2012 NYC Summer Series Races Cheat Sheet
Here’s a quick cheat sheet for NYC area summer series races. They’re cheap, mostly during the week and a great way to test your speed throughout the summer:
- Van Cortlandt Track Club X-C 5k Summer Series (Bronx), 7pm on every other Thursday Nights: May 24, June 7, June 21, July 5 (2 x 2 Mile Relay), July 19, August 2, August 16, Prices: $5 each race or $20 for the entire series.
- Prospect Park Track Club (Brooklyn), 7:15pm every other Wednesday: May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 25, August 8, August 22, Prices: $5 each race or $25 for the series.
- NYCRuns.com Riverside Park 5k series (Manhattan), 7pm every other Wednesday: 5/16, 5/30, 6/13, 6/27, 7/18, 8/1, 8/15, Prices: $10 each race, or $60 for the entire series.
- Rockaway Running Series (Queens–link is in upper right hand), 7pm every other Thursday: June 7, June 14, June 21, July 5, July 12, July 14, Prices: free.
And honorable mentions in the metropolitan area:
- NYS Parks Summer Series (Long Island), 7pm, distances ranging from 4k to 10k on Monday Nights: 6/11, 6/18, 6/25, 7/9, 7/16, 7/23, 7/30, 8/6, Prices: $60 for all eight races, $45 for four races.
- Raritan Valley Road Runners 5k X-C (NJ), 7pm on Tuesday Nights: June 12, June 26, July 10, July 24, Prices: $11 each race, or $40 for the series.
Monday’s Motivation
There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path, don’t allow yourself to become one of them. – CutAndJacked.com
Have You Read “Black Women and Fat” in the NY Times?
Alice Randall, writes an interesting and scary op-ed about her experience. I have lots to say about this, but have neither the inclination or interest to write a full rebuttal. Choice quotes:
“What we need is a body-culture revolution in black America. Why? Because too many experts who are involved in the discussion of obesity don’t understand something crucial about black women and fat: many black women are fat because we want to be.”
“How many middle-aged white women fear their husbands will find them less attractive if their weight drops to less than 200 pounds? I have yet to meet one. “
“When the biologist Daniel Lieberman suggested in a public lecture at Harvard this past February that exercise for everyone should be mandated by law, the audience applauded, the Harvard Gazette reported. A room full of thin affluent people applauding the idea of forcing fatties, many of whom are dark, poor and exhausted, to exercise appalls me.”
Ummm. Now, she’s trying to work on her own weight and meal choices, and now her “…go-to family dinner is sliced cucumbers, salsa, spinach and scrambled egg whites with onions. Our go-to snack is peanut butter — no added sugar or salt — on a spoon. My quick breakfast is a roasted sweet potato, no butter, or Greek yogurt with six almonds.”
That sounds like she’s moving from one extreme to another. Good luck to her! I am glad her experience–praying to be fat–is not my experience. I don’t know any black friends who would consciously pray to be fat. Then again, I’m not at all in her age range and I am not from the south. I’m not denying the reality of obesity epidemic, but I would like to think that her experience is atypical.
Read the entire op-ed here. What do you think?
Finished the Long Island Half Marathon
The last time I ran longer than 6 miles was 7 weeks ago. My only strategy was to run until I didn’t feel like running, walk up inclines to save energy and speed up when I felt like it. In other words, no real strategy at all. I still PR’d by more than 9 minutes from a Half where I was properly trained. The weather had a lot to do with it. It was sloppy, but I’ll take it.
Organization of race: A. Course for the half: C. I’d do it again.
Timex Marathon GPS Watch Quick Review
I pre-ordered a Timex Marathon GPS Watch to assist me with pacing on runs. Previously, I was using a Timex Ironman to keep track of time, but not distance. After about 3 weeks wait, I got my watch in the mail. Here’s the scoop:
I tried the Timex Marathon GPS watch ($99) several times on different days. Ultra easy to operate, pretty intuitive–and absolutely no frills. The only thing I absolutely hate is the cheap watch band that I can’t replace. All in all, it does what I need it to do and I like love the freedom of being able to change my route on the fly to avoid stop lights or for a change in scenery. If you want frills, if you want to upload, if you want a “cheap” version of a Garmin, this is not the watch for you. For what it’s worth, at my recent 4mile race, my GPS clocked at 4.02, so it was darn close!
For a complete review, read DCRainmaker’s blog about it. He also has a ton of other running watch reviews and if you’re in the market for one, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t check out his blog first.
Peaks and Valleys Part 3: Excuses, Excuses
Not sure what my real excuses were for under-training, but it probably went something like this:
It’s too hot; it’s too cold; it’s rainy; I can’t find my sports bra; I forgot my gym lock at home; I just ate; I’m too hungry to run right now; I don’t have enough time; I am going to sleep in; I have to work late; I ran 3 miles and now I “deserve” Chipolte/chips/that cookie; I just don’t feel like it. And the list goes on.
In other words, 97.5% of my excuses were bullshit. Just calling it what it is.
The longest break from running has been about two weeks, I think. I had no major injuries that prevented me from XT or swimming.
In an ideal world, my “happy weight” is less than 165, and my weekly mileage would be somewhere around 20.
No matter how you slice it, I will still be under trained for my Half on May 6. Am I going to do it anyway? Yes. Am I going to seriously adjust my expectations? Yes.
I owe it to myself to train properly and see what I am capable of. If I decide to become a non-runner again, I can do it one day after I finish the Chicago Marathon.
Game On.
Peaks and Valleys Part 2: August 2011 to April 2012 Confession and Recap
Flash back: August 2011. I was 158lbs (at 5’8″), and I ran over 80 miles that month. I felt pretty good about my training and pretty good about my body.
Flash forward: it’s April 2012. I’m about 172. My highest monthly mileage since then has been 58 (or 14.5 mpw). My lowest monthly mileage since I began tracking in July 2011 has been 31 (or less than 8 mpw).
Mind you, since August, I’ve run a marathon, 2 half marathons, one 10 mile race, three 10ks, two 4 mile races and 2 5k races. All on really low weekly mileage a/k/a under trained. Honestly, I would say I was properly trained for only about two of those races a 5k (27:48) and a 10k (1:00:48). I’ve been skating on sheer luck. Can you tell? Can you imagine what I would be capable of if I actually trained properly?
New 4 Mile PR
I’ve been in a major slump. So, yesterday, I decided to sign up for a 4 mile race in very flat Eisenhower Park on Long Island. I looked at my race history and decided that my 4mile and my Half Marathon race times were times that I could beat without killing myself. I really needed a confidence boost. My previous 4 mile time was (39:18/official). Today, my time was 37:55. I am ecstatic about my time and it felt really good. I still don’t feel like writing a race report for it, so I won’t, but you already got the short version. 
No NYCM for Me
Here’s the email I received last night:
“We’re sorry, but you were not selected for the 2012 ING New York City Marathon. We must limit the size of the race field chosen through our non-guaranteed entry drawing for many reasons, including safety and overall runner experience, but there are other ways of gaining entry this year.”
And I’m 100% ok with it because I am already running the Chicago Marathon on October 7th.
Something funny I found circulating on the internets.
The Peaks and the Valleys Part 1
It’s really, really easy to talk about the peaks in running. And as a new runner, each new distance, each new race, every new PR is fun and amazing and makes you remember why you started. But running is also the valleys. That’s the nature of the sport. And that’s why I haven’t been posting as much.
I thought about running recently and whether former non-runner was going to be a non-runner once again. I gave it some serious thought. I want to run. I am happier when I run. In the next few posts, I’m going to be discussing my main challenges, which can pretty much be summarized by under training, over thinking, overeating, scattered focus and being overwhelmed.
