Category: 4-Milers

Things have been going well in my life.  I’ve been dedicating myself to completing long-standing, major projects.  I’ve learned that the preponderance of major projects in my life bog down my life and interfere with each project’s completion.  Furthemore, they all basically render my acting career impotent.  So this summer I’m taking time to knock out some long-standing and time-consuming projects so that I can liberate my life and feel happier again.

How does that connect with today’s race?  Since the last race, I haven’t run at all.  This is because I’ve been focused on completing these projects.  The process has been good so far, and it’s not surprising that today’s 4-miler in Central Park was so slow for me.  I managed probably a little better than I expected, though I could tell my cardiovascular system wasn’t conditioned.  No matter, though: I decided I’d bike to the race today (giving myself a bit more exercise in this beautiful weather this morning) and I biked back, too, as a soft entrance to bringing fitness back into my life.  It is about this time that I planned on phasing running and training into my life.

In today’s weather–which was about 64 degrees, sunny, with comfortable humidity–I did 4 miles in 30:04 (7:31) for the inaugural NYRR Celebrate Israel Run.  I managed to pull off a really fast sprinting finish that pulled ahead of a ton of people in the last leg.  That was the fun part of this race.  It looks as if photos will be coming soon.  Here are my unofficial Garmin results.

Unofficial Garmin Results

This morning in the miserable cold and rain, I did my first race (and run!) since the Boston Marathon. I did the NYRR 4 Mile in soggy Central Park in 26:19 (6:35s). For me, that’s incredible!

My splits were really astounding. You can check them out via the Details link in the unofficial Garmin results below:

According to Garmin, my first mile was faster than any mile I’d run this year. Then, I topped that in the next mile! Amazing that this happened after running the Boston Marathon. I ran 6:31 … then 6:23! … then the slowest part, 6:52 … finishing up with another 6:23!

Overall, my body held up. I felt fully recovered from Boston, probably by some time yesterday, and stairs are no longer an obstacle. I was most concerned for this race about my ankle areas, where my capsules seemingly bulge a bit and pinch toward the beginnings of races, sending me suddenly nearly to the ground. But not a thing in my body hindered me for this race. I seem to think that running Boston with its hills actually helped this race!

Elizabeth ran this race as well, and she also did incredibly, running 6:48s for a 27:09 finish. And she also ended up placing 10th in her age group!! I think that is just damn sweet! She texted me, “Well I have a great coach!,” which was really nice to say to me.

I rang in the New Year (2011) with the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park. It’s my preferred method for ringing in the new year in NYC, and this year I ran it with Elizabeth. I even partook in the (fake) champagne on the 102nd Street Transverse!

I kept my running slow, with little spurts of sprinting and little challenges to Elizabeth, who was trailing me for a bit of the run. No particular pace for me meant FUN! Approaching the finish, I split from Elizabeth and picked up my pace a bit (a 6:48 final mile) before hitting a top-speed sprinting finish. Here are the deets:

It was 39 degrees but it felt really good, even though I was slightly underdressed for the event. The slush in Central Park was a little concern but I never slipped. I got to see NYRR’s Jono at the Champagne Station–he used to be my co-worker and he stations himself yearly at this location.

No official results for this fun run, just what my Garmin says. Here is a journalistic account of the evening, along with a video.