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Happy 50th Birthday NYRR

There’s absolutely no question that New Yorkers are crazy. And I think New York runners are the craziest of them all. Today is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the New York Road Runners Club. There are running-related events going on all week, and this morning the NYRR hosted a 5 mile Anniversary Run at 5:30am (yes – AM) in Central Park. The run was free (normally they charge between $15-30) and was limited to the first 5,000 runners who signed up. When I signed up last week I thought, what 5,000 people are going to get up on a weekday before the crack of dawn to do a 5 mile race in the Park? Well, by last Saturday the race had filled up. That means 4,999 dummies, just like me, planned on lining up this morning to commiserate with their fellow dummies and run a circle around the Park. Today happened to be my long run day this week, so I probably would have been in the Park anyway, but definitely not that early! I guess it made sense to do the first 5 miles as part of the race and then just continue on, on my own.

When I woke up – at 4-friggin-AM, it was pouring rain. Whatever. I’d committed to myself (and Emily and Nick) that I’d do this race and wasn’t about to back out. What’s another two hours of sleep anyway?

We got up to the Park at around 5:20 and it was still pouring rain. I was surprised by the number of people waiting in the rain for the race to start, but it definitely did not seem like 5,000. In the end, about 1,800 people ran – props to us. The other 3,200 = wussies. I ran pretty easy, keeping my heart rate in zone 1 or low zone 2, trying to concentrate on a quick cadence and the fact that I would be running much farther than most of the people around me. After racing so much last year, this was a novelty for me this year. It was fun being surrounded by the crowd, listening to the footsteps and breathing. I finished the race with an official time of 38:42 (7:44/mile). I’m certain that I could have done it at least 45 seconds a mile faster. But that wasn’t the goal today.

After crossing the “finish line”, I stopped for a second to turn in my timing chip and continued back along the race course down West Drive in the Park. Almost immediately, the whole tone of my run changed – it went from a loud din of running noises to near silence. It was 6:10am and still pouring rain. There were no cars in the Park (they’re not allowed on weekdays until 7:30, I think). There were very few runners and even fewer bikes. At times, it felt like I had the road to myself. And definitely didn’t feel like I was running in NYC. As a contrast, when I rode in the Park at around the same time yesterday morning – a beautiful, sunny morning – it was jam-packed with runners, cyclists, walkers and rollerbladers. But this morning it was quiet and calm and peaceful. I did the five mile lower loop a second time and continued around the Park to 72nd Street on the east side, where I left the Park and ran over to Equinox for my weekly ice bath. Ahh!

This week’s NYRR anniversary reminded me about a documentary that we saw at the Tribeca Film Festival in April. The movie is called Run for Your Life – its a biography of Fred Lebow, the man credited with founding the NYRR and making it what it is today. He was a totally wacky man, but his ideas about running in New York City were really visionary. It’s pretty much just for running nerds or die-hard history of New York lovers, but I thought it was great and if you fit into one or both of those categories you should see it at some point.

Bike – June 3
Distance: 29.3 miles
Time: 1:34
Average heart rate: 121
Course: West Side to Central Park, 3+ loops
Conditions: Beautiful! high 60’s, sunny, a little wind

Run #1 – June 4 (5:30am)
Distance: 12 miles
Time: 1:34
Average heart rate: 144
Course: Central Park
Conditions: Rain, rain, rain, high 50’s

Run #2 – June 4 (6:00pm)
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 33 minutes
Average heart rate: 129
Course: East Village
Conditions: Overcast, humid, mid-70s