Coogan's, Club Night, Neeps and Tatties

I had a busy but good week this past week!

The biggest running news of the week was that I ran the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K in Washington Heights on Sunday.  It's the first club points race of the year, and it's always one of the more popular races of the year.  I had been looking forward to this race for quite some time, mainly because it was my chance to get a fast pace in a short race so I could keep my blue starting bib.  My current bib time of 6:13 is from a 5K I ran in Prospect Park two years ago in a race that doesn't even exist anymore, and that time should have expired long ago.

Because the race was on Sunday, I decided not to do my long run of the week on Saturday, but to do it on Friday instead.  It was a 20-miler that I ran with Patrick and Paul, and it was a lot tougher than I expected it to be.  I'm pretty sure we were going well under a 7:45 pace, whereas usually my long runs are around 8-minute miles.  The last three miles I was struggling quite a bit, and ended up finishing about a minute after Paul and Patrick.  In my defense, though, I was the only one racing Coogan's on Sunday, so maybe I was holding back a little.

Coogan's 5K Elevation Profile

Anyways, fast forward to Sunday, my legs were still a bit sore when I woke up.  (On Saturday, I could barely walk, and ended up doing a slllooooowwww 3-mile jog at the fun run.)  So I didn't know if this was going to be a good race or not.  To top it off, it was a little drizzly the whole race, and I was concerned that the wet ground would slow me down.  Nonetheless, I stuck with the two goals I had for the race: an "A" goal of sub 6:20 miles, and a "B" goal of sub-20 minutes for the race (6:26 pace).

The start was very crowded.  It took about a quarter mile just to be able to have some space around me.  Then I realized that Mikey was running right next to me.  He had mentioned earlier that he had a goal of sub-20 minutes for the race too, so I decided to stick with him.  My first mile was 6:26.  So, exactly on pace for a 20-minute race, but probably off my "A" goal, considering I hadn't even gotten to the big climb yet.

On the downhill part of the second mile, I ended up passing Mikey.  I knew my lead wasn't goin to last, though, since having done a million hill workouts with Mikey, I know that he's much stronger than me on the uphills.  And sure enough, a half mile later, after the turnaround as we were going back up the hill, he passed me back.  He actually opened up quite a big lead, too.  So much so that I didn't know if I should just let him go or try to reel him back in.  Mile 2 was 6:31.  Ugh.  There goes my "A" goal and possibly also my "B" goal...

On the cab ride up to Washington Heights that morning, Kelsey told me that this race was made or broken in the last mile.  If you saved your legs a bit for mile 2, you would have it in you for a good strong kick to finish the last, mostly downhill, mile 3.  So as I got over the last hump of mile three, I kicked it up a bit, and tried to charge down that hill.  I kept telling myself that it was just 3-4 laps around the track left.  Mile 3: 6:27.  WTF?!?!  I was so pissed.  It looked like I wasn't even going to make 20 minutes.  So in the last tenth of a mile, I booked it so friggin fast, pumping my arms as hard as I could, widening my stride, leaning forward, trying to get to the finish line.  And then I saw...  19:57!!!  I just made it by 3 seconds!  And my last 0.1 mile was in 33 seconds (5:30 pace).

BTW, I beat 1293, just in case you're wondering.

Whew!  What a relief.  It was a great feeling to reach my goal.  After almost 20 minutes of slowly seeing my goal almost escape my grasp, I was able to pull it back in in the last half mile or so and accomplish what I had set out to do.  I felt really good.  Of course, it would have been better if I had broken 6:20 pace, but I'll save that for my next 5K.  At this point, I'm thrilled with my 19:57.

One reason Coogan's is such a popular race for the Front Runners is that every year, Patrick and Johnny host a fabulous post-race brunch at their apartment not far from the finish line.  They always put out quite a beautiful and tasty spread for us, which this year included various kinds of quiche, deviled eggs, and a delicious homemade potato salad.  Here's a sampling of the great food:

*                                      *                                     *

And later that afternoon, it was another Computrainer session.  Only, this one was MUCH much different from before.  Out of seven bikers, I came in THIRD place!!!  Woohooo, it looks like I'm getting better!!!

*                                      *                                    *

Last Thursday, I attended the Annual New York Road Runners Club Night, an evening that honors the achievements of the city's various running clubs.  I'm very proud to report that Front Runners New York was one of the clubs nominated for the first ever Team Spirit Award!!!  It's such an honor to be recognized among the NYC running community, because I know first hand that FRNY really does have the best team spirit out there.  It's always amazing to me that we can regularly get 100+ runners out to a race, and have dozens of other members on the course cheering or volunteering.  As a runner, every time I see another Front Runner, I get a boost of energy that helps propel me to the finish line.  And as someone who also cheers for our runners, I'm so happy to show my teammates and the NYC running community how much Front Runners rock.  While we didn't win the award this year (that honor went to the North Brooklyn Runners), we all knew that the love we all had for our club, and the pride that we have as members of FRNY, is just unparalleled anywhere else.  Yayyy Front Runners!

Oh, here's a picture of me and Ginnie, the Age Group winner for the women's 75-79 category.  For a number of reasons, she's somewhat of a legend in the NYC running community.  She so graciously agreed to pose for a picture with me.  What a gal!

*                                      *                                    *

I want to report a very successful track workout the other day.  We did 5 x mile repeats.  Here are my times:

1.  6:28

2.  6:18

3.  6:08

4:  6:12 (ok, this one could have been a bit faster, but I started my kick a little too late).

And then, after having already done four solid mile repeats, I decided to try to stick with the front group in my last mile -- Steve, Kevin and Andrew.  My first few laps were 45 seconds on the dot.  I started wondering if it was a bad idea to start out so fast.  My first 800 was 3 minutes exactly.  I didn't know if I could keep that pace up, but I pushed through.  After 1200, I was at 4:28...  Only two more laps to go, and I was under a six minute pace!  Chris, the timekeeper, was yelling at me, encouraging me to go for it.  I could tell people on the side were watching me, seeing me almost keep pace with Andrew (who had been running a lot faster than me all night).  At that point, I knew I had to go for it.  Those last two laps were HARD . . . the straightaways seemed to go on forever!  And at 5:12 for my 1400, with just one lap to go, I knew I was gonna do it, even if I slowed down.  But I didn't let myself cruise.  Instead, I picked it up, focused myself hard, and ran as fast as I could.  And there we had it: 5:55 for the finish!!!  My fastest mile in a track workout!  My first time running under 6 minutes in a workout.  It was so cool!  What an awesome feeling!

I feel like I'm really making some progress now.  I have to say, after a year and a half of being injured, and running disappointing races, and being afraid to push myself, I feel like I'm starting to get my running legs back.  This is coming at a great time for me, being less than six weeks away from running the Boston Marathon.  I'm getting really excited about the marathon, and I'm starting to think that I can have a really successful run.  This past year and a half have been quite difficult for me, as I saw myself steadily losing both speed and endurance.  But as I start to enter my peak training weeks for Boston, I'm thinking that it's really good to be back.

*                                      *                                    *

One last note.  A few weeks back, Dan and Dave invited some of us runners out to a Scottish Burns Night dinner, a night to celebrate Scottish food and heritage, and to commemorate the great Scottish poet Robert Burns.  I ate, for the first time in my life, traditional Scottish Haggis, which is a dish containing sheep's "pluck" (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.  It was, uh, interesting.  Much more to my liking were the "neeps and tatties," or mashed turnips and potatoes, and a beef and mushroom pastry.

The best part of the night, though, was being able to play dress up and enjoy some fun Scottish dancing!

Front Runner of the Year!!!

I have some really, really big news to report.  This past Saturday was the Annual Front Runners New York Awards Night -- the one big night of the year when we recognize all of the great running the club has done, all the the members' achievements, and everyone's huge successes.  I'm so honored, and so, so happy to report that the club awarded me with Front Runner of the Year!!!  

I couldn't believe it...I really didn't expect it at all.  But I am so proud to be able to represent FRNY in this really meaningful way.  So THANK YOU, to all of the Front Runners out there, who have all contributed to making the club my home.  It's through the club that I started running five years ago.  And it is because of the club that I've not only grown to love the sport, but have come to find a real family.  You're the people who I train and race with, but more importantly, you're one who  I share the best times of my life with.  You inspire me, you make me proud, you make me happy, and you make me who I am.

Congratulations to the other nominees for Front Runner of the Year: John, Rachel K, Bernie, and Darin.  You guys are amazing, both terrific athletes and wonderful people.  You're all part of the reason why I love this club so much.  Thank you for being you.

This award means especially much to me this year, as I'm beginning my tenure on the Front Runners Board as Men's Vice President.  I'm excited about the opportunity to help lead the club to great things this year, and I'm really happy to be serving on the Board with the great people below.  2011 is going to be an awesome year.  :-)

*                               *                                 *

The day after Awards Night, I joined seven other Front Runners at Ride Brooklyn for my first group Computrainer session.  For those of you unfamiliar with Computrainers, it's basically like a course simulator.  You hook up your own bike (in this case, I got to use my brand new Cervelo trike) to a trainer, which is hooked up to a computer system.  The trainer applies more or less resistance on your back tire depending on where you are in a particular course.  So it tightens automatically if you're going up a steep hills, and lets off the tension if you're going downhill.  In a group Computrainer session, everyone watches the screen which shows the course's elevation profile, where they are on the course compared to the other bikers, and various metrics like the rider's MPH, % incline, watts expended and so forth.

With the utmost in love and admiration of Rachel, who organized and promoted the group Computrainer sessions, I absolutely hated the experience.  I was miserable, miserable, miserable.  And not only that, I felt  utterly humiliated.  And frustrated.  It was just really bad.

I hated not being able to adjust the resistance on my own.  Instead, every few miles there was a crazy 6% incline that lasted for miles and miles.  And you're stuck with it.  You just have to pedal until the damn thing is over.  And the slower you pedal, the longer it takes.  It's just miserable.  And I don't know if my trainer was mis-calibrated or what, but it put SO MUCH resistance on my tire every time I went up a hill...I've ridden up plenty of hills before and none them were as hard as the ones the Computrainer had us do.  (Incidentally, the course that we were riding was supposed to be the bike course from the Coeur d'Alene Triathlon in Idaho.  That's one race that I'm NEVER going to do).

Worse yet was the fact that you just can't hide.  The whole time, everyone is staring at a screen like the one below that tells them exactly where they are in relation to the other bikers.

So basically, everyone saw that I was in last place.  And not only that, but I just got further and further and further behind.  I wasn't even close to the 7th place person.  Now, I know it's not a competition, and we're all among friends, and no one really cares about how slow you are... but it's so depressing when everyone in the room kicks your ass on the bike.  By the time Dan finished the 25 mile course, I was still on mile 16, and I had pretty much had enough.  I went to the bathroom just so I could get a few minutes off that damn bike.  It was just so, so, so brutal.

I paid for six sessions on the Computrainer.  And at the end of the first session, I was all but certain that I was going to sell my other five sessions to someone else.  But now, after having a few days to think about it, I've decided to stick it through all six sessions.  I can't even explain how miserable and humiliating the experience was.  But I have to admit, it was probably the best bike workout I've ever had.  Never before have I pushed myself quite so hard.  Even if it takes the fear of public humiliation to get me moving, it did get me through those 6% inclines.  But probably the thing I enjoyed the most about the workout was being able to train with a group of people who are awesome, who push me to do my best, and who are among my best friends.  It was great sitting next to Rachel, who helped me trudge up those unrelenting hills.  And Peter, Mike and Kyle have all seen me at my worst before too, when we spent a loooong 200 miles together this past year at Reach the Beach.  I know I would never be able to do anything like this on my own.  So I'm going to stick with it, and hopefully, in due course, I will learn to love it, or at least get a little better at it and not hate it so much.

*                               *                                 *

Here's a picture of the Lane 3 Boys at a recent Monday night swim workout.  What a group of hotties.  :-)  Come swim with us at the Long Island City YMCA on Monday nights!

*                               *                                 *

I briefly mentioned before in my bitter melon post that I'm part of a potluck group.  We get together about once a month and each bring a dish based on one or two theme ingredients.  Last month, it was gourds (hence, the bitter melon).  This month, it was legumes.  I decided to make one of my favorite dishes, dry-fried Chinese long beans.  Dry-frying the long beans -- sauteing them in a pan with nothing but some oil -- preserves the slightly leathery texture of the beans that distinguishes them from traditional green beans.  Some restaurants cheat by deep-frying them, but then you just end up with greasy beans.  The recipe is below.

Dry-Fried Chinese Long Beans

Ingredients:

(All measurements are approximate and can be adjusted according to taste.)

2 pounds long beans, cut into 3" lengths (can be substituted with green beans, but it's not quite the same)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2" piece of ginger, minced

6-8 cloves garlic, minced

2 scallions, minced

1 tablespoon chili-bean paste (made with fermented soy beans and chili peppers, available in Asian markets and pronounced "la dou ban jian" in Chinese)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dried chili pepper flakes

ground white pepper

ground Sichuan peppercorns

salt

In a wok or other big pot, heat on high until smoking.  Add vegetable oil and heat until really hot.  Add long beans and stir-fry for 4-6 minutes, until skins start to pucker.  Add half of the minced ginger/garlic/scallion and continue stir-frying for 2 more minutes.  Turn heat to medium, and add remaining ginger/garlic scallion and all other ingredients except salt.  If pan is dry, add a couple of tablespoons of water (or, better yet, rice wine).  Cover and cook for 4-6 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender.  Adjust seasoning and add salt if desired.

November... Indian-Chinese, Cheering, Biking and Beef Parts

Sorry for a long post!  This has been a busy month with running and eating!

Right before Thanksgiving, the FRNY Multisport Mondays group got dinner after our swim workout.  Aneesh suggested we go to Tangra Asian Fusion in Sunnyside, Queens.  I'm generally not a huge fan of Asian fusion, since I think it usually take the most overdone aspects of Americanized Asian cuisines and combines it to make dishes that are completely boring and lacking of an personality.  But Tangra was different.  First of all, it was an Indian-Chinese place, which I've never been to before. The restaurant boasted of taking Chinese dishes and cooking techniques, and preparing them in the style (and with the spices) of Indian food.

But what made me really appreciate the food at Tangra was that it wasn't the sort of "Asian Fusion" that's invented by a chef or restaurateur because it's the trendy cuisine of the time, like all those places in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen that make a better lycheetini than a tom yum soup.  No, at Tangra, you got the sense that the cuisine was made out of necessity, by generations of ethnic Chinese expats who found themselves in the ghettos of Calcutta or Delhi, forced to recreate their favorite dishes with unfamiliar ingredients.  There were spices like cardamom, coriander and turmeric, rarely used in Chinese food, that worked very well in our dishes.  Overall, it was a very tasty dinner.  I'm hoping the Multisport Monday group makes these dinner outings a regular thing (are you reading this, Rachel?).

Derek playing with his food.

They brought out a big flaming ice cream platter for Philip's birthday! (It wasn't really his birthday, though)

*                          *                            *

I spent a busy weekend in November cheering on Front Runners in various races.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving was the NYRR Knickerbocker 60k.  Yes, that's right, 60k.  Or 37.2 miles.  Or nine times around the middle four-mile loop of Central Park.  Seven Front Runners were crazy enough to run that race. This was Anthony's first Ultra, and I decided to help pace him during one of his loops.  I got him on his 8th loop, so by that time, he had already run about 28 miles.  He was in amazing spirits when I ran with him, and was even doing quite a bit of talking as I ran with him.

Anthony finished in 6:08:09, which is a 9:53 pace.  Personally, I think it's a little nuts to want to run for six hours straight.  But it's just amazing to me to see how much Anthony has really progressed as a runner over the past two years since he joined FRNY, and how he was able to set a goal of doing an Ultra and finishing it.  Congratulations, Anthony!!!

Here's a picture right after Anthony's 8th loop, as I handed him off to Kelsey to finish off the race.

Later that day, Kelsey, Jonathan (who had just done the 60k!) and I took a Chinatown bus to Philly, to cheer for the Front Runners running the Philadelphia Marathon (and to hit some gaybars).  Ten Front Runners went down to run the race, a few more did the half, and even more joined as part of Cheer Force One!

Ray K had an awesome sign.  People were cracking up as they ran by:

We had an ambitious plan to see the runners at four different spots along the course, miles 1.5, 5, 16 and 23. We actually were able to hit all four spots in time to see the runners go by (Although my original plan of jogging the four miles from mile 5 to mile 16 was replaced with taking a taxi.  It was much warmer and faster.)

One of the highlights of the marathon was seeing Ryan run a fabulous race.  After being sidelined with a heel spur for much of 2010, Ryan came back, stronger than ever, to run a 3:15:48, qualifying for Boston with 11 seconds to spare. Way to go, Ryan!

Bernie ran a great race too.  Here's team Cheer Force One celebrating her PR and BQ time of 4:00:38.  Awesome!

Afterwards, Cheer Force One celebrated in true Front Runners fashion by having a boozy brunch.  We went to Mixto, a Cuban place in the heart of Philly's Gayborhood.  I couldn't resist the "Bacon Bloody Mary," which was made with bacon-infused vodka and garnished with a slice of crispy bacon.  It was really good.  And potent.  :-)

*                              *                               *

For Thanksgiving, I went to see my parents who live in San Jose, California.  While there, my older brother and I embarked on what is now a family Thanksgiving tradition--we made the trek up Mount Hamilton, which is the highest mountain overlooking Silicon Valley. The 19-mile road to the top rises over 4,000 feet.  I honestly can't describe how brutal this ride was.  I pretty much had enough after the first couple of miles.

Here we are about halfway up.  You can see the Lick Observatory, at the summit, waaaayyyy behind me.

I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say it took us about two and a half hours to reach the top.  So, like, 8 miles per hour average.  I can run faster than that!  The good thing is, I think we beat last year's time by almost an hour!  So maybe I'm getting better on the bike after all.

When we reached the top, there was snow on the ground and it was freezing!  But we got a good picture and were very happy to rest our legs a bit.

Going down the mountain was not as simple as just letting gravity bring us down.  There are two dips along the route, for about a mile or so each, where you have to go back uphill.  When I reached the first dip, my quads just completely gave out.  I had nothing left to give.  I had to get off the bike, and my quads were throbbing.  That's never happened to me before...they pretty much completely seized up.  I stood there for a few minutes, massaging them and trying to warm them up.  (I think it was a combination of the intense hill climbing, followed by the freezing cold descent that caused it.)  For the rest of the descent, I was in agony.  Even when I was just going down, I could barely muster up the strength to spin the pedals.  I had to stop another time to massage my quads.  It was pretty rough.

In the end, we finally made it up and down the mountain.  I was so glad it was over.  And I was ready to tackle some turkey.

*                      *                         *

I mentioned before that my parents have a persimmon tree in their backyard.  When I came back to NYC from California, my carry-on bag weighed about fifty pounds, since my mom insisted I fill it up with persimmons.  If anyone wants some, I have about a million still left in my fridge.

*                      *                         *

This past Sunday was the Joe Kleinerman 10k, a club points race.  The night before, I carbo-loaded / went drinking at Ralph's Italian Restaurant in Hell's Kitchen.  Ralph's is a kind of nondescript neighborhood Italian place, not one of my favorites, but Dane love it since he lives around the corner.  One thing I don't like is that their menu doesn't include my favorite pasta dish--linguine with frutti di mare.  But on this day they had a special: a linguine with frutti di mare that included a half a lobster AND came with fra diavolo sauce.  OMG so perfect!  It totally made my night.  :-)

The next morning, I could feel the glasses of wine that I had the night before.  I could tell when I woke up that it wasn't going to be a good race.

And in fact, it wasn't.  I probably ran faster on Saturday's fun run.  Oh well, whatever.  Maybe next year will mark my return to racing competitively.

Waaayyy underdressed for the 30 degree race!

*                              *                                *

I'm kind of surprised that I've never posted a blog entry about my tasty homemade Chinese beef noodle soup.  It's one of my favorite things to cook, and it's my absolute favorite comfort food.  So I was excited that Mike Terry came over Sunday evening, which was one of the coldest days so far this year, because it meant I could make a nice big pot of "niu rou mian." (牛肉麵).

The meal started off with a trip to the Deluxe Food Market, my favorite Chinatown butcher, where I got all the tasty cuts of beef that I like.  First is beef brisket.  They call it "beef frank" at Deluxe food, which I don't really understand.  In Chinese food, the whole point of the brisket is not the meat itself, but the layer of gristle / silverskin that's attached to the underside of it.  You have to cook it for a long time in order to get it tender enough to be edible, but it has a fun, chewy texture to it.

Beef shank / shin meat is also a very gristley cut of beef.  But here, the gristle is marbled throughout, like the fat in a filet mignon, so that each bite is combination of tender and chewy.  Yummmm.  

Beef tendon is one of my favorites.  It's tough and rubbery if undercooked, but if you let it simmer for a few hours, it practically dissolves in your mouth, leaving a wonderful, gelatinous, meaty taste in your mouth.

Last was the tripe.  Cows have four stomachs, but the second and third one are the ones I think people usually eat.  The second one, called the "reticulum," is where honeycomb tripe comes from.  The third one, which I prefer, is called the "omasum" but is known euphemistically in Chinese as "100 leaves," since the many layers make it look like the pages of a book.  The thing with tripe is that before you cook it, you should boil it for a long time, a couple of times in order to get the stinkyness out.  After all, that's where all the digested food hangs out until it's ready to be...eliminated by the cow.  But once you get the smell out, it tastes really good.

100 leaves tripe, next to the "pork uterus," which I have never eaten.

To make the meat, I just simmered everything in a big pot for about two and a half hours.  In the pot was water, lots of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, brown sugar, Chinese five spice powder (which is a combination of star anise, cinnamon, cloves, Sichuan peppercorn, and fennel seeds), whole star anise, dried orange peels, some sweet bean paste, and scallion, ginger and garlic.  

Two and a half hours later, I cut up the meat, put it on some noodles with some of the braising soup, added some blanched baby Chinese broccoli shoots, chopped scallions and cilantro, and spicy bean paste.  Mmmmmmm....  the perfect way to warm up on a cold winter night.

FRNY Track Meet, NYC Half, and a Long Bike Ride

Lots of running this past weekend.  Friday was the 11th Annual Front Runners New York Track Meet, held at the Armory.  I've always enjoyed the FRNY Track Meet because it brings together a bunch of gay runners with some serious, really, really fast non-gay track athletes who otherwise wouldn't ever run together.  It's also one of the few times I ever get to actually race on the track.  I was disappointed last year when the club canceled the meet (I think due to low membership turnout in past meets, but I was always impressed by the number of FRs who were willing to race on the unfamiliar territory of the track).  But this year was by far the best meet yet for FRNY.  We had around 50 FRs compete, and probably 100 or so non-FRs.  It was a great event, with gift certificates to Urban Athletics as prizes, medals to all age group winners, and lots of fun relays.

Because fast running aggravates my butt condition more than anything else, I was mostly just a spectator, except for one event.  Anthony, Da, Tsing and I (four of the club "gaysians"...aptly named Team Joy Luck Club!) did the "Distance Medley Relay."  I had never even heard of a DMR before, but it's a fun event, consisting of four legs of varying distances (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m).  I was assigned to do the 1200.  I hated the fact that the 1200 was first, because I was planning to take it easy, and it would mean that everyone would see that I was last, haha.  (I can be insecure like that.)  Things turned even worse when, lining up for the start, I realized that Dane was also doing the 1200 for his team.  I KNEW Dane would never let me hear the end of it if he beat me in the 1200, so I was forced to make a decision...turn this into a real "race" and end up further aggravating my butt (and possibly jeopardizing my performance in the NYC Half-Marathon less than 36 hours later), or face Dane's ridicule and taunting.  The choice was clear.

When the gun started, the faster people in the heat (Kelsey, Peter Macari, Chris Stoia) took off and were quickly way up front.  Then it was Dane and me.  I decided to tuck in right behind him and let him set the pace.  I knew if I were leading, I'd want to pace off the fast group, and there was no way I'd be able to sustain that for 1200m.  So for four laps, I stayed one foot behind Dane, giving him the job of dictating how fast we were going and cutting through the stale Armory air.  I felt like I could go a little faster, but I was happy to hang back, for a while.  I could tell I was psyching him out a little bit because in that fourth lap, he looked back twice to see if I was still behind him.

On the fifth lap, I decided to make my move.  Starting on the straightaway on the far side of the track (where there was a nice audience of other FRs watching, haha), I moved over to the outside lane and kicked it up a gear.  Dane groaned when I passed him, and I knew he didn't have enough gas to keep up.  Even so, I ran that last lap and a half as hard as I could, not giving him any opportunity to breach the gap.  I never looked back, and I ended up beating him by a comfortable margin (sorry, Dane!).  Stupidly, I forgot to stop my watch as I handed off the baton to Tsing, but I think I did the 1200 in about 4:08 or so.  I was very pleased.

After that run, though, I was completely wiped out.  My butt was aching, and I couldn't stop coughing because the air in the Armory is just so nasty.  Funny how 3/4 of a mile could be so physically draining.

I did end up doing one more event that night, but it was more of a fun run.  Because the half-marathon was on Sunday, Koach Kelsey had a special run at the end of all the normal track events.  For this one run, the clocks were turned off and we had to take off our watches.  We were all supposed to predict our pace (could be anything but most people picked their half-marathon goal pace) and the person who ran a mile closest to that pace was the winner.  I picked 7:15, although that was a little faster than what I expected to do in the half.

This was hard!  A 7:15 pace meant 54-55 second 200s, which is slower than anything I've ever run on the track before.  When we started, I just started running at a comfortable pace, having no idea whether I was going anywhere near 7:15.  Eventually, I knew I was going too fast, but it was so hard to get myself to slow down once I had settled on the pace I was going.  I did cheat a little, too...  I was about to pass Josh (who was not going anywhere near his half-marathon pace) when he whispered to me that he trying to run a 6:57.  That made me slow down dramatically.

In the end, though, I was still way off my goal pace, finishing the mile in 6:51.  I've never run a half that fast in my life!  (Although I'd love to, and be able to finally break 1:30.)  29 seconds off of my goal.  I had mixed emotions...  I was way off my goal pace, but at least I felt good doing it, and it reminded me that in the real half, I'd have to start off much, much slower.

                                                      *                          *                        *

Sunday morning was the New York City Half.  It started at 7:35, on E. 95th Street.  I overslept, and woke up at 6:55, on W. 14th Street.  My first reaction was: "SHIIIIIIIIIT!!!"

My second reaction was to throw on my race clothes (which, luckily, I had organized on the floor before I went to bed) and run out the door.  No breakfast, no usual pre-race bathroom routine.  I was so, so annoyed.

I ran across 14th Street to 7th Avenue to get a taxi.  There were no taxis around.  So I ran to 6th Avenue.  Still no taxis.  5th Avenue, no taxis.  But I did see this girl in her racing outfit and approached her, hoping to split the next taxi or gypsy cab that came by.  She told me that her mom was on her way to pick her up and bring her to the start.  Less than a minute later, her mom pulls up, and I get in the car.  I think her mom was a little confused, but she was really nice, and we had a very smooth and fast ride up to E. 97th Street.  I still had my bag to check, so I ran up to the late baggage van, all the way up at 102nd Street, and back down to the blue corral at 95th Street.  Fortunately, they let me into the corral without a problem, and I was there, all warmed up, at 7:33, with two minutes to spare.

I was so relieved that actually made it to the start on time that it almost didn't even matter to me how I did in the race.  And, I just knew that sometime during the race, I would have to make a bathroom stop since I didn't get to go in the morning (and Dane and I had a big carby dinner at Cola's the night before).  This might be too much detail, but I almost went to the porta-potty at around mile 6, but at the last second decided to wait one more mile, but then quickly regretted not going, but then the feeling went away and I didn't have to go for the rest of the race.  Ah, the unpredictability of a runner's GI system.

As for the race itself, I pretty much stuck to the plan I outlined in my last post, meaning I did about 7:30s in the park, and ramped it up once I got outside.  Here are my splits:

            Mile 1: 7:26
            Mile 2: 7:28
            Mile 3: 7:30
            Mile 4: 7:37 (rolling hills b/t 80th and 96th on the West side)
            Mile 5: 7:25
            Mile 6: 7:41 (going up Harlem Hill)
            Mile 7: 7:29
            Mile 8: 7:35 (last mile in the park, seem to have slowed down a bit)
            Mile 9-10: 14:48 (forgot to press lap; sped up and ran with IJ for a bit along 42nd Street)
            Mile 11: 7:20 (the band playing "Eye of the Tiger" on the Westside Highway @ mile 10 got me pumped up)
            Mile 12: 7:10
            Mile 13: 6:52 (felt good for the finishing kick)
            Mile .1: 0:41

In the end, I got a 1:37:06, which was one of my slower halves.  But it was my first NYRR race since the marathon, I stuck with my game plan, and I was strong at the finish, so overall I am very pleased with my performance.  Thanks to everyone who I saw cheering along the way:  Matt, Paul, Fred, Todd, Bernd, Tyler, Gabby, Rob, Kelsey (although you almost missed me!) and AJ.  You guys helped push me to the end!

                                                       *                     *                      *

After the Half, Mike Terry convinced me that a long bike ride would be a good way to recover my legs.  Easy for him to say, he didn't run the half!  But it was a beautiful day on Sunday, so I agreed.  We ended up going about 30 miles, meeting on the WSH at 14th Street, going across the GW Bridge, and spending some time on Route 9W (the beginning of the route that many people take to bike out to Nyack, a ride that I've been wanting to do for awhile).

The 30 mile bike ride was, I think, the 3rd longest I've ever biked in my life (the longest was my Half-Ironman relay with Dane and Ryan [56 miles], and then my 36-mile Thanksgiving ride with my brother).  It was a lot of fun, and since we weren't going too fast, I felt really good afterwards.  Hopefully, if the weather is good this weekend, I might do the full trip from the GWB to Nyack.

On Saturday, though, I'm planning on doing the Wurtsboro Mountain 30k, held in Wurtsboro, NY by the Sullivan Striders.  It's a really tough race, with the first four miles rising about 1000' in vertical gain.  Two years ago, I finished in 2:17:08 (7:21 pace).  It's going to be a "fun run" this year, though...  maybe around 8:00 miles or something.  But I'm excited!

I am thankful for not rolling off the mountain

Around the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to take some time off of running.  My butt and ankle were not getting any better, and I thought since I was going to be home for the holiday, it would be the perfect time to get some rest.  So I did not run for 11 days (November 20-30). 

The way I had scheduled things, I almost didn't really have an opportunity to miss running.  Saturday, November 21, I didn't go to the fun run.  Instead, I had registered to volunteer that day as part of my 9+1 volunteer race to qualify for next year's NYC Marathon.  When I signed up for a volunteer race, there weren't many more options available.  One of the few races with volunteer spots left was the Knickerbocker 60k--an 37.2 mile ultramarathon that includes 9 grueling loops around Central Park--so I signed up for it.  I was actually excited about volunteering at the Knickerbocker, despite my 5-hour long volunteer shift.  Six Front Runners ended up running the race, and armed with my cowbell, I got to cheer them on as they came round and round.  It was a small race by NYRR standards--only 187 total runners.  By the end of my volunteer shift, I recognized all of the runners, and felt like I could tell how each one was doing.  One of runners, a member of the Running Club Powered by Dim Sum, recognized me from the Asbury Park Relay Marathon.  The NYC running world is so small, haha.

[As I wrote this entry, I decided to see if I could figure out who this guy was.  After some brief results list cross referencing and a Google search, I found out that he is Hideki Kinoshita, and he set out to run 14 marathons in 13 weeks to raise money for pancreatic cancer.  You can donate to his cause, which benefits the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, here.]

The next day was the Race to Deliver.  I had signed up for it, but decided not to run it because of my injuries.  It's too bad, since for a while, that race held my 4-miler PR (6:22 pace in 2007, which I beat in 2008 with a 6:17.  Hopefully one day before I die, I will break 6:15...).  Also, the race is germane to this blog (about running and food), since the money that's raised through running goes to benefit God's Love We Deliver, which prepares and delivers healthy meals to those who, because of HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, are unable to provide or prepare it themselves.

And on Tuesday, when I normally would have done the speed workout at the Armory, I instead flew to California to spend Thanksgiving with my parents in San Jose.  Although I didn't run during the time I was home, I did do the bike ride that I mentioned in an earlier post with my brother Tony.  To remind you, the ride was an 18.4 mile ride and 4300 foot climb of Mt. Hamilton Thanksgiving morning.  It was brutal.  I literally thought I was going to die.  I can't even explain how difficult it was.

My brother and I got there a few minutes after the bike ride officially begin.  As a result, we did not get to register, and our times weren't listed in the official results.  I think this was a good thing.  My time would have put me in last place, and by a pretty wide margin.  Actually, my brother would have been last, but more on that later.  Suffice it to say that I've run 18.4 miles faster than it took me to bike it.

Riding up Mt. Hamilton requires going up three separate hills, between 4-6 miles each, with a 4.7%-6% grade.  The last hill, at 6 miles and 6%, is both the longest and the steepest.  I was able to go up the first hill without much of a problem.  I wasn't really keeping track of my time or pace or anything, but I knew it took a long time.  When I got past the first hill, I took a little bit of a break.  Somehow my brother and I got separated at the beginning of the ride.  After a few minutes, he didn't show up.  I probably should have waited longer, but I figured I'd be slowing down soon, and he would catch up. 

The second hill was shorter and not as steep as the first, so it should have been easier.  But by this time, my legs were really feeling the weight of the constant pedaling, and I was already exhausted.  I had to pull over a couple of times on the ride in order to stretch my legs out and rest.  By the way, this wasn't like biking down the Westside Highway.  There are no water fountains, no shops to run into, or porta potties available.  I had brought plenty of water, but was wishing I had brought more along to eat than my single Clif Bar.  I felt like I was going to be completely zapped of any energy in a matter of moments.  I broke off a piece of my Clif Bar and pushed on.

By the third hill, I just had nothing else to give.  The six-mile, 2300 foot rise might has well have been a million miles.  I seriously could have walked faster than I biked.  And about once every mile, I had to stop and catch my breath and stretch my legs for a minute.  By the way, going reeeealllly slowly up a steeeeep hill with clipless pedals is kind of scary.  I started having thoughts that I would start rolling backwards and be unable to clip out of my pedals, flying off the cliff into a ravine. 

Eventually I saw Lick Observatory, which marked the summit.  It was one of this times when you see something huge off in the distance and go and go and go and go but feel like you're never getting any closer.  But about three hours after I started, I finally reached the top.  It was a great sight.  Mt. Hamilton is the tallest mountain overlooking Silicon Valley, and I when was up there, I felt like I had conquered the impossible.

Tony arrived at the top about 10 minutes after me.  The reason he took so long?  I was riding his road bike, and he ended up taking a mountain bike.  Oh, and he had his three-year-old son strapped into a seat on the back.  Showoff.

I felt bad for going so far ahead of him, but I think in the end it worked out for the best.  He said he wanted to turn back after the second hill, and tried calling me to let me know.  Unfortunately, he couldn't get any cell phone signal, so he just kept riding.  Had I been with him, I would have all too gladly agreed to turn around.  But because I kept going, I got rewarded with a great feeling of accomplishment and a magnificent view to boot.

Here are some pictures of Thanksgiving dinner later that day.  Thanksgiving at my house is a combination of Chinese and American foods.  My favorite dish is the stuffing, which my mom makes out of sticky rice.  She adds Chinese sausage, dried shitake mushroom, dried shrimps, and some veggies.  It's so sticky and carby and savory and delicious, I love it.  Among with a bunch of other dishes, Mom also made a sea cucumber and scallop dish, a bean noodle and cucumber salad, and a ginger steamed shrimp, all pictured below.

 

Under Pressure

Sunday was a gorgeous day in NYC, sunny with a high of 68 degrees.
My ankle was still bothering me, so running was out of the question.  Dane and I instead decided to go on a bike ride.  It was a very leisurely 12-miler.  I took my mountain bike, and we rode from my house to Central Park for a loop.  Afterwards, we got a delicious Tasti-D-Lite.  I hope this beautiful fall weather lasts.

For dinner, I decided to bust out my new pressure cooker. I bought it a few weeks ago somewhat impulsively, although I had been thinking about getting one for a while. I have never been exposed to a pressure cooker in my entire life, but have always been intrigued by them.  I decided that my first meal in it would be a pot roast.  Brad and J. came over to act as my test subjects. 

I had another Groupon, this time for $35 to the Amish Market in Tribeca (which I got for $15) that I was going to use to buy the meat.  I always thought that the Amish Market was kind of an upscale market, but it wasn't nearly as nice as I had hoped.  They only had one roast there, and many of the vegetables there were past their prime (and overpriced).  You'd think since they were only a few blocks away from Whole Foods, they'd try a little harder to offer decent fruits and vegetables.  But I'm guessing more people go to Amish Market for their prepared foods than for their produce.  I got the one roast they had, a sirloin silver tip, but went back to the West Side Market in my neighborhood to get the vegatables for my pot roast.  Just the usual stuff...carrots, potatoes, onions, mushrooms.  I also got a few rutabagas for fun.

After searing the roast in the pressure cooker, I threw in some chicken stock, Franzia, onions, tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, pepper and paprika, and then sealed up the pot.  A few minutes later, steam starting spurting out of the air vent/cover lock, which rattled a little bit and then popped up, signaling that the cover pressure cooker was locked onto the the pot.  I was a little nervous.  Soon afterwards, a steady stream of steam began flowing from the pressure regulator.  I took this as a good sign, since the regulator ensures that the proper amount of pressure is in the pot (15 PSI), hopefully preventing it from exploding hot pot roast all over the kitchen.

After about 25 minutes, it was time to open up the pressure cooker and toss in the other veggies.  This requires releasing the pressure.  There are three ways to do so: (1) the "natural relsease" method, where you take the pot off the burner and just wait for the pressure to subside naturally; (2) the "cold water" method, where you run the pot under cold water to cool it down and release pressure quickly; and (3) the "quick release" method, where you turn a dial on the pot to get all the built-up pressure and steam in the pot to escape through a valve.  The quick release method sounded the easiest, so I did that.  It was pretty cool seeing all the steam rush out:

I threw in the carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and rutabagas, and sealed the thing back up again to cook for an additional five minutes.  It took the pot a lot longer this time to reach 15 PSI.  And because I had filled it up all the way with veggies, pot roast juice started sputtering out of the release valve along with the steam.  (Hidden somewhere in the instructions in very tiny print was a warning not to fill the pot past 2/3 full.)  After a quick 5 minutes of cooking, J. turned the quick release valve again to let the pressure out.  This caused a stream of pot roast juice to jet out of the valve like it was a Super Soaker, covering my countertop and floor (and J.) with the hot liquid.  Fortunately I got out of harm's way.  Sorry, J.

My first pressure cooker meal turned out pretty tasty, although I think I cooked everything for a bit too long.  The texture of the beef was a little bit stringier than I expected, and not as moist as I thought it was be.  After doing some research online, it seems like once you overcook meat in a pressure cooker, it gets really tough and dry, and you have to really overcook it in order to get it moist and tender again.  And even five minutes in the pressure cooker seemed too much time for the carrots, potatoes and rutabagas.  They came out way mushier than I would have liked.  The flavors, though, were pretty decent.  And to cook a pot roast the old fashioned way would have taken at least three hours.  I'm thinking that with a little more practice, I can get it just right.