NYRRC races-the perks December 9, 2007

 Garbage can post NYRRC Joe Kleinerman 10 km race–carbo loading for squirrels.Some would say the perks of New York Road Runners club races include:

• well organized
• nice speeches by celebrities (Joan Rivers was last week, doing the same “is there a single jewish doctor in the crowd”)  speech she did last year
• lots of porta potties
• the predictability of slow people lining up at five mile pace marker only to be bulldozed by faster people who are in danger of crashing into them from behind
• volunteers telling people to stay to the left so anyone else who happens to want to be in central park during a race has a tiny path carved for them 

Having done many NYRRC races though, I have other reasons for loving these races:

• stocking up on french toast bagels ( I don’t know where they buy them, but french toast flavoured bagels are strangely delicious) at the finish line.
• giving said french toast bagels to the homeless man on the subway post race. They never really want food-they want money, but…..today the guy I gave one too was decidedly unhappy with my donation–at least, judging by the yelling at me
•  snow day races–when they cancel the chip timing and make it a fun race.
• having a bath afterwards 

 

Mens Olympic Marathon Trials November 4, 2007

Watched the Mens Olympic Marathon Trials yesterday. It was one of the more amazing and inspiring things I’ve ever seen.

Ryan Hall was at the front from the get-go, setting the pace for the first group until mile seventeen, when he took off and ended up winning by almost two minutes. Each time I saw him, he looked completely relaxed and his face never showed signs of strain.

Second and third were by no means a sure thing. There was a small group at front which included Hall, Meb, Abdi (for awhile, but then he dropped out) and Fitz.

After that group Khalid Khannouchi ran solo pretty much the whole race. Hall said the reason he took off at mile seventeen (clocking the fastest mile in CP ever) was because he saw Khalid catching up and knew if he caught their group, it would be dangerous.

Brian Sell was not in the first group at all during the race, so it was great to see him run a smart race and end up coming third.

And very sad about Shay.  

•  Brian Sell’s feed bottle that I picked up
• Ryan Hall
• Fitz 
•   Brian Sell 

want me to add bigger, or more, pics? send a comment 

Marathon trials October 30, 2007

The Olympic mens marathon trials are this Saturday-they start in midtown and do several laps of central park, cutting off the Harlem hill. Still a hilly course though. Of the 130 or so running, only the top 3 will go to the Olympics. Runners World has a bunch of videos of the main contenders training and they’re really great to watch.

Actually, they are not so action packed. The majority of the videos seem to show the guys in a creek soaking their legs after their runs. And the creek seems cold, and they talk about that a lot. In fact, they throw snowballs into the creek to see how long it will take the snow to melt. Then they take their shirts off to show their lean lean bodies, made leaner still by the intake of their breaths as they get in and soak. So if you want to see several guys in a creek talking about running, you now know where to do it! It’s oddly fascinating.

Oh yeah, and the marathon for mere mortals is Sunday. Somehow that doesn’t seem as exciting anymore.