The Joe Nation 2007 NYC Marathon Log

Yes you are a stinker, but I thought we were supposed to keep that fact under wraps.


Here's a tough looking guy.


Joe(but only tough looking)Nation

Cool pic!

Yeah, I'd get outta his way.











So, Birthday Boy, now that the party's over...

I've strung together a short series of runs in the past few days including going to the gym at noon today to whip through 3 miles on the treadmill.
(trying to break in a new pair of 992s)

Going to get very serious these next weeks.

Joe(Mark my words. Or any other guy's name you want to use)Nation

I am still lobbying for a light truck division of racing.

Joe(Hemi demi semi)Nation

I agree a hemidemisemi group makes sense. (I know I don't run and my opinion has no weight, oh, wait, yes it does... but I used to, in my way.)

How you work that out with what data, I don'know. Seems simple on the face of it. Or the tummy. But maybe it isn't.

Not that I've given it any real thought:

suppose there were age and weight divisions? You run against people who were just as old as you are and just as, er, um, ballasted.

I would be judged against all the 198 lb 60 years olds instead of all the 60 year old whippets that I have to beat now.


Finishing lists (no prizes) could easily be computed for each age/weight group.

Joe(i'd still come in 30th out of 66, but hey)Nation

I ran a race a few years ago that boasted a "Clydesdale Division".

That's what I'm talking about.

We have to use more horsepower to get our load from start to finish.

====
You know what would be fun? Handicap starts. If you run a five mile race in 30 minutes and I run it in 47 minutes you get to start seventeen minutes AFTER me. Everybody would be at the finish line at the same time.

Joe(Watch those elbows fly!!)Nation

Three miles today with the co-worker previously known as Two-Mile Mike.
What a miserable run! I just couldn't get in sync at all. It was a struggle
every step of the way. Mike was unsympathetic. "Welcome to my world"
said he.

Did you strangle him right then and there?

One small benefit to only running by oneself....

(when I was writing this in my head, I said 'running with anonymous strangers'...and then the other, more adult, side of my head said, "What other kind of strangers are there? and then a big fight broke out which lasted several minutes. I am easily entertained some days.)

is I have only myself to drive crazy. Some days I charge along never stopping even for water, other days, like yesterday, I stop several times to take pictures or just watch the passing crowds.

There were by some counts more than 60,000 bicyclists in Central Park. You read that right.
60,000. I believe it. The first group came down the roadway toward me at about 9:45AM at the 102 Street Crossover. They were followed immediately by a compact stream of cyclists, five to eight wide, row after row which continued uninterrupted for the next three miles.


Except that by the time I had reached that three mile mark the bikes were fifteen across and a solid mass stretching on down Fifth Ave.

What was I saying? Oh, that I didn't mind all the wheels and helmets careening near me. A bunch of other runners were a little freaked out by the whole thing. The odd thing was that they were barely moving because they were so tightly packed together and twice, when I had to cross the stream to get to my destination, a biker fell over unable to keep balance at .00003 miles per hour and I was able to scamper through.

Joe(Member of Strangers Anonymous since 1967)Nation

this is a hell of a time to get a chest cold.

Joe(that's all I'm saying)Nation

sympathy for the chest cold

I'm still not feeling all that good. It may be the h u g e amounts of pollen in the air, the numbers have the local weather forecaster gasping for breath. Did the five mile loop this noon time with a stop in the middle for water and to take this picture.

Here's another of a circle of people who were either being preached to or had gathered for some other more formal event. They are all in their best dress under the spreading leaves of the Park.


Anyway, huffed and puffed my way around the circle, sweating off about six cups of water.


Joe(at least that's how much Gatorade it took to make me pee)Nation

Numbers and Signs
Scattered along the roadways in Central Park are a number of painted numbers, words and other signs. There are, by my inaccurate count, five ½ miles, three 2 miles, several 3 miles, and at least one 6. I know it's a 6 because it's underlined like this: 6. Several of the 1/2s are underlined as well even though it's doubtful they could be confused with anything else. There are three places where the word "Start" or "str" or just "S" is written but only one, very French, fin . It is underlined as well. What I've not been able to discover as yet is how any of them are related. You would think you could start at a 'start' and then, while running your usual ten minute per mile rate, at about five minutes in, come across one of the 1/2 markers, but you don't. Likewise none of the 2s or 3s matches up with any of the start lines.

I keep meaning to start at one of the 1/2s and run five minutes in each direction, looking closely for the faded remnants of some long ago race run or, as I sometimes imagine, that some of those markers are unofficial, spray-painted on the sly by a runner who couldn't keep track of where the three mile mark was if you started at the Merchants Gate. (psst: If you go up the West Side and take the 102nd St. Transverse, it's right at the corner where you head South again. it's just about halfway up the first hill going South.)


I was going to that horseshoe this morning but changed my mind and ran what I call the Little Hilly Loop de Loo. There is a 1.8 mile loop at the South end of the Park that includes views of The Lake, Cherry Hill, the Sheep Meadow and the Mall. One time around and a quick downhill run to the 6 Train makes it right at three miles, but there is nothing stopping anyone from doing two or three loops using them as intervals or sprints or just to mosey.

You just have to ignore the various numbers and signs on the roads.

Got 6.2 miles in last night. FINALLY.


Joe(rain tonight)Nation

Awright, Joe!
I gotta get my keister back in gear.

been running a bit too. my usual loop is getting too short. been running from home to Harvard foot bridge, along the river to past the Mount Auburn Hospital, then cross the bridge behind and run back to Harvard bridge on the other side of the river, cross, and back home. It used to be 45 minutes with all the walking inbetween, but if I run it straight, which I finally can, it's only 1/2 hour. I'd run further, but there's no other bridge for a long while after that, and I refuse to run back the same way. i'll figger it oot tho.

Good for you, dag. Um....You could always go around twice

Ask around or go onto RunningAhead.com and look for other routes in your neck of the woods.

Did you make it to the reservoir path when you were down here?

I'm looking at finding cut-across routes in the park because I'm getting bored with the Loop. I've found a couple good ones. What I want to create is a series of figure 8's that I can mix up for more mileage, but also new vistas.

Go George!! Scanned a bit of the college thread the other night... having your kid go off to college is another kind of marathon, the kind without water stations and a constantly moving finish line.

Joe(running in the rain in the morning)Nation

Hey Dag, I just read something about interval training being a good thing. (Run for a while -- walk for a while -- run for a while -- etc. The "whiles" were 3 minutes or so.)