Winter Swag

I had the absolute joy of volunteering for the NYRR Ted Corbitt 15K as part of the mandatory volunteering required for qualifying for the 2010 NYC Marathon. I got up at 545am and stumbled to the park at 7am, where I served as a "Central Park South Marshall". It was bitterly cold for the 1.5 hours I was out there but at least i got a long sleeve t-shirt...

Race to Deliver - Records will Fall

Race: 8:30AM Sunday 11/22/2009 Race to Deliver 4M
Weather: Sunny in the low 40s
Performance: 31:25 (7:51/mi PR)
Post-Race Snack - One Bagel

Take Home Haul
1 Race to Deliver Long Sleeve White T-Shirt
1 Apple

Philadelphia Race 2 - Ouch

The second of the two Philadelphia races was the Schuylkill River Loop.

Ryan and I entered Fairmount Park in Philadelphia for a picture-perfect Sunday morning run. This was the nicest run I have ever done - we pass by the Art Museum and do this loop along Boathouse Row. Spectacular. As for the performance, it left something to be desired. I had to stop for one minute twice and post-race my left knee and right ankle throbbed and ached.

Race: 9AM Sunday 11/15/2009 Schuylkill River Loop Run 8.4m
Weather: Sunny in the low 60s
Performance: 1:17:10
Post-Race Snack - One Bottle of Water and Two Bananas

The swag

1 Orange T-Shirt (Printer made an error - it says 39th, really meant to say 37th)
2 Tastycakes Cream-Filled Koffee Kake Cupcakes
2 Apple Pie Gu Shots
1 Banana
1 Bottle Water

Philadelphia Race 1 - Winner with an asterisk

I traveled down to Philadelphia on Friday night to do back-to-back races in the Metro Philly area.

Saturday - Elke drove Chris and myself to cloudy Camden to do my first race in New Jersey in 2009. A murky cloudy day resulted in only 82 people running along the windy waterfront, but we took advantage of the adverse conditions to score ourselves...medals! Elke won her age division, and since the overall winner was in our age bracket, Chris got a 3rd place medal, and I was elevated to 1st place! Afterwards, we went to the Philadelphia Orchard project and planted an Asian pear tree in North Philadelphia.

Race: 11AM Saturday 11/14/2009 Camden Turkey Trot 5k
Weather: Cloudy in the low 50s
Performance: 25:36 (7:50/mi PR)
Post-Race Snack - One Bottle of Water and One Mixed Berry Nutri-Grain Bar

The swag

1 Dark Gray Long Sleeve Turkey Trot T-SWhirt
1 Rutgers Camden Red T-Shirt
1 Bottle Aquafina
1 Blueberry Nutri Grain Bar

Work Swag - I won!

For the first time in recent memory (the last 20 years or so), I actually won a random raffle. There was a developers conference at work, and on top of receiving a long sleeve t-shirt for being one of the first 100 attendees, the next day I found out that I have won...Bucky Balls.

Pictures to f0llow.

White Collar Swag

On Thursday October 22, my co-worker and I passed by the USA Network's White Collar Shirt Bar in Rockefeller Center. They were promoting the launch of their new TV show White Collar by giving out custom fitted white shirts by sharp shirtmaker Thomas Pink . Standing in line for an hour yielded for me a made-to-order Slim-Fit Button Down white shirt which arrived 12 days later. Now that's some sweet swag.

Superhero Swag

Thanks to daylight savings time, I was able to sleep in. Linda and I dressed up for for the Superhero 5k in Cambridge. Given our alter ego nicknames on our bibs of DRAGON and BATMAN, we went to Walmart (no luck) and then Target foraging for costumes. Linda ended up getting a boys large (10-12) Red Dragon Ninja outfit, although she refused to wear the pants or the sash. I picked up a rather lame Justice League t-shirt which had Batman on it. We were impressed by the creativity of the fellow runners - Hamburglar, Juggernaut, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a cross-dressing Dorothy, various Supergirl, Superman, and Batman outfits (with the cowl and jumpsuit). We didn't win the $100 prize for Best Costume, but we did manage to score a fair amount of swag, although in the time I had gone to the car to pick up my backpack, most of the other superheroes showed off their skill in procuring most of the available swag.

Race: 11AM Sunday 11/1/2009 Superhero 5k Run
Weather: Sunny in the low 50s
Performance: 24:18 (7:50/mi PR) - Linda did 31:45 (10:14/mi PR)
Post-Race Snack - One Bottle of Water and One Banana

The take-home haul (including some they put into our pre-race goody bag)

1 Performance Superhero T-Shirt
2 Cans of Izze (Blackberry and Grapefruit)
3 Packets of Yogi Walnut Spice Crunch Cereal
2 Bananas
1 Barbecue Pop Chips
2 Blueberry Crisp Clif Bars
6 Luna Bars - 3 Peanut Butter Cookie, 1 Smores, 1 Lemon Zest, 1 Caramel Nut Brownie "The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women" - I hope folic acid is good for me!
1 Goody Set of Hairbands - Think I'll be giving that to Linda...

Bonus Swag

My sister apprised me of the opportunity to get some swag by heading over to the ASICS store and showing my New York Road Runners' membership card. I got a sweet pair of Kayano II Low Cut Running Socks that retail for $14. The buildup to the New York City marathon has started...unfortunately I will be in Boston and miss watching the marathon this year. Can I actually run the marathon next year?

iPod nano 2006-2009

Before the second of my back-to-back races, my beloved and faithful running partner for the last 3 years, my 2nd generation black iPod nano refused to start up and passed away today. Although I admit that my ears felt a little better headphone-free, I found it very challenging to concentrate at times, perhaps from all of the heavy grunting and breathing around me. Fortunately after yesterday's monsoon, the weather was initially a bit nippy but it was gorgeous fall weather. The sublime scenery and cool weather helped me get a personal best for the 5M.

Race: 8:30AM Sunday 10/25/2009 Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff
Weather: Sunny in the 50s
Performance: 42:07
Post-Race Gorging - Bagel and One Bottle of Water

The take-home haul:

1 Gray Poland Springs NYRR T-Shirt
7 Bottles Poland Spring Water
1 Apple

Swag Chapter 2 - Human Race

I awoke at 5am, beating my alarm set to WCBS 880 at 5:30 AM. How annoying. I promptly curled up in the fetal position, ignored the alarm at 5:30, snoozed until 5:45. After a quick shower, I went through my game day ritual of putting on contacts, t-shirt with the built in bib (236203), shorts, running belt, watch, Live Strong band, socks, Air Max Moto 4 with the chip attached, and sunglasses, I consumed my Oatmeal Raisin "Performance Energy" PowerBar and a cup of Orange Juice, supplemented by Tylenol, Triple Flex, and Centrum. I was good to go! Took the train downtown and met my former co-worker and race virgin Prerak at 34th St, and we headed downtown to Parkside Avenue on the outskirts of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

The race itself was very fun. A few rolling hills - it featured 2 loops within the park - including a tough uphill 2nd mile, and then we were lucky enough to repeat it for mile 5. I fell short of my PR and personal goal unfortunately, but my friend Prerak did very well for his first race, clocking in at 1 hour 5 minutes and 15 seconds, estimated chip time.

The recent physical therapy helped immensely. I did not feel any lower back pains or other discomfort afterwards. Perhaps it was because I was still sore from all that tortur, er, stretching yesterday at the clinic.

Race: 8:00AM Saturday 10/24/2009 Nike Human Race 10k Prospect Park
Weather: Unseasonably Warm, Humid
Performance: 56:59 Chip Time

Immediately after race completion, I wolfed down a banana, a bag of pretzels, and a coconut water.

The take-home haul:

1 Red Nike Dri-Fit Shirt
1 20oz Multi-V Vitamin Water
1 12oz Energy 10 Cal Vitamin Water
1 Grape Powerade Zero
1 Nature Valley Oats & Honey Granola Bar
1 Zico Coconut Water
1 Rold Gold Tiny Twists
1 Banana
1 Apple
1 Nike+ Member ID (Purpose Unknown)

Stuff We All Get Chapter 1

This blog is not really about some cocky demeanor but instead about the Stuff We All Get - aka swag. As I was headed toward the start of the very easy Norway run. While I was plodding along during the Norway run this morning, I was struck by the idea to just mark down what I get at races I do going forward. I use the word race loosely here, as there was a half marathon that I had the option to do, but I was a wimp. No real excuses, other than lack of motivated training and an excruciating lower left leg cramp that woke me up in the middle of the night which still felt tender right at race time.

Race: 8:15AM Saturday 10/3/2009 Norway Run 1.7m Central Park Lower Loop
Weather: Balmy for this time of year 67 degrees, 93% Humidity
Performance: 12:40 (7:27 / mi)

The haul:

1 Nice Long Sleeve Norwegian Festival T-Shirt
3 Bottles of ISBRE - Norwegian Spring Water
1 Smoked Salmon Bagel
1 Serving Gravlax courtesy of Smorgas Chef
1 Fun Norway Tattoo
1 Plum