OK. I’ve gotten my number for the NYC Half. 151081. What’s the deal with that? The race site says numbers go to 15999. I speculated to teammate John Nelson that I’d be starting in the Bronx. He reassured me. No. I’d start at the Rockies. Hell, it may be the ones in Colorado.
So I sent a note to NYRR asking what was happening. I received a terse, all-caps reply, “THAT IS YOUR ENTRY NUMBER.” OK. Make me feel like a dick for asking. One of, as Hans Gruber would put it, the benefits of a classical education is the ability to, well, read, and as I noted in response, NYRR said it’s my “race number.” NYRR might want to be a tad clearer in the future. And work on its people skills. Maybe I should try to join its board.
Yes, I’m starting to get nervous about the race. My left Achilles tendon has been bothering me off and on, but it seems OK when I run, so we’ll see. Having blown up at the Manhattan Half, I was hoping to be ready for this one. I’ve gotten in some good tempo runs and some decent long runs, so I’m optimistic. To a point. Why did I enter this stupid thing?
Don’t Cry For Me
TK posted the “League of Their Own” clip of Tom Hanks repeating the truism, “there’s no crying in baseball.” I’m not so sure about whether that’s true in running, speaking for me. I was on the edge of tears when I stopped just north of 90th Street in NYC 2006 (and TK notes Kara Goucher’s tears at Boston). Racing a marathon is such an internally big-deal.
The crying meme is a hook for a couple of entries I came upon in the last day, one of someone whose every entry I read and another of someone I read now and then. The first, Building a Faster Me, told her horror story that has destroyed her chances of racing well at Boston. Her response? Not much I can do about it, I’ll have my chance again, and I’ll do it for the fun of it. (I’m not going to mention the hole-in-my-foot woes of someone else training for a spring marathon.) (Both of these blogs are worth regular visits.)
The other was one of those do-I-really-want-to-do-this posts, which brought to mind not only my recent soliloquy on the subject but also the race/run distinction I’ve been applying since this time last year, i.e., if you don’t want to do the requisite work for a marathon, you ain’t gonna be racing it, even if you put up a crappy (for you) time that others find mighty impressive even if you know it’s a joke notwithstanding that it qualifies for a race held on Patriots Day. More important, though, it was somewhat silly, bordering on self-indulgent crap (a reason the blog’s not on my must-read list). If you’ve been running for a while, you may have doubts at the margins, you sometimes have to back-off and re-align priorities. What you don’t have is doubt about the core belief system, i.e., I run because I’m a runner. Up. Down. Sideways. What do I want? Why do I want it? How much do I want it?
Come to think of it, it’s bullshit that there’s none of in racing.
Videos
Enough of that. Here are the videos. Couple of things from OK Go.
There’s a set of how-we-made-it shorts. And its classic, better way to use a treadmill:
And now for something completely different.
And here’s the Hanks clip (via TK*):
Note
* which I learned means not-quite-done (“to come“) in publishing lingo (return)
RunWestchester 
9 comments
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March 18, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Robert James Reese
Good luck on Sunday. I’ll be out there cheering all you runners on.
Yikes, I hope they never actually have 151081 as a bib number. Who knows, though? If they make enough waves they might be able to get away with it someday.
March 19, 2010 at 7:59 am
adventureartist
Joe, you don’t know by now, Never ask NYRR a question like that! ha ha. I too have been reduced to a small child by their staff, well by Janet. I assume you asked them when you picked up your number as they never pick up their phone. I had the same thing happen at the NYC marathon, I finished over 1 hour 40 minutes faster than my “designated number” and had to stand and shiver while the Uhaul trucks guys tried to find my bag. Good luck on Sunday, and I hope you get through the gates in a speedy time and that you are not lined up in Westchester.
March 19, 2010 at 1:40 pm
joegarland
Hillary,
NYRR has trouble dealing with those between the elites and the masses, although certain people there have been very helpful. When I won an age-group aware in the marathon it took a month of emails to be told, “oh, you can pick it up at the front desk.” It couldn’t even send it to me? I know we shouldn’t think we’re entitled to attention on little logistical things, by “we” I mean those toward the front — nice Al Gordon award BTW — but I at least sometimes think I am, on simple logistical things. (In the end, the “local competitive” start for the marathon is nice though.)
March 19, 2010 at 2:45 am
Ewen
Joe, you’ll get the full race experience starting at the Rockies. Remember, there’s no crying in half marathon or shorter racing (unless you come 4th in the Olympics). You can race again soon. But there can be crying in marathon races.
You’re saying Jaymee is as tough as Hans Gruber, or as educated? I know she’s a runner who races marathons. There was a good story on Julie’s blog about a perfect marathon race.
I liked the bit about how elite runners are perceived, and how if this particular runner were to run 2:29 it would be a race worth crying over whereas most of the mugs in the field would applaud it as a great run:
“I remarked unaffectedly that I felt like an impostor among the Tanuis and Aberas and Nderebas and DeHavens traipsing along nearby. Dan, a 2:21 marathoner, gave amused assent. The thought was devoid of timidity; a half-accomplished runner knows his position far better than the wags who would lump him in the “elite” category for the sake of convenience, ignorance, and hyperbole.”
I’ll check the how-we-made-it shorts. Saw that amazing video in the first week – it already had 1,300,000 views.
There’s a similar old saying from car racing “When the flag drops, the bullshit stops.”
March 19, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Flo
Good luck, Joe!! Have a fantastic race! Too funny, “work on its people skills”. Lol. May your achilles remain quiet and help you make that zoomy finish time you’ve got in store.
That first video? Absolutely brilliant! What a great song, too. Love the treadmill one too, of course, saw it a while back.
March 19, 2010 at 2:07 pm
ny wolve
I hear you. I always had pleasant interactions with NYRR until lately. I have had an ongoing “correspondence” with NYRR over my guaranteed entry for the marathon. In sum I never got the email with directions, and after 5 unanswered email over a month of increasingly desperate, trying not to freak out email, I received “You are accepted.” Of course my question was that the NY marathon website said “Application Status: Accepted” and I asked whether that meant my application was accepted or if I was accepted into the marathon. So I emailed that question back and got a somewhat less equivocal “Your application is accepted. You are in.” I gave up at that point, and if I somehow get screwed, will use my guaranteed status and this email exchange as proof.
Oh, and because NYRR members get a discount on marathon entry ($45) and I was not offered that option, I paid the non-NYRR price. I politely asked them 7 times to roll that difference into a one year extension of my NYRR membership — as offered when you apply and pay as a non-NYRR member. No reply, ever. I give up. I figure if I am in the marathon, I’ll fight that fight later.
March 19, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Alex
Thanks for the plug, Joe! Your experience with the NYRR made me think of this Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJyGJQx2Fgk. Best on Sunday! –Alex
March 22, 2010 at 5:40 pm
TK
I cry far too much when I’m running. It’s the only time I’m along with my thoughts so the emotions come willy-nilly. In a race, though? Only if it’s a marathon, as we all seem to agree. Well OK, maybe I get weepy if I PR a shorter distance.
And yes, whenever people say in meetings, “That’s TK,” I have a flash for a moment where I think it’s my responsibility. (I work in book publishing.)
March 22, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Ellipses on the NYC HALF shell… « Pigtails Flying
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