Grete Waitz, NY's Leading Lady

Grete chats with the NYRR Young Runners before the Run with Champions 2008

Nine times she won the NYC Marathon, setting the world record for women 4 times, Grete Waitz really is New York's leading lady. The running world lost a marathon great yesterday and news about her death spread through the running community quickly, everyone expressing real sadness at the loss of such an inspiring woman. As a child born in the 80's, I was too young to remember the way Grete changed the sport for women, showing us that we could really do ANYTHING, but I know that I have her to thank for the running world we live in today.

The two articles in today's New York Times about Grete are really beautiful and capture her spirit well. Not only did Grete win the race 9 times on her own, but she always claimed that her run with Fred Lebow in 1992, when he was dying of brain cancer, was her 10th victory. I can't say it nearly as well as Lix Robbins, Bruce Weber and George Vecsey can, so please check out the articles here: Scandinavian Cool That Warmed New York and In Marathon and Beyond, a Graceful Champion I recommend having tissues nearby.

I had the great pleasure to meet Grete twice in my time here in NYC, and I can still remember the way my palms got sweaty and I became speechless at the thought of meeting a hero of mine. I consider myself lucky just to have been in her presence, not to mention seeing her interact with the kids I coached at an elementary school in the city. The first time I saw Grete in person was at the NYRR Run with Champions which happens every year a few days before the marathon. It is a big day in Central Park where all of the Young Runners teams gather and have a few races, eat lunch and then get to hear some marathon greats give their running advice. In 2008, the first year I ran NYCM, Grete was part of the panel of speakers along with some other amazing current marathoners. In her cool Norwegian accent, she told the kids to follow their dreams and work hard for what they wanted in life. I'm sure she told them other things too, but I was too starstruck to remember. The photos in this post are from that event. I remember explaining to some of the young girls on the team exactly who Grete Waitz was, and hopefully some of the awe in my voice conveyed just how important she was to opening up the world of running to them. I know they were impressed when they heard how many times she'd won the marathon, but then again who isn't?

I cannot for the life of me remember the details of where my second encounter with Grete took place, but I distinctly remember her wearing a rose colored fleece jacket and me standing behind her going "oh my god, it's Grete Waitz!!" I am almost certain that someone took a photo of the two of us, but I can't find it anywhere. It may have been at the marathon expo in 2008, it may have been at an end of year event for the coaches and staff of the NYRR Youth Programs, I simply cannot remember anything but her serene presence and the grace with which she greeted all of her many fans, myself included. I know I babbled something about running the marathon and running and her being an inspiration. It was truly an honor just to be in the same room with her.

What a woman. As Fred Lebow used to call her, she was "The Queen of the Road" and she will truly be missed. Thank you Grete for all you did for us girls.

For other great blog posts abour Grete, check out Races Like a Girl's post.

Colon Cancer 15K

This is my third year doing the CC 15K in Central Park and it is a cause near and dear to my heart. In 2008 my cousin Ted died after a 5 year battle with Colon Cancer at the age of 39 with no family history and a healthy lifestyle. Raising awareness of the devastating effects of CC is a really worthy cause that can save lives, and I'm not being hyperbolic one bit. So if you're over 50 and reading this- get your ass checked. There is a lot of good info on the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation website too.

The race Sunday was unusual in a couple of ways as far as NYRR races go, there were 3 events scheduled including a 4 mile run, a 1.7 mile walk and the 15K. Also, the race didn't even start until 11:15 because a biathlon run by NY Tri happened that same morning and the racers needed time to get out of the park. I will admit that the 11:15 start was a mixed blessing, on one hand I enjoyed not waking up in the dark but on the other hand I wasn't sure how to structure my morning. In the end I think it was fun but I'd rather not have NYRR make a habit of late races. I met up with a neighbor and friend @mwaldman for the ride down to Central Park and we left ourselves plenty of time to get there, it being Sunday and all. Of course we arrived in record time and spent nearly an hour freezing our toes off in the park! At least it was sunny and I had good company.

Ahh the race:

On Saturday night I peeked at my old 15K time from 2009 to try to establish a goal for the race and I decided trying to beat my previous record of 1:10 was lofty but I was going to shoot for it anyway. I had no idea if I'd be able to hold a sub-7:35 pace for 9.3 miles, but I was willing to try. I snuck in a pre-race warm up with fellow Inwood Hill Runner Jonathan who was racing for the first time in his shiny new VCTC singlet. We lined up together in the blue corral (the first one, eee!) for my first time in that corral. I assumed this meant there were about 35 people running the race, but the announcer told us that the runners were lined up all the way to the bottom of the park! It was really a bit of a rush to be in the front corral and I took it as a good sign but also as a challenge. I was going to have to step it up and prove that I belong there.

The start was quick and painless and I just left myself go with the flow for the first few minutes, not caring that I might be swept into a faster pace than I intended. I like that initial first rush at the start of a race and I wanted to savor it, so I took off and got right into a groove. A few minutes into the race I did a systems check and all felt good, even that cranky left hamstring that had been irking me all week, so I carried on at a nice fast pace. I cruised through mile 1 in 7:26.

Mile 2 is that nice flat portion on the east side of the park where life is good and I clocked a 7:15, hmm. I was feeling really great, but that little voice reminded me that the east side is the EASY side and I should save a little for the west side hills. "okay, okay" I told myself. I literally felt like I had to pull in my own reins to slow myself down but I knew it was a good move. Mile 3 came in at 7:29 and I was happy. That mile FLEW by, I couldn't believe when I turned the corner and saw the mile 3 sign. As we made our way down the west side I set my sights on a woman that I'd left pass me in mile 3, she was wearing a Hell Gate singlet and I wanted to let her go ahead but I had plans to catch her later. I just got the sense that she was going out too hard and I wanted to run a smarter race than that. I let myself enjoy the downhills of mile 4 and brought it in at 7:12. Oops, that was probably too fast but it felt really good. I couldn't believe how easy and steady the sub-7:30's were feeling. I knew I had to really keep holding back until at least mile 6 or so, so I clocked mile 5 at 7:26 and mile 6 at a 7:33. I took a GU at the water stop before the mile 6 marker, right at the top of Cat Hill, and I spotted my friend in the Hell Gate singlet again. Ahhh, I'd caught her without even trying. For the next half mile or so we actually ran shoulder to shoulder (ok, shoulder to tricep because she was pretty tall) and as we made our way towards the 102nd St transverse again I looked over at her and said "deja vu, huh?" All I got in return was a confused look mixed with some strain. I knew that if I was able to chat at that pace I could totally beat her, my new nemesis. I pulled away slowly at first, not wanting to blow it too early in the race, but I could tell that she was fading quickly. I peeked back at one point as we made the turn back to the West Drive and she wasn't in sight. Excellent. Mile 7 in 7:20. I needed a little motivation to stay strong as we hit the hills again and I noticed a guy in a fleece vest next to me who I'd seen back when Hell Gate and I were side by side. We pushed each other up the west side hills as I thought more and more about Ted. At some point I felt a blister on my left foot swell up like a water balloon, ouch. It could have slowed me down as I finished mile 8 (7:31) but I kept telling myself "you may have a blister, but Ted had chemo. Many, many rounds of chemo and he NEVER slowed down." It worked, I let myself pick it up and pick off a few runners around me as I reeled in mile 9 in 7:08. Many thanks to the guys around me who decided they wanted to race that last mile. Booya, that was for you Ted.

I pushed the final 0.3 at a 6:33 pace to catch a woman ahead of me (every place counts, right?)

I had a big smile on my face as I crossed the line Sunday, not just because I killed my PR by 2+ minutes, but because I knew Ted would have been proud. He was such a passionate guy when it came to everything and while he thought my running was a little nutty, just like the rest of my family, he was always happy to support someone's passion. 2 weeks before Ted died I ran my first marathon and I sent him my medal, he deserved it more than I did for his marathon fight against Colon Cancer. Even though he couldn't outrun it, I'm just glad that I can run this race every year in his memory. He'd have been proud of these numbers too, I know I am:

9.3 miles in 1:08:30, a 7:21 pace

Overall 256/ 2768

Gender place 23/1486

Age Place 7/ 494

I've never made the top 10 list in a non-XC NYRR race before! Woohoo!

Good enough for 67.4% AG

I'm stoked with the results, especially because this race was the last race I trained for before making the switch over to swim training for the Great Bay swim in June. Way to go out with a bang! Of course in the back of my mind now is a voice saying "think how fast you could run a half marathon at that pace...." Someday legs, someday.

Coogan's 5K Recap

I never know what to expect the first weekend in March each year, the weather changes drastically from year to year and so does my fitness depending upon where I am in a training cycle. This year called for light rain, temps around 50 degrees and "in a lull" fitness-wise. I was okay with all of those things, though I could have done without the rain. You won't hear me complaining though, I've nearly frozen my toes off many years in a row at Coogan's so I'd take this cool drizzle ANY DAY.

I have no real reasons for why I didn't race today in my favorite race of the year, I could have told you 6 weeks ago that I wouldn't be racing, I just am not at a "race ready" point in training. That is OKAY too because I have a really big year ahead and I cannot get started this early and expect to last until October 2nd (see here my plans for that day). All that aside, here's how today went:

I love Coogan's for one reason: I can roll out of bed and trot down to the start on foot in less than 10 minutes. This morning I had company for the first time, EG spent the night at my apt (we're practically a B&B) and we trotted down together to pick up our race goodies. I knew that Coogan's was going to be a BIG race this year because it is the first race of the NYRR club points series, but I think I was in denial about how crowded it would be. In '06 when I started doing this race there were ~2700 people in the race but this year there were 5370. Wow, big change. I know if I'd wanted to race today I would have been fine by moving to the front of the red corral, but instead I just ducked in somewhere nearish to the start and hoped for the best. It was crowded but I was ready for that and had no intentions of weaving my way through the crowds so I settled into a comfortable pace and trotted along, waving to my husband and good friend SF along the way. I avoided big puddles as well as I could and stayed steady up the first round of hills. This was my turf, I know these hills like the back of my hand. The course runs by my apartment twice so it is fair to say I would have had "home field advantage" had I chosen to race.

Mile 1 flashed on my watch at 8:46 and I gently chided myself for slacking off as much as I was (My PR is at a sub-7 pace in the 5K) and I decided it might be fun to do a little progression run today. I entered the park and got distracted looking for Joe, Julie, Robert and anyone else I knew. I spotted my friend Kevin S-S from VCTC who looked really strong, as usual and I finally spotted Joe as well, shouting out some encouragement to them both. I scanned the crowd for Julie, but couldn't see her and gave up as the crowd of returning runners got thicker. I thought I saw a friend up ahead and picked up my pace to catch him, but as I pulled up next to him I realized that it was a doppelganger. Oh well, I figured I might as well keep up the quicker pace and I started to look for other friends as we finished the loop around the Cloisters. I spotted LW and her crew as well as a few other familiar faces, but I missed most of the people I was looking for. I continued my progression run as I hit 8:01 for mile 2. Perfect, nice and easy. I waved again to SF and hubby along Fort Washington as we headed back down to the finish and hubby snapped a few quick photos of me smiling and waving. I brought it home with a 7:46 final mile and would have kept on running right to baggage if it weren't for the crowds. I ran into a few friends that I went to grad school with at Columbia as well as Inwood Runner JS who was getting ready to cheer on his daughter in the 4-yr old race. In the end, it turned out to be a rather social day. Oh and I ran a 25:15 or so and while that's nowhere near a PR for me, it felt great and I had fun!

After the race EG and I ran back to my apartment (yep, back up the hills) which helped us stay warm and we went out for a nice little brunch with the Inwood Hill crew. What a great day in the Heights. The heavy rain held off until later the day when I was home, curled up on the couch with a few cats and my Kindle.

Be sure to catch the NY Running Show tonight live at 8pm where we'll definitely be chatting about Coogan's and other NYC running tidbits.

Cats make great handwarmers after a wet,cool race. They're thrilled about it too..

Queens Half Marathon

It has become sort of a trend this year for me to run the various borough 1/2 marathons with new friends and Queens was no exception. I ran Manhattan Half back in January with EG and AG where we ran with AG to his first sub-1:50 and I ended up running Brooklyn with Betsy who I bumped into a mile into the race. For my first Queens 1/2 the forecast was looking brutal, they used words like "oppressive heat" and "just fucking stay inside" to describe the day, so I was really glad to hook up with TK, MP, SP, and MH earlier in the week and make plans to run together.

The new Queens route advertised "free parking and easy train access" and since I live WAY too far to take the train for a 7am race, I opted to drive and brought along another fellow Upstate Manhattanite from the Inwood group. After a painless drive there, we took full advantage of the free parking and headed to the start in the already sweltering heat at 6am. As most other probably did, I adjusted my "race plan" when I woke up and saw that it was already 83 at 5:30 a.m. It went from attempting to just run a dignified sub-2:00 to simply finishing without passing out. Thank god for friends.

The race began in Flushing Meadows Corona Park which I'd never been to, but heard plenty about from the Queens contingent on twitter. It seemed like a large park with lots of bodies of water scattered throughout and lots of brown, thirsty grass. We started and ended with a loop around the World's Fair Globe which was huge and pretty neat. Apparently it is actually called the Unisphere... who knew? Unfortunately they had drained all of the water from the fountain around it and were painting when we ran by, providing a sort of "huffing" effect as we trotted by inhaling the fumes.

In general I can't say that I remember a ton about the course, which tells me that it was nothing impressive. I remember running past the stinky industrial park along College Point Blvd and then hearing about this later that weekend, we ran past that very station. I also recall running around the lake in the park and thinking "if it weren't so disgustingly hot, this might be a nice spot to sit." There were a few other things that ring a bell such as sniffing the air and asking "are we by the zoo?" (yup) but the rest of the run is lost in the haze of humidity and sweat that we trotted through all morning. The things I remember clearly though are the fire hoses spraying the crowd every 0.75mi or so near the water stops (ahhh so nice) and taking full cups of water and Gatorade at every single stop along the course. I hardly every drink Gatorade during races because it sloshes in my tummy and gives me cramps, but we were sweating it out so quickly that it never had a chance to bother me. We also took walk breaks at each water stop, with the breaks getting a little longer as the race progressed and no one wanting to make the first move to get us running again. We were having fun and just trying to get through it without dehydrating or overheating- I'm happy to report that we were VERY successful. None of us were able to stomach the idea of sucking down hot GU packets at any point during the run, so we survived on salt packets (for TK and MP) and Endurolyte tabs for me.

We trotted across the finish line in 2:04:09 looking cute and smiling (there's a brightroom video to prove it!) and just happy to have run a smart, respectable race. I never could have done that on my own, it would have been torture instead of the silly, fun, girl-fest that it was. I even managed a respectable 122 in my age group out of 737.

Coogan's 5K Wrap Up

Every year there is one race I really look forward to- the Coogan's Salsa, Blues and Shamrocks 5K in Washington Heights. I love it because its on my home turf which means I get to sleep in a little and the journey home is nice and quick! In the past few years Coogan's has been FREEZING and the quick jog home was appreciated. 2010 was a whole new experience however, with 37 degrees at the start, very little wind and bright, glorious sunshine! There was definitely excitement in the air at the prospect of spring being just around the proverbial corner.

I had a goal time of 21:00 for this year, which would have been a 30 sec PR from last June and the whole goal time got me a bit frazzled and nervous both SAt night and Sun morning. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to race hard, and I was excited but still jittery. I had a few kids from my running team meeting me at the start so I headed down early, warming up with a nice 3/4mi jog which helped calm the nerves. An encouraging morning text from EG helped as well. :) Once the first of my 5 kids arrived, the rest of my jitters melted away and her bubbly chatter made me smile. All of the kids arrived on time, I pinned on their bibs, clipped on the D-tags and wished them all a great race (they run with parents or other coaches, etc).

Once in my corral I hardly had time to get nervous again before the horn went off. In my head I had worked out what I needed my pace to be for each mile in order to hit my goal, but as usual I forgot about the 0.1 and ...well, I've never been that good at math and I goofed.

I had a really strong race, I cruised up those hills like they weren't even there and felt powerful and free. Was it the sunshine, the bands along the way, the knowledge that my hubby was waiting near the top of the first hill and the last hill? It was all of the above.

Here are the numbers:

Mi 1: 7:08 (i held back thinking I'd make it up. This was the weak point in my plan.)

Mi 2: 6:56 (felt awesome)

Mi 3: 6:41 (ran hard!)

0.1: 6:22 pace

3.1 mi, 21:39, 6:59 avg pace. (My bib pace will change now! used to be 7:10)

me!

NYRR says I was 101st female, 40th in my age group and 765 overall out of 5631. Oddly, I just double checked and now it says I was #102 female, 41 in my age group. Weird. Anyway, as bummed as I was for a whole 10 mins that I didn't PR, I felt like I raced smart, strong and felt great.

What came after my race was the truly awesome part of the day... as I stood shivering at the finish line waiting for my kids to cross, I was expecting to see 2 of my 3rd graders come in first until out of nowhere, one of my 2nd graders (7 yrs old!) came FLYING across at 31:53 with a HUGE grin on his face! He clocked a 10:17 pace after doing his last two races at a 14:40 pace!! Wow. I had to catch up to him after the finish because he'd run too fast for his mom to keep up. He was chattering uncontrollably about how awesome that was and how he flew past his mom and his teammates in mile 2! Man, that kid made everything I do so worth it. What a kid. His mom told me he's SO proud of himself and that he can't wait for the next race. He came to practice today with that smile still all over his face and pride beaming off of him like sunrays. I think I hooked one. Awesome. I'm the proudest coach in town today.

After the kids were finished, I headed back uptown to meet my hubby, MJ and SCL for a little brunch in our hood. We had a nice meal (pancakes, yum) and then took a stroll over to see the GWB in all of its glory. What a beautiful day on the Hudson.

Ted Corbitt 15K, My "+1" for the 2010 Marathon

Brrr Ninja Volunteer!

Getting ready to start

He may have started out a bit too quick, he was not in front after the first lap anymore..

chilly running!

wow lots of people out on a frosty morning!

Well, I've done it again- I'm qualified for next year's marathon! Woohoo. I did the 2008 marathon by doing my nine NYRR races and I finished up my 9 races last weekend in Brooklyn but still had to do my 1 volunteering duty for the year. Okay, normally yes I'd have taken care of that in the summer or fall, but with a fall wedding I really just didn't have the time this year. But alas, there I was on the sidelines in my orange vest freezing my toes off but having a TON of fun cheering everyone on!!

I dragged myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5:40 on Saturday morning into the cold world, forgot my breakfast (toast with PB and nutella) and waited ages for the subway (so much for the early am schedule!) and finally arrived around 7am at the park. I have to say, I expected it to be organized and fast moving, but we spent much of the morning shuffling around in a large herd while jobs were given out one by one. Ugh, getting cold already and it was like 7:30. I finally got a job just directing people and cheering very close to the finish line, which was fun because the runners passed the finish just after the start, after their first loop and of course at the end so I got to see everyone go by a ton! It was fun, there were a few full Santas, some reindeer, a few silly hats and just generally a fun time. I was cheering my heart out in an attempt to stay warm and have a good time. I really enjoyed that part. It was the people who turned rude and ignorant post-race who ruined the fun. After the vast majority of people were finished we were asked to make sure people didn't turn around and walk back along the course because there were still people finishing their first lap ( we cheered hard for them!) and we didn't want them to have to fight against the crowd while running! Our "leader" was threatening to DQ people who didn't want to listen (a bit harsh I thought, but it was working) but many people just got instantly aggressive and angry when we asked them to walk the other way back to the start. Wow, it was unreal to see people turn like that and get nasty. It was really unfortunate and bummed me out.

The day was saved however when I spotted Nicole from The Biggest loser at the finish snatching some leftover apples! I was like HEY shes from TBL!! and I went over and chatted with her!! She was SO nice and really sweet and friendly, we chatted like old friends :) I always loved her on the show and it was so fun to meet her! She looks fantastic, too! That was the highlight of my day! (possibly my week!)

Photo from people magazine

Pete McArdle XC 15K in VCP

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for
Pete McArdle 15K in VCP-brrr

It was a muddy, cold and hilly adventure run this morning but so much fun! I ran with some regular running buddies which made the race do-able. It was a gross day but I give my new Asics Gel-Trabuco gore-tex trail shoes an A++ for keeping my feet warm and mostly dry for the entire 9.3 miles!! wow, very impressive considering the slop out there on the course. Now if only I'd thought to wear my EMS waterproof jacket...duh. Oh well, tons of fun and we ended the morning (afternoon?) with some delicious pancakes at The Garden Cafe. Yummmm. So sleepy now.... finally got the huge knot out of my hair from the rainy run (seriously, it was unreal) and now a quick blow-dry followed by a nap. I'm exhausted and full... what a wonderful combination.

:)

Stay warm and dry...

The best winter/wet/mud shoes EVAR...

and this is why... that little hyphenated word in yellow..

In the end though, the socks say it all.... love my smartwools.

And the drying continues... everything is still soaked!

Joe K 10K

So let me start by saying the long sleeve tees from the Joe Kleinerman 10K are great! I always love it when they have a non-white tee to spice up my collection and the logo is cool and its not a huge picture of his face like it has been before... very cool. I don't understand why NYRR doesn't order enough size SMALL though...seeing as how running is a sport of many many fit people... anyway, I digress.

So sunday morning was a crisp and sunny 33 degree gallop around the park. I know a lot of people train in CP and talk about the hills there, but I mostly train in Fort Tryon Park, Inwood Hill Park, Riverside Park, Riverdale and VCP where the hills are rolling and could kick the butt of Harlem Hill or Cat Hill anyday :) I'm going to say it... central park hills are wimpy :) Yeah, they sneak up on you when you think you're nearing the home stretch on the east side around 72nd st when you're feeling good, but they're not game changers. That said, I had what I consider a great race. I forced myself to keep it easy and do the first mile at an 8:05 pace which felt easy but I knew I needed to hold back. I tried to pull in the reins for the first 3 miles and then let myself go, and it seems to have worked! According to Garmin I clocked a 47:59 for 6.23miles.... but sadly according to NYRR it was 48:01. Hmmmmm. Oh well. I got there that morning and re-assessed my original goals of under 46/47:00 and realized that was perhaps a bit lofty since I haven't really been training that hard and it was damn cold. I set myself the goal of under or around 48:00 and I'm very happy with my results.

Here is the NYRR spread:

Finish time: 48:01

Pace: 7:44

Overall Place: 1049

Gender Place: 219

Age Place: 60

AG: 63.1%

AG Gender place: 331

Not bad!

Garmy says my laps were:

8:05

7:53

7:34

7:45

7:42

7:19

1:38(for the .2)

I do wish my 4th and 5th miles had been a bit faster. Live and learn. It was my first race with the garmin.. boy do I love that thing.

Well, time to make a few updates to the blogroll... check back for more updates soon.

Next week- NYRR Holiday 4miler in Prospect Park, but I'll be running with one of my kids on my Young Runners team who is in 3rd grade. She's a rockstar.