NYRR 5th Avenue Mile Start - 70+ Age Range
Every year The Harriers get a group of 30+ to help out at two separate races. This past Sunday Adam and I joined the group and helped out by volunteering at NYRR’s 5th Avenue mile road race. Adam and I were assigned the task of crowd control for the last 100m of the race, which was probably one of best jobs to get. Being at the finish line for the second half of the heats I was able to enjoy watching the winners of some of the older categories come in. Surprising how at 70+ there were still some men running sub 6 minute miles! Even watching some of the slower runners come in was pretty amazing. I can only hope to be able to run like that when I get in my70’s! It was also pretty fun to watch Adam in his element controlling crowds while waiting for the elites to pass by. . . . do I see a change in day jobs coming??? Funnier yet . . . at the end of the event Adam came by to show me the hand that had given Bernard Lagat (2nd place finisher for the men) a high five! I wonder if he has washed that hand yet.
Home Town Pride!
From past entries it is pretty obvious that I have been going through a rough patch in my training. I know it sounds corney, but volunteering was a great boost in helping me to re-evaluate and to shift gears. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to my planned 23 mile long run for the week. Procrastinating as always, I put it off until later in the day on Sunday. I wont say that my run was exactly easy. At one point I realized my watch was off, and after completing 15 miles and leaving Central Park I lost track how far I had ran. Instead I decided to not think about time or pace, but instead about form and just ran until my legs were sore, at which point I put in an additional 20 minutes, running from the East River to the closest train stop, and called it a day. In the end, I finished with 21 miles under my belt.
