Race Report: 2022 Achilles Hope & Possibility 4M

DATE: June 26, 2022; 8:15 am

DISTANCE: 4 MI

PLACE: Manhattan (Central Park), NY

WEATHER: 78 DEGREES, 64% HUMIDITY, CALM WIND

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: Who cares? / who cares

FINISHERS: 6,715

SWAG: Tech t-shirt

Quick Stats:

Courtesy of NYRR

Summary:

A little deja vu, huh? Yup, in an effort to get as many 9+1 races out of the way before I leave NYC, I "ran" two races over the weekend.

A little information about this race:

“Celebrate disability inclusion at the 20th annual Achilles Hope & Possibility® 4M Presented by TD Bank on Sunday, June 26. By racing, you help support Achilles International’s mission to break down barriers to the start line for athletes with disabilities and empower athletes to cross the finish line. The race leads into July’s Disability Pride Month and the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

— New York Road Runners (NYRR)

I'm gonna say that finishing this race was a bit bittersweet because this was my last NYRR (or NYC race) until NYC Marathon. That is if I can return to NYC to run the marathon in Nov.

The course for the race pretty much was the same as FRNY Pride Run's course that was held on the previous day, so I guess there were no surprises for Sunday. ;)

After Sunday's race, I think that my Apple Watch is on the fritz because once again it did not log my miles until I reached the E90s. Similar to the Pride Run, I decided to jog/walk from a local park in the W 120s to the start line in the E 60s before starting the race.

Don't you hate it when technology fails?

For Achilles Hope & Possibility Run, I did yet another type of interval run similar to the previous day's Pride Run. I did hard sprints for 200 m and jogged/walked as recovery for 400 m. This probably was not a great idea since the race tends to have many runners with disabilities and their assistants. Doing fast sprints near the back of the pack meant having to weave in and out of crowds of runners. Do not get me wrong, I'm not saying that I had a problem with disabled runners in this race especially because this race is supposed to celebrate them. I'm just saying that I probably should have done the hard interval runs during the previous day's race instead.

I gotta say that I was quite surprised that we received medals upon completing the race, which was a nice NYRR going-away gift. Also, it was cool to find out that this race has been around for 20 years.

Also, this race gave me an opportunity to check off another category for The Runchat's scavenger hunt. For this one, I checked off Animals (of any kind!). While I used the cougar sculpture on Cat Hill, the category did not say that the animal had to be a living creature ;)

Not sure if this is snow or snot.

It's nice when the virtual and real world collide.

While running the race, or maybe I was doing a recovery jog at that point, I felt some tap my back and shoulder. It turns out that it was one of my Twitter friends - meaning that we only communicated via Twitter (primarily through The Run Chat). After the race, he found me again, and we chatted for a few minutes.

A little post-race fun:

Since I was a bit in recovery mode from my birthday shenanigans, I decided to have a simple post-race breakfast at a local greasy spoon restaurant. Although I took it easy for my birthday this year, I did have quite a few cocktails, glasses of wine, and pints of beer throughout the day. After my post-race breakfast, I gave my feet some much-needed TLC with a nice soak and decrusting.

Playlist:

The same playlist that I used for the previous day's Pride Run.

Race Report: Front Runners New York LGBT Pride Run 4M (Copy)

DATE: June 25, 2022; 8:30 am (my birthday)

DISTANCE: 4 MI

PLACE: Manhattan (Central Park), NY

WEATHER: 71 DEGREES, 76% HUMIDITY, CALM WIND

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: Who cares? / who cares

FINISHERS: 7,202

SWAG: Tank top, rainbow bagels, rainbow popsicles

Quick Stats:

Courtesy of NYRR

Summary:

Who's got PRIDE? We've got pride. I guess this really is not an actual report, but more of a brief summary.

Another year, another Pride Run 4 mi (it used to be 5 mi) - a race sponsored by NYRR and Front Runners NY (FRNY, one my running groups). This was going to be a simple race just to get back into the flow of things before starting my NYC Marathon training program on Monday.

While the expo was nice and pretty straight to the point, it gave me a chance to check out Industry City, which has been described as a creative workspace where folks can eat, drink, shop, and explore. After I picked up my race stuff, I figured that I would check out all (or most of) what Industry City had to offer.

Overall, I went into the race without any real goals or major accomplishments to achieve since this was my first race since April. My mental state for this race was to run/jog/walk for the sake of having fun. I will say that it did feel nice to kinda-sorta race. In fact, I woke up extra early (y'all know that's rare for me on race days) so I could walk and jog to the start. For the actual race, I cycled between running and walking 0.5 mi.

A couple of things that make you go hmmmmm:

When technology fails

Has this happened to anyone with an Apple watch? For Saturday's race, I decided to do a very easy jog from a local park in my neighborhood to the race's start (about 4 miles). I started my watch at W120 street, but it did not start registering my mileage until E 96th Street. The distance between these two points is about 1.5 miles. I hope that might watch is not on the fritz; I wonder if it means it's time to upgrade to a new Apple Watch. Perhaps, that could be a birthday gift to me.

My LGBT+ running group

Not sure if this is snow or snot.

As part of the FRNY Pride Run tradition, we take a team photo after the race (below).

In addition to the large group photo, the club takes pictures of the smaller subgroups within the club (eg the various subcommittees, gay Asians, gay Latinos, women, non-binary, etc.). So someone asked me if I was going to do the Black gays photo. To which, I was like which Blacks? Is it just going to be me in the photo? I later learned that there were about 8 Black members in the Black team member photo. Before you ask why I was not in that photo, I did not near the president announce our photo because I was on the phone with a couple of folks who were wishing me a happy birthday. Eh next time . . . I guess. While this sounds like a rant, which I do not mean to do. I will say the group has been working on its DEI efforts.

A little post-race fun:

While waiting for the husband to meet me at a local spot for brunch, I treated myself to a refreshing screwmosa (vodka + mimosa).

In terms of birthday celebrations, it was pretty chill . . . just like I wanted it to be. After brunch, we went to a wine bar, watched Jurassic World: Dominion, went to a friend's wedding reception in Brooklyn Park, then had dinner. Oh, we went home and continued my Jaws marathon. Random trivia: Every year around my birthday, I watch Jaws and its sequels. Oh (part II), I was a bit disappointed with Jurassic World, and I hope this is the last one. Also, in this day in age, no action movie needs to be longer than two hours.

Pride Run Playlist:

Race Report: NYCRuns Brooklyn Half Marathon

DATE: APRIL 24, 2022; 7:40 AM

DISTANCE: 13.1 MI

PLACE: BROOKLYN, NY

WEATHER:  55F 

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: ???/???

FINISHERS: ???

SWAG: TECH SHIRT

While this was my worst half marathon performance to date, which was expected, I absolutely LOVED this course.

Race Expo:

Overall, I thought that the expo was pretty nice and easy-breezy even if the expo site was super far for me.

While the expo was nice and pretty straight to the point, it gave me a chance to check out Industry City, which has been described as a creative workspace where folks can eat, drink, shop, and explore. After I picked up my race stuff, I figured that I would check out all (or most of) what Industry City had to offer.

IC was nice and had a variety of shops; but unfortunately, most of the restaurants, bars, and shops were closed during my visit. I thought it was kind of weird because I picked up my race materials around 6:30 pm and figured that more things would be open. I guess most of the shops are open over the weekend when more folks are around.

Prerace:

It’s kinda weird, but it seems as if I did more prerace prep for a half that I did not really care too much about.

Not sure if this is snow or snot.

I carbo-loaded by grabbing a pizza pie at Sottocasa, one of my favorite pizza spots in Harlem. Also, I laid out ALL (very rare) of my race and post-race materials and was in bed by around 1 am. I was faced with a bit of a conflict (as always) to go with or without bag check. From my understanding, 6:40 am on race day was the last point where one could check their bags. However, my wave was going to start at 7:40 am. This meant that I would have to leave my apt in Harlem by 5:30 am (public transportation) or 6:00 am (Uber/cab) to travel to Brooklyn to meet the bag check deadline. Meaning, that I would have had to wake up around 4 am to get ready. In the end, I decided to skip bag check because that meant I could “sleep in” and leave the apt around 7 am to take a cab to the start. Of course, I saw this email after going through my internal conflict.

Half Marathon Time:

Normally, I do these reports by breaking them up into 3-4 segments based on mileage. Since I did not really care too much (performance-wise) about running this half marathon, I’ll just randomly mention some thoughts.

-Why are folks so damn annoying? Unfortunately, we are at a point in our lives where large NYC races have security checkpoints. One of my biggest pet peeves is when folks wait in a line for 10+ minutes and do not have their stuff ready when they get to the front of the line. In this case, the security point required folks to go through metal detectors. Please tell me why folks did not have enough sense to remove some of their metal items (eg smartphones, Garmins/Apple Watches, jewelry, etc) before getting to the front of the line. The same thing annoys me when people do not have their money ready by the time they reach a cashier. Sorry for the rant. Perhaps, I was crabby because I really had to pee and folks’ bullsh*ttery was preventing me from getting to the portapotties after the security checkpoint.

-I absolutely loved this course. I think that I’m going to say that it was my favorite half marathon course in NYC. Why was it my favorite? I really enjoyed running through various sections of Brooklyn, which were accompanied by amazing views of our city.

-While I enjoyed the course, I wonder if I would have enjoyed it as much if I did not do my run-walk-run cycle. During my walking cycles, I had plenty of opportunities to take in the sights of Brooklyn. If I have to walk during a normal half, it’s typically due to an injury or some other struggle so it was a different (and well appreciated) flavor to walk on purpose.

-Even though I did the run-walk-run method, I tried my best to actually run (~8:30 – 9min/mi pace). Although this is not a “normal” way to run a half marathon, I did feel like I was working hard.

-Ugh, I think I am at that age/physical state, where I cannot complete a half marathon without a bathroom break. Well . . . then again, it did take me longer to run this half. Actually, I take this back because I was holding my pee starting around mile 3. Since I started in the last corral of the last wave, the lines for the portapotties along the course were super long. At first, I thought that I could hold my pee, BUT I really had to take a poop. I decided to stop by a Burger King along the course to take a quick poop. Man, when I entered the men’s bathroom it was so filthy that my booty hole was like Naw, we’re good and will hold it until after the race. At least, I got a “cute” Burger King crown. While the bathroom was gross, I gotta give props to the employee who said that I did not need to purchase anything to use the restroom. She probably knew how nasty the bathroom was.

-While the crowds during most of the course were kind of small, there were enough of a crowd not to make you feel like a red-headed stepchild.

-I really liked the race bling. I think this might be the most colorful half marathon medal that I have seen in a long time.

-LOL at brunch. I really did not plan on having a boozy brunch. After learning that one glass of sangria was $11, but the bottomless brunch cocktail special was $20/hr, I figured that going with the bottomless option was a no-brainer.

-Has Uber lost its mind in your neck of the woods? After my brunch, this is how much Uber was trying to charge me to take me from downtown Brooklyn to Harlem. Note: A regular taxi cost about $25 bucks to take me from Harlem to the start area in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Race Report: Gridiron 4M

DATE: FEBRUARY 13, 9:00 AM

DISTANCE: 4 MI

PLACE: CENTRAL PARK, MANHATTAN, NY

WEATHER:  32F 

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: 36:44 MIN / 9:11 MIN/MI

FINISHERS: 4,332

SWAG: LONG-SLEEVED TECH SHIRT

Who’s ready for some football? I will admit that I do not really follow football (or any professional sport for that matter), but this year I need to run 9 races for my guaranteed entry into NYC Marathon 2023 so I figured why not. Actually, I think this was my first time running the Gridiron 4 Mile. Random question: Was this race always in Central Park? I feel like it used to be somewhere in Jersey, but I’m probably wrong.

Clearly, I did not pay attention to any of the weather forecasts for the weekend because I was kind of surprised that it was snowing when I woke up. I almost went with a hard pass because of the snow, but I powered through.

This weekend was pretty weird in terms of weather – Friday with temps in the mid-50s F and Sunday with temps in the 30s F PLUS snow. Since I’m training for a marathon in April, I wanted to combine this race with a 15-mile long run, but that did not happen. Oh well . . . there’s always next weekend. However, I did sandwich the race between a 1.5-mile warm-up and cool down. . . I guess that should count for something.

Random thought: I think NYC is so pretty during the first day of snowfall. Some views to and from the race:

Overall, I really did not know what to expect for this race because I did not set any goals. I guess finishing without slipping on ice and snow was the main goal. That said, I thought NYRR and NYC did a great job clearing the snow and slush from the course before the race. The course pretty much was a mini loop of Central Park, which started and ended right before the biggest Harlem Hill.

Not sure if this is snow or snot.

Unfortunately, I could not really pace myself during the race because my Apple Watch was still set on kilometers from Friday’s sprint workout. Miles 1 and 2 were pretty much a bust because of corral and course congestion. Perhaps, the NYRR races are becoming too large, because I do not remember so much congestion after the first mile. In fact, the race was pretty congested for the entire 4 miles. I guess that comes with the territory of now being a back-of-the-pack runner. Note to self: I really need to work on my speed so I can start these races in a lower corral.

Congestion aside, I thought that I did a decent job in this race and I did feel like I got faster with each mile and was surprised that I still had enough juice to run (well technically jog) about 1.5 miles home after the race.

The combination of racing and polling

Shortly after Mile 2, runners had a chance to choose whom they thought was going to win Superbowl LVI by picking a lane. I went with the LA Rams because the lane was on the inside of the curve. Hey, I do not like running a millimeter more than I have two.

Playlist:

This kid is finally on Spotify, and it took only 5+ years. Since Eurovision is around the corner, I listened to a playlist that contains the songs that have been released so far.

Next Race:

Mar. 6, 2022: NYRR Washington Heights Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K