First Race

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I had my first race the other weekend. It was the New York City 4-Mile Holiday Run. I was expecting to run 7minute miles, and was able to go above my goal, and I ended up running 6:30 miles. Out of 5000 runners, I came in 193rd place @ a time of 26 minutes and 7 seconds, the fastest time being just over 20 minutes. There were some very fast guys running. I was very happy with my performance; hopefully it is a sign of good things to come throughout my training.
We have had a couple group training sessions since the race too. On the Saturday run we had an 8mile run. We took the large loop around Central Park. The temperature wasn't too bad, so it was a nice run. Ramon, our head coach came dressed in a Santa outfit, full red suit, beard and all; he ran like that too for about 4 miles.
On our Tuesday practice, we did a lot of cross training, and calisthenics.After a nice hard workout, Molly and I went to Jackson Hole for some good, huge grilled burgers and fries. I would like to mention I was sore as hell the next day from the lunges and squat jumps; it hurt to stand up for about 2 days afterwards. Ok, time to go have some Christmas snacks, enjoy the holiday.

Changed training groups

Today was another Tuesday group run. We had a tiki-tiki run. It was a run focussed showing the link between arm movement and stride size and pace. The faster and shorter the arm pumps, the faster and shorter the leg stride. It was kinda neat to watch and learn. Over the past few practices I have realized that I might be a better fit for the advanced group, so I am going to start training with that group and see if it is better. I was feeling that I wasn't getting a good enough workout when I was doing the intermediate workouts. This was the first workout that I trained with the advanced group; it went well, and I felt like I fit in and was able to keep up. It was definately a hard workout, and I felt good afterwards.

New Shoes

Molly and I went and got new running shoes today. Those of you who don't know, Molly, my girlfriend, and I are both running the marathon through Team In Training. Today we went up to Urban Athletics, a running store which supports TEAM and the Cause, and gives great lessons, tips, shoe advice, and shopping discounts to TEAM members, a really great place, and real knowledgeable. This is also the place that we all gather before our Tuesday night runs. After we all gather and check in, we all head over a couple blocks to Central Park.

First Tuesday Session

Hello!! Today was out first group Tuesday run. Tuesday's sessions will concentrate primarily on running technique. This particular session our head coach (Ramon) discussed how our arms are linked to our legs, and how our arms should be moving while running. He also discussed propper posture while running. It was a decent session; kind of brought back some old tips we learned back in high school on the track team.

December 1st, 2007

Well, we just had our first group run today. This was the run to begin our long journey together as a team to marathon day. It was very, very cold, but we were lucky because today's practice started at 11:30am; here after Saturday practices will begin at 8:30am at Bethesda Fountain (go ahead...Google Earth it to see where we meet, I'll wait). Our coaches and trainers spoke to us for quite some time about the next few months, and what is in store, and what we can expect. Once all of our feet and legs were numb from the cold, we went and hit the roads with a good start. I began training with intermediate group, feeling it might be a good fit for me. All-in-all, the practice went well, and really got me feeling pumped about what I am doing, and how it it being done for a cause. I hope you can get excited with me, and show your support. Talk to you soon.