A run down memory lane - New York Colon Cancer Challenge 15K (2012)

As some of my previous posts may indicate, it has been really tough to get back into my running grind. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was running 5 - 6 miles on a daily basis, but this initiative has kind of fizzled out. I think the lack of having in-person races has contributed to this lack of zest for running. In my mind, I’m kind of like what’s the point of pushing myself during training runs when I have nothing to train for. I figured that I could revisit some of my previous races as a way to reignite my love for running.

Background:

Before I get into the New York Colon Cancer Challenge 15K, I want to mention how I got into running. Actually, this review about my entry into running would be useful because I do not remember much about this race from 2012.

High school and college:

During my high school days, I used to run cross country and track (1600m and 3200m). I admit that I was not the greatest runner and pretty much participated in these sports to make myself a well-rounded college applicant. As a college student in New Orleans, I did join my college’s cross country team, but I never really got into it for the following reasons:

1. The humidity in New Orleans humidity no joke.

2. Because of the humidity index, practice started at 5/5:30 AM.

3. I never really acclimated to the humidity.

4. I never really loved running THAT much to put myself through all of that “stress”.

How did I get back into running:

I pretty much did not start running again until the first year of my postdoc. At that time, I would commute to and from the lab by riding my fancy road bicycle to work. Unfortunately, the rough NYC streets + a fancy road bike with thin tires do not really mix so I would constantly get flat tires. One day before going to work, I noticed that BOTH of my bike’s tires were flat. Rather than wasting time changing the tires, I decided to run the 3.5 miles to work. Ok, 3.5 miles does not sound like much, but I used to live on Roosevelt Island, which meant running over the Roosevelt Island and 59th Street Bridges. In my mind, those 3.5 miles were like running 5 miles. Over time, I started increasing the distance from 3.5 to 7 miles by adding a loop around Roosevelt Island before running through Long Island City to the Upper East Side.

A few of my labmates were avid runners, who constantly asked me if I considered running a half- or full-marathon. Anytime someone starts running, they are always asked if they plan on running a marathon. Honestly, I did not consider this at all but one of my labmates told me about New York Road Runners’ 9+1 guaranteed marathon entry. For this program, one would get guaranteed entry into an NYC Marathon if they run nine NYRR-sponsored races and volunteer for one. Basically, I was like why not and what do I have to lose.

What a long background; let’s get to the race.

New York Colon Cancer Challenge 15K (2012):

Distance: 15K; Date: April 1, 2021; Pace: 8:38min/mi; Location: Central Park, NY; Overall Place: 1,188 of 3,032; Gender Place: 873 of 1,559

Since I ran this race almost 10 years ago, I do not remember much about it. However looking at my pace, I’m really sad to see how much my running fitness has decreased over the past decade. Then again, I have aged 10 years so I guess that it’s par for the course.

Looking at the finisher stats, I was pretty much on par with running an average pace of the male runners. My finishing time (1:18:36) was about 10 seconds faster than the average. I guess that makes me above average, right? After completing this race, I was hooked on that running life. Honestly, I was so proud of myself because this was the longest distance that I have run since . . . well ever. Following the race, I was like LET’S DO THIS AGAIN, and LET’S SEE IF CAN RUN EVEN FASTER.

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Just checking in

I have to say that there have been a few downs over the past couple of weeks. Nothing too serious - no illnesses, no deaths, no insane fights, etc. It seems that I have lost motivation and general joie de vivre. Perhaps, this is just the Monday blues talking.

Running:

Eh, running (or the lack thereof) has been pretty much a sh*tshow. I think that I just need to start from the basics and build up my running prowess. I pretty much should a running reset and start running as if I'm training for my first 5K and go from there. In my opinion, I think that I have been setting my expectations a bit high and disappointing myself when I do not meet them. While I'm waiting to hear if I am running this year's NYC Marathon, I found a 24-week couch to marathon training plan that I'm going to do. Yes, most may consider 6 months a bit much for training for a marathon, but this plan starts off very easy. Also, the plan is broken up into distinct goals: 5K to 10K; 10K to half marathon; and half marathon to full marathon. Let's see what happens.

Weight loss journey:

HA! See above.

Bouldering:

I have been going strong (at least in my mind) with bouldering by hitting the bouldering gym 2-3 times a week. Unfortunately, I have not been progressing that much in my new sport. Maybe 2021 is just going to be the year where I suck at everything. I think one of my issues is not planning out my routes (or beta) on the wall.

That said, I do have an intro to bouldering technique class on Friday, which hopefully will help out. Also, I think that I need to watch some videos to see how the pros handle those weird grips. Right now, I'm still going back and forth between V0 and V1 walls. Perhaps, I should still to this V -500 wall. ;)

Plans for the week:

-Since I pretty much live and die by Google Calendar for work, I should set up a fitness Google Calendar. As a matter of fact, I can begin populating it with workouts from the couch to marathon training plan.

-Figure out why I have been so 'zestless' lately. Maybe it's because summer is around the corner, and I am nowhere where I want to be physically. Then again, that is 100% my fault . . . no one made me eat crappy takeout during this pandemic. Hey, admitting that you have a problem is the first step.

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Getting into a Groove

For some strange reason, Madonna’s “Into the Groove” has been in my head for the past few days . . . hence the title of today’s entry.

Some new kicks:

I have finally purchased some new running shoes, which was a bit of a struggle. Here’s the shoe story of my life. I went to a local Jack Rabbit store to purchase a pair of kicks. The salesperson was so excited (maybe it was a slow day in the store) to show me all of the new models of shoes from New Balance. After telling him the specifications of my big and wide feet, he pretty much told me that the store had only 3 options for me. From my personal experience, once you go past a size 10.5 (if the place offers half sizes past 10), running shoes options dwindle to about 50%. Then, that percentage goes down even further if you need a wide shoe. In addition to the reduced number of options, the potential running shoes tend to have the most ugly arrangement of colors.

I went with these Brooks Ghost 13 because the other option of shoes was butt ugly.

With this purchase, I feel a bit like a traitor because I have been wearing New Balance running shoes for the past decade. You know, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I took them out for a test run (errrr, drive) on a treadmill, and they seem to be ok. All is not lost because a colleague told me about Joe’s New Balance Outlet (Link: ***), which carries larger-sized running shoes. Also, I was told that they carry wide shoes up to EEEEE.

Running recap:

Even before purchasing my new kicks, I have been running about 3 - 4 times a week. Yay me! It has been a slow climb because I’m pretty much doing Galloway’s Run-Walk-Run method. With this method, I have been mostly alternating between running 400 m (or 800 m) and walking 200 m. Although I’m moving slowly, I do realize that Rome was not built in a day. Also, I am pretty happy that I’m back to running full loops in Central Park (~6mi). Hopefully, in the upcoming weeks, I can transition to more continuous running.

Over the past few months, it has been really hard to jumpstart my motivation for running. Yes, a part of this was due to my lack of interest in running outside during winter. But, I also think my low motivation was caused by not having anything to train for. I have realized that doing virtual challenges does not work for me because there is nothing like an in-person race to really get you into competition mode. While this “competition” is more with myself (or the “stopwatch”), it’s easier to push myself when I have someone running the same race.

The plan is to use the next couple of months to get in some sort of pre-marathon training shape to start training for TCS NYC Marathon. Isn’t so strange that I feel like I have to get into shape BEFORE training for a marathon? While we do not know if NYC’s marathon will happen on the first Sunday in November, it could not hurt to train for it. If this year’s marathon is canceled (again), I do not think that I will be too disappointed. Perhaps, I can settle with running a smaller full or half-marathon if the NYC Marathon is canceled. Let’s see where the next few months will take me.

Getting social:

A while ago, I wrote a post where I discussed how difficult it has been for me to integrate into my two running groups. Over the weekend, I "gave" my LGBTQ+ group another shot and volunteered to participate in the group's cheer zone for folks who were either racing or doing their long run in Central Park. I gotta say that I had a nice time cheering for my fellow runners (I guess technically they would be my teammates). Maybe I will start participating in some of the group's weekly fun runs.

Plans for the week:

-Clean/organize my running drawers. I have two full drawers dedicated to my running clothes, but the drawers are a complete mess. It’s beyond time to toss out the running clothes that I never wear. Oh, I have accumulated so many running clothes because many races give your a technical “finisher” shirt.

-Start executing a sleeping plan. I need to start getting to bed and actually going to sleep earlier so I can start my runs earlier in the morning.

-Plan to run a couple of New York Road Runner or NYCRuns sponsored races in April.

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Is this still a running blog? ;)

It has been such a long absence, which would suggest that I have not been running too much these days. At the beginning of 2021, I had such high hopes of running 2021 miles this year. HA! I will be lucky if I run 202 miles. Although running 2021 miles this year is about 5.5ish miles per day, I should have factored in our cold winters in the northeast when coming up with this plan.  

According to my Run 2021 miles in 2021 challenge (NYCRUNS), I’m at 137.6 miles. However, I’m supposed to be at 396 miles at Day #72. Looks like I have a lot of distance to make up over the next 293 days. Since spring looks like it is here to stay, it is time to get my butt in gear with this running challenge.

I’m not sure of the last time I ran more than 3 miles continuously so I know that it is going to be hard to get back on that running horse. I have a tendency to have an “F it” attitude when it comes to running or getting back into shape. For example:

I’ll start running; realize that I’m not running at the level before a hiatus/injury; get frustrated; go on another hiatus; and the cycle repeats. Going into next week, I’m going to mentally prepare myself for thinking that I will be a complete struggle over the next few months. To prevent frustration this time around, I plan to employ The Galloway Run Walk Run method (Link: ***).

A few principles: continuous muscle use will lead to quicker fatigue; quicker recovery; regulation of core body temperature; run-walk-run is interval training  

Let’s hope that using this method will keep me motivated to drop my pandemic pounds or COVID chunk.

I was a little sadden to see a Facebook Memories post from two years ago.

This picture was taken after I finished the NYC Half Marathon in 2019. Since I was returning from a serious back injury, I was pretty shocked and pleased that I ran the half marathon with a time of 2:11. Although this time was way off from my previous time of 1:45 in 2018, I was still so happy to finish this half marathon in under 2.5 hours. Yay Me. Besides the NYC Marathon, the NYC Half Marathon is one of my favorite NYC-based races. Why? Times Square is closed to automobiles only two times a year: 1) New Year’s Eve (obviously) and 2) the NYC Half Marathon. No wonder this race is $150+ bucks. Actually, I think the race in 2017 was a new course where runners started in Prospect Park (Brooklyn); ran across the Manhattan Bridge; along FDR; through Times Square; and ended in Central Park.  

Speaking of Facebook Memories, it has been a little disheartening to see some of my old posts from last year. More specifically NYC’s Lantern Half Marathon.

Around this time, I was training to run Madrid’s Marathon. I must have been doing a long run hence running an additional 4 miles after the half marathon. I think this was right before in-person races (and everything else) was pretty much shut down. Now, that I’m talking about marathons, I have to see what’s happening with NYC Marathon this year. Also, I need to see when our Iberia Air flight vouchers will expire.  

We’re Gonna Pump You Up

Since I have been neglecting my running goals over the last few months (err year), I figure that I could start lifting weights at my local New York Sports Club [NYSC]. You know, something is better than nothing. Unfortunately, doing this is somewhat problematic because working out in a mask SUCKS. I’ll keep it real and admit that I sweat (a lot), and my mask becomes soaking wet after 15 – 20 minutes of working out. I purchased these “special” masks that are used by athletes, but I guess that my overactive sweat glands were too much for them. I reached out to some folks, the ones who have been posting selfies at the gym, for some recommendations, and it seems like these mask cartridges are the way to go. Fingers crossed.

One other hiccup

My NYSC is probably one of the most raggedy NYSC locations in town. All of the weights and machines look like they are from the 90s (err the 80s). This does not include the fact that most of the cardio machines are constantly “being serviced”. Why are you a member of this gym? You might ask. This particular gym is about equidistant from work and home. There was another (slightly) nicer one closer to my apt, but it shut down during the pandemic.

*Back to my rant.*

Between social distancing and the limited number of equipment (mainly free weights), it’s been tough to do any type of supersets at my NYSC. I think, for now, I will focus on machine weights and not even deal with the free weights section at NYSC. Also, I plan to move my lunch hour from 3 pm to 1 pm so I can work out when there are not as many people around.  

All righty, I guess that’s it for now 

No, wait. My action plan of things to accomplish this week.

-Set up and FOLLOW a sleep schedule.

-Devise a walk-run-walk plan for the week and put it into my calendar.

-Figure out what I’m doing with intermittent fasting. I guess this means setting up and FOLLOWING an eating schedule especially if I’m planning to lift around 1 pm.

-Check out what’s going on with in-person races.

-OH, very important, buy a new pair of running shoes. There’s a hole in one of my shoes.

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