CPR/AED duty at the 30K

Originally uploaded by escapevelocity

Moblogging from the 30k race…if you ran this, you passed this fountain six times. Good times.

Sent from my Treo

Sorry for the sudden drop off in posts. Just wanted to put in a quick I’m-not-dead post. I’ve been consumed by a work project which should (if things go according to plan) be completed on December 13th….after which I’ll be able to return to my regular schedule of running slowly, obsessing over shoe problems and posting embarrassing pictures of my cat.

Quick news:

1. My NYC Marathon race report (with pics) will be posted by Friday. No, really.

2. I’m doing the Houston Marathon again! I was able to nab (is that a word?) a registration - and it didn’t cost me $300….or whatever crazy amount they’ve been going for on eBay. woohoo!!

3. Ack, 45 days till the Houston Marathon! Gotta get back on track again with SMART.

25k

Originally uploaded by escapevelocity

Got back from nyc last nite at 10pm. Did cpr/aed duty at the hot 25k this morning and saw lotsa striders - woo!

Sent from my Treo

(mobile update)
5:05:45. That was my final chip time, which means I finished 40 min faster than Houston - I never imagined this big a PR!! The crowds were incredible, the weather perfect, feet felt great. Had a cramp at 25 but otherwise felt really good the whole way…and never once hit the wall. Full race report to come - spent the evening with fam, and am exhausted.

It’s noon on Saturday, and surreal that in exactly 24hrs, I’ll be running somewhere in Brooklyn or Queens on my way towards Central Park. Hopefully I’ll be doing well, keeping things at a good pace. Actually, since arriving in NYC, I’ve become less nervous and more excited about the marathon tomorrow. Saw lots of people walking around midtown Manhattan carrying their distinct Asics marathon race packets. Went to the Expo yesterday to pick up my race packet and bib. It was in the Javitts Convention Center (never been there before) - the expo was big, well organized, and a gave me a huge boost in excitement. I got my bib, race shirt, visited the booths, and bought some obligatory souvenir gear.

They had some pretty cool things at the expo, but by far, the absolutely best thing was the picture below (click on photos to view full size):

At the ING Marathon Booth, there was a video (filmed with “NYC Runner Cam”) taking you on a high-speed tour of the entire 26.2 miles, complete with mile and km counter, names of the neighborhoods, course info like “4th ave in Brooklyn, longest straightaway on the course” or “routes converge at Clinton Hill”, etc…..all the way to the finish. It was an incredible visualization tool, set to great music, and I have to say I was feeling pretty emotional by the time it got to the finish. They had the video playing on a loop. The booth was always packed with runners, standing/sitting around the video monitor, silently focused on the screen. It was mesmerizing.

We’re about to head off for lunch, then I’m going to check in at the hotel.

On Sunday, the (fabulous) Striders hosted the first of the 2008 Houston Marathon Warmup Series, the Houston Half Marathon & Relay. Since the Half was 7 days before the New York Marathon (auugh!!), I thought I’d start tapering that weekend - so, I decided to volunteer instead of run. As it turns out, though, I may have been one of the only NYCers who didn’t do the Half as a last training run. Oops! But it was alright, because volunteering at the Half was a lot of fun.

I had great volunteer assignments: ride in the lead police car, and help announce names at the finish line. Sweet! Race day morning, I got to Sam Houston Park at 5:50am. It was chilly and dark, but I could already see the crowds gathering. Almost immediately, I ran into Peter, my partner for the lead police car. Peter had done police car duties for several races already, so he knew the full drill. We headed to the Strider Tent where Steeeeve was debriefing fellow volunteers, and picked up the list of registered runners organized by bib number (with Strider names highlighted in yellow). The purpose of the list was to help us identify the race leaders and call out encouragements to runners (especially fellow Striders)….as it turns out, that list was VERY useful during the race.

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I stumbled across this interesting report at MarathonGuide.com presenting marathon statistics for 2005.  The part I found most interesting was the ranking of marathons by number of registered finishers:

2005 Largest USA Marathons
Both New York and Chicago did not increase their registration limits in 2005 and so continued with their respective ranking as number one and two marathons in the USA. The LA Marathon and Marine Corps Marathon each added more than 2,500 finishers - and the Nike 26.2 (which can’t quite decide if it’s a women’s race or not) nearly doubled in size. Shaking up the top 25 rankings was the New Las Vegas Marathon, which as an inaugural event, debuted at number 8 and just missed the record for an inaugural event which was set by the Rock N Roll Arizona Marathon in 2004. In total, the country’s 25 largest marathons, accounted for more than 70% of total marathon finishes in the USA in 2005.