Last year, this race, known as the Sayville Running Company 10-mile run to the brewery, was postponed due to a heavy snowfall and was staged a weekend later when the temperature was in teens. The roads were not plowed and the course was altered—two loops instead of one. The weather forecast the evening before the run decided about my participation. I verified the forecast in the morning again—calm, partly sunny, high 30s. This year, the race won over skiing.

After the usual pre-race breakfast—oatmeal with walnuts and craisins, I hopped in the car and drove to Patchogue. I always prefer to arrive early and did so this time as well. I have never run here and was not pre-registered, so I wanted to make sure I have time to park and stand in line. It paid off. There is not a single parking spot, but many small lots spread over the area of half mile. The heated tent helped the registration process and runners were also grouped around the outdoor gas heaters. As the staging area started to fill before the race, it was evident that the number of toilets wasn’t sufficient for those 1000 participants.

The start was delayed, but no one was complaining. The weather was really great for running 10 miles. I started conservatively on the slower side and caught myself slowing even more at mile 3 or 4. I didn’t see anybody around me who I would compete with in my age category. Either they were younger or older. The course was simple—run forward, make u-turn, and run back to the finish. There were few little hills, if they can be called hills. It’s South Shore of Long Island. Around mile 5, I picked the pace and the last 2 miles I went as fast as I could. Those were my fastest miles. I finished 2nd in my age category, in 1:03:51 in the pace of 6:23/mile.

After the race, I talked to few friends while enjoying the refreshments, Blue Point beer, bagels, All Round Foods muffins, and baked ziti. The wait for the award ceremony was long, but understandable. There were 1035 finishers. I was awarded the blue glass stain with the brewery logo. I’ll definitely be back next year, if the weather will be runner friendly.

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Winter seemed to show up early. It was last fall, on Saturday, October 29th, the snow storm took over the northeast causing power outages of thousands of households. I remember the date precisely, as I was confined to a hotel room waiting for the Marine Corps Marathon the following day. Although powerful, it was just a false winter alarm. Since then, the temperatures hovered in the 40s and without a proper winter atmosphere it’s almost impossible to motivate myself to go to ski. The ski resorts near the NYC metropolitan area had trouble to make fresh snow. So it was rather out of curiosity that I, finally, drove to the nearest ski area at Mountain Creek, NJ, this past weekend. The Crystal Springs Resort, new owner, built a ski lodge, Red Tail Lodge, after about 16 years the old one burnt down.

In those 16 years the area changed hands three times. The previous 2 owners failed to build such a basic amenity. It is beautiful and spacious. It’s perfect for the metropolitan type of customer. A person who wants to socialize and then, perhaps, ski or ride. There is an elevator for the rental equipment, so the socialites renting the gear don’t have to carry it up or down the stairs. It also has few quirks. It’s possible to watch the commotion and people lining up for bus in front of the lodge while using urinating bowl in men’s restrooms on the main floor. But there is no shelf to rest your gloves.

The new lodge completely changed the layout of the Vernon base area. The lodge on one side and the magic carpet beginners area on the other are enclosing the main access path. The passage may turn to be too narrow for ski patrollers to get conveniently through with  a patient sitting in a sled. Customers arriving on foot across the bridge walk by the EMS/Patrol building first. Seeing an injured customer being loaded to an ambulance may have a great educational impact. It may keep the customers longer in the new lodge.

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This was a substitute race for The Bronx half marathon in August, which got canceled due to the hurricane Irene. And this time the weather was magnificent for running. It was calm, sunny, 44°. While I was warming up, I realized how “hilly” the Central Park is compared to the flat lands of the Long Island South Shore. When I used to run 4–6 races in the park each year, I didn’t think about it as being as hilly. I was here for the first time in 2011 and the last time I was running here was also for cancer research 5 miles on Father’s day 2010.

I arrived ahead of time so I could easily find a parking spot. I warmed up by running 3 miles along the Central Park South and 72nd Street, then I picked up the bib. Since I haven’t run with NYRR for more than a year, they upgraded my pace. It still qualified me for the first corral anyway, so that was good. The national anthem singer, runner, was one of the best I have experienced during such venues.

I started conservatively, as I remembered the hills. I knew I wouldn’t create my personal best time. I wanted to set a pace I would be able to sustain for 5 miles. I remember my first split was 6:15. The 1st mile crowd around me was dense, but during the second mile it dispersed and I could concentrate on my running. The second split was also 6:15. I felt comfortably and observed my stride downhill, how high the knees went when running uphill, if the neck wasn’t tight, or how the arms were swinging. It was like a textbook exercise.

I don’t remember the mile splits further into the race, but I must have run faster, as my resulting pace was 6:11. I even had enough strength for the final finish kick. After the finish, I didn’t feel a need to stop and lean against my thighs. I wasn’t gasping, but I felt I ran to my maximum capacity and wasn’t slacking off. I don’t think I ever felt so happy with my effort. Usually, when analyzing the performance after a race, I find mistake here and there, but not after this race. Later, looking at the results my impression was confirmed when I found out that I achieved my best ever AG effort of 77.8%.

While I was looking at the results, I noticed that this year was my 10th anniversary with NYRR as a member. In the table below, there are 2 columns with times. Each time represents a pace per mile. The left column shows pace I attained in 2001, the right column shows the recent (2011) pace. At first glance they are pretty close,

but, after the remaining fields get uncovered you realize that the left column shows my pace attained in races (5K to 4M). The right column shows my current, literally off the bed, morning warm up runs (4M) in the neighborhood. The pace I consider now comfortable was very agonizing 10 years ago.

The images below are snapshots of the mentioned 2001 races and results from the Join The Voices 5-mile run on 12/4/2011. Source: NYRR results.

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I think I took part in this event for the 6th time. As always, it was well organized and it’s growing. The course has changed yet again, but it really didn’t matter. On the contrary, having the course totally different each year would make it more interesting. I like the kid races take place before the 4-miler. I also like any race to which I don’t have to drive. I picked the bib and the goodies from the Runner’s Stop store the day before, so I could run directly to the start of the race. I noticed the wind was blowing more than previous year which would slow my pace. My thoughts were later confirmed.

After the initial half mile, the runners stream spread and I didn’t have any companion. About a mile into the race a faster master passed me and I also passed two runners. We remained in this order till the finish. Pretty boring! That’s why I appreciated my support team yelling from the stroller and behind the camera even more. At mile 2, I started to labor with my breathing while the legs would still like to move faster. I was thinking how I prefer to run longer distances, i.e. 10K, 15K and plus, since I don’t run out of breath on such distances. Rather, the legs get heavy. I would have to adjust my training.

As I didn’t have anybody to “compete” against, I just glided to the finish in the resulting time of 23:56 (5:59 pace). I am very bad in time trials. I placed 10th OA. After the race, I spent few minutes with Jerry Kelly, sport massage therapist from Massapequa. He offered his services and it felt really great.

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