Quick Report: NJTS Winter Trail Half Marathon #3

I didn't take any pictures during the race, so here's a photo of my breakfast.

Three years ago, on Feb 8, I did this same race at this same venue, on a ten-mile course, and DFL'd the 10-miler in 2:55. It was awesome.

Today, I did the half marathon, and finished eighth-to-last in 2:46:48. This, too, was awesome. And I'm moving up in standings!! If I continue moving up standings at this rate I'll win this thing by 2040. Place your bets.

So the half marathon consists of a single ~1K loop followed by two 10K loops. It started at 9am, and after 36 hours of above-freezing temps (and some rain), the ice was almost all gone - but not so much that I didn't have to be careful.

I fell into a groove (figuratively) pretty quickly and enjoyed the first lap, which seemed rather long, but that's OK. I never stopped smiling. At the end of the loop I stopped for some water, and headed straight out. I walked maybe half of the second loop (after walking a small fraction of the first), but that's OK. Trail running!

By two hours into the race, ice was almost all gone and replaced with mud. Now, I have seen some serious mud, and when mud gets serious, I stop having fun. This wasn't too bad. But it was shoe-sucking at times and the last couple of miles in particular were pretty squishy. I somehow managed not to faceplant (or butt plant, or plant anything else for that matter) and finished happily and smiley.

I then jumped into an ice-cold creek (felt better than you think), to wash the mud off my shoes. I put on dry socks, but I didn't have a spare pair of shoes so I was cold the next two hours. Sometimes I never learn...

This made for an awesome weekend, where I ran 12 miles in Rockefeller on Saturday and a half marathon on Sunday. Today was also running streak day 1111.

2014 week 1

A collection of random thoughts I have every day about my running and fitness.

Not promising to do this every day, or even every week.

In case you don't know, my 2014 new year's resolution is to post a photo of everything I eat on Instagram. You can follow along here: http://instagram.com/stevetursi

Jan 1
Lunch in Brooklyn before 2pm wake there. Very short run before getting on the road. I didn't eat pizza in the entire year of 2013, and today I ate 9 slices in two meals. Facebook status: "Pizza overload day!" Running streak day 1100.

Jan 2
Funeral + burial in the morning. Work in the afternoon. One of the coldest 1-mile runs of my life immediately after work. Ran to Nicky's, where I had 3 slices of pizza + 1 bite of Joey's slice. Half a pizza overload day?

Jan 3
Overnight blizzard and single digit temps in the morning. Naah. Afternoon temps were 11ºF at 4pm when I went to Ramapo Reservation to do 2.5 miles in the snow in 30 minutes. Kind of a crappy run, but enjoyable. No pizza today. At least not as of this writing. Average distance per day so far this year: 1.7 miles. Hah. Just a tiny bit short of the 5.5 miles I need every day to get 2000 miles this year.

"frozen tears"

Jan 4
Watchung Winter Trail Races! Showed up having no idea what I wanted to do. At least two laps, which is a half marathon. Could do up to 5, which is 50K. Surprise: I did just two. Hah! But what a fun two laps that was. It took almost 3:30! 1ºF at the start, maybe 15 when I finished. Beautiful day. 5 slices of pizza today. Here's my race report: http://stevetursi.blogspot.com/2014/01/rr-watchung-winter-trail-half-marathon.html

Jan 5

Woke up, and went to run with the tri club. I was late (by 2 minutes) and they had gone without me. Normally I'd be annoyed by this but seeing as it was 5ºF I couldn't blame them. I was also underdressed - due to the end of the laundry cycle I was wearing shorts. I would have been fine, but not very comfortable. So I turned around and went home, went to church, then went to the gym, where I knocked out 6 miles at under 9 minute pace. Solid, solid tempo run for me. Two slices of pizza for dinner, then bowling with Joey where I shot 215-184-190 for a 589 series.

Jan 6
My wife is taking a class called "Strength Foundations" and asked that I go with her. So what I wanted to do was this: Get to the gym at 11:30, run from 11:40 til 12:10, take a group exercise class at 12:15, shower, return to work. What I had to do because of work was this: Get to the gym at 12:05, get dressed as fast as I could, arrive at the group exercise class at 12:12, take the class, and then run a mile as fast as I could so I could get back to work. But since I had just taken a class with lots of squats, I couldn't run super-fast. 1.1 miles in 9:20, which when I do the math is actually 8:30 pace, which actually isn't that bad for me.

Jan 7
Went to Ramapo Reservation for a short half-hour jaunt on the trails during my lunch break. It was 6ºF at 1pm when I started! I would have liked to do my 4-5 mile loop but since I was on a time constraint (had to get back to work) I had to settle for about 2.5 miles in 30 minutes. The Res was a hockey rink, and my microspikes were great. I enjoyed breaking through the thick ice on my way up and seeing the cracks created by my steps on the way down. When I got to my car, I had ice mascara! I shot a photo and posted to facebook. This is my happy time of year. I really enjoy this.

Frozen Eyelashes

Wednesday morning thought - I've gone two whole days without pizza - I need to fix this - tonight.

RR: Watchung Winter Trail Half Marathon: Slow

This happened to be the coldest run I've ever done

RD Rick: "How Far are you going today?"
Me: "No idea."
RD Rick: "OK, put something down, and we can change it."

If I was honest with myself, I knew I was doing 13.1 miles today. There was a 10K option, but that was just too short a race. The marathon option was tempting, but I wasn't up for that kind of effort in these conditions and I knew it. 50K? "I'd like to do 5 laps, but we'll see." Yeah right. But, optimism reigns supreme. I checked "26.2" and got ready.

What followed was one of the most enjoyable runs I've ever had. I had no problem keeping up with a mid-back conga line that cruised along at 14 minutes per mile - which wasn't bad for a trail run in these conditions. I got my continuous mile in early - mile 1.5 to 2.5. In the first lap I took a couple of bad steps and the ankle protested, but never more than a minute. First 10K done in about 90 minutes.

I filled my hand-held (I normally prefer camelbacks, but the tube and valve freeze in these conditions) and went off onto lap 2. Much quieter now - no conga line. After a mile, the first front-runner passed (lapped) me - and then a steady stream of fast runners came by, with the occasional passing/leapfrogging of someone at the same position as me. The trail now well-packed, I didn't turn any ankles. I did fall once, and in so doing I noticed my microspikes had come out of position. I took a break to re-strap them and was once again on my way.

I was also hungry. And my feet were cold. And as much fun as I was having, I wasn't in the mood to run a 7+ hour marathon. Decided halfway through this lap that I'd be doing a half marathon today.

So when I finished the lap, RD Rick described the short 1-KM loop I'd have to do in order to complete the distance for a half-marathon. That loop went right by my car, so when I passed it, I stopped and changed clothes. I then ran in the last fraction of a mile in a cotton t-shirt and hoodie. I was jogging in nice and easy when someone passed me with 50 meters to go. I think the kids would say, "lol." Get off my lawn, kids. I finished in 3:27. lol.

Went and grabbed lunch (pizza) and came back to spend the rest of the afternoon hanging out with RD Rick and RD Jen and helping out where I could. Always fun to kick back with mah' peeples.. besides Rick and Jen, a few hashers made appearances, and of course some ultra runner friends, and, notably, met 2013 grand slammer Pete P from Staten Island, which made for a very cool conversation.

Lap 1 mile 3: - lots of time staring at this guy's back in the conga line

Start of lap 2: Icicles off my cap! Frozen Boogers!

Lap 2 mile 2: I know some people love summer, but this is so nice

Lap 2 mile 4: Tracks leading out of the woods