So, my second trip to Las Vegas in two months... crazy! This time it was a girls' trip with Mom. We were actually rather low key. In fact, over the 4-day weekend, the only night we were out past 10pm was Saturday night. Pretty sad, huh? I guess I'm used to waking at about 4 or 4:30 eastern time, and as a result was up freakishly early in the morning and could not stay awake into the night. So, we made the best of the daytime. We went to Red Rock Canyon on a perfect day (seemed that everyone else thought so too, as it was quite crowded). We ate some fabulous food. We saw Blue Man Group.
A fun weekend, but I'm anxious to return home and back to reality. I write from the Las Vegas airport. Take the red eye tonight, head essentially straight to work Monday morning (after heading home to shower and pick up Socrates from the kennel), work on a project for the Corps (which I'm also doing at the moment), and then fly out Tuesday morning to New Orleans/Baton Rouge until Thursday night. Whew! Crazy.
Exhausted just thinking about it....
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Solo on the W & OD
Nice day for a bike ride! Being one week out from the marathon, I thought I'd take it a little easy, skipping out on the hilly ride with Team Z and going solo on the flat W & OD rail trail instead. It was rather pleasant out there, and lucked out by seeing a deer. I did a respectable 30 miles, opting to take it a little easy and not push it.
I ran 6 miles yesterday and felt pretty good.
Hopefully I'm fully back in action quickly to rejoin the Team Z schedule. Ironman training has begun after all.
Looks like LSU is back on top. Can we hang on until the BCS Championship?
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
New York City Marathon
All right... I'll just come out and say it: the NYC Marathon should be on everyone's to-do list! What a fabulously fun race. The crowds (an estimated 2 million) certainly make it easy to pass the miles by. The support and volunteers are absolutely first class. With that, here's my report on the weekend....
I took the bus up Saturday morning (day before the race), immediately making a stop at the race expo upon my arrival in Manhattan. I picked up my number, chip, and shirt before making a quick spin around the expo itself. It was a zoo (the trick is to go there Thursday or Friday apparently) and I had to leave the expo rather quickly. Besides, ESPN Zone in Times Square was calling my name. (It was COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY after all.)
After lunch and some football, I took a swing by my hostel. (I elected to stay at a hostel vs a hotel to save some coin. It was $37/night, 2 blocks from Times Square, and clean. Can't beat that.) It was soon time to go to the pre-race dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
Walking through Central Park got me very excited about next morning's race. Seeing the run route leading toward the finish line, lined with flags and bleachers got my heart pumping. Additionally, it was a beautifully crisp fall day, with foliage in full swing, which made for a setting exactly like one would think Central Park would look like in the fall.
The dinner was outstanding. I wondered how they would feed nearly 40,000 runners (and their guests), but they seem to have it down to a science. Volunteers cooked up 6000 lbs of pasta to feed us. I sat with a couple of guys who were also there solo to chat up. One of them was a first time marathoner and he was as excited as a kid at Christmas.
Post dinner I ventured back to the hostel to catch the LSU-Bama game. About 8pm I wasn't happy with the Tigers' performance and was getting tired, so I called it a night. (Thanks Mom for the voice mail with the outcome--- LSU wins!)
I woke early the next morning, delighted to have the hostel room to myself. I soon headed out to meet the race bus to make the way to the race start at Staten Island.
And then it was time to wait. And wait. Racers need to arrive early at Staten Island as they close the Verranzo-Narrows Bridge early for security and for those that start the race earlier than the crowd (pro women & athletes with disabilities). Plus, with nearly 40,000 runners, there's a lot of logistics to take care of pre-race. At least there was plenty of coffee, bagels, and other food to keep us happy.
By the time I crossed the start line at 10:30 (race started at 10:10), I felt like half the day was over. (I had boarded the bus at 4:30.) Needless to say, I was very happy to finally be running!
The run across the bridge is highly exciting. It's the iconic picture of the NYC marathon. Upon exiting the bridge into Brooklyn, the crowds are phenomenal. Most of the first half of the race is in Brooklyn, running through the various ethnic neighborhoods. I saw parts of NYC I'd never otherwise see.
I knew going into the race that I was under-prepared. I did not get the long runs in me. I had a 14-miler and a 17-miler and that was pretty much it. It took me a long time to fully recover from my bike crash over the summer. (I could bike and swim rather quickly, but experienced a litteral pain in my butt whenever I ran from an internal bruise.) Plus, I overly scheduled fall travel. (See prior blog entries.) I opted to go through with the marathon, knowing I'd still be able to finish by playing it smart and taking it easy. I knew I'd have to walk a bulk of the 2nd half. So, I decided to just have fun with it. Relax and kick-start my Ironman training. I figured it would take me about 6 hours.
So, have fun with the race I did. Every time we entered a new borough, the crowds came to life. And finally, with entering Manhattan the second time, we could feel the energy in the air. I saw on my watch that if I kicked it up a tiny notch, I could potentially break 6 hours. Hmmmm. I kicked it into high gear for the last mile, fully running with everything I had, but it wasn't quite enough. I finished in 6:00:05. At least my 6 hour prediction was right on.
I experienced no real trouble during the race. No knee problems, no bonking, none of that. Simply didn't have the training in me to run the entire distance. The only problem I did experience was my shoes. They were way too tight on my feet. I have quick laces on them, and as my feet expanded, I felt like they were being crushed. No way to adjust the laces. I could no longer stand it shortly after I crossed the finish line and elected to walk barefoot the mile or so to collect my gear bag. (The unfortunate thing about having a last name starting with "T" was that the truck holding my gear was near the end.)
I hopped on the subway back to the hostel, got cleaned up, and had a decision to make: post-race party or Irish bar next door. The post-race party was part of my entry fee, but it had unknown food and required walking+subway or a cab ride. The Irish bar was next door and had what I truly had a taste for: burger and a good beer. Needless to say, the Irish bar won out.
All in all, fantastic race. This is a race I would surely do again. And now I'm truly inspired to get myself in gear and honestly train "by the book" for my winter marathon.
Link to my race photos:
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=18469&PWD=&BIB=28252
I took the bus up Saturday morning (day before the race), immediately making a stop at the race expo upon my arrival in Manhattan. I picked up my number, chip, and shirt before making a quick spin around the expo itself. It was a zoo (the trick is to go there Thursday or Friday apparently) and I had to leave the expo rather quickly. Besides, ESPN Zone in Times Square was calling my name. (It was COLLEGE FOOTBALL SATURDAY after all.)
After lunch and some football, I took a swing by my hostel. (I elected to stay at a hostel vs a hotel to save some coin. It was $37/night, 2 blocks from Times Square, and clean. Can't beat that.) It was soon time to go to the pre-race dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
Walking through Central Park got me very excited about next morning's race. Seeing the run route leading toward the finish line, lined with flags and bleachers got my heart pumping. Additionally, it was a beautifully crisp fall day, with foliage in full swing, which made for a setting exactly like one would think Central Park would look like in the fall.
The dinner was outstanding. I wondered how they would feed nearly 40,000 runners (and their guests), but they seem to have it down to a science. Volunteers cooked up 6000 lbs of pasta to feed us. I sat with a couple of guys who were also there solo to chat up. One of them was a first time marathoner and he was as excited as a kid at Christmas.
Post dinner I ventured back to the hostel to catch the LSU-Bama game. About 8pm I wasn't happy with the Tigers' performance and was getting tired, so I called it a night. (Thanks Mom for the voice mail with the outcome--- LSU wins!)
I woke early the next morning, delighted to have the hostel room to myself. I soon headed out to meet the race bus to make the way to the race start at Staten Island.
And then it was time to wait. And wait. Racers need to arrive early at Staten Island as they close the Verranzo-Narrows Bridge early for security and for those that start the race earlier than the crowd (pro women & athletes with disabilities). Plus, with nearly 40,000 runners, there's a lot of logistics to take care of pre-race. At least there was plenty of coffee, bagels, and other food to keep us happy.
By the time I crossed the start line at 10:30 (race started at 10:10), I felt like half the day was over. (I had boarded the bus at 4:30.) Needless to say, I was very happy to finally be running!
The run across the bridge is highly exciting. It's the iconic picture of the NYC marathon. Upon exiting the bridge into Brooklyn, the crowds are phenomenal. Most of the first half of the race is in Brooklyn, running through the various ethnic neighborhoods. I saw parts of NYC I'd never otherwise see.
I knew going into the race that I was under-prepared. I did not get the long runs in me. I had a 14-miler and a 17-miler and that was pretty much it. It took me a long time to fully recover from my bike crash over the summer. (I could bike and swim rather quickly, but experienced a litteral pain in my butt whenever I ran from an internal bruise.) Plus, I overly scheduled fall travel. (See prior blog entries.) I opted to go through with the marathon, knowing I'd still be able to finish by playing it smart and taking it easy. I knew I'd have to walk a bulk of the 2nd half. So, I decided to just have fun with it. Relax and kick-start my Ironman training. I figured it would take me about 6 hours.
So, have fun with the race I did. Every time we entered a new borough, the crowds came to life. And finally, with entering Manhattan the second time, we could feel the energy in the air. I saw on my watch that if I kicked it up a tiny notch, I could potentially break 6 hours. Hmmmm. I kicked it into high gear for the last mile, fully running with everything I had, but it wasn't quite enough. I finished in 6:00:05. At least my 6 hour prediction was right on.
I experienced no real trouble during the race. No knee problems, no bonking, none of that. Simply didn't have the training in me to run the entire distance. The only problem I did experience was my shoes. They were way too tight on my feet. I have quick laces on them, and as my feet expanded, I felt like they were being crushed. No way to adjust the laces. I could no longer stand it shortly after I crossed the finish line and elected to walk barefoot the mile or so to collect my gear bag. (The unfortunate thing about having a last name starting with "T" was that the truck holding my gear was near the end.)
I hopped on the subway back to the hostel, got cleaned up, and had a decision to make: post-race party or Irish bar next door. The post-race party was part of my entry fee, but it had unknown food and required walking+subway or a cab ride. The Irish bar was next door and had what I truly had a taste for: burger and a good beer. Needless to say, the Irish bar won out.
All in all, fantastic race. This is a race I would surely do again. And now I'm truly inspired to get myself in gear and honestly train "by the book" for my winter marathon.
Link to my race photos:
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=18469&PWD=&BIB=28252
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
