NYRR 4mile Central Park New York - 25:12

Conditions 44 degrees F, 93% humidity, wind 6mph and raining. Now that was cold this morning. Sorry Tim I couldn't convert to metric.

The calves were still a bit sore when I entered yesterday but I thought what the hell, can't beat a race in Central Park. Was a bit far back at the start as they gave me a number that meant you had to go in a certain corral for the start. I was in the first one but had about 400 runners in front of me which wasn't good. They have chips so the times were based on those only anyway.

The run started at 69th st in central park on the roads for those who know the park and went up to 102nd st before we turned and ran back down to about 65th st and came back to the finish near 72nd st. Good course not too many hills which was good. Very wet roads as it rained the whole time. Had to weave through a lot of runners which was very annoying hence the slow 1st mile and the quick 2nd mile trying to get my pace back.

My splits I remember in miles were 1m-7:00, 2m-13:10(6:10), 3m-19:32(6:22), 4m-25:12(5:40). Total was 25:12 for 4 miles or 6.4ks, (6:18 per mile), (3:56 per k).

Total runners 5144. There were 399 male runners in the 40-44 age group and I was 10th. I was 113th overall and 105th male out of 2779.
1st male was 20:01 and 1st female 22:20.
Did get a few strange looks considering I was running in shorts and the Striders Singlet.

Boston Marathon 2011- 3:12:08

What a race. Glad I qualified and finally got to run it after wanting to do it since 2005.
On the bus(those yellow school ones you always see on TV) at 6am from the Boston Common up to the start at Hopkinton.
The journey takes about an hour so you are warned not to drink much before you hop on the bus in the morning. The Athletes village is on a school oval. Huge marquees surrounded by port a loos. With tables of bananas, water bottles, bagels and coffee. The longest queues were for coffee early as it was cold and windy. And later for the port a loos when they all had too much coffee and nerves.
Camped out on the grass for a couple of hours as I didn't have to go up to the start until 9:10am.
I was in the 1st wave and 2nd corral going off behind the elite men at 10am. So at 9:10am we have to walk up to the start corrals about 1k away. So an easy walk takes about 15 mins with the crowd. Throw the old clothes off before the start. They check your bib numbers so you can't jump corrals.

We had the star spangled banner about 10 mins before the start and then they brought the elite men up just after. 29 Kenyans and Ryan Hall. Ryan Hall came near the front of our corral and was high fiveing the crowd. So they all broke into USA, USA. Great feeling when that happened.

No countdown for the gun and we were off. Only took me about 10 secs to cross the mat and I was basically running fully within 400m of the start. Lucky I was up the front. I was keen on not going to fast at the start as the downhills here can hurt the legs early.
I managed a decent 5k of 20:51 and 10k of 42:02 which was on the pace I wanted.

From then on I found it increasingly tough to stay on the pace as I just felt very tired and had no energy. That is it, the only excuse I'm giving.
The course is tougher than I thought. Lots of uphills and downhills. BTW the hill at about the 28k mark goes up for about 800m which in my opinion was the hardest on the course.

Wellesley College where the girls scream there heads off is as loud as those Youtube videos tell you. They pump you up so much for the next klm which is downhill and flat. I think I was doing sub 4 min ks after that. Had some energy just mis-used on the day.

Struggle into the finish with splits blowing out to 4:50 ks at one stage.
Splits were:
5k-20:51
10k-42:02(21:11)
15k-1:03:53(21:51)
20k-1:26:06(22:13)
21.1k-1:30:46(4:18/ks)
25k-1:48:28(22:22)
30k-2:12:19(23:51)
35k-2:36:16(23:57)
40k-3:00:48(24:32)
42.2k-3:12:08(4:33/ks) Overall 3380 out of 24338 that started.
90:46/101:22.

I must say the crowd was from 2 deep to twenty deep both sides of the road for about 40ks of the race. I can only recall a couple of ks where there was no crowd. They just yell for anyone. I had so many go Sydney's I thought I was in the Olympics. And high fiveing the kids is a must along the course, they give you so much energy. Not that I had any.

Crappy run by me. Not proud of the bad fade I had after 10ks. Love to do the race again and run it better now I know the course. Thanks for everyones support.

Easy 7ks

Colder than yesterday due to the wind. 3 degrees but with a 20k wind blowing. Should have run with the beanie as well. Ran from the seaport up to Boston Common and back. Total was 7.1ks in 34:22. Average pace of 4:50 per klm. Number for Monday is 1571 in case anyone wants to follow it. Corral 2 which starts at midnight monday your time. I'll try to run fast so you can go to sleep. Splits should be 21 min 5ks till the 25k mark which is about the start of the Newtown hills. Intend to attack the up hills and down after that and try and run hard to the finish.

Easy 7ks in Boston

Apparently Spring. But even at 9am it was 3 degrees. Wimped out and ran in a long sleeve top and gloves. The nose was running the whole time from the cold though. Ran from the Seaport up and around Boston Common and back. The Common is a little 380 year old public common or park for the people of Boston. Also where the buses up to the start line on Monday will leave from. Total was 7.2ks in 35:56. Average pace of 4:59 per klm. Picked up the race number from the expo this afternoon. So many people in there. Didn't fancy many of the clothes items. The Singlets are crap but did buy a short sleeve top since they looked ok.

Washingto D.C Easy 6k

Ran from the hotel in Foggy Bottom to the National Mall and ran around past the Washington Monument, Korean war memorial, World War Two memorial and Lincoln Memorial and back to the hotel. Was rained on during the run which was pretty cold. Total was 6ks in 26:24. Average pace of 4:24 per klm. Ok it felt easy. Maybe a bit too fast.

Capital Crescent Trail 19ks

Ran from the hotel down to the start of the trail which was about 2ks from the hotel. The trail runs along the Potomac river next to the C&O towpath. It is actually tar so I wasn't running on dirt for 19ks. Pity that the only two water spots on the trail had no water connected. A very thirsty morning. Plenty of runners and bikers out using it. It was an easy out and back run. 2ks to the trailhead and about 5 miles out and back. Total was 19.78ks in 1:31:35. Average pace of 4:37 per klm. Legs felt good. For Tim and Tom it was 49F and 92% humidity. A slight breeze of 6 mph and cloudy. Ran in my singlet and shorts. Was getting funny looks from all the Yanks in tights, long sleeves and gloves. It wasn't that cold.

Hurry Up For Health 8k - 31:19 = 3rd place

In Washington DC. My first run since Sunday's Strider's STaR at Dee Why. Been doing plenty of sight seeining which means heaps of walking. Does that count as exercise in a taper? The race was at 5pm on Saturday. I think they have daylight saving. The course was along the C&O towpath which runs parallel to the Potomac river. It is crushed sandstone(I thought it was tar) along the waterway. Plenty of water puddles along the course as it rained most of Friday here. Not many doing the race from the looks of it. They only had 285 last year. Started off a bit fast doing the 1st k in 3:42 and the 1st mile in 6:07. It was 4 k out and back. Myself and another guy ran together for the 1st 4k with me leading basically and him just behind. After the turnaround he pulled away and I couldn't stay with him. The guy in 3rd came up and eventually went past me about the 5k mark. From there I held on to finish 3rd overall in 31:19. Time wasn't what I wanted but it was my 1st run for a week. Happy with the podium though.

Lap of the Lake STaR 26ks

Rocked up this morning seeing a large group of about a dozen including Tom, Georgie, Mark, Jo, Steve H, and EJ. Turns out I had the wrong map as for most of the run I had no idea where we were going. Started at DY surf club and ran up to Long Reef and then through Collaroy, Narrabeen before getting the Narrabeen Lake where we ran up the path alongside Wakehurst Parkway for a few k's before coming back. Then it was up through Nth Narrabeen to Warriewood where most of us went short and ventured across to the beach to run back to Collaroy. After that it was back around the Lake and a few local streets in Dee Why to the finish at the surf club. Total was 26.1ks in 2:04:55. Average pace of 4:47 per klm. It was pretty slow for the first 5ks this morning.