Archive for November, 2008

Mud Run – McGuire Air Force Base

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Six days after setting my PR at the ING NYC Marathon, I did the Mud Run at McGuire Air Force Base with a group of avid runners.

Team photo

Thanks to Bill for suggesting this race!

Bill at the mud hill.

This is a first for the event and it was great – 6.2 miles of mud and sweat.
The 10K course encompassed different types of terrain, including asphalt, dirt, hills, water hazards, a jaunt along the tarmac, and of course, mud! There were mud pits, rope climb walls, belly crawls, a tire course, wall climbing, creek traversals and more. It’s the most fun I’ve had at a race.
I am definitely doing this again in 2009!
Here are some pics I took of my teammates along the course: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sconzof/sets/72157609922432845/

New Marathon PR at the NYC Marathon

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

I completed the ING NYC Marathon yesterday with a finish time of 3 hours, 16 minutes and 58 seconds. This is my best finish time for a marathon, an improvement of about ten minutes over the last NY Marathon I did in 2006.

In the spring of 2008 I ran the NJ Marathon in Long Branch with a finish time of 3:46:28, so my time in NY is actually a 30 minute improvement in a harder race, just seven months later.

Next time I run the NY Marathon, I must remember to bring a sleeping bag and/or thermal foil. Waiting in the cold at the base of the Verazzano Narrows bridge for four hours before the start of the race is quite a task. Unfortunately, there is no way around this since runners in the first wave must catch the mid-town bus at 5am to get to Staten Island before 7am when the bridge is closed off to traffic. There are a few large tents which fill to capacity very quickly. But they are not heated; they just help block some of the cold wind. I snapped a few photos of the staging area with a disposable camera, since it’s an experience I don’t think is fully appreciated 🙂

The Day Before the Marathon

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

It’s finally here. Tomorrow at 9:40am is the start for the first wave competitors in the ING NYC Marathon. I’m running in the first wave, race number 8025. My progress can be monitored real-time here: http://fanalert.ingnycmarathon.org/Alerts.aspx.

My goal is to finish in 3:10, which is 16 minutes faster than my last New York marathon finish time. It will certainly be a challenge, but I’m ready to take it on! Thanks to a co-worker at Dow Jones, Michelle LaRoche-Gould, who tracked down an even-effort pacing chart, I know exactly what pace to run each mile. The spreadsheet is truly a work of art. Check it out here: NYCMarathonPacing.xls

I believe this has been my best training season. I ate much better this season (including more protein). I did every training run on my schedule and really worked hard during the speed workouts. I also did lots of cross training on my non-running days — much of which was core training. I also stayed mostly injury free. I have a minor shin splint which I’m hoping won’t affect my performance — usually I don’t feel the discomfort until after the race.

The weather looks good for tomorrow and I’m all packed. I’m heading off to the train station now.

ING — here I come.