New York Marathon!

What an amazing day.. Here I am at about mile 22+ in the New York Marathon!  Unbelievable..

I beat my personal best time.. This year I finished in 4:31:53 (so far the unofficial time) and I was able to sprint on the last mile!  

Only 6 days out from the race, I feel completely recovered and ready for another marathon tomorrow!  Well... I may not run another race tomorrow, but I'll take my son out for a morning jog.

Call for support!

Once again, I'm going after another marathon. This year, I will be running my third marathon in New York City (26.2 miles) on sunday, November 2.  I've been training with the greatest coach of all, my 13 month-old son, who whips me in shape from his chariot stroller!

This year, I will be running to support REMEDY, a charitable group which collects millions of dollars of medical supplies for distribution in the developing world.  REMEDY is active in over 600 hospitals nation wide! (you can find out more at http://remedyinc.org)

I have set some race goals for myself based on previous marathon times (Mystic, CT 2005: 4:55:13 and Philadelphia, PA 2007 4:41:38), andI hope you will encourage me by tying your support to my goals:

examples:

I pledge $___ per mile only if you finish the race.

I'll double my pledge if you best last year's time of 4 hours and 41 minutes

I'll triple my pledge if you complete the race under 4 hours and 20 minutes (10 minute miles)

Please support my run with any amount you would like by writing to:

remedy3@yale.edu 

or:

Make a check payable to Remedy and send it to:

ATTN: Remedy

Yale University School of Medicine

Department of Anesthesiology

PO BOX 208051

333 Cedar Street

New Haven, CT. 06520 - 8051

Thank you!

Skirt-testing!

Today was an early day. It was the only day left before the weekend that I could go for a run before work..

So the alarm went off at 4:55am and off I went. In a few minutes, I got ready to go for my usual morning run of 4.5 miles...

Today there would be one difference: The first day to test my Atalanta Sportswear Commitment skirt (www.skirtgoddess.com)..

(for a reminder of the cause, check out my first blog entry)

The run was really awesome. It was the first run in a few weeks that my legs haven't felt like they weighed 1 ton each and I had a pretty decent pace of 9:15/mile... Better than the 11:45/mile from a few days ago..

I have to say that I really loved the commitment skirt! It was really comfortable... I didn't have any chafing or problems with the fabric. It's got a couple of hip pockets which carried my ipod easily without any bounce and i hardly knew it was there..

So I think that this skirt will do great on the marathon.. For now, I know it can handle shorter runs but I'm planning to take it on a longer run down the road..

I came home energized, hopped in the shower and ran off to work. The day was really great.. A little bit on the long side (from 6:15am to about 7pm)... The saddest part is that my wife and son were both asleep by the time I got home so another day went by that I missed my son..But I'll be home early tomorrow and we have the weekend off for a nice long run!

New Haven Road Race!

So today was the first racing conditions test of my marathon training. I signed up for the New Haven Road race, which is a 20kilometer (12.4 mile) race held annually on Labor Day. It was my fourth time running it, and it was really a great turnout.

Among some highlights, there were quite a number of runners who had run all 31 New Haven Road Races... I saw a former teacher of mine who had run 29 of the 31 NHRR's, and she said that the two she missed were when she had children! It was an amazing!

I started the race at a very slow pace, socializing more than anything to get warm and not to fall into my usual rut of going out too fast at the beginning of the race because of the crowd running effect.

About mile 2, one of the highlights of the race was the first patch of woods came up and a number of runners took advantage of it by emptying their bladders. I was amazed to see a woman running in a skirt go up to the grass and she squatted and pulled back her skirt and took care of #1 much faster than any guy I've ever known (somewhere less than 10 seconds). Way to go! I don't know what kind of trick she used, but she looked like she meant business.

I saw all my friends in the first 4 miles of the race and stuck with them for these beginning miles. Around mile 4.5, I decided that I was feeling good despite having worked for 24 hours prior to the race on an all-day call shift in the hospital, so I picked up the pace dramatically!

The best thing about starting in the back of the field is that no matter how fast/slow you're running, you're bound to be passing people for the duration of the race as they all get tired.

So this is exactly what happened today! It got me super-energized and I kept on pushing harder and harder each mile. My training runs have been with a heart-rate between 140 and 160, and today I ran for 2/3 of the race at a heart-rate above 170!

As I passed runners, I would randomly say hello to people and give encouraging remarks, and occasionally someone would pay back the favor! Around mile 9, we came on a slow down-hill and one runner yelled at me "go get 'em" as i passed him and that just did it for me! I thought "this is it.. now or never" and I started taking longer and faster strides and kept it up for the rest of the race!

The race course hugged the base of east rock park on a road called English Dr, and at the turn-off there was a band of bagpipers with their drummers that you could hear from 1/2 mile away! I always look forward to this spot as there is usually one or two bagpipers... when I heard them, it was just more fuel in the fire! I came around to the last home stretch of 1.5 miles and just picked up the pace even more!

When there were about 400 feet to go, I started to almost sprint and there was one runner that was left in front of me before the finish line... as I came up next to him, he started sprinting with me and sadly beat me to the finish line.

Nevertheless, I can truly say that I gave it everything I had in me today and I think I got my best time in the race yet! I approximately finished in 1:50, but the official time has yet to be posted. More details to come on this! Happy labor day!

Triathlon

Today was amazing.. I got to do a make-shift triathlon post-call with my wife and son!

I got off work at 7:15 so I rode my bike home for about 9 miles.. then had a nice breakfast with the little one and my wife and took off on a mellow run for 4 miles... then we went to the YMCA for a swim (1000 meters) while my wife was doing waterobics!

All this before noon!  I can't ask for better days than today!  

Tomorrow, off for 16 miles with the little one!  Stay tuned!

P.S. Also, my running skirt came in the mail today.. Let's see how it works on the trail!

Running baby!

Hello again

The weekend got off to a great start when my son woke up this morning hungry and ready for a run (he's one). I fed him some waffles with my wife, and we were all getting ready to go for a run when she got a bout of morning sickness (courtesy of the next baby)..

So the plans changed a little.. I tucked her in nicely for a nap and took off with my son for a good 12 mile run.

I started off a little sluggishly as I wasn't able to do all the "scheduled" runs this week.. Once I got to about mile 3-4, I found a great zone and picked up the pace... There were lots of people out on the trail today, and everyone was quite friendly..

I passed a few runners and shortly after my turnaround point I got passed by a pretty fast guy.. I tried to stay on his tail but I was no match for him.

Instead, I caught up to another runner and slowly (over 1 mile) passed him.  I was about 3.5 miles away from home at this point, and I had to keep my lead.  At times I was feeling the burn and thought that I'd have to slow down a little, but then Lucas would cheer me on and we'd pick the pace right back up! So in the end, I made a great effort, maintaining a heartrate above 170 for a couple of miles and managed to stay ahead of the runner..  He kept making attempts to catch up to me but I wouldn't give in! 

In the end, I think both of us were better off for it.  Nothing's better than a little taste of the competition on marathon day!

What kept me going today?  An old quote from Lance Armstrong: "No gifts!"

Post-call long run!

So I worked on saturday overnight and had a pretty rough day.. I was only able to sleep about 2 hours when you added all the naps together in a 24 hour period..

Nevertheless, I was determined to complete my long run as I didn't have any days off this week to do it! So Ashley came over and we did a 14 mile run starting around 8:30am.. It was a beautiful sunday morning with few clouds in the sky and a nice warm temperature of 60-70 F.

It was really fun to go with a new running partner (especially as she's much more experienced that I).. I got lots of great advice about marathoning, and look forward to going to the start line of the NYC marathon with her.

The run was really a great run after all. We kept up a steady pace, about 150-159 on the heart rate and finished in 2:09. Not bad!

Well.. til the next time!

Baptism run!

Greetings again!

So today is a big day.  It is my son's baptism, so all the grandparents are in town, my wife and I are both off (happens about 1 - 2 days/month) and my best friend, Michele, my son's godmother-to-be, flew in across the country to be here for less than 24 hours so she could be at the ceremony..

It is my only day off in 3 weeks and I have to do a long run today (not that long.. 10 miles; 2.5 mile warm up, 5 mile at higher pace and a 2.5 mile cooldown).

I woke up at 5am and went out for a great run with Michele, who had just flown in last night from California and was a complete rockstar!

It was really a great morning.. Nice and chill temperature (mid-60's) and all the bunnies were out and about foraging!  I've always looked up to Michele as she's the reason I am even running marathons today (she's done 8 marathons so far).  She totally kicked butt, too..  

I love the feeling of coming home and seeing the clock: 7:30am and I've just run 10 miles... What a great way to start the day!

Great day!

Cheers!

Training Sunday with the Family

So I it is sunday, and I had my challenges set out for the run.  I had to run 14 miles today.

The catch..  I worked a 24-hour shift in the hospital from saturday 7am to sunday 7am.. And on top of that, I rode my bike to work (8.5 miles each way)..  So I had to ride home after the shift, get some grub, round up the troops (wife, sister-in-law and son who would join me on wheels - i.e. bikes and stroller-in-tow) and set off running.

Minor details:  

It was hot today.. Base temperature of 85 degrees farenheit, with high humidity and not a cloud in sight.

As soon as I arrived home I found my son to be napping, and he didn't wake up until about 10:30am... So I fed him and got everyone ready to head out by 11am.

The run started out great.. We have a bike-path close to our home so we just ran/rode to it and set off.  

Unfortunately, it was a little too hot for my son, so we had to cut the run short at 3.5 miles....  I had some common sense drilled in from my wife that it would probably not be a good idea to continue running now (as it was 12:00noon with the sun directly overhead, and the temperature rising!)...

So I took her advice, fed my son once more and played with him quite a bit.  After another nap (he fell asleep on my chest while i lay on the couch, so i joined him in his game), I set off for the remaining 10.5 miles at 4pm, and finished in under 2 hours... Not bad for post-call on a hot-humid day.

As an aside, I wore one of my new shirts (happens to be a pink tanktop), and more people said hi to me as I ran past them than any other day... You see, I always make a point to greet any walkers/runners/rollerbladers/bikers on the trail, and usually I get a 50% greet-back..

I'll do more experiments on this and get back to you...

Til the next time.

The Project - Running for Remedy in Style: A guy and his running skirt

This year I was one of the lucky ones to be chosen by the IMG raffle to run the NYC marathon! So amidst working long-hours in a residency program, I am determined to beat my previous times.

Thus far I have completed 2 marathons (Mystic, CT in 2005; Philadelphia, PA in 2007). Both times I hit the wall hard and had to fight the worst cramps of my life to keep going... But nevertheless, I finished both races in under 5 hours.

I am now following a strict training schedule, and best of all, I have a great support crew.. I am able to do one long run per week on weekends, and I go with my son or my son and wife.. The thing is, my son is almost one... So far he has been great company and our longest run together to-date was 12 miles in under 2 hours (yes.. pushing a chariot stroller).. Best thing we ever got.

When my wife can join us, she helps by towing our son on her bike and serving as a pace-bike and portable-watering station! Really, what more could a guy ask for, you say?

Well... I decided that I would raise the stakes a bit more..

This time around, I wanted to make a statement at the marathon.. I need to stand-out somehow, albeit from the middle-to-end of the pack...

So I started thinking back to all the cool costumes I've seen at previous marathons looking for ideas.. Among them:

- at a Boston Marathon in 2003, I saw a guy running with a 2x4 plywood with a USA Flag on it hoisted over his shoulder... he was trucking, too.. I don't think I'm in good enough shape to carry such a load....

- In Philly, there was a guy who ran the marathon in a pink ballerina outfit, tutu and everything... that's pretty cool, I thought.. But i can't copy that..

So after more research and talking to fellow runners at local running shops, it seems that the running skirts are taking off as the way to go for most gals.. And to top it off, there's already guys who claim that they're the most comfortable thing they've ever run on! (read this story)...

So I thought, why not start a fundraising campaign to see if I can help a worthy cause like he did, but take a different spin on it.. I found a great company that also makes popular running skirts (Atalanta Sports also found at http://www.skirtgoddess.com/ they make a fabulous running skirt!)..

After some consideration, I figured what the heck.. Let's see what kind of noise I can make.. I have a super-secret, attention-grabbing idea that will certainly draw eyes (hopefully not in a bad way) on race day..

I will be raising funds to support Remedy, a really cool organization that helps distribute unused medical equipment from hospitals in the US to developing countries around the world.

So the story beging... I'll be training with the commitment skirt, and will run all 26.2 miles in style!

More to come on my training... Stay tuned