Thursday, November 29, 2018

Morris Township Turkey Trot 5K

Doing the Purple Stride 5K on Nov. 11 made me feel better about doing short races while training for a marathon.  Substituting a 5K for my usual weekly speed work makes sense and helps keep things fun.

Yes, fun.  Something my mom always texts to me whenever I am stressed out and nervous about an upcoming race is "Remember, this is supposed to be FUN," a reminder that while I am focused on being competitive and fast and pushing my body to its limits, fun should not always be put on the back burner.

In addition, doing a spur-of-the-moment 5K - this time, the Morris Township Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day - takes the pressure off.  Instead of always trying to get a PR, it is possible to simply show up to a race and do the best that I can. With that weight off of my shoulders, there was no need to get thrown by the freakishly cold 17 degree temperature and the chilly 13 mph winds.  I just had to run my best race for that day.

The first mile was mostly flat, and in my effort to chase warmth, I knocked it out in 5:49.  But then there was Kitchell Road.

With an incline of about 150 feet in the span of around a third of a mile, Kitchell Road is an exercise in hill training and enough to put a huge damper on the race of all mere mortals.  Superhumans like the winner, William Mitchell, somehow destroyed the course in 16:13 (a 5:14 pace).  I, on the other hand, took 6:09 to get through the second mile, thanks to that killer hill.  So by the time I made it on to Spring Valley Road and then South Street to the finish, my turkey was cooked and my energy gobbled up, as I hit the third mile with a 6:02.

All things considered, averaging a 6:00 pace on a difficult course on what was pretty much the coldest Thanksgiving ever - in a race for which I did not even specifically train - felt darn good.  Coming in 17th place (out of 1,459 overall and 717 males), second of 306 masters (age 40 and up) and first in my age group of males age 40 to 44 was icing on the cake (gravy on the turkey?).

Sunday, November 25, 2018

The mettle to meddle for a medal (Part IV)

I understand that when a race-timing company is charged with giving accurate results to thousands of runners at hundreds of races, errors are bound to happen from time to time.  But, seriously, this shit seems to keep happening to me.  Three times in the past, I had been completely looked over. On all those occasions, I had come in second place (SOCH 10K, Cheshire Home 5K and Samra 5K), but forgotten when they distributed awards, as if I was never there.

At the Purple Stride 5K on Nov. 11, I was excited to accept my third place medal among my friends.  They called out the top three winners and I was not one of them.

Confused, I checked the posted results sheet.  I was listed as being in fifth place, but with the fourth place name crossed out.  At first, I wondered if people had cheated, slipping into the race chute without having run it.  Then, I started wondering if I had it wrong.  Maybe there was another guy in front of me and I was concentrating so hard that I did not see him.

It was my long run day and I needed to run more miles, so I ran home from the race site.  During the whole run, I was playing it over and over in my head, wondering what had happened.  At some point, I started getting mad, composing in my head the strongly-worded email I was about to write to the race organizers and the timing company.  I looked at my splits when I got home and noticed that as I got more angry, my miles got faster.  I guess running angry makes you run quickly.

At home, I asked my wife, Gloria, who had been standing at the finish line the whole time, what she saw.  She said she only saw the first place winner (Andrew Ferretti), the second place finisher (Charles Griffin) and then me.  No one else in between.

The next day, I wrote the email to the Purple Stride organizer, Alex Rappoport, and the Best Race timing company (Bill@BestRace.com).  I explained the situation and even showed a screen shot of the extremely messy results page that was posted (that showed me as the 254th finisher and people finishing the race in a few seconds - clearly, their chips were registering results when crossing the start line, rather than the finish).

The next day, the results were revised online, but were (and are, as of this writing) still incorrect, showing me in fourth, with someone named Brian Cannona in second.  I do not know who this person is, but I searched the internet for any other race results with his name, and there were none.  One would think that someone in his 20s that can do a 5K at a pace of around 5:30 would have done other races.  But there is no such record.

So, I emailed Alex and Bill again and told them all of this.  

Alex wrote back to me, saying that they had looked into the problem, admitting that there was an error and agreeing that I was, indeed, the third place finisher.  My third place medal was promptly mailed to me and I received it a couple of days later.  That is someone who, despite merely being in the business of putting together a fundraising event, understands fairness and the importance of what we do in this sport.

Interestingly, Bill from Best Race was silent.  He never admitted to his company's mistake.  He never corrected the results online.  He never apologized to me for the error.  He never said a word.  That is someone who, despite being in charge of a company whose specific job is understand fairness and the importance of what we do in this sport, does not.  

In the end, though Alex made me feel better about the idea of participating in another Purple Stride event; Bill will make me think twice about running a race timed by Best Race.

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Purple Stride 5K

On Nov. 11, I took a slight detour from my marathon training to support the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (or more specifically, my friend, Alana, who has a family member that suffered from the illness) at the Purple Stride 5K in my hometown of Parsippany, N.J.

The race was an out-and-back set in a corporate park area (Sylvan Way) on flat roadways with minimal turns. It was refreshing to run a race with no logistical worries.

It was also refreshing to run a 5K for the heck of it, instead of specifically training for it, gunning for a PR and putting pressure on myself to lay it all out there. Instead, I used it as my my speed training for the week - a hard effort, but not one that had any of the stress of hitting a specific goal.

It was a chilly morning in the 30s (F) and most of the guys at the front of the starting line (including me) were in shorts, so we were not too pleased that the race was a half-hour late in commencing. I understand that there are speeches to be made about the cause and all, but if they advertise a start time, they should adhere to it.

When it was finally underway, I quickly passed a bunch of guys whom I had assumed would easily stay ahead of me.  Within the first half-mile, I took my place in third.  The front runner, Andrew Ferretti, was extremely fast and far ahead, but Charles Griffin was close enough that passing him seemed possible.

I hit the first mile at 5:41, though I didn't know it at the time because I refused to look at my splits. I wanted to run as fast as I could without the possible disappointment of being slower than usual or the possible shock of running too fast.

By the time I got to the turnaround point at the halfway mark, I was losing some steam but still pushing hard and getting results, marking my second mile with a 5:51 (again, unbeknownst to me at the time). Now it was just a matter of getting through the last mile and finishing strong.

For a moment, I thought once again that I could close in on Charles, but that moment did not last long because I was fading.  Seeing my friends that were walking the course was a nice boost, but I was ready for this race to end soon.

It turned out that it would end too soon. With the finish line in sight, I finally looked at my GPS watch and saw that I had only gone 2.8 miles. The course was short.

Ah, well. I pushed hard into the finish in with a time on the clock of 16 and change, but more importantly, in this case, in third place.

My final pace was 5:51, which means my third mile would have been 6:01. Good thing this was not a longer race - losing 10 seconds per mile is rough.  Doing some math, I extrapolated that my finish time would have been around 18:11 - not bad for a race for which I did not formally train. 

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Marathon XIX

After the Youngstown Marathon in June, I felt like I could do a quick turnaround to a July marathon.  I started eyeing the Mad Marathon in the Mad River Valley of Central Vermont.  Coming off of my hard effort in Youngstown, I could take in scenic rural Vermont and climb the tough hills at an easy pace, simply for the enjoyment of it all.

Unfortunately, that plan got destroyed when, in mid-June, during a routine eight-mile run, something pulled in my right leg.  I think it was my hamstring.  It hurt, so I took the next day off.  I tried to run again, but was in agony and took two more days off.  Tried again.  Pain.  Three days off...then four days...then five....six...

In all, with the exception of the trial runs, it took about seven weeks before I could run with any consistency (as in, two or more days in a row), so the rest of the summer was about building my strength back up.  It was also about having the opportunity to cheer for my wife, Gloria, as she ran the Run 4 North Caldwell 5K in early September, the Grace-in-Motion 10K in Fort Lee in late September, and Morristown's Superhero Halloween Half-Marathon in October.  I loved watching her kick butt this race season.

At some point, though, I need to train for something.  I am simply not good at maintenance running.  If I do not have a Hal Higdon workout chart on my fridge, with a race date at the end, I tend to feel lost.  So by the end of September, I gave myself a projected upcoming goal marathon, starting increasing the mileage, and followed Hal's Advanced I Marathon plan.  I knew what race I was aiming for, but did not register.  I just worked toward it.

At the end of October, despite various minor aches and pains (hey, I am 44 now - I accept that this is going to be the norm), I finally pulled the trigger and registered for what will be my 19th marathon, bringing my state total to 18 (I ran in New York twice) over the past 11 years.

My marathons have been (chronologically) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, New York, Utah, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Maine, Nevada, Texas and Ohio.  What will be my 18th state?  Stay tuned...