Got a flyer for this event in the goody bag at the Tobay Triathlon. Seemed interesting enough. Not too much information in the non-existent website. I wasn't even sure it was real. Had to google to find the parent website. Seemed real so signed up. Timing was decent too. Half-Mary before the marathon makes sense...
Eventually the website came and info took a while to show up. The map made no sense. The course seemed weird. I couldn't follow the map at all. Apparently, Flushing Meadow Park is tiny and you gotta run in *many* circles.
Looked at the calendar and oops - we're due a 20 miler. Weather good too. Jim went and picked up our stuff on Friday. Not too much there - cool tech shirt and that's it.
Lee's friend wanted for the 2 of them to get away to Mohegan sun for their respective birthdays. I suggested Sunday, April 5th. Being Easter, the casino and roads will be emptier and oh Yeah, I'll just run on Saturday. Even found a race too.
The plan: (Gotta have a plan) Jim picks me up at 6:45. We get to Flushing Meadow Park, get a good parking spot and run. We run an easy 7 and then we run the race. Normally I would prefer to run after the race but the race was gonna start at 9:13 which would mean we would get home late. Had to run pre and treat the day as a training run.
Left the house at 6:45 and all is well. Got a great parking spot. Won't have a problem bugging out as soon as we want. Started running. Ran a 6.25. Wanted easy but Jim was pushing a little. Just a training run so who cares. Lots of puddles. When we tried to detour, ran in mud. Socks are wet, calves/shins muddy.
Hung out a little, saw the APS crew, hit the mens room. Yes, opted for a mens room. Fortunatly, I always bring supplies. Someone should tell the maintenance people who are just smoking that there are 3000+ runners and support crews in the park and that they need to actually do their jobs and make sure TP is around.
Walked around, took a gel and some salt and water. Sweating big time. Was a little cold initially but temps got warm so I took the long sleeve shirt off. Kept the light gloves on tho. Don't like cold hands.
Went to pee one last time and I gotta be gross here. Again, I went to the mens room and thought of using a handicapped stall. Someone missed. Crap on the seat. Huge load on the floor. My dog poops less. C'mon people - NASTY! People with disabilities don't have too many choices. Wheelchair does NOT fit in a usual stall. If no one is there, definitly use it. It does not mean that it should always be empty but c'mon. Behave like a normal person. Enough preaching. People are disgusting.
Sunned in the sun to stay warm until the race started. Actually took a spot in the front.
So, here we are waiting for the start when a woman comes in and pushes in. Literally shoves her behind against my hand. No problem with that except I don't want to get blamed for sexual harrassment so I backed up. Well, miss_italia_hottie calls her friend over who precedes to shove her behind against my hand too. Once again I backup. Well, now the 2 hotties call another friend. He comes over and before he shoves his behind at my hand, I back up. Don't need any of that. How many of these people are gonna show up, damnit.
Race started and Jim and I are running together. Pushing too much. Gotta back off. Started with 7's and 8's. Stayed with Jim for a while but eventually had to let him go. I knew he wouldn't stay with me even tho his plan was to stay. That's OK.
Before we split we came on a fellow SunriseTri person. Also, at 1 point we got passed by a guy wearing a crown and a cape. We got to a place where there was a band playing. The king jumps out of the race course, runs to the band and starts dancing. If he was a girl, I could see him flashing the band. Anyway, 5 seconds of that and he runs back in and takes off. I'll try to find his picture. Anyway, Jim said he passed him later and that the King was hurting.
Fran from AP passed me. At 1 point, I see a person I don't recognize aim her camera at me. Took a picture. What? Hey, it was Helen, Rob's wife. Cool. Yelled hello.
The course: I get what they did. Instead of many loops, we circled around. Everytime, the runners passed a point in the course, the officials re-routed the course. It was seemless for us runners. They did a good job of it, I gotta admit. Still, I didn't like the course that much. Seemed like we were always turning. Turning and climbing. Climbing and turning. They also re-routed 2 huge flooded area. One was a huge puddle. The other one looked like a pond. All that rain!!!
Started talking to a guy who had bloody nipples. I pointed it out to him and he replied with "Man, my wife is gonna kill me". Had to reply with, if she's going to kill you for that, then you got worst problems. The guy next to us with headphones on, must have heard because he started cracking up. He also was in GI distress. At mile 12, he had to hit the porta-pottie. How bad you gotta be feeling if a mile away from salvation, you need to stop.
Another guy told me that as soon as he finishes he has to run to the subway becuase he has Lion King tickets at 2. Shower optional. Told him, I wouldn't want to sit next to him during the show.
Passed mile 12 and I could see the finish line tho it seemed short. My watches agreed - short. Doesn't matter. I see the chutes. Ran in, picked it up too only to find a turn at the end. Another 1/2 mile to go. Circle the lake or something toward the real finish line. Picked off some guys too. Crossed the line and got my medal. Pretty cool medal - gotta give them that.
Food spread seemed good too. Not like the NYRR stale bagel in a bag. Fresh bagels (cinnamon raison too) and muffins. Too bad still got passover to deal with. No carbs. Took an apple and a banana and looked for Jim. He did well - 1:46. Not his best but he was happy. He was also done. I wasn't. Ran another 3/4 to the car and around. The plan called for 20 - accomplished 20.
Got home for lunch and all is well. No YMCA classes because of Easter. Walked the dog while kids rode their bike. All good.
It was a good day overall. They did a good job directing runners. Good spread too. Cool medal. Still, didn't love the course. Bottom line - unless I do the whole series, probably not coming back.