


Click here for the photos of from Sport Memories


 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Newburgh Half Marathon

As an alternative to the New York Road Runners behemoth, runners in and around the Big Apple can look to NYC Runs for a simpler but just as fulfilling race experience.  It is NYC Runs, after all, that stages the new Central Park Marathon which I ran in its inaugural 2013 year and volunteered at this year.  They have been organizing races throughout the five boroughs and have expanded farther up the Hudson River into Orange County with the Newburgh Half Marathon, which took place on Saturday, June 7.

My friend Alexis, whom I helped coach to her first half marathon a year ago, lives nearby so she signed up for this race and I could not resist the urge to go cheer for her.
 

Like most of upstate New York, Newburgh is hilly.  There is no getting around it.  If you are going to run 13 miles in that area, you will be running up and down hills.  A lot of them. 

In fact, from what I could tell in my limited view of the course and from talking to Alexis afterward, it seems there was little flat ground at all in the race. Or, as one runner pointed out as I offered encouragement from the sidelines, "I think it's uphill both ways!"

Actually, because it was an out-and-back, she was not entirely wrong. 


The race started in downtown Newburgh (a town that, unfortunately, looks like it has seen better days) and the course proceeded north to River Road.  I staked out a spot a the intersection of Oak Street, before the five mile mark.  The race clearly had gotten off to a very late start because at 9:30 a.m., when the leaders should have been coming through, there was no sign of any runners.

Finally, around 20 minutes later, the front runners passed by:









As I watched the mid-packers come through, I could see they had already been working hard.  The Oak Street spot was situated just after a long incline and it showed on their faces.  After seeing Alexis pass by and cheering her on, I stripped off my outer layers and ran up Oak Street to Route 9W, then north to Old Post Road, where the race turnaround was located.  When Alexis came up to that halfway point, I ran with her a little bit and asked how she was feeling.

"Hot," she said. The sun was blazing and it was definitely atypically warm for an early June morning. I told her she was doing great and that I would see her again at the Oak Street spot.  


By the time I got back there, all the runners by then were looking worn, the hills and the heat taking their toll in Mile Nine. Still the lovely view of the Hudson River had to offer some scenic distraction during such a difficult course.  There is something about running along water that makes a race more fun.

Once Alexis passed again, I hopped in the car and drove to the finish line downtown. The NYC Runs folks had set up their race HQ in a small open space at the end of Broadway.



The runners were trickling into the finish line and though no one was getting a PR on this course, they all seemed triumphant in finishing this difficult course on this hot morning. There were a few turns in the last mile, moving away from the river and toward the town, and there was also one more huge hill:


 

I walked down to the bottom of that hill, and spent the next half hour cheering with all my might for these folks who had been put through the ringer for this race. 

 

Knowing she was in the last mile but with the finish nowhere in sight, a woman asked me, "Where's the finish line??!!"

"Three more turns," I told her, "but only a half-mile to go!"



 

Alexis came chugging along and she was fatigued, for sure, but I knew she had a little bit of kick in her because she had been doing some speed training in recent months. So I ran with her up the last hill and just as she started to lose it, I backed off a bit. I told her to take it really easy until the just before the crest of the hill, then to power through with every bit of energy she had left because it was the last quarter-mile, like the last 400-meter lap in a tough training session. I recruited other spectators to help cheer for Alexis as she rounded the last two corners.


 

What I saw then was amazing - this 10:00+-pace runner, after 13 miles of tortuous hills and heat dug deep and rallied that last 400 meters like a champ. It was an indication that there is still lots more potential in this gal, and she can tap into it if she keeps working at it.


 

Post-race, it was the usual NYC Runs simple fare of bagels, bananas and other fruit - exactly what the runners needed and nothing more.  I am all for that.  NYC Runs events are put on by people who know what a good race needs - good organization, clearly marked courses, and helpful volunteers.  Fancy post-race parties are not what this group is about, and they are all the better for it. These folks are obviously runners that love and care for the sport.

Is it worth driving up to Newburgh from New Jersey or New York City for this race in the future?  I say yes, as long as a PR is not an expectation and the focus is on the running.  It is a challenging course but since when are we runners discouraged by a challenge?


 


Click here for the full results.