Random Thoughts on a Monday Evening

I started typing the subject line ... and realized I've done this before. Some quick hits/thoughts before I get sucked into the work week:

-- Some guy on Craigslist is offering $500 for a marathon bib (note this is illegal and will get you banned from future races). I'm interested in discovering how he manages to avoid the NYRR sting operation, since you know they troll the site as well.

-- I'm looking, but not seeing yet, the results from the Brooklyn Triple Crown. I think it's a great concept, and am sorry Brooklyn Running didn't do more to promote it. Some decent local sponsorship, and better marketing - I think it's got a shot to thrive. Chalk it up for a goal for 2010.

-- I ran in Central Park earlier today, and got sucked into the same trap that happens most of the times I run a full loop. I see a runner, I want to pass him/her. Then I start picking up the pace, and all of a sudden I'm running tempo pace for what's supposed to be an easy 6 mile run. (This doesn't happen in Prospect Park, or actually, many of my other solo runs. I'm suspecting this has to do with the fact that my ratio of Central Park runs/races is a lot higher.). Open to any thoughts on how to avoid this, beyond better self-discipline.

-- Following up on some earlier speculation: I'm told that no, you can't get two qualifying races by registering both the short (1.7 miles) and the long( 13.1 miles) at the Norwegian Festival in Central Park this weekend. (Kudos to anyone who pulls it off and gets credit). I bet you get two cracks at the smoked salmon for the bagels, however.

-- My first blog entry on this blog was two years ago tomorrow. Since then, when I'm actively posting, the blog is getting more than 100 page views a day, and I'm now up to 10 followers. (Which is both awesome, and a little creepy).

For a variety of reasons, I don't do a lot of promotion or outreach, pushing this to other Brooklyn sites or setting up a Twitter account (the latter because I think I'd annoy myself.) But I wanted to thank you all for your comments and feedback over the past 24 months, because it shows your dedication.

Stuff like this, which was sent to the e-mail account, makes my day.

"I just wanted to send you a quick email to let you know that your blog is awesome. I came across it a while ago and I check it repeatedly, pretty much because I'm a running nerd myself and I also live in brooklyn."

That's who I'm trying to help. And if one of the things I pontificate about takes off a few seconds from your 10K pace, then I've done my job.

So, please forgive my foibles and occasional lack of timely response (for example, if "Heroes" wasn't entering its death spiral - it already jumped the shark, now it's being eaten, I wouldn't be posting tonight). And good luck to all of you as we enter Year 3.