he new year 2018 has just begun and already I've put something down from the first week of January. Alert readers will notice this is called my "2018 Blog" not my "2018 Running Blog". Although running is an important part of my life, I've decided that instead of endless race reports and runs to this or that place, I'll just try to pick interesting places I visited, or interesting things I did. It's indicative that the first two posts do not involve any actual running.
Since I turned 75 last year, I thought I give a few reflection on that milestone:
turned 75 in 2017. The day I turned 75, I was just a day older than I was the day before,
but we can’t help but take stock at how we’re doing on these “big” birthdays.
At 75, running is only one part of me and it’s important to reflect on not just running, but all the parts of my life's journey:
So to paraphrase Kermit the Frog: “When 75 is what you are, it could make you wonder why, but why wonder? I'm 75 and it'll do fine. And I think it's just the age I want to be.”
his has been a good year. A good year in many ways. Although this blog is focused primarily on running — running training, running races, running for fun, running to interesting or beautiful places, just all kinds of running.
I would say two things stand out:
A Surprise
he capstone, so to speak, was my totally unexpected qualification into the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Race in Washington DC.
I've done this race 7 times over almost 30 years starting in 1990 (see the four most recent:
,
,
,
),
and it's a race over a beautiful course in a beautiful city (politics aside) at the best time of year. It was always
hard to get into the Cherry Blossom in spite of the organizers' increasing the number of participants at least 10 fold over that period.
The last time I ran it was in 2017 when my running friend Susan and I went down. We were both out of shape, but even for back-of-the-pack runners like ourselves it was an enjoyable weekend. We've always found cheap transportation (like the Bolt Bus) and cheap accommodations (like youth hostels) and reasonable restaurants (no such thing as cheap restaurants).
This year, quite by accident, long time running friend Tim posted on my running club's (NY Flyers) Facebook page the fact that the Cherry Blossom admitted seeded runners for the various age groups, so if you qualify you can skip the lottery and you get to start right after the elite runners. I figured that would be out of my league, but I looked anyway (here's the page with the qualifying times: ) and to my surprise, the time required for my age group (75 – 79) was 1:45:00 and I had bested that just last February in the by almost 5 minutes (1:40:35).
So I thought "Yipee! I’m in! I actually qualified as an age group seeded runner in the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler." And although I’ve run it 7 times, this is the first time I met any qualifying standards. In fact it was the first time I even knew there were seeded age group qualifying standards. And thanks to Tim for the tip-off.
But I was worried (I always worry) that my qualifying race, this year's Cherry Tree (in February 2018), although within the one year limit for qualifying, would be about 2 months beyond the limit measured from the date of the Cherry Blossom race (in April 2019). But this letter settled that concern and I'm now registered for the race.
Dear Richard:
Congratulations, you have qualified as a seeded runner for the 2019 Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile on April 7 by bettering our seeded runner standards posted at this link .
... details omitted ...
We hope you will join us on the Washington Monument Grounds at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 7, 2019.
Sincerely,
Marlene Yencho
Seeded Runner Coordinator, Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile
So with that Christmas present I end this 2018 blog. I'll leave it to next year's blog to see how it all works out.
Gotta Run!
Papa Bear
he New York Flyers, my running club these past 27 years, likes to party. The only problem is that although you have met with a number of the team members many times on the roads and paths we run on, it's often difficult to recognize many of them at a party all dressed in party clothes not running clothes! And I confess that more than a few times the other night I had to ask "Who was that we were just talking to?" And no, these were not senior moments (although I confess to having my share of those), they were hey!-I-never-saw-him/her-all-dressed-up-like-that-before moments.
We met at McGee's Pub on West 55th Street near Broadway, and I got there a few minutes early. The subways were all
running on time. The room, on the 3rd floor of McGee's, was all ours with an open bar and a smattering of bar food. It
rapidly filled up and I was constantly meeting folks, some for the first time and some, such as Heidi (photo on the right),
whom I have known for close to 25 years. And would you beleave it, we both look just the same!
The open bar may have attracted some folks, but the real attraction for me was the people. It was one of the most congenial crowds you could imagine. And we filled the room, did we ever! With just enough space to squeeze your way through the crowd, but not quite enough space to see to the other side of the room.
There's a good photo album on the FLyers web site
,
but when I saw it today I was sorry I had left just before the group picture was taken, But hey, you already know what I look like!
ain Rain go away, come again another Day. You can say that again. It rained all night Saturday and the forecast showed it would break around 9:00 Sunday morning. It never did. It turned into something between a drizzle and a light rain, with temperatures in the low 40°s. That made for very chilly weather, especially since while running in the race I was down to the minimum, clothing-wise (see photo).
| Cocoa Clasic 5K | |
| Mile | Split |
| Mile 1 | 10:33 |
| Mile 2 | 9:58 |
| Mile 3 | 10:38 |
| .1 Mile | 0:57 |
| Finish | 32:06 |
| Pace | 10:21 |
During the race we all tried to stay on the center of the path which was mostly above the puddles which tended to be on both sides, but this jammed up the traffic and slowed everyone down. And to cap things off, both the 5K and 10K started together so it was even more crowded than ever — the 10K was just two loops of the same course, so we had them with us for the whole of our race. And the poor volunteers and spectators had to stand there holding their umblellas and shivering (see photo to the right in the back).
The course was slightly altered by eliminating a few hills on the return portion of the route and eliminating one place where the faster runners cross the line of the slower runners. I'd like to go back and try to get the benefits of this improved course, but that must await another day.
Even though my pace was almost a minute per mile slower than my last race (see the splits on the left: 10:21 per mile vs. 9:22 per mile in the October 28th, Haunted Island 5K, ), but all things considered, I was satisfied with my race. And having finished 1st in the 70+ age group (out of 4), I really can't complain. It was an honest effort, as they say.
I saw only a few team mates there: Anne, with whom I chatted just before the start, and one woman in a Flyers shirt I spotted during the race, and there was no
socializing after the race. Every one, but every one, took off for home immediately after finishing. And boy, did that hot shower feel good!
ast Sunday was the running of the New York City Marathon and I was very busy. No, I didn't run the marathon; regular readers of this blog will recall that the 2014 Boston Marathon was my last marathon and I have worked since then on improving my running of shorter races such as 5Ks and 5 Milers. I was busy with three ancillary endeavors: 1) The Central Park Conservancy's annual marathon day breakfast in Central Park; 2) Volunteering at the gel station at mile 18 of the marathon (93rd Street and First Avenue) and 3) Unwinding and relaxing with other volunteers and friends at Canyon Road Restaurant at 77th Street and First Avenue.
The picture on the left shows the station "captain" giving out the IDs to some of the early arriving volunteers. The shot was probably made about 10 minutes after I got my ID when they were just setting up.
Normally I would walk up to the breakfast which was at the Dana Center inside the north end of the park, but since I was a bit tired, I decided to see how the busses were running (there were lots of reroutes) and get a ride up to 110th Street. Most of the north bound routes (First, Third, and Madison Avenues) were running on Third Avenue and Second Avenue took the south bound traffic. So I walked over to Third and got an M102 at 96th Street and got off at 110th. Not much of a ride, but every little bit helps.
A bit after 11:00 we all made our way over to Fifth Avenue and watched first the women lead runners and perhaps 20 minutes later, the men. I was starting to shift from my leisurely breakfast mood, to my excited marathon mood. At about 11:45, I left the area and walked over to First Avenue and down to 93rd Street. My shift at the gel station was about to start.
Where I was standing (towards the upstream end), the runners came by non stop, often more than one per second. frantically grabbing at our offerings. An occasional gel packet would hit the ground and I would go through box after box of gels for hours. It's very tiring and stressful and I had to take a break from time to time. We were on the east side (runners' right) of the avenue and there were maybe 10 to 12 of us. Volunteers further down the line got less "business" and as supplies ran low we all migrated down the line. Towards the end, the pack slowed and there were many exhausted looking walkers amidst the ever slower runners. The end of the pack which goes by in the 3:30 - 4:00 time frame is sad to see but you know these folks are struggling to get to the end of the race — still some 8 miles away — and just about all of them will make it.
The photo on the left shows an earlier cohort running by and these folks were moving along smartly. My group of volunteers is on the far side behind these runners and the orange banners marked our station.
Like the runners, I was starting to run out of steam and I had to call it a day before the end of the shift. But the remaining demand from the runners was quickly diminishing and my fellow volunteers knew I had done my part and told me to get some rest and some food. Like many of the runners, I could use a good infusion of energy which would come soon enough at my next stop in the day's agenda ...
Then we set off together for Canyon Road, about a 10 - 15 minute walk away. Like the runners still out on the course, we went very slowly. We would meet Victor and Kathy, old friends who were also at the gel station and some additional friends and relatives. We arrived at about 4:30, and joined our friends, seven of us at the table. The first item on the agenda was to order two pitchers of Margaritas — now that was an energy infusion par excellence!
That was followed by some excellent Tex-Mex food starting with a big crock bowl of Guacamole en Molcajete followed in turn by entrees. I had mushroom and chicken Quesadilla — it was just too marvelous for words. But we had lots of words about marathons, past and present, about one of the cousin's years spent in Portugal and about margaritas, past and present. Susan mentioned that the magraritas semed to work better that her prescription.
But all good things must come to an end. We got a cab, dropped Susan off and in 20 minutes I was home. It had indeed been A Very Busy Marathon Sunday in New York.
t was over a month since my so-called "Last Race of Summer" (the September 15th "Go Nuts for Donuts 5K"), a month interrupted by the fun Oktberfest Run and the winding down of the NY Flyers SpeedPass Summer / Fall training session. I was well rested, and well trained for this Halloween themed "Haunted Island 5K" on Roosevelt Island. The weather was perfect (sunny with temperatures in the low 50°s) and as they say I was good to go. You may recall that in the September 15th "Donuts 5K" which was on exactly the same course — but with temperatures in the low 70°s — I missed my goal of breaking 30 minutes by a mere 12 seconds. This time I felt confident I would make or exceed that goal. BTW: the post for the "Donuts" run (below) mentions an upcoming race on September 29nd (the Squirrel Stampede 5K). I never ran that race due to various issues, but missing it probably helped my conditioning for this race. It's a fact that you can race too often, something I'm occasionally guilty of.
I took the Roosevelt Island Tram across the east part of the East River and the early morning temperatures were in the upper 40°s. I got there about an hour before the start time
| Haunted Island 5K October 28th, 2018 | |
| Mile | Split |
| Mile 1 | 9:30 |
| Mile 2 | 9:21 |
| Mile 3 | 9:17 |
| .1 Mile | 0:56 |
| Finish | 29:04 |
| Pace | 9:22 |
| Go Nuts for Donuts 5K September 15th, 2018 | |
| Mile | Split |
| Mile 1 | 9:52 |
| Mile 2 | 9:48 |
| Mile 3 | 9:36 |
| .1 Mile | 0:56 |
| Finish | 30:12 |
| Pace | 9:45 |
I've put my splits in the table to the right and the splits from the September race to the left for comparison. You'll notice that for both races the splits were negative, meaning each mile was faster, but there was a good 20+ seconds per mile improvement in the Haunted Island race. I would say this was partly due to the cooler weather, but also to being well rested and a bit fitter in my conditioning.
The bottom line: cooler weather plus more well rested plus better training equals a better race. And not just better but over a minute faster.
Ironically, as I was writing this post a package showed up in our mail: a Lucite award for a podium finish in the "Go Nuts for Donuts 5K":
September 15th, 2018 / First Place 70 & Over / 30:12 . Hah! I can do better than that!
he Germans have a way to mark the coming of the colder weather in late September, and that is to stay inside and drink beer! It's called "Oktoberfest" and it sounds good to me.
The best place by far we have found to celebrate Oktoberfest is in that Beer Brewing Borough of Brooklyn, and the best place by far in Brooklyn is Radegast Hall & Biergarten () in Williamsburg.
In Bavaria, where it all started, they would start around the Autumnal Equinox (aka the first day of autumn) in September and keep going till the first week of October, so that's what they do at Radegast Hall.
And the best way to get there is to run. So what are you waiting for?
n the first full day of autumn, a group of seven runners from the NY Flyers gathered in Central Park and ran some eight miles to said Radegast via the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, the Long Island City riverfront parks, the Pulaski Bridge, through Greenpoint and lastly through Williamsburg. And when we finally got to Radegast Hall we met with a few others who had planned to meet us there, and we were all hungry and thirsty.
Now for a few details: When we met up in Central Park, we divided our party into a faster group and slower group (which I was in) and each group would be more-or-less on their own. Initially Brad and Lora were the faster group and the rest of us, the slower. We also agreed to approach the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge along First Avenue rather than along York Avenue to avoid the pretty steep hill on York just before the bridge. Here's our route: (Note the MapMyRun sofware would not let me show the route within the newly opened section of Hunters Point South Park), and off we went.
When we got to the bridge we spread out quite a bit so we (the slower group) regrouped at the Queens side. There we met Kristel who lives in Greenpoint. Off we went again with Kristel and Andrea moving ahead to become a medium speed group of 2, leaving Ed, Heidi, Rob and myself as slowpokes. That's why all the photos taken in Long Island City were of Ed, Heidi and Rob with myself as photographer. We moved along though the stunning riverfront parks in Long Island City, first Gantry State Park and then the recently opened southern section, Hunters Point South Park. If you ever find yourself running in this section of Queens, you must take the river route (unless you happen to be running the NYC Marathon).
At the south end of Hunters Point South Park, we got onto 54th and then 53rd Ave to run to the Pulaski Bridge, which we crossed and got onto Franklyn Ave. Now we were in Brooklyn and here the photos ended until we got to our destination.
The four of us stayed mostly together on our trek through Greenpoint, but a bit before we got to Williamsburg, Heidi and I stayed behind since I was nursing a sore foot. We soon lost sight of Ed and Rob, but through some mystery, when we got to Radegast Hall, not only had Ed and Rob not yet arrived, but neither had the speedy Brad.
At Redegast Hall: When Heidi and I arrived we met Rebecca, Stephanie (with her two toddlers Keira and Quinn) and Luiza who had planned to meet us at the Biergarten, plus Lora, Kristel and Andrea (joined by her husband Chad) from the faster groups. Finally Ed and Brad (who, it turned out, had done some extra miles) showed up and Ed told us that Rob had to skip the festivities, so now we were all accounted for and nicely filled a table (see photo, left).
I had planned for us to arrive by 11:30, which, for the most part we did. This was a perfect time for families and folks who didn't plan to drink all afternoon. But the down side was we missed the really wild and wonderful time when the oom-pah brass band is playing and the beer is flowing and it's standing room only.
There's a nice album of photos of the run and the festivities and I strongly advise you to check it out on the NY Flyers web site: .
Ed and I were the last to leave at about 1:30 and to top off a fun day, I took the NYC Ferry home which leaves Williamsburg from North 5th Street. The Ferry is fun and it's cheap and it affords you with yet another close up view of Manhattan's East River shoreline. So we'll see you next year when the L train will not be running and we'll all take the Ferry home.
Gotta run!
This race was technically the last race of summer since the Autumnal Equinox (aka the first day of fall) comes up on September 22nd, before my last race of the summer "season", the September 29th Squirrel Stampede 5K, two weeks from today. But let's not worry about that race yet, and talk about today's race.
| Go Nuts for Donuts 5K | |
| Mile | Split |
| Mile 1 | 9:52 |
| Mile 2 | 9:48 |
| Mile 3 | 9:36 |
| .1 Mile | 0:56 |
| Finish | 30:12 |
| Pace | 9:45 |
This summer was a tough one for my races. Between March and June, not counting the tougher cross country races, I had done 4 5Ks under 30 minutes, something I had not done in a couple of years. And they were getting faster: 29:16 (3/17), 29:39 (5/13), and 28:49 (6/10) on the Roosevelt Island Course, and the stunning 27:58 on the net downhill Prospect Park course. I give credit to my speed workout classes which I have been doing since January — they were producing good results. But the hot and humid summer weather had other ideas.
Today I was hoping for a better result: to break 30:00. It was back on Roosevelt Island but on a slightly different course which I thought was equivalent to the old course, the weather was cooler (70°) with a nice breeze off the East River, it was shaded, and I didn't mess up my training like I did for the Shoe4Africa race. My mile splits were negative (each one getting faster), unusual for me (my 5K first miles tend to be the fastest), but they were just a little bit too slow. Just 4 seconds faster on each mile would have gotten me down to 30 minutes, my goal. But I was back in first place in the 70+ age group (out of 5) and I felt good about the race. It was 30:12, and I'll take it — but that 5K coming up in two weeks better watch out.
The Thursday night Shoe4Africa 5K did not seem promising. A rainy evening on an unfamiliar course was not encouraging. But this charity race put on to benefit the one time Flyers Head Coach Toby Tanser's project to support the medical needs of children in East Africa, drew a team of 10 Flyers including myself, which, out of just 115 finishers, was amazing. And the Flyers went home with the Best Team Award based on the top 3 runners; a 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th place overall; and 7 age group podium awards including my own 1st place in the 70+ group out of a field of 5. Truly a night to remember. And due to the great photography of Larry Sillen of Prospect Park Track Club, I put together an album for the Flyers of over 200 images from his vast trove of 1000+ photos of this event. See the for those details and the .
As far as my own race went, it was an improvement over my many hot and humid summer races: it was merely warm and humid (Temperature 75° and humidity 94%).
I finished in 30:59, happy to break 31 minutes but still off my spring and early summer marks of under 30 minute 5Ks. And since I was not specifically
training for this race and had done a tough speed workout only two nights before (consisting of 3 one mile repeats at threshold pace, a tad
faster than 5K race pace), I was, shall-we-say, lucky to do as well as I did.
The Brooklyn Mile has now come and gone. I had run it two years ago and at that time I had trained for over 2 months (intervals at the 8th Street Track) with a program from coach Joe. He (and for that matter my current Tuesday night coach Brian) stressed that running a mile is unlike any other mid to long distance races. Not like a 5K, not like a 5 Miler or anything longer. It’s much more akin to a sprint, and training must stress fast turnover and fast reps in training. Well, this time I didn't do any of that.
This year I followed along my regular weekly speed workouts which stressed longer distances. Furthermore, I ran a cross country 5K race three days prior to the Mile. Then when the race was coming up, first I said to myself, I’ll skip it if the L train isn’t running, a frequent situation — too bad, the L train was running. Then I said I won’t go if it’s pouring rain — aw shucks, it wasn’t raining. So I put my stuff together, left home around 8:00 and got the L train, one stop to Bedford Avenue. After about a 10 minute walk I got to the race HQ (on Kent Avenue, near the finish line) and suddenly I got in the mood.
I met some Flyers and other race regulars, met an old looking guy (= grey beard) and found out he was also my age (75). Got some coffee, did some warm-ups and finally walked and jogged down to the race start, about a mile south on Kent, past the bridge. The Masters Women (40 and older) went first and they zoomed by. Then the Masters Men (like me, 40 and much older) hung around and finally got in the corral for the start, 20 minutes after the women. It was almost entirely 40-something youngsters, and me and the other 75 year old looked out of place. I checked the on-line results and there were 57 40s, 16 50s, just 1 60 and the two of us at 75. Guys around us (many, younger than my son) were surprised we were still running and said things like “Gee, I just hope I’m still in shape at that age”. Thanks guys.
The horn went off and immediately I went out too fast. Hoping for something in the high 8:00s, I hit the ¼ at 2 minutes flat—Oops. It went down hill from there. I think the ½ was around 4:20 and the ¾ was around 6:40. I crossed the line at 9:01, and I was alone, no one was behind me. It looked like, for the first time ever, I was DFL. But no, some poor soul showed up about 2 minutes after me, so he, not me, was DFL. When the age group awards were published I assumed I would be 2nd in the 70+ group (the other Mr. 75 was a bit over a minute ahead of me) but evidently, with so few over 60, they combined the 60s and 70s age groups so I was 3rd 60+ — hey! still a podium finish!
I hung around a while as the faster groups came by, and eventually I took the NY Ferry from Williamsburg to 34th Street, Manhattan.
By this point I had recovered and decided the whole thing was not so bad. I’d consider doing it again but I swear I’d train
properly next time. Home at last, under a few sprinkles (now it starts raining!), I noticed for the first time my bib (race number)
had my nom de plume printed on the front (see title image above). Well, that made the whole thing worth while!
On the NYRR side, that's only a few each year, a spring 4 miler, the Team Championship around the end of July, and maybe a cross country race or two in the Fall. The NYCRUNS calendar is more my bread and butter. I prefer their smaller size where 500 runners in a race is typical as compared with the 5000+ runners in a typical NYRR race. It was thus that I noticed the "Sgt. Keith A. Ferguson 5K Across The Brooklyn Bridge" scheduled for August 5th. on the NYCRUNS Calendar. And the fact that "NYCRUNS" is not in the title, means another group sponsors the race and NYCRUNS provides all the technical assistance such as timing, collecting race fees, marshaling the course, etc. on behalf of the race's sponsor.
In this case, that is an organization established by Keith Ferguson's mother in the memory of her son Keith, an NYPD Officer who was killed in the line of duty some 15 years ago and this was its 14th running. And being such, it is heavily patronized by the Police Department. I knew nothing of this but I signed up to run the race since running over the bridge was something I have done many times, but running a race over and back is a different story, and it just might be fun, although rather difficult to do given the very high load of tourist traffic on the pedestrian ramp of the bridge at just about any time of day.
I got there early last Sunday morning in City Hall Park, and chatted with some of the NYRUNS people who were setting up their equipment, and was struck by the number of police on hand. And not just uniformed officers and higher-ups, but a large number of officers dressed for running. It was quite a crowd and I wondered how all these runners would fit on the bridge's narrow pedestrian path way.
When the time came to start the race, we collected ourselves in an open area of the park across Park Row from the bridge. First a contingent of drums and bag pipes entered from the other side of the park followed by most of the runners. Then an honor guard marched in and the national anthem was sung. Then a series of speakers gave short speeches ending with Keith's mother thanking the assembled crowd who came to honor her son. She commented that the first race had just over 100 runners and today's event was nearing 1000. Lastly, Steve Lastoe, the head of NYCRUNS, spoke giving simple instructions. At which point we moved across the road and lined up behind the start line, just at the beginning of the pedestrian ramp. Knowing the narrowness of the route and the size of the crowd I got myself near the front of the pack. The title picture, probably taken from Park Row, shows the crowd lined up.
I got a good start and it went rather well considering the weather. Yes, it was hot (79°) with no shade, and humid (69%) but neverthelesss the race was well run, and somehow the tourists did not get in the way. They just moved to the side and cheered the runners.
The course was tougher than I had anticipated: we always run over the bridge at an easy pace but at race pace the hill (especially outgoing towards Brooklyn) was quite tiring. It must be almost a half mile of constant up-hill. And of course, this is followed by a matching down hill. But somehow the down-hills don't quite make up for the up-hills.
The turn-around point was near the end of the ramp from the bridge near Tillary Street in Brooklyn. Coming back seemed easier — I think the Brooklyn side is a bit higher than the Manhattan side (thus less up-hill and more down-hill coming back). And yes. with race traffic going both ways, we still managed to all fit on the pathway. The race finished in City Hall Park south of the fountain and I finished strong. And thank goodness we were back in the shade. I did pretty well (31:18, 2nd 70+ out of 10) and I felt better about my effort than I did after the Van Cortlandt Park cross country 5K of last Thursday night.
It was a one-of-a-kind race with a lot to recommend it. Would I do it again? Maybe.
oday was the Club Team Race, a 5 miler for all the NYRR teams. But first a back story: on Wednesday we welcomed Mirian, a friend of Joy from Costa Rico with her daughter (14 y.o.) who is going to some special ballet class this coming week and they are staying with us. They exhausted themselves Thursday and Friday going to museums and other tourist things. Then came today and the race.
I had an idea to both get Joy up to watch the race and to show our house guests a bit of Central Park (which was on their NYC "bucket list"). I suggested they all take a cab up to the race, watch me finish, join in the post race picnic with the bagels and team photo, and then go explore the park down as far as the Met (another "bucket list" item). They all agreed to the plan.
The Race
Meanwhile I got up early, took a cab up to 102nd Street, got into the park, and helped the Flyers set up
the stuff for before, during and after the race. The women's race came first, at 7:00,
and the men would take off at 8:15 after the women had finished. The women came in, both
fast and slow but all were drenched in sweat and complained of the humidity.
Then it was our turn.
| Team Championship 5M | |
| Mile | Split |
| Mile 1 | 9:57 |
| Mile 2 | 9:53 |
| Mile 3 | 10:00 |
| Mile 4 | 10:14 |
| Mile 5 | 9:28 |
| Finish | 49:31 |
| Pace | 9:55 |
The race was extremely humid (97%) with sun and thin clouds. Looking at the splits, a few comments are in order. The race starts on the 102nd Street transverse and then turns down on the West Drive, completes a loop all the way to the south end, heads up the East Drive and finally finishes on the tranverse near where we started. Mile 1 is usually slowed by the crowding at the start, but mile 2 is mostly a gradual down hill, so one would expect to pick up the pace. But mile 3 which is relatively flat, was disappointing since I could not maintain my pace. Mile 4 is a tough one, including the steep Cat Hill, and mile 5 is flat and that was my fastest mile. Probably by the end of mile 2 the humidity was starting to take it's toll and the direct sun we got on the last miles up the east side only added to the burden.
I did reasonably well considering the conditions. I broke 50 minutes and got an age group 3rd place for the 75-79 group (thank god the NYRR uses 5 year age groups).
Meanwhile, sometime during my race Joy and our guests showed up, found the Flyers and were there cheering the Flyers' runners, especially me, just a bit before the finish, where the Flyers had set up the picnic stuff.
When I got back after my finish it was crowded and Mirian (who was born and grew up in Brazil) struck up a conversation with Luiza, one of several Brazilians on the team. Joy is well known to many of the Flyers whom she has met over the years and I made sure she got into the team photo.
At a certain point, we decided to move on and we started our tour of the park just down the hill from the race at the Conservatory Garden.
The Conservatory Garden
This gem of a formal garden in the upper east section of the park is a bit off the beaten path. The
main entrance is on Fifth Avenue and the other entrances are not in obvious places. Many are the times
when I have taken friends there and even veteran park visitors had never seen it and all are surprised by it's charm.
Our guests were taken by its beauty and by the quietude of the place — the polar opposite of the cheering crowds at the race festivities just a few hundred yards up the hill from the garden.
One of my favorite places is the "Secret Garden" with its pool and sculpture shown in the photo (left). Mirian said it reminded her of Monet's . Enlarge the image (click on the "+" icon in the lower right) and you'll see gold fish among the lilies and reflections of ourselves and the tall building across Fifth Avenue.
But it was after 10:00 and our friends had another day's worth of places to visit. We left the Garden and walked along the Fifth Avenue sidewalk and reentered the park at 97th Street. Joy and I took the road and Mirian and her daughter took the path along the reservoir to enjoy the unique views afforded. We met again at the Engineers Gate but they were getting bushed, so we got a cab and dropped them off at The Met as we headed home to relax and recover from a very busy day in the park — well, for us, only half a day.
Photo Albums
And for those curious about the many, many photos taken by members of the Flyers before, during, and after the race, here's a list of albums,
first on the Flyers' web site (you really don't want to see them all), followed by various smaller contributions from Flyers who put them on
the Flyers' Facebook page (a public group page). And being at the back of the pack, my face appears very few times and Joy even fewer — except on
the web site album where everyone appears umpteen times:
Web site:
Facebook page:
I took the A train to 145th Street and jogged/walked to 155th and I got onto the OCA in Highbrdge Park. After I had run the mile or so on the OCA and got to the High Bridge, I thought “I’ll just do the bushwhack since we haven’t done that lately”.
Well, the first part (up to the fallen tree) was fine and it looked like the trail was in use. But the 2nd part which brings us over to a gate in the fence and then across a grassy field went badly. I aimed too far to the left (up hill) and when I hit the fence I thought I was too far to the right. So I struggled further along the fence to the left (through some nasty thorn bushes), practically to the end where the tower is just in view. Luckily there was another gate, the "wrong" gate, to get through there (see title picture), which put me in the upper field just north of the tower, not the lower field further north which is the "correct" target of the bushwhack. Check the map (left) for this. I lost a lot of time doing this and I was a bit banged up. I crossed the field and made my way to the lower field and finally found the other, "correct", gate (maybe 100 yards further north of the upper field), but it was rather obscured by trees and a summer growth of leafy shrubs. This part of the bushwhack showed little usage.
I made my way down to the skateboard place by the Hamilton Bridge and the Shaft 25 arched retaining wall and got under the 1889 Washington Bridge, up to the paved path and eventually out where it comes out on Amsterdam Ave (this is the traditional route we have done in the past). At that point it was getting late and I was worn out by the bushwhack, so I went down the steep hill on Fort George Hill Street to the Dyckman Street #1 IRT station, took the #1 train to 242nd Street and then jogged/walked up the hill through Manhattan College, through Fieldston and finally got to wave hill (and paid $4 bucks) at about 12:30.
A note about the map: I put in all the twists and turns of my running route as best I could, but as for the portion on the #1 train, I just put in a straight line between the two stations rather than trying to follow the actual tracks and overlaid that section in red. If you click on the map you will get the interactive running app. But by clicking the little "+" icon on the lower right corner, you'll get a full sized annotated version of the route.
I had a nice visit and a nice, but brief, chat with Heidi. We had both grabbed some food at the cafe, but she had to get back to work. She mentioned that she and her whole family are taking a trip to Ireland in August and aside from plane reservations, she has made no plans for an itinerary while in Ireland. So I sent her some stuff I had put together about our April 1992 Family trip to Ireland and the October 2001 trip we took when I ran the
After doing a bit more exploring of the wonders of Wave Hill, I walked down the steep hill on 252nd and 254th Streets and took the Metro North train from the Riverdale station to Grand Central and then the #6 train home. Exhausted, I showered and slept the rest of the afternoon.
My ultimate running mileage: maybe 5 miles. Not the best training run but it sure was nice at Wave Hill.
was thinking about doing a Saturday run with Susan when I realized that although her birthday was about a month away, she was planning to take her annual trip to France and Switzerland the day after her birthday. So I suggested we run to lunch to celebrate her birthday this Saturday at Juliette's in Williamsburg, one of our very favorite restaurants. But after a little discussion we decided not to run there but to take the subway. That way we could enjoy lunch without being all sweaty and tired. Great idea — who wants to run when you can ride? Then Susan came up with another truly inspired idea: why don't we walk over to Radegast Biergarten, one of our favorite drinking places, after lunch. It's only a few blocks away from Juliette's. So combining one of our favorite eating places with one of our favorite drinking places AND not having to run there got immediate unanimous approval.
We got through a fine lunch in a very satisfied mood, and walked down to Berry Street and over to Radegast at 3rd & Berry. It was getting hot but thankfully Radegast is big and well air conditioned. We arrived about 12:30, later than usual, but we anticipated there would be plenty of room in their vast dining hall.
Oops! Only at that very moment did we remember that the World Cup Soccer Tournament was in progress and Radegast was featuring live streaming coverage: today it would be the match between Mexico and South Korea. There were extra chairs in all the aisles (all occupied) and I had not seen the place so crowded since Oktoberfest. We managed to find two seats at the very front, almost (but not quite) behind the screen. But we squeezed up so we could watch, ordered our beers and sat down to enjoy the game.
The crowd was mostly for Mexico; I guess that was the closest to a home team we could get. Although there seemed to be few Mexicans in the crowd, I was impressed by chants of "ME-HE-CO ME-HE-CO ..." resounding from wall to wall. It was a typical mixed New York crowd and they were totally into the game. The enormous amounts of beer being brought into the room (mostly pitchers or 1 liter mugs) by a fleet of overworked waitresses could not but help the mood.
When we got there the game was in the 2nd half with Mexico ahead 1 - 0 on a penalty shot. As play went on I realized that not being a regular soccer fan, it was hard for me to follow the action. Oft times the crowd would cheer loudly and I'd have to watch the replay to see what is was all about. Susan, a soccer mom, was more with it and pointed out that soccer became much more popular among the younger set since youth soccer leagues and high school soccer teams were very popular when her son was in that age group. Whereas when I was that age group (the 1950s), soccer teams for young folks were relatively rare.
I found the photo (right) on the web. Although unmistakably taken at Radegast, I'm not sure if it was taken when we were there or at another game. The various colors on the shirts don't help tell me for which teams they were routing. It shows a tense moment, which I am sure would be followed shortly by wild cheers or groans.
Each team scored again in the 2nd half, first Mexico by its top scorer Javier Hernandez who was in close and faked out the Goalie. South Korea didn't score until past the regulation time (extra minutes are added to the regulation 90 minutes to make up for time-outs). Although we were routing for Mexico, both Susan and I were happy to see the Koreans get on the score board, and the goal was a great shot as well.
All-in-all, it wasn't the game per se that made our experience so enjoyable, it was the enthusiasm and energy of the crowd (and of course the beer) that captured the moment and took us along. We would go again!
uly 15th was the date of the final game of the World Cup and Susan and I decided we would definitely go to see it at a bar that had good food and beers. Radegast, of course, would qualify but we decided that a change of venue was in order, so we decided on Five Mile Stone (at 85th & 2nd Avenue). We have been to the place fairly often and it's just 5 blocks from Susan's place and 2 blocks from the Q train. The game started at 11:00 so we agreed to meet there at 10:45 to be sure we'd gat a good spot to eat, drink and watch.
Boy, were we wrong about that! When Susan got there, the place was already full with tables taken or reserved, although a number of the reservers had yet to show up and there was a sizable line outside waiting for possible openings. Susan managed to get there as the next eligible patron to take a no-show reserver's table. I was late due to subway delays but I made it to where Susan was waiting right at the manager's desk at the entrance at 11:00. After about 10 minutes they decided to split a no-show reserver's table for 4 into two tables for 2 and we got the extra place. Thank you, thank you Mr. Five Mile! And thank you Susan for getting there early and being in the right place at the right time.
Viewing was a little problematic. We could see one screen off to the side and another straight ahead over the bar, but that was often blocked by standees waiting for their table. But we had a nice table and food and beer came shortly so we were very happy to be where we were. Meanwhile, the game had started and France had already taken a lead over Croatia.
The first goal (which we did not see) was an "own goal" (a goal made inadvertently by the defending team) putting France ahead 1 - 0. Surely this embarrassing score did not bode well for Croatia. We had just got our table and settled in after this and the announcers were still talking about it. There were two more goals, one for each team, in the first half which ended with France holding a 2 - 1 lead.
The experience was a bit different from the one at Radegast. The place was smaller and the overflow crowd was more on top of us. The cheering was less intense probably because there were more smaller groups of 2, 3 or 4 and none of the tables of 8 to 10 that we saw at Radegast. The crowd mostly favored France although a portion of the crowd seemed to be cheering for Croatia as the underdog. More than once it was said that Croatia has a smaller population than Manhattan. The team makeups were also very different with Croatia having an Eastern European makeup, whereas France had a much more international team with many Africans (including the talented 19 year old Kylian Mbappe). It was oft repeated that the French team was multi-ethnic but they were all French. It was a nice demonstration to the world.
The game ended with France winning 4 - 2. Those 6 total goals were the highest of any of the World Cup games. But the best part of it was the presentation of the World Cup, the sudden downpour of rain and the joyous celebration of the French team members sliding around the extremely wet and muddy field. Susan and I unfortunately missed much of these post game activities since we had promises to keep and miles to go (Susan on foot and me on the Q train) before we eat (sic).
| – Summer Races: May to September 2018 – | ||||||
| Race | Date | Time | Pace | AG | Location | Links |
| Mothers Day 5K | May 13 | 29:39 | 9:34 | 1st | Roosevelt Island | |
| VCTC XC 5K #1 | May 24 | 33:04 | 10:40 | 3rd | Van Cortlandt Park | , |
| VCTC XC 5K #2 | June 7 | 32:36 | 10:30 | 2nd | Van Cortlandt Park | , |
| Running of the Balls | June 10 | 28:49 | 9:17 | 1st | Roosevelt Island | |
| VCTC XC 5K #3 | June 21 | 32:42 | 10:32 | 3rd | Van Cortlandt Park | , |
| Firecracker 5K | July 4 | 30:00 | 9:40 | 3rd | Governor's Island | |
| VCTC XC 5K #5 | July 19 | 32:11 | 10:23 | 4th | Van Cortlandt Park | , |
| July 28 | 49:31 | 9:55 | 3rd | Central Park | , | |
| VCTC XC 5K #6 | Aug. 2 | 34:24 | 11:05 | 3rd | Van Cortlandt Park | , |
| Aug. 5 | 31:18 | 10:05 | 2nd | Brooklyn Bridge | ||
| VCTC XC 5K #7 | Aug. 16 | 34:00 | 10:58 | 3rd | Van Cortlandt Park | , |
| Aug. 19 | 9:01 | 9:01 | 3rd | Williamsburg | , | |
| Sep. 6 | 30:59 | 9:59 | 1st | Riverside Park | , | |
| Sep. 15 | 30:12 | 9:45 | 1st | Roosevelt Island | ||
| Last update: 9/29 | ||||||
So this year I decided to plan ahead. The general idea was to run the 6 cross country races in Van Cortlandt Park, and one additional race per month. Another complication is that I am now enrolled a weekly coached speed workout program which meets every Tuesday night with a gap at the beginning of July. So I came up with the table on the right:
The only month with an extra race is July, but the "Firecracker" is a 4th of July special I always do and the "Club Team" is a must run. Actually, the most problematic race is the June 10th "Running of the Balls". That's because it's close after the June 7th "VCTC XC 5K #2", which in turn is very close after the June 5th Tuesday speed workout. I managed to survive that pretty well with good results in both races.
That August Brooklyn Bridge 5K is a bit of a lark since I don't think there's any way to have a race over that heavily used tourist destination. And the Brooklyn Mile? Hey it's only a mile! So yes, both August and September are TBD. The cross country series will be over and I haven't registered for either September race yet except Shoe4Africa. I have until July to decide (that's when the price goes up). Update (7/20): I have registered for both the "Go Nuts" and "Squirell Stampede" races in September. I guess I just can't help myself! Update to the update: (7/29): I had to skip today's "Squirell Stampede" race on Governor's Island, so my long hot summer table is done — as is the long hot summer itself: it was 59° this morning.
So I'm going to leave this table here and fill it in as time goes by. Meanwhile I'll add other posts of interesting things and places as they happen. And
maybe ocasionally a particular race will be interesting enough to get it's own blog post and not just a table entry. In that case the race name will be
a link. As of September 15th the only ones in this category are the July 28th Club Team Race, the August 5th Brooklyn Bridge 5K,
the August 19th Brooklyn Mile, the September 6th Shoe4Africa 5K, and the September 15th Go Nute for Donuts 5K.
Blog vs. "Stand Alone" Report
This report started out as a blog post but it kept getting bigger and bigger so I decided to make it a "Stand Alone" report. So I'll just put a bare outline here and then direct you to the complete report.
Wave Hill
esterday (May 5th) Susan and I did a Wave Hill run. Actually I didn't run there, I took the train. But Susan did run there (some 12.8 miles) and showed up minutes before the 12 noon cut off for free entry. (BTW: the entrance fee is cheap, just $8, $4 for seniors, so don't kill yourself trying to run up the mercilessly steep Spaulding Lane to make it by noon.) I had been there since about 10:45 and had already taken about a zillion pictures. But this was the plan: she was running a long run (18+ miles) with a break at Wave Hill, and I was doing what I call a "longish" run (about 8 miles). So after her break (I think about 30 - 45 minutes) we joined each other for our run from Wave Hill.
Wave Hill, that magnificent tract, part botanical Garden and part baronial estate with two mansions over looking the Hudson River, is the legacy of the wealthy families who had owned and enlarged the estate and built the mansions in the 19th Century, and which they deeded to the City of New York in 1960. See for a brief history.
Our Run down to Van Cortlandt Park and getting on the Old Putnam Rail Trail.
I was given carte blanche by Susan to plan the routes down to Van Cortlandt Park and thence come up with around 6 miles of running. So I used Google maps to come up with the shortest route from Wave Hill down to Van Cortlandt Park and thence onto the Old Putnam Trail (originally a rail line abandoned in the 1960s). From there my plan was simply to run on the rail trail to Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers and back.
The Old Putnam Trail
Getting on the Old Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park involved a route we had never done before, both in following the streets of Riverdale to the park and then getting on the "Old Put". But running up to and back from Tibbetts Brook Park via this rail trail was something we've done a number of times. It's level and as straight as an arrow. It turns from a dirt path in "Vanny" into a paved path at the Yonkers line and becomes the South County Trailway.
Tibbets Brook Park
When you get to Tibbetts Brook Park a path leads off to the right (east) and you are soon at the south end of the lower lake. I ran around the lake (about a mile) while Susan, who had run about 15 miles at this point, took a break. Check out the photo album (at the link below) and you will be impressed by how lovely this park is — little known to us New Yorkers, but well utilized by the Yonkers residents. After my loop around the lake Susan rejoined me and we proceeded back on the rail trail to Van Cortlandt Park.
Upon returning to "Vanny" we were both tired and hungry, so we walked (actually struggled) up the hill
to one of our most favorite pubs, .
To read the complete report which has, not one, but two photo albums, click here: .
Gotta run ...
his weekend I did a "Double". What's a Double? It's when you do two similar things within a short time frame. My double was running two races in two successive days, a 5K on Saturday and a 4 Miler on Sunday. You might say I also did a double last week by visiting two botanical gardens in the space of a few days. Although technically true, most folks would not call that a double. But two races in two days? Absolutely a double!
Most runners would probably frown on doing a running double since the first one would tire you out, and you would not be able to perform well in the second. Other runners (one comes to mind: Tim from my running club) relish the idea. Once he took a break in the middle of a marathon, went off and did a 10K — which he won — and then came back and finished the marathon. Other runners have done two marathons in a weekend, and you guessed it, some do triples or quadruples. Me, I've only ever did one two-day double — this one — but occasionally I've done two races in a week (like ) and don't tell anyone, but way back in 2012, in my younger days, I ran a .
So how did this double turn out? Well, the 5K on Saturday went very well, the fastest time I've done a 5K in almost 4 years but the 4 Miler on Sunday was over a minute slower that my target (I did the 4 Miler in 36:37, and I wanted to match that), but there were at least 4 things that could explain that:
.
By the way, the weather was perfect both days (temperatures in the low 40°s, with lots of sun and blue sky.
And I was first in my age group in both races! So "smoke on your pipe and put that in!" (To quote West Side Story.)
Now on to the details –
April 21st – The NYCRuns Prospect Park 5K
etting there: since I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden the day before (Friday — see the 2nd post below this one) and the entrance to Prospect Park is right across Flatbush Avenue from the "Bot" entrance, it was a simple decision to take theQtrain from Union Square to the Prospect Park station. This entrance leads directly into the park and hits the loop road just across from Center Drive. So I arrived at the race area by 7:30. I got a bit to drink, changed my clothes, dropped my bag at the luggage area and jogged around a bit to warm up. I managed to take a wrong turn on one of the park's paths so I finally found the 5K start with only minutes to spare. But all's well that end's well and I caught my breath, got into the pack of runners near the front, and I was ready when the horn went off. The race starts on the main loop road about half way up the long hill that peaks by the Grand Army Plaza. But it doesn't loop all the way around the loop road back to the hill, instead it hangs a left onto Center Drive around the 3 mile mark near the low point before the hill. That means we only had to climb half the long hill and we ended with a net elevation loss. Check the map for the details. That makes for a very fast course for this 5K. And that shows in my splits (left below) with the mostly downhill second mile well beyond my threshhold pace. The start was easy (I was in about the third row from the front) and the climb to Grand Army Plaza thinned out the pack so that after a few hundred yards we had plenty of elbow room. After passing the Plaza and turning down the west side of the park, there are a few ups and downs. But the real fun comes around mile 2 where a long down hill starts and you can really fly.
When I finally got within sight of the finish, the clock was showing 27 minutes with the seconds counting 48, 49, 50, ... I pushed with all I had to break 28 minutes but the clock showed 28:01 as I passed the line. I knew there was a small lag in crossing the starting line (Chip Time vs. Gun Time) so I hoped it was at least 2 seconds. When I got home the results were not up yet, so I took a shower and a nap. Upon waking from my nap, I logged in and found my chip time was 27:58 !!! and not only that but I was first (of 3) in the 70+ age group and 33 seconds behind me was the guy from CPTC who has been beating me for almost 2 years. I'm not competive, no not at all. |
April 22nd – The NYRR Run as One 4 Miler
etting there: the race start was at 8:30 and I decided not to take a bag so I could avoid the time for checking the bag and then retrieving it after the finish. So I decided to take a cab both up and back since it was quite chilly (low 40°s) and I needed to avoid the walks to and from the subway. I got a cab and got to the park about 8:00 , good timing. As I expected. there were a zillion runners moving in long processions in all directions. I seldom run in NYRR Central Park races and I got a sudden jolt: why am I doing this? The contrast to the previous day's race in Prospect Park was never so obvious. But I soldiered on and made my way to corral "H", about mid pack — at least ¼ mile back from the starting line. After the gun went off, it took about 9 minutes to trudge along and get started running at the line. The race is a slightly modified 4 mile inner loop of the park. The start is maybe a ¼ mile south of the 72nd Street transverse, and of course, the line up of runners in the corrals behind the starting line extended about a ½ mile along the lower loop. When our corral finally made it to the starting line, we were able to start running just as we passed over the line. For perhaps the first few hundred yards, to the point where we crossed the 72nd Street transvers and made out way up by the Boathouse Café, I spent most of my energy making my way through the crowds and finding openings to be able to run my own race. When I reached the base of Cat Hill I was running more-or-less free, but then there was the hill. As the elevation profile shows, this is the longest hill with the most elevation gain, about 100 ft. The hill in Prospect Park has a similar gain, but in that race we only had to climb half of the hill. After reaching the Mile 1 marker the terrain evened out with only minor ups and downs to the 103rd Street transverse and I was able to pick up my pace.
The last mile is largely down hill and I picked it up as much as I could. But here I felt the possible effect of fatigue from the race the day before. In 2016 I ran this last mile in 8:38 whereas today I could only manage a 9:07. In fact I just looked it up and all my mile spits today were slower than my 2016 race. When I finished, my watch showed an elapsed time of 37:52, a minute 15 seconds off from my 2016 time. So I was feeling a bit let down, in spite of the fact that running the 5K the day before at a very strong pace must have been a major factor. I took a cab home, and my wife and I went to an event, and it was not until late afternoon that I saw the NYRR's results from the 4 Miler. My official chip time was 37:49, close to my watch time, but very surprisingly, I had won first place in the 75-79 age group (out of 18)! This was the first time I had ever won an age group first place award in an NYRR race. Now I didn't feel quite so disappointed about the race — but thank goodness they have 5 year age groups! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
day later, when I had rested and the results were posted, I decided that the weekend was a great success and a tribute to the speed work classes I have been taking over the last 16 weeks and to the work I have put in. And here's a little thing you may not have noticed: scroll up and look at the title picture showing the starts of the two races. It's not the crowds that seem to go back forever behind the lead runners in the 4 Miler that is surprising, it's the kids who must be 10 or 12 years old right up front taking off like bats-out-of-hell in the 5K. That, as much as anything else illustrates the difference between the races. Yes, Brooklyn is part of New York City with all that that implies, but the races put on there and elsewhere by NYCRuns are more like small town races than you'll see in most of the Big Apple. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
peed Work: an organized class that meets weekly, led by a coach, which consists of timed repetitions of runs at certain distances and recovery intervals geared to the runner's fitness level, aimed at improving the runner's speed and efficiency. That's more-or-less what it is, with lots of variations. The last time I was in such an organized class was in 2001, under the then coach of the NY Flyers, Cliff Held. That's not to say I didn't undertake training sessions, often by myself, where I did routines to improve my running, such as multiple hill repeats of Cat Hill or tempo runs. The key difference is it's organized, it's weekly, it's led by a coach and it's geared to each runner's fitness level.
This year I registered for my first organized, coached, speed work class in 17 years, called "SpeedPass", which started on January 2nd and met every Tuesday evening ending today, April 17th. Here's the overview of what it is: . Yes, we worked hard every Tuesday evening through the cold Winter and cold Spring. And the gist of it is in that overview, and I quote:
The key take-away is the workouts were custom designed for each runner tailored to his or her fitness level. This was important for me as an older runner so that I had workouts geared to my current level (based on recent race results) while, say, a thirty-something would be working at a level determined by his or her recent race results which for a 5K might be 5 or 6 minutes faster than mine.
And it works. My 5K finishing times have improved by over a minute with corresponding improvements at other distance. But it takes time and it takes work and perseverance, as you might well imagine. I won't go into details here, but suffice it to say that I've signed up for the next session which starts on May 8th.
That's it, gotta run!
or the second time this week I visited, by train, (not running) one of the two outstanding Botanical Gardens in New York City. Tuesday it was the (in the Bronx) with my daughter Susan (see the previous post, below this), and today, Friday, it was the with my friend Susan. (And don't ask why one is Botanical and the other is Botanic.)
I've visited the "Brooklyn Bot" many times over the years, but not in the last two or three. We tend think of the "Bronx Bot" (the New York Botanical Garden, aka the NYBG) with its yearly Orchid Show, its acres of pristine forest, and the wild Bronx River as the epitome of places to visit. But the Brooklyn Bot is no slouch. The cherry tree festival in late April and early May can rival anything in the Bronx has to offer for sheer beauty, and it's much closer by subway than the NYBG where you need to take the subway PLUS Metro North (of course, we often run to these places so that would change the comparison). And to make the comparison more even, it's free before noon on Fridays.
So Friday morning we met on theQtrain at Union Square around 11 and we were there in less that half an hour. The Prospect ParkQtrain station is about a 3 minute walk from the Flatbush Avenue entrance to the Garden so were arrived with ample leeway before the 12 noon cutoff. For some reason, in the past we had always taken the4or5train to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and then switched to the2or3train and entered at the Eastern Parkway entrance to the Garden. But hey, theQline is much more direct. And besides, now it goes all the way up to 96th Street on Second Avenue.
The biggest attraction was the beautiful Japanese Hill and Pond Garden with its the many cherry trees in full bloom (see the title picture above). But for some reason, the trees along the nearby Cherry Esplanade were still just budding. It seems for those, we must return in another week or two (check this ).
We worked our way north and especially enjoyed some of the lesser visited gardens primarily along the east side. The quiet and solitude there, in this raucous day and age, really restored our souls.
When we left, we had a scrumptious lunch at a few blocks away at 409 Lincoln Place. I had a beer and an avacado sandwich and Susan had an equally yummy selection at this trendy café. We always finish up in a place like this, don't we! But of course, that's why we run — Oops, this time we took the Q.
Please enjoy the photo album, worth at least a thousand words: Photo album for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden .
Gotta run ...
o, this was not "Yet another Run to the Botanical Garden". First of all it was not a run — my daughter Suzy and I took the train up and back. And we did it on a Tuesday, arriving just after the place opened, so there were basically zero crowds (even though the ever-popular Orchid Show closes in little more than a week). Unfortunately it was a gray, chilly day, but the brightness of the Spring blooms and the sparkle of the wild river made up for the lack of sun shine. And of course it's always summer in the Orchid Show.
Of course, we did make the rounds of the Orchid show in the sparsly populated Conservatory. How could we not? But the highest priority of our visit was to explore the vast forest along the wild (yes, wild) Bronx River. We trod on every available trail and saw the true shape of what the land looked like before the European invasion some 400 hundred years ago. Did you know some of the forest in this part of the NYBG has never been harvested? It is the only truly "Old Growth" in New York City and for that matter, there are very few stands of "Old Growth" forest left in the entire state of New York. And I've been told there are species of animals in this forest that are found no where else in the city.
The trees were bare since the vast majority of them are deciduous. I can't wait to come back in the summer when they are in full leaf. But the Cherry Trees and Magnolias and Azaleas were in bloom, as you can see from the title slideshow above.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 101 of them in one big album. (I've given links to three particular sections so you can jump to what you are most interested in.
Part 1: Photo album starting at the Orchid Show
Part 2: Photo album starting at our walk in the woods
Part 3: Photo album starting at our stroll around the grounds
Gotta run ...
My optimism was due to the tougher and more focused training I've been doing this year by joining the Flyers speed work program (known as ) and it's actually the first formal speed work program I've participated in since 2001. And the results I've had in several races over the last couple of months (see and ) has validated this progress. But not entirely: I had at least one not-so-good race (the Riverside Park 5K described in that last link) that went against the pattern
Sunday's race was a mixed bag. My time was just about minute faster than my last UEC from two years ago (for a runner in his 70s, that is a sizeable gain), plus I felt strong and fast with good endurance through the entire 10K (note that the title picture show a strong finish). But my downfall, (pun intended) was the many steep and rocky ups and downs along the course. Going up, I felt a weakness in my climbing muscles and going down (or up), I felt a fear of falling, since there were numerous rocks and root waiting to trip me. As a result of having a weakness and a risk aversion of precipitous sections, I often walked both the steep ups and downs. Although the flatter, or should I say smoother, areas (even on slopes) constituted by far the preponderance of the mileage, the short but numerous walking sections probably cost me several minutes off my time.
So what's a runner to do? I would say three things:
A few words on the race: I arrived at VC Park about 20 past 9:00 and it was cold and windy. I had brought a pack full of running clothes for all circumstances. I chose long running pants and my Brooks Hoody which I've been wearing all winter as a top and added my Flyers singlet. I took a few pictures but didn't see anyone from the club. I knew Scott was going to show up and maybe Tim (he didn't show — he was doing to Cherry Blossom 10 miler in DC). When the time came, I shed my jacket, jogged over to the starting line (in the extreme NE corner of the field), and we were off. My race went as I described above and I finished strong.
Just after finishing I was met by Heidi, a long time friend who lives in the area and volunteers for the VCTC. She was with Scott's daughter Mihiret (she had looked after her while Scott was running) and had taken lots of photos of me, Scott and his daughter. I changed into warmer stuff, met up with Scott for a few pictures then we all waited for the awards. I won a carrot muffin for 2nd place in the 70+ group and Scott won a carrot cake for 1st place in the 50-59 group. Eventually, we all piled into Scott's car and he dropped Heidi off up the hill in Riverdale, then dropped me off at the Q train on 96th, and it was a day.
And here are some links:
And (to quote Elmer Fudd) tha tha that's all folks. Gotta run —
ur run to the NY Botanical Garden was "iffy" for about the last week and a half. My running partner Susan and I ran there just three weeks ago (see the March 10th post below) and we decided to avoid weekends due to the crowding in the galleries, and come back on a weekday. But we wanted a sunny weekday to get the most out of the visit. She plans to fly to Rome next Wednesday (April 4th) to do the Rome Marathon and we were running out of sunny weekdays. Then her crowded pre-Rome schedule suddenly opened up and we decided to do it today, Saturday, after all, but leave early to arrive at 10 when the place opens to beat the crowds. So we agreed to meet at 8:00 — 2 hours would be plenty of time to run the 8-9 miles to the NYBG by 10:00. And it would be sunny!
Now it so happens that Susan had taken the6train recently for some appointments in the East Bronx and, looking out the window of the subway car, she wondered what was that bike path doing in some kind of park right on the Bronx River.
She Googled what she has seen and found it was the recently opened ! Say what? Concrete Plant Park? That's the name of a park? And it turns out that just a bit further up the Bronx River was . And further up the river from that is the Bronx Zoo, and lastly the NY Botanical Garden. So it looked like we had a new route!
Instead of doing "Yet Another Run to the NY Botanical Garden" (same old, same old), we decided to forget about the crowds at the NYBG, forget about getting there early, and just agree to explore new neighborhoods and especially the new parks. The rehabilitated Bronx River had hijacked our run, now titled the "The Bronx River Run".
So off we went shortly after 8 from Carl Schurz Park on our way for an adventure to unknown places ...
Here's the Link for the complete report:
And here's a link to the photo album: Bronx River Run Album
he New York Botanical Garden is a National Historic Landmark located in the Bronx. The 250-acre garden, lying on the Bronx River, is just north of the Bronx Zoo. And if there's a more beautiful place in New York City, I've not found it yet.
It is probably most well known for the yearly orchid show, which just opened for 2018 a couple of weeks ago. The show is perhaps the most beautiful thing in this beautiful place, but by no means is it the only reason to go there. There is an awesome museum, acres of woods, some of it "old growth", an idyllic portion of the Bronx River, miles of trails, and dozens of out door gardens featuring everything from roses to Dawn Redwoods. If you go once, I guarantee you'll be back, probably many times. My running friends and my family have been there in all seasons, probably close to a dozen times.
I've just completed, on the Vernal Equinox no less, the second in my series of "Runs to Beautiful Places". The article contains information about running inside the Garden, fees, groups, places to eat, transit to or from the Garden, and no less then 5 running routes to get there. Click on the title picture above or on this link to bring up the article: .
lmost exactly a month ago I ran the Cherry Tree 10 Miler (see below, Feb. 18th post) in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. It was a very satisfying race — I had taken just over 3 minutes from last year's finishing time or about 20 seconds per mile. Any runner will tell you that's a big improvement. And although there are always many factors that go into success in a race, including weather, the course, preparation, your health, how well you slept the night before and of course how well your training and general fitness is going.
I give a lot of credit to that last item. Although I have not mentioned it in this blog, I have been participating in the , the first formal speed workout program I've joined since 2001, and that's a very long time. Over the intervening years I used many training programs particularly for marathons, and I've done reasonably well overall, including two Boston Marathon qualifications (for the and the ). Nevertheless I felt my finish times were slowing over the last few years and decided it was time to join this program since the structure of the workouts and the advice of the coaches would help me get back into a higher level of fitness, something my ad hoc training was not doing.
So I was hoping that the two recent 5Ks done about a week apart would give further credence that my training was paying off with improved finishing times. Well, let's just say it was a mixed bag.
Weather: both races were cold, around 30° but but Riverside Park felt colder. There was a bit more wind, and less sun since it lies on the west side facing the Hudson. The lack of sun, which was plentiful on Roosevelt Island, made a big difference.
Course: Riverside is definitely hillier with a steep hill at about ½ mile into the race and short but quite steep hill around mile 3 and rolling hills on the way back. Roosevelt Island is pretty flat the whole way.
Preparation: the day before the Riverside Park race I ran about 4½ mile with my friend Susan ending and the NY Botanical Garden, where we spent probably 2 - 3 hours on our feet. The Orchids were beautiful, but the outing probably did not help my race when I should have been taking it easy. I spent the day before the Roosevelt Island race yes, taking it easy.
Other factors: my general health (no colds, no flu, no injuries) and my training and fitness were about the same.
| March 11th 5K Riverside Park | ||
| Time | Pace | 70+ AG |
| 31:37 | 10:11 | 1st |
| March 17th 5K Roosevelt Island | ||
| Time | Pace | 70+ AG |
| 29:16 | 9:26 | 1st |
This brings back something I learned more that 25 years ago when I ran in 1992 in 3:28:45 and qualified for Boston for the first time. I thought I had finally found the right recipe of training, speed work and preparation for a marathon and that it would be easy to repeat that formula in the future. WRONG! Future marathons were just as hard as ever and unpredictable factors always have a way of arising to upset your plans.
This year, yes, I had improved in my training and general fitness, but factors such as preparation, which I can control,
and the weather and hills, which I can not control (except to do more hill training), got in the way of a more satisfying result.
Tipically we had run this route starting on the East side, either Carl Schurz Park or Susan's place and headed over to First Avenue and over the Willis Avenue Bridge. We would then make our way over to the Grand Concourse, at which point we would go through Franz Sigel Park, make a quick traverse of the south end of Joyce Kilmer Park and head east on 155th Street past Yankee Stadium, head up through Highbridge Park and end up at some northern Manhattan destination such as The Cloisters or maybe even Wave Hill up in the Bronx.
Not today. We both wanted to visit the NY Botanical Garden even though we had been there just five weeks before. But the annual Orchid Show had opened just the weekend before and we wanted to get a look at that beautiful annual display of nature's beauty.
I had a 5K the next morning (as well as the start of Daylight Saving Time) so I needed a short easy run, 4 miles max. So I agreed to meet her half way, at the Lorelei statue in Joyce Kilmer Park, just on the north side of 155th Street. She wanted to stick to Walton Avenue all the way up to Fordham Road since it is much more residential and non commercial. And we wouldn't be fighting crowds on the sidewalk the way we did on Webster Avenue back in January. Susan knew the area well, since she has used it as a bike route.
The route lived up to its quiet attactive reputation. It also brought us to Saint James Park and Poe Park at the northern end and finally to the point where Kingsbridge Road come in from the west. We zig-zagged over to the Webster Café without using either Fordham Road (busy, commercial) or Webster Ave (same), and only touched Bedford Park Blvd. And yes, we had pre-NYBG brunch at the Café. The photo album will give you a sense of these "back roads" so-to-speak. Then it was off to the Botanical Garden.
Two things I will say about the Botanical Garden: the gounds had a remnant of snow plus early blooming spring flowers and we found a rock garden we had missed in our upteen previous visits. It just prooves the place has a different beauty in all seasons of the year and that there is no way you'll discover all the hidded gems in one life time.
The second observation was that the Orchid Show was not quite as enjoyable as on other visits. The place was overly crowded with people everywere taking picturs and selfies amidst the flowers. It was simply difficult to get through the crowds and LOOK at the flowers, not just photograph them. I also thought less work had gone into the set up. There seemed to be more plants just set in flower pots and the use of artificial structures was more evident. The best example is that picture of me at the pool where you enter — what is that plastic Christmas Tree doing there?
Anyway, we still loved the place but we swore we would come back on a weekdey to avoid the crowds, preferably when it warmer and sunnier. Will this winter never end?
And here's the link to the photo album (if your confused by the streets, this will help): Photo Album
ll week long before the race, all my runner friends were watching the weather forecasts. The forecasts showed a sudden storm coming through the area on Saturday night, and the Cherry Tree 10 Miler was scheduled to start at 10:00 Sunday morning. Ironically, both Saturday and Sunday were forecast to be sunny. Each day the forecast changed a little, sometimes with more snow (3 - 7 inches) sometimes less (1-3 inches) and sometimes more rain (a hour or two before and after the snow) and sometime less (snow the whole time).
On Friday the Prospect Park Track Club (which was putting on the race) tweeted:
Prospect Park TC (@ProspectParkTC)
February 16, 2018
Prospect Park TC (@ProspectParkTC)
February 16, 2018
So off I went to Union Square station to get the Q train to Brooklyn. The Manhattan Streets were practically bare, the sun was blazing and the sky was blue. About 25 minutes later I got off at the Prospect Park station and walked into the park and headed to the race HQ at the Bluestone Café at Lakeside Center. The temperature was noticeably colder than in Manhattan and there was more snow plus a bit of a wind. Luckily I had brought all sorts of layers to wear. It was about 8:45.
I got my bib (and nice winter gloves as swag), organized my stuff, got some coffee, and met up with other NY Flyers. The scene was festive and the temperature outside was warming up. This was going to be a great day for a race.
he first year I ran the Cherry Tree 10 Miler was in 2006. And of the 13 Cherry Trees that took place from the 2006 race up to this one, I ran in 10 of them. I missed the races in 2008, 2009 and 2011. The last one I missed, the 2011 race, I remember well: I had a calf injury and could hardly walk. But I did go out to the race to take pictures, and it was very cold just standing there as opposed to running. I also remember the 2012 race when I was training for a marathon and ran 6 miles from City Hall in Manhattan to the race start, largely along Flatbush Avenue, and then ran the race. I finished that race about 12 minutes faster than this one and got an award for it. Here are the reports I've written for those races over the years: , , , , , , and . You'll notice some are a cursory mentions in a blog (2013: "An Off Week and a Painful 10 Miler" and 2014: "A Couple of Races"), and others were quite long. The 2010 race report (which originally appeared in the NY Flyers Newsletter) is interesting since it begins with an interview with Mike Ring, long time race director. It also contains links to all NY Flyers results and photo albums back to 2002. And as mentioned, the 2012 race was part of a 16 mile long run.
Closer to the present, the 2016 race was the coldest on record (-2°) and the 2017 race was the warmest (near 60°). The 2016 race, besides being the coldest, was important in another respect: they moved the start / finish line about a mile further along the road after the Lefrak Center was completed — which meant the runners could hang out, change, etc. before and after the race inside the Café located there — a vast improvement.
And back in the day when I was running marathons, I considered a 10 mile race a sort of middle distance endeavor; I even turned several of the Cherry Trees (2012 and 2013) into 16 mile training runs. Now, there is no question that a 10 miler is a long distance race, probably the longest race distance — or training run distance for that matter — I am likely to run.
he race consists of three loops counter-clockwise around the park road. Look at the map (left) and the elevation profile (right): each loop starts near the base of the long hill along the north-east (Flatbush Avenue) side of the park and peaks near the Grand Army Plaza. This is the only real hill, although there are some rolling ups and downs as you move down along the north-west side of the park (Prospect Park West). A little before you pass the Bartel-Pritchard Square entrance to the park, around mile 1.7, you start down on a nice long hill along the south-west side of the park until you get to the lake, the low point of the route. This is where you can really turn on the gas and hopefully make up for the long up-hill at the start of the loop.
Then lastly is what I call the endless last mile along the relatively flat terrain along the lake, past the Peristile on the right, past the Lefrak Center on the left, and finally the start / finish line. The race used to end about halfway down the down-hill section and I guess my body remembers that, so that last flat mile seems to get longer every loop.
Don't be fooled by the numerous up and down wiggles in the profile. These are actually gentle rolling hillocks which,
more often that not, you hardly notice. You might call them "rolling flats".
| 2018 Cherry Tree 10 Miler | ||
| Split | Pace | |
| 1st loop | 33:13 | 9:57 |
| 2nd loop | 33:55 | 10:11 |
| 3rd loop | 33:16 | 9:59 |
| Finish | 1:40:25 | 10:02.5 |
here were altogether 18 New York Flyers at the race but we only found 13 of them for our group picture (title picture, top of this post), and only 4 who managed to find a spot to enjoy some of the post-race food (left). I think that photo was taken after our group picture since I was collecting my gear and finding my way back to the Q train at the time.
But there were plenty of age group top 10 finishes (6 out of of our club's 18 entries) and a PR. In spite of the scary weather forecast of snow, it was a beautiful day both for running and watching. It more than made up for the 2016 race which was too cold and last year's race which was too warm.
Here are the race results from the NY Flyers web site:
.
And here is the complete set of photos from the NY Flyers web site:
.
For my part, I was home in a little over a half hour, where I had a shower, a big lunch, and of course, a nap!
he New York Flyers, my running club, holds a dinner each year around the end of January to celebrate the previous year's accomplishments. The newly elected officers are introduced, awards are given for various categories, we have a sit-down catered meal and there is dancing till you drop. This year it was the "28th Annual Awards Gala" and I have been to 27 of them, all but the first one in 1991 celebrating the club's first full year, 1990.
It's a great way to meet up with running friends, old and new, in a purely social environment. I always enjoy seeing old friends from as far back as the 1990s and reminisce about the "Good Old Days" and to chat with new acquaintances who may have joined the club barely a month ago.
I was privileged to receive the award as Runner of the Year in the 70+ group. That's a small group, to be sure, but I'm out there working out and running races and it's always nice to be recognized.
Notice the picture above right: it shows the group of us long time Flyers at the Gala. Jerry joined in 1989, I joined in 1991, and David and John joined in 1992. David also sat at the table with my wife and me together with Joe (see the title picture at the top of this post). Joe, as you may know, is my massage therapist and coach, whereas David and I go back a long time.
David and I ran Grandma's Marathon in June of 1992 and we both qualified in that race for the 1993 Boston Marathon,
the first Boston for both of us. The picture on the right shows us at breakfast the morning after finishing Grandma's. One thing that's amazing is
that 25+ years later we've hardly changed at all .
Click on that picture for the report on the 1992 Grandma's Marathon.
The last 2 hours or so of the Gala is devoted to dancing, with an open bar for lubrication and a disk jockey for filling the room with (loud) music. The photo (left) is just the start of the dancing; as you might expect, it gets wilder and wilder as the night goes on.
Unfortunately, Joy and I had a morning appointment (not running) and Joy has mobility issues due to a knee problem, so we stole away as the larger group got more engaged with the goings on — and I'm told there was even an after-party party at Fraunces Tavern for those who hadn't had enough.
And here is a complete set of photos from the Gala on the New York Flyers web site:
And for something more light-hearted, here's another take on the Gala: .
Enjoy!
aturday's run with Susan and Melissa from Central Park up through the Bronx to the New York Botanical Garden was our first winter visit to the Garden. Fortunately, the weather was relatively mild and we had a great run plus a lovely visit to the Botanical Garden. At some point I'll put together a special report on the Botanical Garden and the many routes we've used to get there and this trip will be one of the ingredients.
But there's a few things I should mention about this outing:
The route up from the Dana Center is as simple as they come (click on the map for the details): exit the park at Fifth Avenue; run up to and around Marcus Garvey Park, then go up to 129th Street and head over to the Third Avenue Bridge. Once in the Bronx, follow Third Avenue to where it intersects with Melrose Avenue and then follow Melrose, which becomes Webster, all the way to the Café, which is just across the tracks from the Botanical Garden.
The Botanical Garden is a different place in the winter, but still well worthy of a visit. The lush greens of the deciduous trees are gone but so are most of the visitors — we practically had the place to ourselves.
For the first time ever, we took the tram (mostly a tourist attraction) which circles the park with a recorded explanation of what we were seeing, and to be honest we were impressed at all the parts of the Garden we had never been to. We learned a lot, and vowed to explore these lesser well traveled places. And of course the evergreens — pines, spruce, fir and a whole grove of Dawn Redwoods, a rarity — were the winter show-offs while the rest of the trees were sleeping.
We did, of course, visit the Conservatory, where it's always Summer and enjoyed it fully. No, there was no Orchid Show, no Chihuly exhibit, no Holiday Train Show to see, but the place is just so wonderful even without a special exhibit, that it's always a pleasure.
Finally, exhausted, we stopped in the gift shop (we bought nothing this time) and then headed for the train. On the way, we had one more treat — a mature Red-tailed Hawk was perched in a tree watching the humans make their daily trip from the train ... to the garden ... and back again.
And here is a photo album of our adventure. Enjoy:
Run from the Dana Discovery Center to the NYBG - January 27, 2018.
lthough I said in my intro to this 2018 Blog that I would stand clear of "endless reports of runs to this or that place" — and it's still January — I decided this run which I ran last Saturday with my friend Susan, in spite of all expectations, ended up being so pleasing in just about all respects, that I had to put it in.
We took no pictures so I added a few from my archive or other sources (with the attribution in the caption), but I took careful note of our route and put together a map that evening. I've put in just little bits of it here to illustrate various parts of the route. To show the details please click on these images, which are rather small on this page, to see the full sized image of that part of the map. For the big picture, check out the full interactive map here: .
The first issue we had to face was how to combine Susan's need to do a 17 mile long run, since she is training for the Rome marathon in just 3 months, and my need to run at most 8 miles, the maximum I could reasonably run at this point of my training. At her suggestion, we would meet at the Dana Discovery Center at the north end of Central Park at which point she would have run her extra miles, and then run together to , one of our favorites, which is at the northern end of Manhattan and the mileage difference would be resolved. And we did just that!
The second issue was not so easily solved: the weather. The forecast called for temperatures around 30°, but winds in the mid teens gusting up to 25 - 30 MPH. The temperatures would be tolerable, we've run many times in that range, but those wind-chills would be killers. Furthermore the forecast predicted overcast skies all morning. Not good.
Both of us felt the brunt of this at the outset, Susan doing her miles in the park prior to our meet up, and I, walking 4 blocks from the subway (I know, that sounds so-o-o pathetic). But as I waited inside the Dana Center, the skies cleared and the wind dropped, so by the time Susan showed up, it was a different day altogether.
We took an extra long break, she from her nearly 9 miles of running in fierce wind-chills and I from my 4 blocks of walking from the subway. We also agreed to avoid the long west side route along the Hudson we had planned on, and took the "Streets" route which would have much less exposure from the winds. For an overview of the routes available and a bit about the Café, check out this 2012 report: .
The "Streets" route is initially extremely simple: cross 110th Street and Follow St. Nicholas Avenue unfailingly, all the way to 168th Street where it joins Broadway, some 3½ miles. We were surprised by both in the sunny, "almost mild" weather and the almost total lack of pedestrians along this part of the route.
We enjoyed the lovely town houses in this neighborhood and followed the Terrace and then Convent Avenue to 152nd Street where we took a left and then got onto Amsterdam to 162nd where we got back onto St. Nicholas. If that little detour is too complicated, just forget Hamilton Grange and the town houses and stay on St. Nicholas the whole way to 168th and Broadway.
Once we got to Broadway and 168th Street we decided to make one little and one big change from the "Streets" route as described in that 2012 report: First, we would run along Fort Washington Avenue instead of Broadway up to the George Washington Bridge. It's less crowded and has a park on the west for part of the way, and doing so we would turn the corner at Coogan's — about which were delighted to read that very morning in the that Coogan's had resolved its dispute with their landlord and would not be going out of business after all.
The second change was that we would turn west on 181st Street just past the GWB (where we took a little break at the recently renovated Bus Terminal). We followed 181st Street to where it ends at the highway and took the pedestrian bridge over the highway to the River side and thence followed the old Riverside Drive promenade (aka the northbound lanes of the highway) all the way to Dyckman Street.
This is a marvelous and virtually unknown stretch with glorious views across the Hudson to the Palisades. I described this section as the "Middle Road" in my 2010 report of the West Side Run (see this: ). I described that run as "The most beautiful route in Manhattan", and it would be hard to argue with that. There is an especially beautiful spot about half way along this section, (see the ) officially known as the "Inspiration Point shelter" but I always called it the "Greek Pavilion". It affords amazing views of the Palisades across the Hudson and is one of the remnants of the old Riverside Drive Promenade built in the 1920s. Here's a very informative 1989 NY Times article about this structure: .
The promenade traditionally ended after crossing a bridge over an access road to the southbound lanes of the highway (see photo on the left). There is a curved staircase leading down, around and under the northbound lanes (which we were just on) and after a short downhill block on Staff Street you are on Dyckman Street.
[Note: a little Googling informed me that it was the Parks Department and that this shortcut was opened in September, 2015. See this: and this . This tells me I've not taken this route lately. Shame on me!]
By taking this new ramp and path we came out almost exactly opposite the entrance to Inwood Hill Park. Travel in this park is made complicated by the fact that on the river side both the railroad and highway bisect the park and east of the tracks the terrain is very steep. Both ends of our route are in very flat areas: playing fields on the river side and a wide lawn (with a few tennis courts) on the east side with a substantial rocky hill in between. The trick is to get from where we were (the river side) to the other. The route is made possible by a pedestrian bridge over the tracks, and some paths that take us under the Henry Hudson Bridge and around to the other side of the park.
If you look at the map to the right, the pedestrian bridge is that little jog to the right about half way up (photo, left) and once across the bridge the route always takes the left fork (which is also the lowest path) at intersections. There are three of these intersections (pink circles on the map) along the route.
At the last intersection (which I have notated on the map), there was a detour sign with an arrow pointing up to the right, so one would assume we needed to go that way to avoid some work being done on the "left most" path. Susan and I both started up, but I got second thoughts and decided to take the lower path. Susan took the upper path assuming they would both converge sooner or later. This unfortunately was not to be. My path led in about a quarter mile to "" (see map) which was where the flat lands meet the rocky cliffs (and where the Dutch met the Native Americans in 1626 and stole bought Manhattan with some trinkets). Susan's choice, as you can see on the map, swung around to the south with numerous side paths and she might even had ended up back on Dyckman Street. She soon realized this and backtracked to the badly marked junction and followed my path down to the rock — about a 10 minute delay.
But there was a "Silver Lining" to this situation: when we got to the restaurant about 5 minutes from the rock, she found from her Garmin that she was just shy of 17 miles (which she made up by running up the block and back), while I just went in and got a table. Thus the extra distance she ran on the "wrong path" led her to a successful completion of her plan. For my part, deciding to take the lower path gave me almost exactly 7½ miles, just what I wanted. So it was not just a silver lining for Susan, but a win-win for both of us. There was another "Silver Lining" from the fact that I waited about 10 minutes for Susan at the rock. It turned out to be one of the best moments of our long day and I will explain that later.
We "discovered" Indian Road Café in July of 2012, about 5½ years ago. When I saw the name I thought it was an Indian (as in South Asian) food place and I was hesitant to go in, but Susan said "No, that's the name of the street" (Indian Road). In fact, they call themselves "The Last Café on the Only Road". It actually is the last (northernmost) eating establishment in Manhattan and I don't know any other street, avenue, highway or byway in Manhattan that's officially named a "Road". We went in and enjoyed it so much that we've gone back numerous times over the years.
This time we both chose pints of 's "Storm King", an Imperial Stout, from the café's ever changing beer list. At 9.1%, this had the highest alcohol per dollar ratio I've ever seen, PLUS, I liked it. Susan said it is brewed in Pennsylvania near where she grew up.
In the food department, her Huevos Rancheros and my Salmon Benedict hit the spot. A marvelous meal, both food and drink.
Our late start, long breaks and slow pace got us there late (around 1:30) which had the advantage of a quieter, less crowded place. Even so, we diddled and dawdled and didn't leave till after 2:30.
When we got there I told her that while I was waiting for her, I had had to take a pee behind that tree over there. So she called the phone again, and much to our surprise and delight, we heard "brring brring" — coming from right next to the pee tree. My phone was sitting by the tree safe and dry.
And that was a perfect (if amusing) ending to a great run and brunch.
ver hear of the Nicholas Roerich Museum on West 107th Street? Well, I never had until this morning when Susan sent me an email saying "How about going to the Nicholas Roerich Museum, something that’s on my 'really must do this sometime' list ...", and then "How about at 1:00, and then bus or maybe even ambitiously walk to the museum?" Well, of course I said "sounds good" and I thought "What in tarnation is that?" So I Googled it and found it is a small museum on West 107th Street (west of Broadway) featuring the works of one Nicholas Roerich known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh in Russia (1874-1847), who according to Wikipedia:
The first stop of the afternoon was lunch at Earl's with Susan at 1:00. But even though I knew it was set for 1 o'clock, I managed to get too busy around noon time and managed to leave for Earl's, not get to Earl's, at 1:00. She called about 1:20 as I was getting into the subway and said "Weren't we supposed to meet at 1?" ... so with hat in hand and tail between my legs (love those mixed metaphors) I walked into Earl's about 2:00 to meet Susan, who was patiently reading a book.
Well, we finished up our lunch quickly and set out for the Roerich which was on West 107th Street (Earl's is on East 97th Street). We walked the whole way including a traverse of Central Park. Temperatures were in the low teens and the wind was strong so we had to layer up and push our way against sub 0º wind chills. When we got to Broadway and West 107th Street we were rather cold. We headed further west, almost to Riverside Drive and I started to worry that the place was east, not west of Broadway, and Susan was too cold to get out her iPhone to look it up. We asked a neighbor where was the "Roerich Museum" but she had never heard of it. Just then Susan noticed a bronze plaque on an attractive town house directly across 107th Street from us. That was it, yay! In less than a minute we were finally out of the cold and in a warm and well-appointed reception room.
The museum was founded in 1929 by the Roerich family and contains many of his major works. A good portion of the rest of his oeuvre resides in various museums in Russia, and the rest is scattered around in several American and European Museums. He led a very full and interesting life and it's worth a look his Wikipedia page: . The museum fills a small building with a reception area, a small gift shop, bathrooms, and coat closet on the ground floor. There are galleries on the second and third floors, each consisting of several sections.
The lighting was not ideal for photos. Many of them show reflections of light coming through the windows. His medium of choice was Tempera, which would have been considered archaic in the early 20th century. Almost all his paintings show something spiritual against a natural setting, very often showing mountains. I've put together a photo album from the pictures I took on that Saturday afternoon: Nicholas Roerich Museum - January 6, 2018. I've captioned most of the items in the album (which took a fair amount of searching through online catalogs), but both his artistic style and penchant for spiritualism should be clear from the album.
Will I go back? Maybe.
recent discussion on the NY Flyers Facebook page (BTW: I do not belong to Facebook) got me to thinking what I do every day in the way of stretches and other exercises. So I emailed Brad, the original poster of the subject with a summary of my stretching routine, and he made a on my behalf. Having done that, I decided to flesh out what I told Brad a bit with a little more detail and present it here for anyone who may be interested.
When I was about a year away from turning 70, I decided to un-retire from running marathons and train to run a BQ race. The qualification period for the 2013 Boston (when I would be 70) started in October 2011. The problem was in February 2011 I could hardly walk. I had a bad injury to my right calf and had to sit out the 2011 Cherry Tree 10 miler. I had a similar problem 2 years before and got a prescription for Physical Therapy, but here I was back again with the same problem.
Instead of going back again for PT, I asked Joe, my massage guy, to help. I had gone to him in the past for massages, and he knew every muscle in the body by first and last name. He came by and found a couple of very tight small calf muscles, whose names I don’t remember, which lay underneath the big ones (the Soleus and Gastrocnemius). He worked on them and gave me exercises ("foot drills") to do, and had me probe the problem spots with a wooden massage plug. Two weeks later he found them much improved and worked on me and advised me all year, and I improved all the while. Along the way, I realized that I needed to make all the various exercises I undertook during this period into a permanent part of my training and thus my daily routine came into being.
By May I had started a 4 month training period and on October 1st, 2011, I qualified for Boston as a 70 year old in the St. George Marathon, Utah, finishing 9 minutes under the BQ standard for my age. I did run the 2013 Boston at age 70, but that’s .
I do these every day after coffee (except when I don't ) at home. When I warm up for a run, I do something else,
called colloquially "Boot Camp", which are a group of fast paced dynamic stretches I'll go into below. The morning routine:
After 7 years, no more marathons ( except very slow 2013 and 2014 “do-over” Bostons) but no injuries and plenty of age group awards.
A set of 5 (very) dynamic stretches — do these before a run, and after if you have the strength. I do them unless it's cold or I get lazy,
or someone I'm with thinks the weird jumping up and down I do is wacko. You know who you are .
All of this evolved while I was seeing Joe, my massage guy, every 3 or 4 weeks for a full body massage with plenty of discussion and advice thrown in. That may be more important than all the details given above. Thanks Joe.