Not much to report on this one. Same old, same old. The big thing was that JS had signed on (he who whipped me a few weeks back at Scarsdale) and John Nelson was at the start which meant that we had a three-man 50+ team. The bad new was that this meant that I had no excuses and had to finish. In the event, I would be our third man, with JS well ahead and JN only a bit.

A bit of trepidation heading in. Just before my exit on the Deegan, traffic backed up. A multi-vehicle accident had just occurred, and NYPD cars and FDNY rigs were coming up behind. Three lanes became one, and the vehicles were a mess, but it didn’t take long to get to Marcus Garvey Park, although the delay meant I had to take the subway down instead of walking.

Normal routine. Get number and D-tag and get shirt. (This race has a nice high-tech shirt.) Port-a-san and to the start. (Video below.)

This is the same course as the Scottish Run, one plus lap of the Park, finishing at Tavern. The day was beautiful, with a bit of a wind now and then. I would only take water at the one mile mark to wet my mouth, but it was otherwise not needed. I saw JS immediately upon entering the corral and got him to move up a bit with me; he was too far back.

After an extended wait, we were off. It was crowded. I immediately felt lethargic. I was concerned about my right knee, which has been bothering me for the past few days. It would not be a problem. The race itself would be a bit of a blur. A bit of an ache with my sciatica and then a chest pain at about 3.5. Both passed. Run tangents. Just cruising along, hurting, but not running particularly fast. Mile split was about 6 and then 6:06s or so. LK said “Go Joe” as I headed down Cat Hill (I did wave). Through 5 at 31:00. While earlier I was worried about breaking 40 some rough calculations after passing the 5K at 18:59 told me I’d at least be OK on that.

I finished strongly. Again, I’m not unhappy with the result. It was as hard as I could run, and often a struggle. The lack of speed — sciatica is keeping me away, and I aborted a tempo at 11 minutes on Tuesday when it appeared — is showing, but que sera sera. In the race, I had to keep going lest I tear a rift in the space-time continuum. Just kidding. I had to keep going because I was the No. 3 on our team. I could see John for most of the race, but JS was safely ahead — he would run 36:38, good for 4th in the 50-54. I now had team responsibilities, which kinda sucks and kinda is great.

I missed JS after the finish, but did see several others. And with him our first and John Nelson our second man, WS finished second in the 50+ AG, to Central Park, which is now apparently the Central Park Track Club New Balance. With my 38:19, I was 12th in the AG, although five seconds out of 10th. (Would’ve been 8th in 45-49.) 82 age-graded. A brief chat with Richard T after the race, who warned me that Greg D was on the comeback trail. All of this is incentive to keep working. I don’t want to suck at this.

Here are some raw videos that I took, hoping to give out-of-towners a sense of these races.

The first may give a sense of the crowds for these races. This one, though, was not sold out, which is rare these days. It was also a Club race, which means it was deeper at the front:

And a bit of the post-race stuff:

The next two, waiting for and taking the subway uptown. There are those who don’t care for the subway, but I love it.

Finally, a little walk to the car. I include this because of its Marathon significance.

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