Queens Half Marathon
This past Saturday morning I ran (suffered through) the New York Road Runners Queens Half Marathon, the third in the 5 Borough NYRR Half Marathon Series. I woke up at 4:40am and was out the door twenty minutes later for the commute out to Citi Field/Arthur Ashe stadium out in Queens. While waiting for the 7 train at Grand Central, my VFF Bikilas sparked the interest of two women who asked me if I ran on pavement in those things. We spoke for a bit, and one of the ladies actually owns a pair that she exclusively uses for trail running. I told her I like running on pavement better since you get more feedback and ground reaction, but was impressed she ran in them at all. I asked her why she wasn't using them for today's race, but she's still entrenched in using sneakers. I gave them my Barefoot Benny business cards and was happy to speak to people familiar with minimalist running.
By the time I arrived at the start in Queens by 6:15am or so, it was already in the 80's and quite humid. Uh oh. I hoped my huge pasta dinner and bagel and banana would be enough to get through the race, but the repetitive warnings over the speakers about taking it easy got me worried. While waiting the corral for the race to start at 7am, I chatted it up with another VFF runner. He was like, "Are you Barefoot Benny?" After I confirmed his suspicion (I was wearing my Barefoot Benny Personal Fitness shirt) he told me that I always pass him at these NYRR races. Then I remembered somebody screaming out "Barefoot Benny" at the Wall St. Run the other month and started laughing. Must've been this guy, my new friend Yeung.
The race wasn't nearly as crowded as the other ones I've done (only under 3,700), so I got off to a fast start without all the congestion. The first few miles were hot, but I had fresh legs and kept a 7:30 minute mile pace. I think I hit a wall around mile 6 or 7, where my legs felt tired but my face and head felt really hot. Not good. I made sure to stop more often at the water stations and to enjoy the heat's brief reprieve at the water spray misters. My running form deteriorated big time around mile 8, and I felt the bottoms of my feet getting a bit warm. I like to think of them as raw ground beef, getting molded into the pavement's grooves with each step.
Once mile 9 finally came, I was able to compartmentalize the race into a mini run of only 4 miles. With each passing mile I got happier and happier that I was only running a 5k, then a 2 miler, and so on. My speed declined to over 8 minute miles (I'm assuming) which negatively affected my form no matter how often I actively forced my body to thrust my hips forward and concentrate of the pull and the lean. At no point (save for a hill or two) did my breathing ever get labored and force me to mouth breathe, but by the end of the race I was so overheated and my body so tired that I had no kick left to the finish, beyond the last 110 meters or so. Usually I can pick it up for the last half mile, but not on this hot day.
I crossed the finish in 1:44:46, which is just under my goal of 1:45. The temperature was probably around 90 degrees by then with very high humidity, and all I wanted to do was sit in the shade and rehydrate. I know that if I had breathed through my mouth at all during the race I would've dried up like a raisin and gotten dehydrated very rapidly. As I was milling around in a daze, Gatorade in one hand, bagel in another, and a banana in yet another, I was approached by yet another "Hey, are you Barefoot Benny?" I ended up speaking with Tate, whom I had met during the Brooklyn Half Marathon over a month ago. After a few minutes of catching up, I dragged my sore calves and hot body (not the sexy hot, the oven hot) toward the subway and headed home.
Or so I thought. In my daze I hoped on the first train at the station, which just happened to be going in the wrong direction. I realized this just as the doors were closing but didn't care because I was sitting in the cool AC. Ahhh. And right next to me, some guy named Dan (I think) started talking to me about my VFF's. He complained that he was always in pain when he ran, and that he always wanted to speak with someone with VFF running experience. Boy did he sit next to the right guy. I spoke with him for the minute long ride to the next and final stop, and handed out yet another business card. Man those come in handy!
The rest of the ride back was uneventful, except for the few common stares at my feet. The next day my legs felt like dead weight, and I had pain in both of my knees. This was the first half marathon I ran with pose-race knee pain, and I can attribute that to the breakdown of my running form, which I blame solely on the heat. I hope they start feeling better soon, because I'm running the Bronx Half next month on August 15th.
I saw about 5 other VFF shod runners during the race, one who flew by me right at the end. I need to coordinate a VFF/minimalist/barefoot running NYRR group so we can chat a bit pre and post race. I need to get on that.
I enjoyed the course in Queens, and really like passing Citi Field where the Mets play, and running by the old World's Fair sculptures. The park outside Arthur Ashe stadium was gorgeous, and overall it was a very peaceful and clean environment. Two thumbs up to Queens, zero thumbs up for the bazillion degree weather.
By the time I arrived at the start in Queens by 6:15am or so, it was already in the 80's and quite humid. Uh oh. I hoped my huge pasta dinner and bagel and banana would be enough to get through the race, but the repetitive warnings over the speakers about taking it easy got me worried. While waiting the corral for the race to start at 7am, I chatted it up with another VFF runner. He was like, "Are you Barefoot Benny?" After I confirmed his suspicion (I was wearing my Barefoot Benny Personal Fitness shirt) he told me that I always pass him at these NYRR races. Then I remembered somebody screaming out "Barefoot Benny" at the Wall St. Run the other month and started laughing. Must've been this guy, my new friend Yeung.
The race wasn't nearly as crowded as the other ones I've done (only under 3,700), so I got off to a fast start without all the congestion. The first few miles were hot, but I had fresh legs and kept a 7:30 minute mile pace. I think I hit a wall around mile 6 or 7, where my legs felt tired but my face and head felt really hot. Not good. I made sure to stop more often at the water stations and to enjoy the heat's brief reprieve at the water spray misters. My running form deteriorated big time around mile 8, and I felt the bottoms of my feet getting a bit warm. I like to think of them as raw ground beef, getting molded into the pavement's grooves with each step.
Once mile 9 finally came, I was able to compartmentalize the race into a mini run of only 4 miles. With each passing mile I got happier and happier that I was only running a 5k, then a 2 miler, and so on. My speed declined to over 8 minute miles (I'm assuming) which negatively affected my form no matter how often I actively forced my body to thrust my hips forward and concentrate of the pull and the lean. At no point (save for a hill or two) did my breathing ever get labored and force me to mouth breathe, but by the end of the race I was so overheated and my body so tired that I had no kick left to the finish, beyond the last 110 meters or so. Usually I can pick it up for the last half mile, but not on this hot day.
I crossed the finish in 1:44:46, which is just under my goal of 1:45. The temperature was probably around 90 degrees by then with very high humidity, and all I wanted to do was sit in the shade and rehydrate. I know that if I had breathed through my mouth at all during the race I would've dried up like a raisin and gotten dehydrated very rapidly. As I was milling around in a daze, Gatorade in one hand, bagel in another, and a banana in yet another, I was approached by yet another "Hey, are you Barefoot Benny?" I ended up speaking with Tate, whom I had met during the Brooklyn Half Marathon over a month ago. After a few minutes of catching up, I dragged my sore calves and hot body (not the sexy hot, the oven hot) toward the subway and headed home.
Or so I thought. In my daze I hoped on the first train at the station, which just happened to be going in the wrong direction. I realized this just as the doors were closing but didn't care because I was sitting in the cool AC. Ahhh. And right next to me, some guy named Dan (I think) started talking to me about my VFF's. He complained that he was always in pain when he ran, and that he always wanted to speak with someone with VFF running experience. Boy did he sit next to the right guy. I spoke with him for the minute long ride to the next and final stop, and handed out yet another business card. Man those come in handy!
The rest of the ride back was uneventful, except for the few common stares at my feet. The next day my legs felt like dead weight, and I had pain in both of my knees. This was the first half marathon I ran with pose-race knee pain, and I can attribute that to the breakdown of my running form, which I blame solely on the heat. I hope they start feeling better soon, because I'm running the Bronx Half next month on August 15th.
I saw about 5 other VFF shod runners during the race, one who flew by me right at the end. I need to coordinate a VFF/minimalist/barefoot running NYRR group so we can chat a bit pre and post race. I need to get on that.
I enjoyed the course in Queens, and really like passing Citi Field where the Mets play, and running by the old World's Fair sculptures. The park outside Arthur Ashe stadium was gorgeous, and overall it was a very peaceful and clean environment. Two thumbs up to Queens, zero thumbs up for the bazillion degree weather.
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