Alley Pond 5 Mile Challenge!

05/15/2018:

really wasn't sure what to expect. Everything was set up against me. I guess we should first start with the excuses and take it from there. The previous month I did the Pistol Double Barrel so I didn't get in too much of speed work. Then, while Jeremy was at school and the girls in Florida, I played some racquetball and also used a badly balanced treadmill. Not sure what did it but I injured myself. I was having knee pain. I tried to lay off a little but was then getting (I guess) shin splints or basically pain shooting down the front of my calves for the first few miles so even if I wanted to push, I couldn't. Then I was planning on running 7 Marathons in 7 days which would have ended the Friday before this race. Oi... Maybe just volunteer or go extra slow? Who knows. I wasn't able to do breaststroke while swimming because of my knee which really bummed me out. Basically, everything was against me it seemed. I iced. I used heat. I tried everything. Few days before the race, I ran extra at Alley Pond and my knee seemed ok. Whoa... OK. Race is on. No volunteering but no expectations either.

I was nervous tho in reality I would have been nervous no matter what. Austin, my neighbor which Jeremy has tutored" was there with his Father. He was gonna run. Nice. Amer was there tho he was hurting. Hammad showed up as well as Tomsky. Gupta, Hammad's heart doctor, showed up but wasn't gonna race. Later hammad found out that he was now a patient as well. Oh boy. Still his wife ran her first with Tom.

We lined up. I pulled Austin to the front where he belonged.

NYPD had a color guard show up and the Nathional Anthem was sung beautifully by a male police officer. No one took a knee but in their defense nobody was making a Gazillion Dollars either so it didn't make sense to protest like an idiot either. We started.

I started out way to fast as usual and started slowing down. As you may know, I have no problem getting chicked but it was obvious that the female runners were really representing this year which was awesome.

Vivian jumped ahead which was awesome plus 2 female teenagers. Austin, Len Richards and Ed Jara were there too. I was doing my thing. I was going as hard as I could at this time and giving ground as well tho I wasn't going to make it easy for anyone. I was wondering if I would see Tomsky or rather when I would see him.

We climbed the first hill and into the parallel hill that angled to 73rd Avenue/Springfield Avenue. My shins were hurting but I kept going as hard as I could. I didn't feel like I had any speed. Did my best. We circled around and climbed back into Upper Alley to go around the baseball field/Dog run and back down the hill so we can re-climb the big first hill.

When we were still in Upper Alley, after the aid station and approaching back to the runners, I spied Tomsky and he was a little too close for comfort. Climbing up the big hill, I spied him going it down. Damn...

I started thinking "and then the student becomes the master" but I wasn't ready for that and I pushed. As long as he doesn't see me, I have a chance. I pushed. I couldn't look behind me but I knew he was coming for me. At least that's how it felt.

Let me again mention that the females were representing this year.

I was around the 3 mile point, when I saw first male coming back. Wow. Austin was 8th overall or 5th male. Told him to move it. Ed I think was 12th overall or 12th male. I don't remember. Len looked like he was hurting but he was moving.

I got to the turn around and Tomsky wasn't there. I was hurting. I started climbing and it wasn't too far before I saw him. I was hoping for more distance. I figure he was about 1/2 behind me. Very sad.

I was climbing. If he was gonna pass, I would make sure to make him earn it. I went up and down, up and down and up again. Took a breath and started going down. I was chasing and got some people but I looked back and saw that I was being chased by someone that I didn't know. Well, he was gonna have to earn it too and I ran away from him. I finished. It hurt. I knew I didn't do well. I was tracking my miles and I knew it...

A few minutes later, Tomsky finished and I told him that we need to run more. He wanted to find his friend which was exactly the direction I wanted to go as well.

Before we started tho, Crazy Jerry comes in. He isn't happy. He completly bypassed the finish line on purpose and turned toward the club house. People were wondering what the hell happened. I knew he did it on purpose. There was no way he could miss the finish line.

We saw Hammad and he looked good. I think he would have finished before Crazy Jerry but now I can't remember. He did beat Amer tho. Amer started strong and then started hurting and walking. Oh well.

Great conversation between me and Tomsky went like this:

ME: Nu? How was it?
HIM: It was hard!
ME: But you've done the course before. You knew what to expect. We definitly have run the course before...
HIM: Yes but NOT at the pace!!!

We found his friend who wasn't too too happy about getting lost. I was thinking he's nuts but in his words, "the volunteer only had 1 job to do". Apparently he and others took a wrong turn because that volunteer.

I don't know where exactly he got lost but this year there was also a 2 mile walk so perhaps that had something to do with it.

His friend finished and I got a call from Jeremy asking if I wasn't suposed to be home already. We were supposed to go to NJ. Oh well. Grabbed food and left. I knew I did bad anyway so probably didn't place. Still, I was curious as to how bad I did.

Later I found out, I got 2nd for age out of 7. Tomsky got 5th. I still got a PW but a trophy came with it so that was cool.

Jaime, a 63 year old speed demon who I saw was so focused, got 3rd overall. He trained Sophia (15), Vivian (45-AP) and Siena (13) who took 1st-3rd females. He also trained Lucas (11) who came in 18th overall. Except for Vivian, it was the 2 sisters and their younger brother. Wow.

Austin got 7th overall, 5th male and 1st for age. Ed Jara beat Len Richards with 16th overall, 13th male and 1st for age. Len came in at a still very respectable 21st overall, 16th male and 3rd for age. As if it matters, I came in 40th overall or 26th male and as I mentioned 2nd for age. I was beat by 14 women which was awesome to see. It's never that many. Yes it was my worst year but they just rocked it so why take away from them...

I think that's it. Following week, I knock out Rhode Island... Yay...

05/25/2018:

o here's a Crazy Jerry update. I actually ran with him twice since the race which is 2 more times than I ever ran with him. I knew he was pissed about the race and we needed to get the pink elephant out. I heard that he said he ran more like 7 miles which didn't make sense at all according to the clock. Still, here's what happened. He got steered wrong by a volunteer. Plain and simple. How did he find out? Simple, he saw the same volunteer again which wasn't supposed to be.

He was/is so pissed that he actually thought about asking for his membership dues back. Oh boy. Why didn't he cross the finish line? He saw that he was going to finish behind someone, I am not mentioning names here, from the club that CJR is faster. He didn't want it in the results that he got beat by that person. Since there were no starting mats, he didn't DNF. Instead he DNSed.

I get his frustration tho I don't agree with him. Still, it's his right to do whatever he wants. Oh well.

I respect him as a person and his way of thinking tho I don't agree with it. His thinking is "I'm too old to deal with this s*&t so I will just cut it out." My thinking is "I'm too old to deal with this s*&t so I wil just let it go." Which is better? I don't know. I don't think burning all bridges is the way to go. Sometimes you have to burn a bridge but most times, you don't really need to. Still, it is his choice. Oh well. I do hope that he does the race again next year as I think he does add something to it tho I won't hold my breath...