RACE REPORT: Al Gordon Classic

Our alarm clock this morning rang at 5am, but by then Karen and I had a better alarm, as our precious little ones had stirred around 4:45am. Even still we got out later than we had intended to.  Still, we made it to the race in plenty of time, and even found parking not too terribly far away.

A funny 'gonzo' moment showing Karen on the hunt for a toilet. Hahaha!!

The winds were so bad this morning, that despite the bright sunshine and the 38 degree temperature, it felt like it was in the low 20’s.  Even the NYRR’s club, had everyone check the 5:30am advisory on the status of this race, because there was a chance that it might get cancelled.

Karen is running again!  "Coffee! Bathroom! Coffee! Bathroom! Coffee! Bathroom! Coffee! Bathroom!

Today was the first race that Karen and I had run together since we did Coogan’s some 356 days ago on March 6^{th, 2011.}   It was nice to run with her, and great to see her back in good spirits with the running.  Loved it when she said “I hope you don’t think I’m crazy, but now that I finished, I feel like doing a race every weekend.”   Yes, it does not take long for the addiction to return now, does it?

We camped out in the sunny part of the field alongside the starting line where about 5,000 runners were streaming in.  When we had first gotten there at about 7, it was fairly empty, and the lines to the bathrooms were quick.  But you could see that mass waves of people were coming in now.  I can only wonder how busy it must have been at the High School, a few blocks away where we picked up our running number and shirts must have been, soon after we got there.  That, along with parking, were major reasons for getting there early.  The same will hold true even more when we go to Coogan’s. 

 If there is one person I always meet, and always am honored by meeting is the now 65-year old phenom, Julio Aguirre.  Julio, who placed 3^rd in last year’s Berlin Marathon (one of the 5 major marathons in the world), was layered, but you can see beneath it was his trusty red-and-white WSX tank top and shorts.  He mentioned that he was hoping to get around 26 minutes, but that next week’s race (Coogan’s) was even more important, as it is a team points race.

As we started prepping, I noticed that my Nano was dead.  How could it be when I’d charged it 100% last night?  Perhaps, it was because I connected it to my headphones, which turned it on and drained it overnight.  I had to wear my big black JVC cans over my bright orange Dunkin Donuts hat.  “The use of headphones during a race is seriously discouraged.”  That’s all I could help but think.

Karen and I hit the head one last time, and we lined up in our respective corrals. (coffee,bathroom...)

The 26 mile per hour winds held the race up for several minutes due to the debris all over the roadway from the branches that could not sustain the howling, whipping winds.  You could tell they were stalling for time when Peter Ciaccia started asking the crowd if anyone was planning on throwing an Oscar party.

I was lined up on the left-hand side when the gun went off.   It didn’t take too many seconds to cross the starting line, the benefits of being in an elite corral.

The first half mile was exactly as planned.  East on

Centre Drive

mostly flat, perhaps even a little downhill, then a left and still uneventful.  Then came the hill at the 2^nd half of that first mile, which proved to be challenging but somehow, I finished the hill and the entire mile in an unbelievable pace of 7:20, which was only 8 seconds off the pace I needed to break my fastest 4 mile race ever. 

Mile 2 was mostly flat.  We were now sweeping west and then south from the North side of Prospect.  Despite still trying to catch my breath, and the wind coming in from my right fairly hard, I somehow managed to post a 7:12.  Thus, I was still only 8 seconds off the pace, with the best mile still yet to come.

Mile 3 was mostly downhill, and I took full advantage of it.  I posted a blistering 7:02, and suddenly I was ahead of my PR by 2 full seconds with a mile to go.

I wish the story could’ve ended here.

But …

Not sure if it was because of the first mile, but I was struggling in Mile 4.  This should not have been a difficult mile, but I was feeling fatigued.  I could feel people passing me again, as was the case in the first mile, when the super-elites were passing me by.  I didn’t know what was wrong, but the killer-instinct was quickly being replaced by the roadkill instance.  That was nevermore the case then when I hit the last ½ mile which was mostly up hill.  The last mile cost me the record.  It nearly cost me progress too.  In the end I finished up with a 29:33.  I did my last mile in 7:40, plus an extra .06 in 21 seconds. (which was a 6:16 pace – which was a nice strong final kick).  It’s very possible that the overage killed me, but even without it, I still would have finished at 29:12.  This is nothing to be ashamed of, as this was my 4^th fastest 4-miler race ever.

And as promised, here are ALL of the stats...

After the race, Karen visited the latrine, and then we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get Dolly and Jhonny some coffee and breakfast for watching our chhilluns. 

After that we went to get Steffie and Matthew.  On the way home we went to a garage sale in White Plains in the hopes of finding some baby stuff, but all we did was come away with a rubber chicken.

Run Like A Chicken!