Thursday, November 28, 2019

Spectating the NYC Marathon

I have run 22 marathons over the past 12 years, but I have never attended one specifically to be a spectator.  So when my friends Meredith and John, with whom I have attended both Phish shows and races, said they were running the New York City Marathon, my wife, Gloria, and I decided to make some Phish-related signs for them and head into the big city to cheer them on.

First and foremost, we needed a plan.  I printed out the marathon course map, the NYC subway map, and dug out my old NYC street map and started plotting.

Knowing that they were planning on running 10-minute miles and that their wave was starting at around 10:40, I determined we could see them in five different spots, in three boroughs.  Once we got to Manhattan, we took the R train to 36th Street in Brooklyn to catch them at about the fifth mile.

Finding them was tougher than we had thought because this early in the race, the pack was pretty thick, and taking up both sides of the two-way avenue.  At a tiny break in the throng, I managed to run into the center median for a better view.  Somehow, I managed to see them, and they saw me with my "Go John and Meredith go!" sign.  

But even if we had not seen them, we quickly realized that cheering for random strangers is incredibly fun, especially when people had their names on their bibs or their clothing.  And as a marathon runner myself, I know how much that means, and what a mental boost it can provide.

After seeing our friends, though, it was right back down to the subway to catch the R train north to the eighth mile, near the Barclays Center.  We had less than a half hour to get there and find a good spot, but we made it and, once again, saw them and shouted for them as loudly as we good, holding up our "Blaze on, John and Meredith!" sign.

Our next stop was Court Square in Queens, near the entrance to the Queensboro Bridge in the 15th mile.  We had an hour to get there, but we had to walk a bit and get to the G train, and we both had to make a pit stop to hit the bathroom (a reality that we did not think to factor into our plan).  So once we got to the general area, we found an open bar/restaurant, ordered a couple of beers, did our business and went out to join the crowd.  We held up our sign ("Run like an antelope, John and Meredith!") but we did not see them.  At some point, we figured we had missed them (though Meredith later confirmed they saw us!), so we hustled back to the subway for stop number four.

We took an R train from Queens Plaza and then, in Manhattan, transferred to a 6 train heading north to East Harlem to catch them in the 19th mile on First Avenue, just before they crossed the Willis Avenue bridge to the Bronx.  With less than 40 minutes to do all that, we cut it close, but managed to get to the bridge mere minutes before they did.  By now, the pack had thinned considerably so it was much easier to spot them and to talk to them.  They were hoofing along, but slowing down a bit. 

That was probably bad for them but good for us, giving us extra time to walk across town to Fifth Avenue to catch them in the 23rd mile after they came back into Manhattan.  We had one more sign for them, this time with a more obscure Phish lyric, "Run so fast, your feet don't touch the ground!" and one last time, we managed to see them and wish them well.  We could see signs of fatigue, but they looked good and there was no doubt they were going to finish this thing.

Alas, we were unable to get through Central Park to see it, what with the myriad spectators crowding the area around Columbus Circle, where the runners enter Central Park.  We tried, but there was no getting through - at least not in the time we had left to do so.

So we sent them text messages to congratulate them and went on our merry way back to New Jersey.  In all, we spent about four hours riding subways, cheering on our friends and lots of strangers, and enjoyed all the good vibes that the New York City Marathon brings without having to run 26.2 miles.

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Purple Stride 5K - Nov. 10, 2019

So, yes, after four relatively disappointing 5Ks, I immediately started training for a December 10K using Hal Higdon's Advanced 10K training program.

And, wow, it is a killer program.  With Tuesday tempo runs (up to 60 minutes), Wednesday 400-meter track sprints (up to 12), Saturday runs partially at race pace, and Sunday runs in which the last 25 percent of the miles are done near race pace, we are essentially talking about four days of speed training per week.  That leaves Monday and Thursday for easy runs and an optional (!) rest day on Friday.

As per usual with Higdon's programs, races are included midway through training.  This past Sunday, being halfway through the eight-week cycle, it was time for yet another 5K.  It just so happened that this fell on the day of the annual Purple Stride 5K in Parsippany, a benefit for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.  In support of our friend, whose mom died from the disease, Gloria and I and our friends jogged it in 2016 and walked it in 2017.  Last year, I raced it competitively while training for the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon, taking third place with a time of 18:11, my last sub-19 5K.

At the start line on Sunday, some guy said to his kid, referring to me, "Just stay behind this guy and draft him if you can.  He looks fast."

That made me feel good, but I wondered if I would live up to his expectations after my past four outings.  At the sound of the horn, I blasted off, legs in full extension, pumping as hard as I could to get off to a good start, and to warm the hell up on this 30-something degree day while wearing only shorts and a single long-sleeve polyester running shirt.  For the first mile in this flat course through what is essentially a giant park of office buildings, a young runner in a cape took the lead and I stayed elbow to elbow with Justin Tufano (literally - he actually kept bumping elbows with me - even as we approached the left-hand turnaround, he kept drifting and pushing me to the right).

I hit the first mile 5:52 and it felt great.  I did not even feel like I was pushing hard enough to get a split like that.  Both Mr. Tufano and I pushed ahead of the caped runner and pressed on into mile 2.  I pulled away from Tufano and briefly held the lead until I heard footsteps coming up behind.  I was surprised to see the person passing me was not Tufano but someone else - an 18-year-old kid named Sam Fowler - and he was doing it effortlessly.  There was no catching up to him, and I was already slowing down, but I was OK with my 6:09 second mile.

Turning around again (those turnarounds are such momentum killers!), I gave it everything I had, with Tufano right behind me.  I only managed to stay in front of him by three seconds, but it was enough as I threw my body forward into the third mile with a 6:04 and a finish time of 18:50.

Unbelievably, I had managed to get my first sub-19 in a year, at the same race as my last one.  It was a pleasant surprise, and just what I needed to fend off the sometimes depressing sight of my drastically lower 5Ks lately.  This was a nice boost.  I may not be close to what I was a year or two ago, but at this point, I will take any sub-19 I can get.

Last year's event was fraught with problems, notably the course being too short.  In addition, the timing company, Best Race, screwed me over with the results, putting me at fourth place, rather than at my rightful third (they never fixed it on their website).  This time, though the course was re-measured to accuracy, Best Race once again managed to screw me over by spelling my name wrong - check out the results and you see that Daniel Falioto took second place at the 2019 Purple Stride 5K in Parsippany. [eye roll] 

But hey, it was a good cause with good friends and my best 5K of the year.