nyrr holiday 4 miler: race report

what a change in weather from the dreary rain-soaked thursday afternoon when i picked up race numbers, chips and shirts at the nyrr. when emmy got to my house just after 7 on saturday morning it was 27 degrees. i actually thought that was a good thing - seriously believing that by the time the holiday 4 miler went off at 8:30 the temperature would have inched above the freezing mark! wow, that turned out to be a serious miscalculation. not only had the temperature not budged from 27, but the wind were whipping around the park in the 10+ m.p.h. range (and even stronger gusts).

by the time we reached baggage check i was frozen. emmy added a layer, and i went one step further and put on my post-race sweatshirt (over the 2 long-sleeve tech shirts i had planned to wear). from there we jogged over to the transverse, over to west drive, and back to the starting corrals. this wasn't to warm-up - but to stop the shivering! i was verging on unhappy camper land - but, with the realization the was only 4 miles in the back of my head, i managed to refocus my attention to the task at hand.

i've run the holiday 4 miler a few times in the past:

2002: 26:15
2005: 26:09
2007: 28:37

while i doubted today's effort would come anywhere near 26:09, i was pretty sure (even as bundled up as i was) that i'd shave a lot of time off 2007's performance! i a 6:45 pace was good enough to get me in at 27 minutes. depending on how mile one shook out, i'd try for 6:40's - but doubted i could maintain a 6:30 pace given the conditions.

as we headed out of the baggage check, i said hi to sal (in short sleeves). but here at the corral i saw my old wtc teammate john in his signature (weather irrelevant) singlet - which made me shiver all the more! i wondered if the sweatshirt was going to keep me warm enough (i knew it would be overkill by mile 2 - but i couldn't bring myself to take it off). in a pleasant surprise, fellow blogger gojohnnygo (nyflyers) introduced himself. i look forward to socializing w/him in warmer circumstances :D

also, emmy ran into a couple of her friends - shelley (greater ny) and someone she recognized from last year's wurtsboro 30k, angela (running divas). angela was teammates with my friend and neighbor, susan (running divas). susan said hi to us before she headed further back to run the race with her two boys! then it was time to get this race started!

the first mile went by in 6:30 flat. while i was feeling pretty good, and just about warmed up, i knew i should get back to my original plan of 6:40-45's because holding this pace (especially up cat hill) wasn't realistic. so mile 2 dropped down to 6:38. again, i felt pretty good, but now cat hill was on deck, and a headwind on east drive. predictably, mile 3 was my slowest at 6:48 - my 3 mile split was just under 20 minutes (19:56). i sucked it up for the last mile and dropped it back down to 6:42, finishing in 26:38.

angela and shelley finished just ahead of me, and emmy followed just behind me. angela and shelley each took 2nd in their respective age groups. emmy won her age group! john, too, won his age group. all in all, it was a pretty good race. afterwards, emmy and i tried to catch susan and her sons as they finished, but had no luck spotting them.

next up: the ted corbitt 15k next weekend!

check out my race photos.
check out gojohnnygo's race report.

the clash "london calling" released 29 years ago: december 14, 1979

here is one of the album covers that graced the walls of my room in high school and dorm in college. back in day when album art was something big enough to view w/out a magnifying glass, i'm sure i wasn't the only one who had "london calling" double for its decorative value (among other uses).

after just seeing the joe strummer documentary, "the future is unwritten," the clash has gotten some renewed playtime on my ipod!

"london calling" was actually my second clash album - both for the music, as well as the cover art. "give em' enough rope" which i had picked up a year earlier, my formal introduction to the clash, was already up on the wall.



finally, while both "give 'em enough rope" and "london calling" had awesome album covers (and, it should go w/out saying - but i'll mention it just the same - great tunes), the my favorite clash album was (and still is) "sandinista!" - released in 1980. ironically, that album cover, as contrasted to the awesome world tinged music on the record, wasn't that interesting (i.e. cool) - and never got tacked up on my dorm room wall - ha.

nyrr holiday 4 miler: race photos and results

just back from the holiday 4 miler in central park - it was very cold and windy. i finished in 26:38, a 6:39 pace. i was so cold at the start that at the very last minute i put my sweatshirt on over my two long-sleeve tech shirts and wore it for the entire race!

here is my short race report.

here are the official results.


pre-race.


pre-race.

runners nearing the finish, just before 102nd street.

post-race.

post-race.

post-race.

one year ago the running community lost a legend: ted corbitt passed away

it was a year ago today that running legend ted corbitt passed away. he was 88 years old and his list of accomplishments could fill a book. long associated with ultras, he was first and foremost a runner.

ted corbett was a founder, and first president, of the new york road runners. it is more than fitting that next weekend we get to run the ted corbitt 15k in central park in his honor.

this past october, the broadway ultra society (b.u.s.) held the ted corbitt 24 hour run in his honor. ted was a long time member and supporter of b.u.s - we miss him!

so take a moment to think about ted today.
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here are a few observations on this day from richie. he shared them w/the b.u.s. members in this email:

Dear BUS Members,

Please be advised that one year ago on this date we lost one special human being with the passing of Ted Corbitt. I can remember almost every detail, not only of that day but of that week, like it was moment ago. Ted was very sick at the time, and in essence, it probably was a blessing that he passed. Ted was always very independent, and would never want to be a burden on anyone. But his illness would have changed all that.

I think of Ted constantly. I knew his health was failing for a few years and tried to prepare myself of the inevitable. It may work in theory but not in reality. I have visualized how special it would have been for Ted to go to Eugene, the shrine of track and field, and experience the Olympic Trials. He also would have enjoyed watching the Games at China. And then to witness this past and historical election. I would have liked to hear his viewpoint of it all

I realize I have been out of touch and fading away to some ultra horizon. But the spirit of the sport still remains somewhere inside of me. A lot of that comes from being around Ted. He was quite an influence. And probably the reason why I still will conduct the Pioneer 3-day 100-miler for Memorial Day Weekend in 2009. That event was his bundle of joy and an extension of himself. It’s a passage we should share one more time.

If you can, think of him for a moment today and his luminous smile and then smile yourself.

Take care and good cheer,

Richie
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on a personal note, it was at the 2007 edition of pioneer memorial trek that i first met ted corbitt. as i mentioned in an earlier post, ted kicked off each of the three days with his personal memories of the runners honored for that leg of the event, and then he volunteered at that day's race! a truly generous and sharing man.

"the naked city" on tcm last night

"there are 8 million stories in the naked city; this has been one of them."

last night tcm aired the granddaddy of police procedural shows, "the naked city," during prime time. long before computers, the internet and dna, police still solved murders - the detective work just took a little more shoe leather. "the naked city" is still as fresh today - 60 years after it was made (right here in new york city) as it when it first played in movie houses.

that seems like an strange observation since one highlight of the film is the almost time capsule like view of bygone new york it provides - horse draw carriages, ice wagons, and elevated train lines in manhattan. solving the murder of the young model found dead in her bathtub is the ostensible plot, but the documentary style portrait of the city revealed as the detectives roam the streets tracking down leads is breathtaking.

for a straightforward crime - murder, the plot draws in jewel thieves and ccomplices that are hilarious. especially the duped doctor - twice, once by the criminals at his wife's socials and then again by the police, in his own office. his overly dramatic confession and pathetic attempt to jump out the window is (probably unintended) comic relief. that contrasts with the real drama of the earlier morgue scene, where the model's parents are brought in from "out of town" to identify her body. that was a modern day morality play.

and even the victims of the jewel thieves are fascinating creatures. upon returning a stolen ring to a wealthy apartment denizen, she purred happily - until she learned the other items are still missing. "i'm so disappointed!" she blurted out, a mood change of 180 degrees. but she caught herself and instantly returned to the ever-so-polite matron. the shocker is, however, that the ring (after a brief interlude in the hands of the dead model) actually belonged to her daughter (the fiance of the suspected murderer) - go figure?!

and what of the actual murderer? in addition to his duties as a jewel thief/murderer, he is also a harmonica playing wrestler! the best part of tracking him down is, once again, watching the young detective as he makes his way thru the bustling city streets. not to leave the boroughs out, we also get a glimpse of his somewhat bucolic home life in long island city (part of queens - not long island. although both brooklyn and queens are technically on long island - but that's another long story - ha).

imagine a detective questioning young children on a playground about a big burly man that stops to play the harmonica for them! even more astonishing, the children, innocently, have an idea of where he lives! that clue leads the detective straight to the bad guy! even more amazing, the detective makes small talk, as the wrestler continues his work-out, before towels off and overpowers the officer to make his get-away. it's an almost surrealistic sequence of events!

for a new yorker, for a fan of csi: ny, any of the 3 law and order series, film noir, or police shows in general (either fiction or true crime), "the naked city" is must viewing. buy it, rent it, or borrow it - just get your hands on it and enjoy the ride.

fyi: "the naked city" was the basis for the t.v. series of the same name that ran in from the late 50s to the early 60s (which is also great viewing).

a little chocolate with that beer, maybe some chipotle?

arcadia cocoa loco

for a change of pace i tried a couple of off-beat beers over the last 2 weeks: two chocolate, and one pepper infused. i wasn't new to the chocolate, having tried my first one last spring at the blind tiger ale house (a rogue chocolate stout). but the chipotle ale would be a first.

instead of having my attention focused on picking up wine for thanksgiving dinner, i got a little distracted picked up a stone "bitter chocolate oatmeal stout," arcadia "cocoa loco," and a rogue "chiptole ale" at decicco's market in ardsley. each was in a 22 oz. bottle (and cost what a draft pint would normally fetch at a bar).

i couldn't talk my brother into trying the chiptole ale at thanksgiving - but i did try it that weekend (the night before the pete mcardle xc 15k, actually). the smoked chipotle chile pepper infusion definitely made this beer finish with a bite. as it turned out, this was my favorite of the three. spice beat out sweet - again (as in the "bloody beer" from last month)


stone 12th anniversary bitter chocolate oatmeal stout

over the next two weekends i tried the chocolate infused beers. each one came out of the bottle almost black in color - with hardly any head. they were decidedly sipping beers and, while interesting, not really my cup of hot chocolate - to mix a winter metaphor.

they were nice change of pace, but while i can easily see myself going back for the chipotle ale, i don't plan on mixing sweets with my beer in the foreseeable future.


rogue chipotle ale

joe kleinerman 10k: race report

when i woke up on sunday morning, did not feel up to running. i felt in the grip of a slowly approaching cold - which probably wasn't helped by running a 5k race the previous day. still, don and emmy were about to meet me just after 7 for the drive into the city - and it was 10 degrees warmer than it was the morning before. so into the city we went!

the joe kleinerman 10k is the last team points race of the year. it's always a very competitive race. i hadn't planned on running it this year. i've run it plenty of times in the past - with times ranging from 40:50 to 46 minutes (the year the ground was covered with snow and the race changed to a fun run). today i thought i could run sub 6:50's and finish in 42:30 - but given how i felt, would be very happy to come in under 43 minutes.

here are my splits:

6:48
6:51 13:39
6:48 20:27
6:59 27:26
7:05 34:31
6:50 41:21
1:26 42:47

6:54 pace

in the first mile i realized a sub 6:50 pace would be tough. aside from the 6:48 (would've liked a 6:40), i couldn't get any traction on the downhill. in fact, i felt myself slip on what i thought was black ice - but that was probably my imagination. still, i almost wished for trail shoes! after the next two miles, which were right on 6:50 pace, i was already dreading cat hill - which was still a mile away!

mile 4 just slipped in under 7 minutes, but mile 5 was the deal breaker. the 7:05 was 15 seconds too slow, and added to the mile 4 split, a sub-42:30 was pretty much out of reach. but i rallied back with a 6:49 mile 6 and finished in 42:47, a 6:54 pace. not too shabby, and good enough to score (3rd place) for the trrc masters team!

emmy, who finished just ahead of me, was the only trrc masters woman in the race. without another two women, the team couldn't score today. but still, the trrc masters women team finished the year second overall - woo hoo!

next up - the holiday 4 miler.

here are my race photos.