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Hi, my name is Eric and I'm addicted to running

Posted May 19th, 2012 by eric

I just got back from a nice run, giving a test run to a new pair of running shoes.

At this point, I am running on average 3 days and anywhere from 10 to 20 miles a week.

One year ago today, Jenna and I went out on our first day of the Couch to 5k training. I had not run in about 28 years and found it impossible to imagine I would really take to it again.

That first run was painful. Running for 60 seconds was difficult. I could not imagine getting to the end of the training and actually finishing a 5k race.

Fast forward to today, a short year later. The run I did today is what I now call my "short run", 3.24 miles (a 5k is 3.1). The transformation has been amazing. I log my runs, track my performance and improvement. I now run races frequently and find them joyful and enjoyable. I've become a runner.

When I first hit the 5k mark in July, I was running at about a 10 minutes/mile pace. Three weeks ago, I finished a 4 mile race in an average pace of 7:49/mile, last week I finished a 10k with a 8:14/mile pace.

If you had told me a year ago that today I would be looking forward to my 9th race of the year, which will qualify me for a guaranteed spot in the 2013 NYC Marathon. I'd have wondered what you were smoking.

I used to think that everyone that was athletic was an overly competitive jerk, what I found at races was a shock. People are running against their own Personal Record and at the same time being amazingly supportive of other runners. Everyone wants everyone to win, and since we're all running against ourselves, everyone can win. What other sport has so many people come out to cheer for thousands of people with no chance in hell of being 1st? What other sport even has the concept of Personal Records? The question you hear after a race is not "did you win?" but "did you PR?"

One of the great joys that us newbies get to enjoy is being able to PR frequently. Especially for us "age groupers" (those over 30 who's only hope is to be first in our age group, not first in the race), after a while the idea of getting faster is just not in sync with reality so it's important to enjoy the thrill of beating your own best time wile you can.

After I finish qualifying for the marathon, I'll slow down a bit and start to focus on a long-term training program. Maybe I'll also try to convince Jenna to give it another try -- she hurt herself 2/3 through the training last summer.

The next big milestones for me will be the NYRR Bronx 10 mile race, which will go past my mom's childhood apartment; and then Grete's Great Gallop, a half marathon in Central Park named for one of the greatest women runners to ever win the NYC Marathon.

Maybe I'll start blogging more about running over the next 18 months as I prepare for the marathon. Then again, maybe I'll be too busy running.

It's about more than just the miles

Posted September 6th, 2012 by eric

This weekend I'll be running the NYRR 5-Borough Series race in the Bronx. It's a 10 mile race, my longest yet and a big milestone on my way towards the 2013 marathon.

As I've written about on my blog in the past, I started running and racing again in 2011 after a 29 year haitus.

I'm a mid-distance guy, I really love the 5k-10k distance. In some ways, I think I'm insane for having started down a long training path towards 26.2 miles. In some ways, I think that is exactly what is keeping me sane.

When my mom died in March, thinking of running the marathon as a fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association helped me to start working through the grief. Every run was a way of taking time to think about her.

I could have run the marathon this year with the Alzheimer's Association's "Team Run to Remember", but since I did not get into the race via the lottery in order to do so I would have had to commit to raise over $3,000. That felt like a huge strain on my already strained brain; I could not handle yet another job. Also, it felt dishonest -- like I was just buying my way to the starting line.

The New York Road Runners has another way in, and I was already most of the way to completing the 9 necessary races. This also meant I had to wait an extra year, which seemed like a good thing. I did not want to push myself too far too fast. Now that I'm back at it, I want to keep running for a long long time.

At this point, I've finished the 9 races and 1 volunteer shift and the only thing between me and the 2013 NYC Marathon starting line is 14 months of training.

Since I have my own ticket to the fun for next year's marathon, doing the fundraising for the Alzheimer's Association will also be easier (they ask for a much lower commitment from runners with their own spot) and will feel more like genuine fundraising and not me asking other people to pay my way into the race.

My goal was modified -- this year I'd do a half marathon and see how it went.

Since my mom was born and bred in the Bronx, and my grandfather's store, which I have some great youthful memories of, was only a few blocks from the course of the past few years, I decided to do the NYRR 5 Borough Series Bronx Half Marathon. I thought that race would be the right way to combine my training and my desire to have my running connect me to my mom and the process of grieving. Then the NYRR went and changed the 5 half marathon race series into a series of mixed distance races.

As a result, this fall's race season has two milestones. My first 10 mile race this Sunday and my first half marathon on October 14th in Central Park. The 1/2 marathon is named for Grete Waitz, a woman who was a powerful leader in a male-centric community and who left behind more than she found as a result years of hard work and advocacy. That also feels right when I think of this as a tribute to my mom.

So, here goes -- 10 miles, most of it on the Grand Concourse which was where my mom spent so much of her time from the day she was born until after she got married. I hope to have some friendly ghosts joining me along the race course.