Friday afternoon I went to the NYRR NYC Half Marathon Expo and I handed out bib numbers to the racers. This gives me credit towards my 9+1 entry for the 2012 NYC Marathon.
When I first saw just how many bibs there were to hand out, I was thinking it was going to get crazy busy once everyone got out of work at 5-6PM. There was a bit of a rush hour but there were more than enough people handing out numbers. I don’t think that the line was more than three people deep at any point.
The time went by very quickly because it wasn’t very often that you weren’t helping someone. I also think it was enjoyable because there were so many people there that were not from the metro area. Many people were using their passports as their ID to get their race number. I wish I had kept track of how many different countries I helped.
They were excited to be there. They had all sorts of questions. The most concerning of them being. “This looks to be the 3rd corral. Am I going to have to run through slow people?” These people were serious. I had them check with the info desk to verify the pace of the corral. I’m guessing they were in the right spot. They just might not be used to there being so many people that are faster than them.
Many of them couldn’t help but tell us just how long it had been since they’ve run in Central Park, or how long it’s been since they’ve moved away from the city. Fortunately, as I said we were never swamped, so we were more than happy to listen.
The most difficult thing about the race logistics seems to be where their families should be during the race. (the start and finish are not close to each other). Fortunately not too many people asked for help with this issue. (so maybe it’s not an issue?)
I’d say the NYC Half Marathon looks to be turning into a great “destination race”. Which is great for the city and great for NYRR. (Maybe not so great for me, because getting in via the lottery is going to be tough.)
Aches and Pains:
I’ve just finished 20 weeks of “maintenance” training.
I’ve got 2 weeks until I start my 20 week build for the Timberman Half Iron.
So? What to do for the next 2 weeks? The plan was just to continue with the maintenance. The trouble is this. I’ve got a few aches and pains that I don’t think I should have at this point in time. It’s become a bit of a checklist.
Left forearm: Tendonitis, not a big deal. Just annoying.
Upper Back and Ribs: The trip to the chiropractor made a huge difference. Now I’ve become hyper aware of just how much I hunch at my desk all day. Also concerned that it could be related to my posture on the bike as well.
Right Calf: Stiff and sore at times. I’ve been working hard at gaining some flexibility here. Guess I’ve got a long ways to go.
Left Hip: This one concerns me the most. Every now and again I get apain that really zaps me. It’s so quick that I have a hard time figuring out where it’s from. I keep thinking it’s in the socket. (that would be bad) Yet it only seems to happen when I’m tight, usually later in the day following a run. Which makes me think that it’s muscles/tendons, not bone/cartilage.
I’m going to email the coaches and see what they think.
I’m figuring I should just drop to 2 bikes and 2 runs a week and make them low intensity. I’ll keep the 3 swims a week but again, low intensity.
I also plan on plenty of stretching, along with a massage in there some time too.
I need to work on getting more sleep as well. I’ve started falling asleep on the train during my commute the last week or so. That’s as easy of a signal to read as there is.
I’ll admit all of this just makes me think that I’m old and I’d better get used to the aches and pains. If that’s the case, then what can you do? I just don’t want to miss my races this year, so I’m going to try like crazy to keep stuff like this in check. I’d rather race slower than not at all.
Now the cool video.
VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.
1 comment:
If I were judging this, avoiding the dog that wandered onto the course would more than make up for going out of bounds.
Post a Comment