Thursday, December 31, 2015

Happy New Year's Eve!

It's yet another cloudy day here in Brooklyn, but still nearly ideal running weather to get in your last miles of 2015.

For those of you who are planning, the Midnight Run in Central Park tonight, it looks like your race will go off at a balmy 42 degrees or so. A reminder - this race is already sold out.   Those who will be tweeting should use #MidnightRun -- not to be confused with the awesome 1988 movie which is well worth it.

Professional runners in this year's race include Lisa Dobriskey and Joe Stillin.

2016 training begins in earnest tomorrow.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Brooklyn's Best at the Mile!

I ran a mile yesterday.

Other than it marked the 16th day in a row I have run (yes, comeback!), it wasn't all that special.

But I know some people who ran just a mile yesterday who *did* do something special! :-)  Yes, those hardy few who dared to venture outside of the safe environs of Brooklyn to go run the Fifth Avenue Mile.

Lest anyone think I'm mocking here (and, in rereading this, I'm only mocking myself, so let's be clear), racing a mile is hard, HARD, HARD! The one time I did the Fifth Avenue Mile, I coughed for 20 minutes afterward - yes, my best-age graded performance ever in a NYRR race, but it came at a cost.

Anyway, some highlights from yesterday's race (based on the data on the NYRR Web site that I'm analyzing, so if the data are wrong or I've taken one too many shortcuts, apologies):

Among the men:

*Ciaran O'Donovan, 31, from NBR, took top Brooklyn honors, speeding to a 4:29, good enough for 50th overall by time (this includes I believe all races) and 7th in his category

*Stefan Lingmerth, 38, who hails from Sweden and runs for WBTC, ran a 4:31, tops in his category

*Daniel Gercke, 49, of CPTC, raced a 4:49, taking 5th in his category (NOTE to self, I need to get a lot faster to get onto the awards stand). Gercke also topped men for age-graded performance with an 87.59%

*John Shostrom, 61, of BRRC, grabbed 3rd in his category with a 5:36

Among the women:

*Two people are listed on the top, both with a 5:18. Marie-ange Brumelot, 22, with QDR, and NBR's Sayo Yamagata, 30.

*Hope Sanders, 42, with RNYC, was the top female master from Brooklyn with a 5:25, and had the highest age-graded score at 83.5%

*Local clubs had a presence at the top, with Melissa Burgin, 30, from PPTC at 5:32, Connie Fried, 26, also from NBR at 5:35 and Grace Eginton, 27, from SBRC at 5:43

Congrats all!