Wurtsboro, Last 20-miler, Taper Time!

With about a week and a half until the Boston Marathon, I feel like the pre-race jitters have started to kick in.  I find myself in a bit of an emotional roller coaster, thinking, depending on the day, confident, or nervous, or seriously undertrained, or excited, or fearing that I will crash and burn, or hoping to get a certain time, or afraid that I may risk further injury.

The big confidence-destroyer was two weekends ago at the Wurtsboro Mountrain 30k.  As I stated in my last post, this is a really, really tough race, with the first 4.5 miles up a mountain, followed by a steep downhill and difficult rolling hills throughout the race.  Two years ago, I had a great race, and finished in 2:17:08 (7:21 pace).  This time did not go so well.

I knew early on that it wasn't going to be my day.  That first hill is soooo long, and sooooo steep.  Seriously, I can't even put into words how brutal it was.  Peter, IJ and I decided we were going to run together, but just about everyone else seemed to charge up that hill and leave us in the dust.  (There were 13 Front Runners doing the race, including Kevin the "Honorary Front Runner" who races with Urban Athletics.)  At first, I wanted to think, "See you in about 4 miles," thinking they may not be able to all sustain their fast pace up the hill.  But I soon realized that it was me, who, despite running my first two miles at 9 minute pace, would probably have to slow down.  Ugh.

Around mile 4 or 5, Peter, IJ and I started to spread apart a little, with Peter up front, then me, then IJ.  For a while, I tried to keep Peter in my sight.  Mile 4 was particularly difficult, though.  Having studied the course elevation chart, I had thought that after mile 4, it would be smooth sailing.  But no, the hill keeps climbing for about another half mile.  And then, there's this steep, steep downhill, which some people were racing down, but I had to take easy because I was afraid that the pounding would affect my butt condition.  I was relieved, though, when I got to this part of the race, as several of the other runners around me were cheering the fact that the hills were over.  But no!  As we turned the friggin corner there was another friggin hill.

To make matters worse, it was about at this point that I realized I didn't dress properly for the weather conditions.  Being in the mountains, and being about 90 minutes north of NYC, the race started out around 30 degrees, but was forecasted to get to around 40.  I decided to wear shorts and my long sleeve FR jersey, with gloves and a headband.  Because running shorts have the built-in liner, there's no reason ever to wear underwear with them.  Well, that is, unless you're doing a long run and it's 30 degrees out.  In that case, failing to wear underwear means running into the bitter cold with nothing to protect the goods from the elements except skimpy running shorts with their even skimpier liner (which are meant to breathe, not retain body heat).  I didn't know what to do...  I still had to do like 12 more miles but my nuts were literally about to freeze off.  For a second, I pondered whether there was anything I could use to improvise some underwear...leaves, cups at the water station...whatever.  Then I realized that I had my headband, and decided it would be better for my ears to freeze off than for the other alternative, so I stuffed my headband into my shorts.  Ahhhh....  about a mile later, I was was so nice and toasty down there.

By this time, IJ had caught up to me.  I was happy to see him because I had already decided that this was just going to be a fun run for me, and it was nice to have the company.  We ended up spending the rest of the race running together while chatting and gossiping.  I was happy to get my mind off of the fact that we were running 8:30 miles.  Around mile 14, we were joined by Geraldine, a 40-something runner from Ireland but living in Jersey.  She was really giddy and proud of herself for running with two younger men who both qualified for Boston.  She was actually running pretty strong--a lot stronger than we were--and ended up pulling us with her for the last four miles.  But when IJ and I saw the finish line, we couldn't resist; both both ended up kicking hard, outsprinting Geraldine in the last half mile.  I felt kind of bad, since if it weren't for her, I would have been a few minutes slower.  But, it is a race, haha, and we had to do what we had to do to beat her.  :-)

So in the end, my time was 2:38:40 (8:30 pace), more than twenty minutes slower than my first time.  But I had a ton of fun, and am looking forward to doing the race again next year.  Congrats to all of the other FRs who made it out to Wurtsboro who had a great race as well: Michael W. (4th overall!), Chris (2nd age), Matt (1st age), Rachel (3rd age), Tim, Steve, Mikey B., Kenyon, Peter, IJ, and Michael O.  Sorry you overslept and missed everything, Jeff.  Special thanks to IJ for running with me, and to Mikey B. and Steve for joining me on the extra 1.36 miles to make it an even 20.

One final note: not that I'm making excuses, but I think part of the reason for the difficulty the race was the fact that the night before was Koach Kelsey's birthday party.  As I mentioned here, Kelsey works for Harlem United, so the party was held in their offices.  They put out quite a big spread for us, including four different kinds of wine, all of which I had to have a glass (or two) of.  And then, after the party, I went out with some of the bigger lushes in the club (I'm not naming any names, but you guys know who you are).  A drinking game was involved.  I got home after 2.  Chris gave me my wakeup call at 4:45.  I was not feeling like running 20 miles...  After the race, I vowed that for my next and final long run, there would be no drinking the night before.

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The next morning, I decided to go on a recovery bike ride.  For the longest time, I had been wanting to go out to Nyack to the famed Runcible Spoon Bakery, which I've always heard was a haven for bikers.  From my apartment, it's exactly 60 miles round trip.  This is more than I've ever biked in a single day in my entire life.  But I figured it wouldn't be too bad if I just went at an easy pace and enjoyed the scenery.  I roughly followed the Fast & Fab cue sheet (see the map here), which just stays on Route 9W from the GW Bridge to Piermont, NJ, then goes on a scenic route along the Hudson River for the last four miles.  It was a very pleasant ride.  The first two or three miles off of the GW Bridge can be a little scary, though.  But most of 9W has a nice shoulder (and plenty of signs that tell drivers to watch for bikers).  The end of 9W is a bit hilly, but it's mostly downhill so I didn't mind too much.

I was starving when I got to the Runcible Spoon, and so excited that I made it.  It really is a perfect spot for bikers.  They have bike racks right in front of the window, so there's no need to even lock up your bike.  Inside, there's a bunch of other bikers, most of whom I'm guessing made the trek from Manhattan.  It's the only bakery I've ever been to that sells Clif Shots.  I had a very delectable turkey club, latte, and a raspberry rugelach and shortbread cookie for dessert.

Once again, I failed to dress properly for the weather.  It was in the 50s that day, but I didn't really understand that what you can wear in the 50s while running doesn't really work for biking.  Plus, it started drizzling towards the end of my ride out to Nyack.  I was a little concerned.  Luckily, the pharmacy in Nyack had some gardening gloves which I used cover my fingerless biking gloves.  And the rain didn't really get any worse than a moderate drizzle.

The ride back was a little bit more complicated.  In order to avoid the hills of 9W, the Fast & Fab cue sheet took me to Route 340 and a bunch of local streets that wound through the towns of Rockleigh, Demarast, Cresskill, Tenafly Englewood and Englewood Cliffs.  There are a lot of ugly, expensive-looking mansions in Englewood Cliffs.  

After 60 miles, it was good to be back home.  By the time I made it, I was wet, cold and exhausted, but I was so happy that I made it.  I can't wait for my next trip out there.

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So after my two dismal twenty milers this season (Wurtsboro and this one) I was determined to not make my last long run before Boston suck.  Mikey, Matt and I decided to go on a 20-miler Sunday, the day after the Scotland Run 10k.  I purposely didn't push myself very hard for the Scotland Run because I felt it was more important to have a successful last long run going into Boston than to have a somewhat faster 10k.  And Saturday night, I was home by 11 and only had 2 beers (well, 3 if you count the 34 ounce Asahi as 2...).

Our run took us from Rutgers, up the Westside Highway, into Inwood (the Northernmost tip of Manhattan), across the Broadway Bridge into the Bronx, and up to the Tortoise and Hare Statue in Van Cortandt Park, then back the same way but stopping at 94th Street.  I have to say, I felt pretty good during this run.  Mikey and Matt both commented that I was pushing the pace a little bit.  Of course, I didn't just run a 39:38 10k like Matt did.  But I did feel like I had it in me to run faster and longer.  This was just the run that I needed to get me psyched up for the marathon.  Thanks, Mike and Matt!  Now...  it's taper time!

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After more than two months of trying to cook dinner in my living room, my kitchen renovation is finally (mostly) done.  All that's left is touching up the paint in some places, and other minor odds and ends.  I'm generally very pleased with how it turned out.  And I figured I saved at least 50-60% by doing most of the work myself (with some friends).  And so far, no pipes have burst, and I haven't gotten electrocuted or had a gas explosion.  Here are some pics:

For the inaugural use of my oven, I made some barbecued chicken.  I seared it first in my cast-iron skillet, and then finished it off in the oven.  I cheated, and used sauce from a bottle.  But I'm not gonna lie, it was very tasty.  I served it with some beans and brown rice, and some zucchini and squash sautéed with just salt and pepper.  Ahhh....it's good to be able to cook again!