The new (September) issue of Running Times has an article by Marc Bloom. Marc is a long-time follower of HS running, and publisher of the Harrier, which covers the subject. He’s also the author of “God on the Starting Line,” which details his coaching of a New Jersey Catholic High School cross-country team, from the perspective of a Jewish coach.
His RT article is entitled “Muddy Footprints” (it’s not yet available on-line.) He provides “10 Reasons to Race Cross Country” and, bless him, notes the experience of “eating the dust of the 40- and 50-year-old youngsters” in the USATF XC Champs in Maryland last February. Here they are:
- Run in the Footsteps of History
- Run in the Natural Landscape
- Run with Less Injury
- Run for Fun, Fitness and Variety
- Run Trails with Street Smarts
- Run for Road-Racing Prowess
- Run for Your Team
- Run with a Pre-Boom Mindset
- Run with Spikes if You Can
- Run Without the Watch in Mind
Whenever I run a 5K at Van Cortlandt, there’s a spot — it’s about at the 1 1/4 mark — where I want to stop and, as Ryan Hall said he felt at Boston, find another career. Shortly before Blacktop. But I get over it and suck wind to the finish. My older legs can’t carry me down the hills — VCP has a number of uphills going out and major downhills coming home — as they used to so it’s frustrating to have people open up on me in the last mile.
And everyone suffers over the final 1/2 mile on the flats. But for the reasons articulated by Bloom, there is a purity and specialness about it.
There are three runs that I think all runners should do at least once. (This list does not include running a marathon.)
- a Track Race
- a Cross-Country Race
- a Road Relay
I have spoken about running road relays, as well as about doing track races. But I think it’s worth flagging cross-country as well.
Here in the New York area, there are plenty of races, chiefly at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. It’s where you’ve likely run many an XC race if you ran for a high school in the area. Most accessible are the biweekly 5K races put on Thursday nights from May through August by my friends at the Van Cortlandt Track Club. NYRR has mostly-5K races come the fall, with a you-have-to-do-once Pete McArdle 15K (brutal is too kind), on Dec. 13 this year.
And the VCTC races: $5.
Will you finish last? First, as noted in my track post, DFL is nothing to sneeze at. Second, take a look at the results for the VCTC’s 2008 races. Third, and most important, who cares? A good time is had by all.
RunWestchester 
7 comments
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July 17, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Robert
I’ll definitely try to make it up to a couple of those 5Ks. They sound like a lot of fun and could make midweek tempo work much more interesting (not to mention more intense).
Please let me know if you know of any other good non-NYRR races in the area. I’m getting ready to publish a new NYC-metro-area calendar of races (at http://www.nycRunningRaces.com – it’s up there now, just doesn’t have as many races entered as I’d like yet),
Why do you not include running marathon on the list? Seems to me like that’s a very important experience that everyone should get at least once.
July 17, 2009 at 6:47 pm
joegarland
I like the racing site. I’ll get you a list of Westchester races that I know of.
Why no marathon? I will be posting something eventually to respond to your “why not?” tweet because I think the marathon is the outer limit of traditional races, with the perfect blend of speed and distance. Beyond that you’re talking about just covering the distance. But the marathon is all about setting up the final 10K when the body changes with the first 20 miles.
But why not be a “must do”? Challenging as a marathon is, I think that there’s more than enough exceitement and drama in shorter races. And shorter races are different in kind from marathons, and each distance has its own blend of speed and strength. Plus they don’t have the commitment that a marathon does. As I’ve said elsewhere, if you can’t because of time or injury get in the necessary mileage to race a marathon, you might as well concentrate on the shorter stuff.
Hence I don’t put a marathon — I’ve done just two — in the must-do camp. But I think everyone should give XC and track and relays a shot. The first two are perhaps thought of as primarily for high schoolers and collegians. They’re not.
July 17, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Robert
Fair enough. I agree that beyond the marathon distance the achievement becomes more about the miles covered than the speed. But, there are still some amazing performances out there. The guy who won this year’s Badwater finished with like 10:30/mile pace. Considering the conditions and a 135 mile mostly uphill course, that’s insane. It definitely was a race pushing those athletes as hard (or harder) than the near-2 hour marathons do. Different but equally impressive, to me at least. Anyway, I’ll look forward to your full post answering the “Why not?”
As for the 26.2, it just had such a huge mental impact on me and I feel like it’s an experience I want everyone to be able to have. I think the world would be a much better place if we all put ourselves through that at least once.
Finally, thanks in advance for the race info.
July 18, 2009 at 7:59 am
threlkeld
You left out on tantalizing aspect of the VCTC summer series: the overall winners get carrot cake (or at least that’s what I read somewhere). I wanted to do one or two of those Thursday evening 5Ks but I’m off racing until I’m “officially no longer effed up.”
July 18, 2009 at 1:10 pm
joegarland
Indeed, as Julie points out, age-group awards are carrot cakes from Lloyds (which is across Broadway from the finish).
July 18, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Julie
Oh, it’s AG awards that get cake? Hmm.
December 12, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Groups | The New York Running Show
[…] race, and kudos to them. This led to a discussion of racing cross, which brings to mind a list from Marc Bloom on reasons to do it. GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); […]