NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon

May 22, 2010 — alpaul

Great day to be running a half marathon in Brooklyn. Loved the weather conditions in Prospect Park. Anh and I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich for breakfast which she prepared. Thanks baby! All our gear prep was done the night before. My hydration fluids were accelerade and water. Shoes – Nike Lunaracer+ which I bought specifically for Brooklyn. In training they worked and felt perfect. I took 2 gels which I didn’t use today. I have been using accelerade for the past month and haven’t felt the need to use my gels on runs. We left home to catch the N train at 4:30am. Transferred to the Q at 57th to Prospect Park at about 5:20am.

Arriving at a race early is priceless. There weren’t any lines at the potties. We took advantage. Twice :-) .

We were seeded in the 3rd corral “yellow”. Runners were excited. I have been looking forward to Brooklyn for a few months now.

Borough President, Marty Makowitz, wished all of us good luck. Anthem. Then the sound of the horn started us off. NYRR delivered a very organized race today. Plenty of water and Gatorade this time around. Volunteers thumbs up as always.

My training coming in was superb. I stuck to a plan of quality not quantity mentality. Track, hill repeats, tempo and the weekend “long run”. It all paid off and I began ripping the benefits early on in the race (maybe too early at mile 3 I was flying at 7:29 pace per mile). Just had to slow down at that point. Crash and burn was not an option today.

My two rounds of Prospect Park felt like a breeze. It was all smooth sailing through the hills, flats and downhills.

On our exit to Ocean Parkway I felt fresh and knew I could keep a sub 8:00 minute pace to the finish.

As Anh says running down Ocean Parkway can be mental. At times it pretty much felt like a treadmill run. So I just focused on my rhythm and pacing.

Last 3 miles I stepped up on the acceleration a bit and got extra motivation with my passing of other runners. The cheering in Prospect Park was incredible.

Approaching the broadwalk at Coney Island only drew me into overdrive. I manuvered on the broadwalk in a trampoline fashion to finish off strong with a very satisfying PR. Great day of racing. Until next year.

P.S. I love my Fuel Belt!!!!!!

My official time: 1:42:20 (PR by about 9 minutes from last year)
Anh 1:43:02 (fantastic job babe!)

Garmin Data


Brooklyn Half Marathon Map

Brooklyn Half Marathon Elevation

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Al Gordon Classic – Keep Moving

February 28, 2010 — alpaul

Al Gordon Classic marks our one year anniversary of running with New York Road Runners. The run kicked off with memories of Al Gordon which were shared by his family and NYRR. His grandson said one of Al’s favorite quotes was “keep moving”. Keep moving was exactly what I planned to do in Prospect Park in remembering Al.

Al Gordon passed away last summer at the age of 107. He completed his first marathon at 80. He was deeply devoted to running, walking NYRR and philanthropy.

At the sound of the horn 3600+ runners crossed the starting line at Prospect Park for the 4 mile run course. I am not very familiar with the course being only ran it twice before last year. I went out at a 7:23 mile pace at mile 1. finished with a 7:10/mile average. Finished time 28:40.

In comparison to last week’s Run for Haiti, I felt fresher after today’s race. May just be a sign of speed to come? or Central Park is just tougher :)

May have to stop wearing my heart rate monitor at races. Converted into a waist monitor again today, lol.

Major thanks to NYRR and the volunteers for making this race possible and keeping the course safe.

Post Race: Met with some Dailymiler and Twitter running friends for brunch. Michelle picked out Dizzy’s, which served up a delicious brunch. As always enjoyed a post race mimosa.

Garmin Connect Data.

ALBERT H. GORDON (1901-2009)

Among the most respected and inspiring of Wall Street’s business leaders for more than half a century, Al Gordon also served as a BSUF Director for 33 years.  After earning his Harvard MBA in 1925, he played a dominant role in restoring the iconic investment banking firm of Kidder, Peabody from bankruptcy to a position of industry leadership.  Known for his exemplary lifestyle, integrity and philanthropic activity, Al was an intellectually keen and very generous contributor to the success of this Foundation.  He was elected a Life Fellow of the BSUF in 2004.

Prospect Park Elevation

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NYRR: Run for Haiti 4 miler

February 20, 2010 — alpaul

One of my best highs for running is doing it for a cause. Over 9000 runners, walkers and children were registered for today’s run. Also registered were virtual runners including: Usain Bolt, Haile Gebrselassie, Paula Radcliffe, and Meb Keflezighi. With so many runners registered I was somewhat nervous about getting there early. Also the fact that there wouldn’t be any corrals. However NYRR (New York Road Runners) always does a great job of keeping races organized. There were pace times posted from 5 mins, 6 mins, 7 mins pace etc. (thanks again volunteers for making it all possible) So base on an honor system I think most people seeded accordingly.

Going into the race my best time was 29:25. I told myself as I always do just listen to your body while running a hard race. I love running in Central Park, just know about every hill and flat now :) .

After a 5 minute late start and the crowd getting antsy the gun went off.

I went out hard knowing I could maintain a solid 5K race pace. Decided not to watch my Garmin or glance at the course clock. Just keep striding along. At about mile 2, I felt that my heart rate monitor was loosening up. After adjusting it slightly, oops it fell off my chest. Thankfully my undershirt was tucked in so it stayed above my waistline.

Just kept striding hard for the remaining 2 miles. Still not keeping track of my pace. Left turn to the finish line at 72nd traverse. Final result PR baby! Official finish time 28:23. (7:05 / mile). 483 overall.

Garmin race data (funny how the heart rate chart shoots up when it falls from my chest)

Post run. We met Daniel and we joined some friends along with Michelle for brunch. Celebrated with a mimosa and poached eggs with blue crab, um!

Race Result

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First race of 2010 – Fred Lebow Classic (5M)

January 10, 2010 — alpaul

Our first race of the year. The Fred Lebow Classic (5 miler). Both Anh and myself  performed exceedingly well finishing with personal records (PR). I finished in 36:22 and Anh 38:19. The weather was extremely cold with a temperature of about 19F. There were over 3000+ runners participating in this race in Central Park. Lots of runners came out in the New York frigid weather to support the great legacy of Fred Lebow. During his life, Mr. Lebow was actively involved with the New York Road Runners (NYRR) and also he was a founder of the NYC Marathon.

I was positioned in the second corral (red bib). The first being, blue (hoping to get into the blue corral sometime this year :) , with adequate training). My fingers were so cold even with gloves on. I had to place them under my arm pits just to keep them warm. Before entering my corral, I even used the potty for added warmth. Race gun went off on time, thank God. I went off fast with the intention to keep that steady pace. Goal was to finish with a PR while listening to my body. The only challenge the course posed for me was at mile 3.8 when we encountered a final hill. I had to put in an extra kick to maintain my finish goal. Throughout the race I kept bypassing water stations, just too cold to stop and drink “ice water” I thought.

Afterthought, extremely satisfied with my race results and running this prestigious race. Awesome beginning to the 2010 season.

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Road to Philadelphia Marathon – November 22

October 22, 2009 — alpaul

Exactly one more month until Anh P. and myself participate in our first marathon. Excitement is brewing. This has been almost a year in the making. It all began when I gave Anh New York Road Runners membership for Christmas. After we both became members of NYRR we decided to make the goal of the New York City Marathon a reality, our first run for the season was “Al Gordon Snowflake” in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, at the time Al Gordon who was 107 at the time participated in the race, sadly he passed in the summer.

Unfortunately we were not able to run the NYC marathon in 2009 because of failure to win spots in the lottery. In order to run the NYC marathon one can be entered in a variety of ways: NYC Marathon lottery entry, 9 races + 1 volunteer as an NYRR member or raise $2500 for your favorite charity. We did not win the 2009 lottery, but we have fulfilled our 9+1 requirement as NYRR members and will be running the NYC marathon in November 2010.

The Philadelphia marathon is famous for being a fun, flat and a fast course so we decided to sign up for the race. We began training for it back in August and have really progressed tremendously. Lately Sundays have been our long run days, so far our longest run has been 19.4 miles. In the next 2 weeks we’ll be faced with out longest run ever which will be 22 miles, looking forward to it :)

More marathon training updates to come, stay tuned.

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NYRR Sprint Triathlon – Video filmed and edited by Anh

September 4, 2009 — alpaul

This video was captured and edited by my wife, Anh. This was my first triathlon. The NYRR inaugural sprint triathlon was held in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens. The park is host to a 50m Olympic pool. We swam 400m, then biked for 10 miles and finished the triathlon by running 3.1 miles. It was absolute fun that day.

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NYRR Sprint Triathlon

August 23, 2009 — alpaul

Bike Portion of TriathlonToday was my first triathlon.  First I had to swim 400m in the pool, then bike for 10 miles and finished the triathlon with a 5k run. It was a great experience that I shared with 500 registered athletes. I was quite satisfied with my 98th place overall finish.

Swim

I seeded myself in the 10 minute wave. As the swim began I was just trying to get my rhythm. I probably stopped twice at the wall to take a breather. The swim was 400m. It called for 8 laps of snaking through the lanes.

Bike

I was very relived when I made it onto my bike and began the course. Just to be out of the water and on the bike was an achievement to itself. The course in Flushing Meadows is very technical with some speed bumps and corners along the way.

Run

During my run I was thinking just finish. Being that I was recently hospitalized I did not want to push the pace too hard. I finished the run course which is pretty flat in 26 minutes.

Official Finish time:

Swim: 10:54

T1: 2:52 (way too much time was spent here)

Bike: 31:41

T2: 2:42 (again caught sleeping in T2)

Run: 26:05

Overall Finish Time: 1:14:12 (98th/369 finishers)

2009 Race results

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Colon Cancer Challenge

March 22, 2009 — alpaul

Colon Cancer Run

Colon Cancer Challenge. We ran this race in honor of some very close friends of ours who have lost or are close to cancer survivors.

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